Alien in the House (43 page)

T
HE BREWERS TRULY
didn't live that far from us. They were in the Dupont Circle area, at the Cairo, which was a really cool, tall, older building.

We had enough time for “I'm Still Here” by the Goo Goo Dolls and “Some Might Say” by Oasis. Len pulled us up in front of the Cairo in the middle of Pink's “Bad Influence.”

I felt a hell of a lot better as we got out and went up the stone steps. The foyer was all glass with marble floors and Egyptians columns, along with a nice lounge that was doubling as the lobby. Happily, no one shot at us or the boys as we waited for Brewer to come down and collect us.

Living up to its name, the Cairo was a U-shaped building with an Egyptian theme. It also had gargoyles above the front entrance, griffins high up on the cornices, and then some. One wall of the lobby had a big mirror surrounded by photographs of the building's construction and other photo-worthy Cairo events. There were two reddish-orange square columns in front of two elevators. Double glass doors between them showed a stairway leading down to a stone central courtyard that was in the center of the U. We were admiring these when Brewer joined us.

“It's very Zen, isn't it?” he asked after we'd shaken hands, indicating the courtyard.

“If you say so. It's all pretty as far as I'm concerned. This is a great building.”

He beamed. “We love it. It's just so full of character. The first floor has elephant heads, looking left and right from the stone windowsills of the front windows. Their trunks interlock at the corners of the entrance arch.”

“Wow.”

“And the fourth floor has dragon and dwarf crosses. There are carved stone façades all over, too.” There were two wide staircases made of marble and wrought iron. Brewer pointed them out, too. “They span the height of the building. But we'll take the elevator, unless you'd rather walk all the way up.”

“You're at the top?”

“Oh, hell, no. Though the Cairo rooftop has a fabulous view. You can see the entire northwest skyline, including the Capitol building and the Washington Monument. But no, we live on the sixth floor. And that's high enough, believe me.”

Remembered Brewer had said he was afraid of heights. I could understand not living up too high if you were acrophobic.

Their apartment had a marble orb for a door handle. Apparently, that was a standard Cairo feature. So were the exposed red brick walls inside. By the time Nathalie had given us a tour, I was having serious apartment envy. Sure, theirs was smaller than ours, but theirs was normal and cool and quirky. Ours had the Elves, though, and Pierre, so I decided not to whine to Jeff about how we needed to move into this building.

Brunch was very nice. By mutual consent, we didn't talk about anything bad that had gone on over the past few days. As Nathalie had put it, we just wanted to relax and make the rest of the world go away for a little while.

Once we finished, the men went into Brewer's study to talk about the bills, and Nathalie and I looked at her portfolio. “You've got some amazing shots,” I said as we finished. “Why did you stop modeling?”

She shrugged. “It got boring. I wanted to do more. And I met Edmund.” She smiled. “He went out of his way to win me, and I was dating several actors at the time. He was just the right one for me.”

“I'm glad you guys worked out your problems.”

“I as well. Eugene reminded me of how Edmund had been at the start. But after you found us, well . . .” She looked down. “I saw how you looked at me, how horrified you were, and how disappointed in both of us you seemed. We weren't close then, at all, I know, but you were the only one who told me the truth.”

“I don't remember saying anything.”

“Your expression was enough. Eugene told me how you wouldn't speak to him any more. I realized you were right—what we were doing was wrong. Especially because I hadn't told Edmund that I was unhappy.” She took my hand. “So thank you for your moral objection. It saved my marriage.”

“No.” I hugged her. “You and Edmund saved your marriage, not me.”

Girl bonding moment over, we were now both closer and feeling a little awkward. “Would you like to see the view?” Nathalie asked. “I can almost never get Edmund up there, but it would be a shame for you to miss it. And since we have no rain right now, it would be a good time.”

“Sure. Edmund said the view was great.”

We went up to the top, and I could see for myself that the Brewers hadn't misrepresented the view. It was spectacular. “There are storm clouds coming.”

“Maybe we'll have a white Christmas,” Nathalie said.

“Or just more rain.”

We laughed and headed down. Beautiful view or not, it was cold at the top.

Jeff and Brewer were waiting for us when we got back. “You want the scenic tour, too?” Brewer asked him.

“Nah,” Jeff said with a grin. “I'll save it for next time.”

