Once a Thief Read Online Free Page A

needed was to curl up with a good book or a good old movie on TV and stop thinking about the museum and the exhibit.
    At least for tonight.
    Still, she paused with her hand on the car’s door to look back at the museum. The building was well-lit after hours, and all the dangling banners proclaiming the forthcoming
Mysteries Past
exhibit were very visible. Very impressive.
    Very tempting, to a thief.
    Shaking off the thought, Morgan got into her car and headed for home, a little surprised to find that as she drove away from the museum, her anxiety lessened. In fact, by the time she got home, she was feeling her usual cheerful and optimistic self.
    Which didn’t strike her as at all peculiar until much later.
     
    He waited until the little car was out of his sight before he emerged from the shadows near the museum. He gazed after it, and her, shaking his head unconsciously.
    Logic told him she couldn’t possibly be feeling or sensing his presence, as she seemed to be. His own honed senses told him that was exactly what was happening nevertheless.
    Had he given himself away somehow?
    Perhaps. Or perhaps her instincts and intuitions were a lot better than he’d counted on.
    Either way, he thought some readjustment of his plans was in order.
     
    It was late Monday afternoon when Wolfe stood in the lobby of the museum listening to Morgan explain why one of the newly built display cases for the exhibit wasn’t going to work.
    “So we have to go back to the drawing board,” she finished, sounding exasperated. “Damn, you’d think at least
one
of us would have realized the thing wasn’t going to fit. And now they say redesigning that case might affect the two closest to it.”
    “Are we going to lose time on this?” Wolfe asked.
    “No way. If anyone even suggests we push the opening back, I’ll have his head,” Morgan replied firmly.
    “Even though you’re still feeling uneasy?”
    Morgan eyed him. “It’s that obvious?”
    “Let’s just say it’s visible. Still nothing concrete you can point to?”
    “No. I was here both Saturday and yesterday, and it was a nice, peaceful weekend. No problems at all.”
    “I thought Max told you to take weekends off.”
    “Yeah, but it was a choice between staying home and worrying or coming over here and easing my mind. I picked the latter.”
    “Doesn’t look to me like it eased your mind.”
    Morgan sighed. “Not much, no. But at least now I have something to focus on. Those damned display cases.”
    Chuckling, Wolfe said, “Then I’ll leave the matter in your capable hands.” He saw her glance at her watch, and added, “Have a date?”
    “For my sins, yes.” She grimaced slightly, then laughed a little. “He seems to be a creature of the mind, but we’ll see.”
    Meditatively, Wolfe said, “I’ve always found that the mind can go only so far in controlling the instincts.”
    “Well, if he can’t control
his,
he’ll earn a right cross. Honestly, Wolfe, if I tangle with one more lusting beast hiding behind a puppy-dog smile, I’m going to join a nunnery.”
    “Keep your chin up,” Wolfe advised, smiling. “Somewhere out there has to be at least one man who’ll value your brain as much as your body—and you’ll probably fall over him while you’re looking for something else.”

CHAPTER
    TWO
----
    S he had buried herself in work in recent years, but after Max’s healing wizardry Morgan had begun, somewhat tentatively, dating again. It was just bad luck, she told herself, that the young curator who had always treated her with grave respect turned out to have a baser motive lurking under his smiles.
    He was perfectly charming during dinner, then afterward asked if she’d like to go to his museum and see the latest Egyptian exhibit, which wasn’t scheduled to go on display for several days. It wasn’t exactly “Come up and see my etchings,” but since she’d recognized the look that went along with the casual offer, it was enough to make her