Brotherhood in Death (In Death #42)(22)

“What’s this about?”

“Edward’s missing.”

“‘Missing’? Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Have you seen or spoken with him since yesterday afternoon?” Eve asked.

“No, but that hardly means he’s missing, and he certainly won’t appreciate having the police hound him or blather gossip to the media.”

Eve started to rise, but Tressa beat her to it. “Wyatt, sit down, be quiet for a minute. Edward was attacked in his grandfather’s brownstone, and now he’s missing.”

“‘Attacked’? Absurd. Where was Vinnie?”

“Edward dismissed him. He went there to meet someone, supposedly a new Realtor. Dennis Mira was also attacked.”

“Ha.” The mild concern faded into mild amusement. “The two of them probably finally took swings at each other.”

“Now who’s being ridiculous and absurd.”

“For God’s sake.” Irritation flashed over his face as he pulled out his ’link. “I’m sending a nine-one-one to his private number, which he won’t appreciate, either. But it will stop this malarkey.” But he frowned. “It’s not going through, even to v-mail.”

“Which tells me whoever has him is smart enough to destroy his ’link,” Eve put in. “Who’s the new Realtor?”

“I have no idea, and that’s more malarkey. He’ll go back to Silas once they both cool down.”

“They had an altercation?”

“Edward fired him a couple weeks ago because Silas refused to list or show the property.”

“Which Silas can’t do,” Tressa continued, “as Edward doesn’t own the property outright.”

“I’m aware. Does Senator Mira have any enemies?”

Wyatt let out a derisive snort, plopped down on the couch. “Whose coffee is this?”

“Go ahead,” Eve told him. “I haven’t touched it.”

“He’s a lawyer who became a judge who became a senator.” Wyatt gulped down coffee. “He made an enemy every time he woke up in the morning.”

“There have been threats,” Tressa said more frankly. “As long as I’ve known him. Anything serious was investigated. But that’s certainly eased off since he retired from Congress.”

“Anyone stick out?” Eve waited a beat. “Any of the women he’s been involved with? Someone he severed ties with there, or a spouse who didn’t appreciate the relationship.”

“I stay out of Edward’s personal life,” Tressa said coolly, but Wyatt leaned forward.

“We can’t have any talk of extramarital affairs and dalliances leaked to the media.”

“I’m not interested in gossip, Mr. Book. I’m interested in finding Senator Mira. Investigating his personal life is part of the job, nothing more or less.”

“I’m warning you—”

“You want to be careful about warning me when it comes to doing my job. Who’s he seeing now?”

“She’s an artist.” Tressa stopped Wyatt’s protest with a hot look. “Finding Edward’s more important than pretenses. She’s young. I don’t know her name. I really do try to stay out of it. Aiden can find out.”

“It’s okay. I’ve got that one already. And, surprise, there’s been no media bulletin. Detective Hanson will follow up.” Eve got to her feet. “He’s leading the missing persons investigation. If you have any more information, you can contact him or me.”

“Is there anything we can do in the meantime?”

“Find out the name of the Realtor,” Eve suggested. “Thanks for your time.”





4


They wound their way out.

“You don’t want a look at his appointment book, his calendar?” Peabody asked.

“The place is thick with lawyers. We’re not getting a look at anything without a warrant. Once it’s murder, I’ll get one. Hanson has to run his angle from here—so send him the name of the driver and the former Realtor. We’ll talk to the list of women, his son and daughter,” she began, checking the time. “Later. This took longer than I planned.”

“We’re heading in? We’re not going to miss Trueheart?”

“We’re heading in.”

“Yay!”

“Hold the yay. Impressions, observations, conclusions,” Eve said as they rode down.

“The whole place is big on status, and that sort of thing usually comes from the top. I thought places like this—political think tanks, activists, and the like—would be lower key, even a little sweaty. I didn’t get any vibe from either of them, or Aiden, at least not this time around. MacDonald seemed genuinely worried. Book, not so much.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“I’d say Book doesn’t care as much about the senator, not personally. What? You don’t think that’s it?”

“Might be, part of it anyway. I figure Book thinks the senator’s off snuggled up with the young artist or some other sidepiece. That plays for him more than any kind of abduction.”

For sentiment as much as warmth Eve pulled on the snowflake hat as they crossed the lobby. “MacDonald had a strong point. Back when he was a judge, then a senator, he likely had a serious enemies list. He was a hard-liner on the bench and in Congress and kept himself in the spotlight pushing agendas. He still goes on those political talk shows and sort of raves about anything he disagrees with. Government spending’s high on the list and he goes off on a lot of social programs. During his last term he went hard after professional parenthood, had all these figures on what it would save the government to gut the law, and how his wife was honored to be a stay-at-home mother when their children came along, and never took a dime of government money for it.”