Read Online janet maple 05 - it doesnt pay to be bad by Marie Astor - Free Book Online

you’d be looking much worse,” Dennis shot back.
    Laskin rubbed his hands together as he made his way inside the office. “What’s that I hear—an intrigue? Sounds exciting.”
    “Actually it’s more scary than exciting,” Janet said. “Last night someone broke into our apartment.”
    Laskin’s face turned serious. “Are you all right?”
    Dennis waved his hand. “We’re fine. But we had to stay up till midnight to file the report with the police. I think Mrs. Chapman was right after all—they’re only good at filing paperwork.”
    Laskin shook his head. “One thing at a time. Mrs. Chapman?”
    “Mrs. Chapman is our neighbor. She was watching Baxter last night,” Janet explained. “Then we got home from dinner and Dennis noticed that the front door was left open—” Janet gave a quick summary of everything that happened the night before. She tried to be as quick and factual as possible, but it still took a good ten minutes to tell the whole story.
    “Whew!” Laskin whistled when Janet finished her story. “This is something. I must say, I would’ve been scared witless.”
    “And so were we,” Janet said.
    “Let’s not exaggerate,” Dennis cut in. “Yes, it was unsettling and inconvenient, but no more than that. Mrs. Chapman got the worst of it—poor old thing was terrified.”
    “Did you get a look at the burglar?” Laskin asked.
    Dennis shook his head. “I couldn’t catch up with him. It’s all that rich food we ate in France. I need to get back to the gym.”
    “I’m sure one of Tina’s moves would’ve come in handy last night,” Laskin said thoughtfully.
    “Peter,” Dennis said sharply, “we have work to do.”
    “Sorry, I’m just trying to be helpful,” Laskin apologized. “I’ll be in my office if you need me. Do you want me to take some of your cases? Tina is really catching on—she’s great help.”
    “Thank you, but we got it,” Dennis said.
    “Thanks, Peter. We really appreciate the offer though,” Janet added.
    “And Peter, could you please keep this between us? I don’t want the whole office to know,” Dennis added in a lowered tone.
    Laskin nodded. “Of course. Discretion is the name of the game,” he added as he turned to leave.
    “Such a busybody—dear old Laskin never changes,” Dennis muttered after Laskin had left the office.
    “He was just trying to be nice,” Janet said. “And I don’t understand why you wouldn’t accept his offer to take on some of our caseload. We’re swamped.”
    “We’re not swamped. We’re just busy. And I’ll be damned if I compromise the quality of my work by dumping it on that rookie, Tina. Unlike Laskin, I have standards.”
    “Then we’d better get to it,” Janet said. “Or we won’t have anything to report on to Ham. Oh, and we still have to find the time to stop by the gallery,” she added.
    “What gallery?” Dennis asked distractedly, his eyes already glued to the computer screen.
    “To find out more about the painting we brought from our honeymoon and to get the frame fixed.”
    Dennis slapped his forehead. “That’s right. I remember. I’ll call and make an appointment right now.”
     
    ***
     
    Tina Sloan toweled off her hair and headed for her locker to get dressed. The gym she belonged to had locations all over Manhattan, and luckily there was one only a few minutes away from her new job. She had just run five miles at an incline on a treadmill, jumped rope, and lifted weights—there was nothing better than a great workout to clear her head. She refused to admit it, but she’d been in a funk—her new job at Kirk & Associates wasn’t shaping up to be exactly what she’d expected it to be. The job itself was great, but the people weren’t exactly so great. One person, to be more specific—Dennis Walker—who had it in for her for no particular reason. Maybe it was because Tina had taken over his desk, but that wasn’t her doing—Ham Kirk had told her to share the office with Peter