The Uneven Score Read Online Free Page B

Graham’s intense scrutiny, nearly impossible. “I came through the door,” she said. “I thought—I made a wrong turn, Mr. Graham. This is all just a silly mistake.”
    “Your sister on the nineteenth floor?”
    The understated incredulity, the small, wry-smile, and the quiet sarcasm did not bolster Whitney’s courage, but they were playing on her nerves. Obviously she couldn’t tell him the truth, but now she didn’t want to. He was enjoying himself far too much. And if he was the kind of man who accosted harmless burglars with a gun, why wouldn’t he be the kind of man to kidnap Harry? What if Paddie had been right all along!
    “As a matter of fact, yes,” she said coolly. “I stumbled into your office while hunting up the ladies’ room, and when I heard you coming, I panicked and ducked into the closet. It’s as simple as that. Honestly. Just a case of countering one mistake with another. Remember Watergate? Now, if it’s all right with you, I’ll just apologize and be on my way.”
    He pushed one foot out in front of the other, bending his knee, his casual, confident stance augmenting his overall air of menacing arrogance. “It’s not all right with me,” he said blandly.
    Whitney pulled her lower lip up over her bottom teeth and bit down hard. She had been afraid it wouldn’t be.
    “As you know perfectly well,” he went on in that quiet, menacing drawl, “my office door was locked.”
    “Yes,” she said, “you’re right.”
    He dropped his hands to his sides and gripped the edge of the desk, the muscles in his powerful arms and legs tensing visibly. The change was small, but perceptible. Daniel Graham was losing patience. “Then how did you get in?” he asked shortly.
    “I used a key.”
    If possible, his look became more threatening.
    “You see,” she went on blithely, trying to ignore her growing nervousness, “I’m the new custodian.”
    Graham clenched his teeth and exhaled at the ceiling. “Miss Jones, if you were a cat you’d be well into your ninth life.” He dropped his gaze back to her. It was steady now, his eyes a cool and probing green. “And I’m only calling you Miss Jones for the sake of argument. Your name isn’t Sara Jones and you’re not a custodian. A custodian,” he went on more emphatically, “doesn’t hide in closets with a damned French horn!”
    She had forgotten her horn—momentarily. “It’s my dinner break. I practice on my breaks—in an empty office”
    “You have an answer for everything, don’t you?”
    She smiled. “I’m just trying to sort this out—”
    “—to your advantage.”
    “Self-preservation runs high and strong in my bones,” she said cheerfully. “May I go now?”
    “Miss Jones,” he said, sitting on the edge of the desk, “the building custodians do not have the key to this office.”
    “They don’t?”
    She looked him straight in the eye and said, “Then how did I get in?”
    “A key,” he said, “which you will give me before we leave—along with an explanation of where you got it and what you’re doing here. I have a feeling I’m not going to like what I hear, but I’ll be damned if— What do you think you’re doing?”
    Whitney didn’t take the time to answer. She was on her feet and gone—through the door, past the reception area, to the elevators. It had been Paddie’s idea to break in after five—Paddie’s ideas, Paddie’s keys, Paddie’s suspicions. Whitney’s hide. She banged the down button, realized there wasn’t time to wait, and hunted for the stairs.
    She saw the red exit sign down the hall and ran.
     

Chapter Two
     
    Daniel Graham intercepted her at the door, blocking her escape with his big body. “We’re not finished,” he said calmly.
    “I have nothing more to say,” Whitney declared, gulping for air. Her gasping had more to do with terror than aerobic fitness. “Call the police, if you insist!”
    “All right.”
    That took the wind right out of her sails. He was