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Prologue

Wednesday, February 11—9:30 pm

IT WAS THE PERFECT night for a burglary

Pepper Rossi tried to push the paranoid thought away, but it continued to nag her as she peered through the French doors The small balcony outside the Atwells’ penthouse suite was bathed in shadows Thethe preview party, was now trapped behind a batch of paralyzed clouds In Pepper’sfor a little second-story work

Her aunt Irene, the most immediate cause of her paranoia, was the queen of second-story work As the star of a local reality show—Are You Safe?—Irene Rossi broke into the homes of prominent San Franciscans on a weekly basis And Irene also had athe priceless Monet that Pepper was currently babysitting while the Atwells and their guests were attending a gala performance of the symphony

But Irene wouldn’t actually go so far as to steal a Monet, would she?

A little voice in the back of Pepper’s mind shouted, Yes!

Don’t panic, Pepper lectured herself as she stepped back from the first set of French doors andin her sto her that disaster was imminent? She’d had these premonitions before, and they hadn’t always panned out

Just because her aunt had attended the Atwells’ preview party for the upcoht didn’t mean that she’d come to case the place After all, most of the movers and shakers in San Francisco had been invited for a private viewing of the Monet that would be auctioned to benefit the new children’s wing at the hospital The guest list had included Pepper’s father as running for ht his sister Irene as his guest Simple as that

At the next set of French doors, Pepper tested the lock and peered out Nothing But she couldn’t quite stop worrying about her aunt Over the years, Irene had been the only one of her Rossi relatives who’d kept in touch with her There’d been birthday cards, surprise presents and letters, and she’d gotten pretty close to her aunt ThatIrene’s forty-year star-crossed romance with ex-mobster Butch Castellano

Pepper are that during his tiiti a resort in the Caribbean, that he had a weakness for French Ied on his promise to allow Irene to join hi up with Irene was that he still didn’t think he was good enough for her

She also knew that Irene had taken his excuse literally and was deterh for him

Would she do so as drastic as steal a priceless Monet? Pepper sent up a little prayer that her aunt wouldn’t be so foolish

Fighting off another wave of queasiness, she dashed into the bedroo a little better, she crossed to the French doors and checked the lock It held She was not going to blow this job This was her big chance to prove to her brothers that she was a corade in the PI training class she’d taken?

The proble situation had turned out to be radically different than being a PI in the real world She’d always been able to ace tests, but so far her career at Rossi Investigations, her brothers’ fledgling security firm, could best be described as hit and miss

And she could lay the bla her hands on her hips, PepperWhy on earth had he ations at the saht about it she wanted to kick so

Since she’d paid a week’s salary for the high-heeled red shoes she earing, she resisted the urge

Instead, she i doll and mentally stuck a pin into his arm First off, he affected her in a way that no other man ever had She was certain that she lost brain cells whenever he was near her, starting with the first time they’d ever met at one of her father’s weekly family dinners She’d just arrived in San Francisco and had been anxious to ood impression on the fa to know Everyone who attended Peter Rossi’s Sunday dinners was required to bring a dish they’d prepared, and she’d been holding hers, a pasta salad in a newly purchased glass bohen Cole Buchanan had walked into the kitchen