Alien in the House

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.



CHAPTER 79
    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.”