Read Online Deadly Deals by Fern Michaels - Free Book Online Page B

headline?
    Maybe she was going about this all wrong. Maybe she should put Baron Bell’s picture above the fold and go with a headline that applied to him. Like those pictures the New York papers printed about the most hated man in America: Bernie Madoff. Her reporter’s instinct told her people would care, but they’d move on. No, she had to go with the babies and the parents. The headline would come to her. She was sure of it.
    Eating always helped her think more clearly. How weird that she’d worked through her lunch hour. Maybe she needed to remove herself from what she was seeing for a little while. She could go to the cafeteria and get a corned beef on rye and whatever else they had that would complement the corned beef.
    On her way down in the elevator, Maggie’s fist shot in the air. Out of nowhere her headline hit her between the eyes. “You’re toast, Baron Bell!”

Chapter 5
    L izzie Fox looked like she’d just stepped out of a salon that guaranteed the works as she gathered up her purse and briefcase. Only the flight attendant knew she’d worked through the five-hour flight. She’d freshened up twenty minutes prior to landing. Other weary passengers looked at her approvingly, but she was oblivious.
    She was the first one off the plane. The time was 7:10 in the morning.
    Early morning travelers took a second to admire the long-legged vision as she strode past the security lines, her gaze raking the limo drivers holding up signs. When she spotted her driver, she waved. Within minutes she was outside and settled in the backseat of the luxurious limousine Cosmo Cricket had arranged for her.
    Lizzie shivered even though the heater was blowing hot, delicious air all around her ankles. Outside, a light snow was falling. She liked snow, and yet she hated snow. A long-ago memory of sitting in the cemetery, with a frozen bunch of violets in her hand, swam before her eyes. Jack Emery had saved her that awful night. She knew now that she would have stayed there and frozen to death if not for him. But that was all a lifetime ago. She had a new life now, thanks to Jack and all the vigilantes. Without them in her life, she never would have met Cosmo. Nor would she have ever married. She was almost positive of that.
    Lizzie blinked away the tears that were pricking at her eyelids. She leaned forward. “Drop me off at the Post first, but I want you to wait for me.”
    â€œYes, ma’am,” replied the driver.
    Lizzie leaned back and watched the traffic. Her mind raced through her agenda for the day, then stopped. She smiled; she had it covered. Now she could set her thoughts to what in the world she was going to get her new husband for Christmas. Cosmo had promised that when she got back, he was going to take the day off, and they were going to a forest to chop down a real Christmas tree. She’d teased him, saying Vegas didn’t have any forests, and he’d said, “Oh, yes, they do. You just need to know where to look.” And that had been the end of that. A big tree, he’d said. He’d even bought a pickup truck to cart it home. He was so proud of the seventy-five-dollar rusty clunker. Then he’d announced that the springs under the seats were shot. He’d called it a kidney crusher. She’d giggled all day over their newest possession, but she had to admit, she couldn’t wait to go out to the forest to cut down the tree. But that wasn’t solving her problem of what to get Cosmo for Christmas. Something would come to her; she was sure of it.
    When Lizzie stepped from the limousine, a strong gust of wind almost blew her over. The snow was coming down heavier and in squalls. She hoped it stopped before her return flight back to Vegas later in the day.
    Lizzie signed in, was given a card saying she was a visitor. She looped it around her neck as she made her way to the elevator.
    Maggie was waiting for her the minute she stepped out of