Page 97 of Fury In Death

“I’d rather him in a cage than a slab, but the world won’t miss him. I’ve got a consult with Mira straight off. I want more insight on Redman. While I’m with her, go through that list of friends. I crossed a couple off on the way home, but he had to go to someone. A night’s shelter, some running money, something.”

“He could’ve found a hole, stolen enough money to get him started.”

“Can’t discount it. Doesn’t fit—the stealing anyway—but we can’t discount how much those first seven years twisted him. Either way, we interview all of them. So contact and round them up. Start with his sister.”

“His sister?”

“Press her on who she thinks on that list could and would keep this secret, who could and would hold it this long.”

Eve pulled into the garage.

“If she’s got an opinion, round them up first. If there’s a delay getting any on the list into Central, we go to them. We break long enough on that for the memorial.”

“Do you think Redman would show?”

“No, he’d respect the family too much. That’s how I see it. But we don’t risk missing him if I’m wrong. I’m going straight to Mira,” Eve added as they got on the elevator.

“How about Banner-Wyst?”

Eve’s eyes went hard. “Next time we go there, it’s with warrants and a whole bunch of cops. Fuckers,” she said as the doors opened.

A woman of about fifty in a spotless navy suit got on with a “Tsk! Language!”

“That’s what I was using. Language. I’m taking the glides,” she said, and jumped off before three more cops and a sleepy-eyed LC pushed on.

Moving fast, Eve thought, and it had to be fast enough.

She considered offering Calvin Banner and Jacob Wyst police protection. They’d know why, and they no doubt had already increased their personal security.

She decided to throw that ball in Whitney’s court.

Was there another rung on the ladder to the top? How many had known about the plot to kill Redman?

Secrets, she thought, they rarely held. Here, as she saw it, some kept quiet for money, and one—maybe—for loyalty.

She turned into Mira’s area. The dragon sat at her desk, and Mira stood in her open doorway.

“Eve, come right in. Only emergencies, please,” Mira said to her admin.

“Of course.”

“You’ll want coffee this time of day, and so do I.”

Mira went straight to her AC, and as Eve had thought earlier, in perfectly coordinated wardrobe.

A dress that fell somewhere between blue and gray with a deeper blue jacket that stopped at the waist. The shoes matched the jacket, with the heels and toes matching the dress. She’d chosen twin studs for her ears in the blue that matched the stone of a pendant on a braided chain.

“How do you do that?”

Mira turned with the coffee. “Sorry?”

“It has nothing to do with anything, but how do you get all the outfits together like this? I mean, everything.”

“Oh, first, thank you. And to answer, ruthless organization and a great deal of vanity. I deal with so much chaos in the work, feeling put together helps keep me grounded. Still, I’ll never have your style.”

Baffled, Eve simply stared. “I have a style?”

“What I think of as an in-charge, no-bullshit style. It suits you.”