Brotherhood in Death by J. D. Robb Page A

come in here?”
    â€œRight away.”
    When he left, Tressa squared her shoulders, came back to sit, picked up her latte. “You’ll need to know where I was yesterday. Four-thirty?”
    â€œLet’s make it from four to six P.M. ”
    â€œI was in meetings here until about a quarter to five. Wyatt, Aiden, and several others can verify. I had drinks scheduled for five with Marcella Candine at Bistro on Lex. We were there until shortly after six. I took a cab from there to my mother’s. It was my sister’s birthday, and we had a dinner party. Family dinner.”
    Wyatt Book didn’t knock. He simply strode in, an imposing man twenty years Tressa’s senior with a shock of hair in an improbable inky black. His crisp suit mirrored the color, as did his eyes. They flicked off Tressa, zeroed in on Eve.
    â€œWhat’s this about?”
    â€œEdward’s missing.”
    â€œâ€˜Missing’? Don’t be ridiculous.”
    â€œHave you seen or spoken with him since yesterday afternoon?” Eve asked.
    â€œNo, 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.”
    â€œâ€˜Attacked’? Absurd. Where was Vinnie?”
    â€œEdward dismissed him. He went there to meet someone, supposedly a new Realtor. Dennis Mira was also attacked.”
    â€œHa.” The mild concern faded into mild amusement. “The two of them probably finally took swings at each other.”
    â€œNow who’s being ridiculous and absurd.”
    â€œFor 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.”
    â€œWhich tells me whoever has him is smart enough to destroy his ’link,” Eve put in. “Who’s the new Realtor?”
    â€œI have no idea, and that’s more malarkey. He’ll go back to Silas once they both cool down.”
    â€œThey had an altercation?”
    â€œEdward fired him a couple weeks ago because Silas refused to list or show the property.”
    â€œWhich Silas can’t do,” Tressa continued, “as Edward doesn’t own the property outright.”
    â€œI’m aware. Does Senator Mira have any enemies?”
    Wyatt let out a derisive snort, plopped down on the couch. “Whose coffee is this?”
    â€œGo ahead,” Eve told him. “I haven’t touched it.”
    â€œHe’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.”
    â€œThere 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.”
    â€œAnyone 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.”
    â€œI stay out of Edward’s personal life,” Tressa said coolly, but Wyatt leaned forward.
    â€œWe can’t have any talk of extramarital affairs and dalliances leaked to the media.”
    â€œI’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.”
    â€œI’m warning you—”
    â€œYou want to be careful about warning me when it comes to doing my job. Who’s he seeing now?”
    â€œShe’s an artist.” Tressa stopped