Brotherhood in Death Read Online Free

place?”
    â€œWe’ve kept this almost exactly as he left it. My grandfather. Some of what’s here comes to me, to my children, to others. But they were content to leave it like this for now. Everything’s here. I don’t think anything’s been taken or moved.”
    â€œAll right. You came to the doorway, saw him. You froze for a second—people do. You’re focused on your cousin, and you move forward to help him.”
    She went to the doorway, paused, took a quick step in. Then scanned the shelves.
    She picked up a stone bowl, brilliantly polished, frowned, set it down again. Tested the weight of an award plaque, dismissed it. Then she curled her fingers around the uplifted trunk of large glass elephant in jubilant blues and greens. Had weight, she mused, and that handy grip.
    â€œDr. Mira?”
    Mira moved forward, and like Eve examined the elephant. “Yes, yes, the legs. They’re consistent with the wound.”
    As Eve got another swab, Mira turned to Dennis. “I will never, this is an oath, never complain about your hard head again.”
    â€œCleaned it up, but we’ve got a little blood. Attacker steps back, side of the doorway. This is handy, heavy. You come in,
whack
, down you go. He, she, they—it’s going to be they, one to deal with Edward, one to deal with you and the cleanup. So one of them gets rug cleaner, whatever, cleans things up, gets the hard drive, the discs. And they take him, leave you. I’m going to go through the house, make sure they didn’t stuff him somewhere—sorry,” she said immediately.
    â€œNo, don’t be.”
    â€œI’m going to have sweepers come in, go over all this. I can contact Missing Persons, expedite there.”
    â€œCould you . . .”
    â€œWill you take lead on this?” Understanding, Mira took Dennis’s hand. “Both of us would feel easier if you remained in charge.”
    â€œSure, I can clear that. Why don’t you go back and sit down, let me get things rolling.”
    Eve bagged the elephant, contacted Crime Scene, ordered up some uniforms to canvass. Someone had walked in the house, most likely invited in by Edward Mira. She’d check on this Realtor. And someone had walked back out again, either carrying Edward’s body or forcing him to leave with them.
    They’d need transportation.
    Not a burglary, she thought, and not a straight kidnapping, or whyrough him up first? The chair in the middle of the room struck her as an interrogation.
    Somebody wanted something from Edward Mira. Chances were he’d stay alive until they got it.
    She went back to the living room. They’d turned on the fire, and sat together on a sofa, drinking tea.
    Eve sat on the coffee table facing them, as it made a tighter connection.
    â€œI need some information. The Realtor—name, contact?”
    â€œI have no idea. I’m sorry. The assistant didn’t mention it, and I was too upset to ask.”
    â€œOkay, I’ll get that from his office. Where’s his office?”
    â€œHe retired from Congress to create and head a political think tank,” Mira told her. “He has an office in their headquarters, in the Chrysler Building.”
    â€œPrime real estate.”
    â€œStatus is very important to Edward,” Dennis said. “His organization, the Mira Institute, takes two floors, and owns a pied-à-terre in East Washington for Edward’s use or when one of the other executives needs to be there.”
    â€œNeed that address, too, and his home address. I’m going to talk to his wife when I leave here. How was their relationship?”
    Dennis glanced at his wife, sighed.
    â€œI’ll take this. Mandy is a realist who enjoys the life she leads. She excelled on the campaign trail, continues to excel at fund-raisers and committees. The fact that Edward cheated, often? She considers that part of the whole, and not