Read Online The Good Thief's Guide to Berlin by Chris Ewan - Free Book Online

pen branded with the hotel’s name, and the odd speck of dirt and fluff. I went down on my knees and craned my neck, shining my torch around the underside of the desk. I found a wire for connecting a laptop to the Internet. Big deal.
    I crawled back out and straightened up and turned my attention to the leather folder in the middle of the desk. It contained a whole lot of information about the hotel. There was a welcome letter from the manager, an index of guest services, and a menu card for the hotel restaurant.
    And there was also something else entirely. The instant I saw it, I understood exactly what Freddy had meant. I reached for it, and I lifted it before my eyes, and I didn’t have the slightest doubt that I’d found precisely what I’d been hired to retrieve. My assignment was over. Jane Parker was the guilty culprit. And I was one very smug thief.

 
    NINE
    Victoria was sipping from a glass of chilled white wine and twirling a black napkin around on the counter when I returned to the bar. Her wineglass was very large. It was very full. And I had a feeling it wasn’t her first.
    A lone guy was warming up to approach her, sipping a little courage from a long-necked bottle of lager. He was an athletic, handsome type, dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and black jeans. His dark hair was slicked down with gel and combed very neatly to one side. He could have been a poet or a graphic designer. He could have been a threat.
    I swept in and dropped onto the cushioned stool next to Victoria, showing my back to the guy. He checked himself, then swerved away, and I slid Victoria’s phone along the bar. She considered my empty hands, frowning quizzically. Her eyes were a little swimmy. But a little less hostile, too.
    “No luck?” she asked, and I caught the hint of a drawl.
    “Plenty of luck,” I told her, propping my elbow on the counter and my chin on my fist. “I found it.”
    She straightened. She blinked. “Seriously? Then where is it?”
    “It’s on my person,” I said, and wiggled my eyebrows.
    There was a glass of sparkling water in front of me and a dish of cashew nuts between us. I didn’t eat any of the nuts. I’d already helped myself to a packet of crisps from the minibar in room 134 on my way out.
    “In that case, it must be small,” Victoria said.
    “Not all that small.”
    “Flexible?”
    “You’re getting warmer.”
    “Something you could roll up and fit down your sleeve?”
    She reached across and pinched her way along my arm, through the material of my raincoat. When she didn’t find anything, she leaned back on her stool, pressed a finger to her lips, and gazed at my ankles.
    I could feel the handsome guy watching us from across the room. I fought the temptation to wave.
    “Now you’re getting colder,” I said.
    Her eyes narrowed. Her lips puckered up. “I’m also getting bored. And my patience with you was pretty low to begin with.”
    “So I’ll give you a clue. It’s flat.”
    She backed away on her stool and studied me some more. She took a contemplative sip of her wine.
    “Is it inside your coat?”
    “Not exactly.”
    “What is it?”
    “A document folder.”
    “Go on.”
    I paused and checked over my shoulder. There was nobody close. The guy in the turtleneck sweater was busy hitting on a redhead in a side booth. I leaned toward Victoria and lowered my voice. “It’s a buff cardboard folder. It has a stamp on the front of it. Two words. Red ink.”
    “And what are the words?”
    “Top … secret.”
    Victoria jabbed her finger at me. “Read my mood, Charlie. I swear, if you don’t tell me soon, I’m going to cause you a lot of pain.”
    “No,” I said. “Those were the words on the file. ‘Top secret.’”
    “Oh,” she said, and leaned a good deal closer. I could smell the wine on her breath.
    “Do people really do that?” she whispered. “Write ‘top secret’ on stuff?”
    “It appears so.”
    A lazy grin curled her lip. “So now we know