“And don't you worry about those bills,” Brewer said. “Like I told you, I've already spotted the problems. They won't be passing as long as I'm around.” He grimaced. “Too bad Wendell's gone. We were working together to be sure to get these shot down.”

“You told me that it only took a few to cause a bill to pass or fail. And there are some strong anti-alien lobbies out there now. Should we be worried?”

“No,” Brewer said. “This kind of thing happens all the time, Kitty. As long as there are enough of us with pull around to ensure the undecided sway to our side of things it'll be fine. Now, you two need to get going.”

“We do?”

“Yeah,” Jeff said. “Raj called me. We're needed back home. The jocks are on their way to collect us.”

I sighed. “Well, at least we had a couple of hours off.”

Hugs all around and the promise to do this again soon made, Brewer escorted us down to the lobby. There were several people waiting for the elevator when we got down. Brewer walked us to the front doors. “I'm glad we took the time to really get to know each other,” he said as the boys pulled up at the sidewalk.

“Us too,” Jeff said. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yes, we'll be glad to attend the birthday party.” Brewer winked. “The photo ops should be great, and I'm sure you'll appreciate more bodies there to block your daughter from the press.”

“Like you wouldn't believe,” I confirmed.

“You going up?” a man called from the second elevator. He seemed to be holding it for Brewer.

“Great tenants here, too,” Brewer said to us. “Coming,” he called to the man in the elevator. “See you both tomorrow,” he said over his shoulder as he headed toward the elevator.

I turned to watch him and felt like something nudged into me and I teetered. Assumed I'd just lost my balance on the slick marble as Jeff steadied me. Diplomat or not, I wasn't used to wearing heels every day. Brewer waved to us, and we waved back, as the elevator doors closed.

We stepped outside and I realized something. “Crap, you left your hat. And coat.”

Jeff sighed. “We can ask them to bring them tomorrow, baby.”

Felt a pout coming on. I was becoming addicted to Jeff in the trench and hat look. “I guess.”

He rolled his eyes. “Or I can inconvenience our hosts and ask them if I can run back up and get them.”

“Oh, look, it's a moot point.”

Nathalie came out, carrying Jeff's things. “You forgot these,” she said with a laugh.

“Thanks, you've made Kitty's day,” Jeff said as he took them and put them on.

“Where's Edmund?” Nathalie asked.

“He went back up already.”

“Oh, we must have passed each other in the elevators.” She pulled out her phone. “He tends to worry if I'm not where he thinks I should be.” She dialed. Her brow wrinkled. “That's strange. He's not answering.”

My Megalomaniac Girl early warning signal started to act up. “I think we need to find Edmund, right now, Jeff. Boys, out of the car.”

As they got out Len looked up. “Is that part of the building?” He pointed.

We all looked up. So we were all able to see the man teetering at the edge of the rooftop.

T
IME MOVED SLOWLY.
Nathalie was screaming, the boys were trying to get to her and me, I was trying to tell the Poofs to activate and do something.

Jeff, however, had been the Head of Field for a lot longer than he'd been anything else. He took off into the building.

But using the fastest hyperspeed available or not, I saw the man fall just as Jeff got there. Jeff grabbed for him and almost fell off the roof himself, though he managed to stay on. But he wasn't Mister Fantastic, and he'd have needed elongating rubber arms to catch the falling man.

Time might have been moving slowly, but gravity was on the case. The man hit the sidewalk with a sickening thud, cut off mid-scream. He was on his back, so identification was easy. Nathalie screaming even more and having to be held back by both boys made the confirmation. Brewer was on the sidewalk.

No one was holding me, and I ran to him. “Ed, Ed, are you okay?” He'd fallen twelve stories; I knew he wasn't okay. However, I asked anyway, hoping against hope that he'd fallen onto the soft concrete.

His eyes were open and glassy. I touched his neck. Felt no pulse. My phone rang. I managed to get it out of my purse. “I almost had him,” Jeff said. “Is he . . .”

“He's very dead. And there's no way in the world he went up there willingly.”

“He was alone up here. There's no way a human could have gotten to the elevator and past me, not at the speed I was moving at. And someone had to have forced him up there, because I had to jump up onto the ledge to try to catch him.”

“Don't touch anything and get back down here. Fast.”

Jeff was with me by the time I'd hung up. “Why did you want me down?”

“Because if a human couldn't get past you, that means there's only one logical explanation. I thought I'd lost my balance when we were in the foyer, but now I think someone brushed past me at the super-fast hyperspeed.”

“Clarence,” Jeff growled.

“Yes. So he ran into the elevator before the doors closed and forced Brewer up to the roof. He ran down the other staircase, or he ran past you and you didn't notice.” A thought nudged. “I told everyone to get security on Brewer. Why weren't they on the case?”

“No idea. I'll call James.”

“No. Let me. You need to help the boys with Nathalie.” I dialed. But not Reader.

“Yes, Missus Martini?”

“Mister White, I need you at the Cairo five minutes ago.”

“On my way.”

Hung up and now I called Reader.

“Kitty, what's up?” Reader asked.

“Edmund Brewer just fell to his death. There is no way this wasn't foul play. Jeff tried to save him but he was just a moment too late. There are no guards anywhere and it just occurred to me to look around for them. Did you assign teams to guard the Brewers?”

Jeff was holding Nathalie and he helped her over to Brewer's body. I moved out of the way as she sobbed and Jeff held her.

“Yes, I assigned four agents.” Reader's voice was tight. “I'll call you back.”

White appeared. Raj was with him. “I see we're too late,” White said quietly.

“Yes, but I called you after. . . . I think Clarence was or is here. James said he had four agents assigned to protect the Brewers but I haven't seen any sign of them.”

“Rajnish and I will do a search,” White said. “Keep the young men with you and on guard.” White and Raj disappeared.

My phone rang. “The agents aren't responding to any calls,” Reader said. “Sending more teams over.”

“Richard and Raj are already here and searching. I need you to call the police and advise Chuckie. And whoever else needs to know. My mom. She needs to know. Probably.”

“I'll handle it. Kitty, are you okay?”

“No. I'm numb with shock and horror so I expect to be really freaked out later. And right after that I'm going to be enraged. But right now, I'm just trying not to believe this has happened. I'm also officially more than done with people dying near me, especially people I know and like.”

“We'll find who's doing this and stop them. I promise.”

We hung up and I dropped my phone back into my purse. The Poofs weren't there. Jamie had pointedly told me to bring them and now they weren't around. Tried not to be upset with them and reminded myself that they tended to do their own thing, for their own reasons, all of which had worked out for the best in the past. Decided to trust them now, too, and sent a mental “be careful” message to them.

What was in my purse, however, were the burner phones. Pulled out the one that was supposedly my new hotline to the Dingo and dialed. “Yes, Miss Katt?”

“I need the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Have you or your cousin killed a C.I.A. operative named Pia Ryan, put her and/or a car bomb into Clifford Goodman's car, or shoved or caused Representative Edmund Brewer to fall off the top of the Cairo building?”

“No. To all of those.”

“I mean it. I
need
to know the truth. Frankly, if you've done all that, my life will be less complex, confusing, and stressful. So I want a truly honest answer.”

“I am not lying to you. We have not harmed or interacted with any of those people.”

“How about Representative Juvonic? Did you hit him with a blowgun dart tipped with the heart attack drug serum? Or something like that?”

“What? Who? No. What's going on?” The Dingo sounded genuinely confused.

“Raul the assassin—is Raul his real name, or is it his assassin's name? Like I know your parents didn't call you the Dingo when you were growing up.”

“That is his name in the business, yes.”

“Do you know his real name? I know yours, at least, what the government assumes your last name to be—Kasperoff.”

“Correct. But no, I don't know his real name. I do know that he comes from Florida. Originally.”

Leventhal Reid was from Florida. Time to make another leap. “Does he ever use the alias of Dier, or Reid?”

“Dier, yes. I haven't heard of him using Reid.”

“Okay, so, when you said that Raul was around the Embassy the other night, he was disguised as a SWAT cop, wasn't he?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn't you tell Amy and Caroline that?”

“I am not here to help you arrest Raul for impersonating an officer of the law. I am here to protect you from him.”

“Because he's broken the rules, I know. What about his sister? Is she an assassin, too?”

“I am not acquainted with any of his relatives, other than the late Bernice, who was indeed his wife.”

“Are you planning on killing Raul, or are you merely planning to show him the error of his ways and appeal to his reason and sense of assassin's honor?”

“The former, why?”

“Because I have a feeling that Raul is combining business with pleasure. I think he's under contract, and that his sister's in on the deal, too. Who normally hires him?”

“The Central Intelligence Agency.”