In Death 02 - Glory in Death

wonder. It was a shame, he thought, that they couldn't take a day or two so that he could show her the city, the grandeur of it, and its impossible continuity.
    He was sorry when the car pulled jerkily to the curb and yanked her back to reality.
    "This better be good." Without waiting for the driver, she slammed out of the car. When Roarke took her elbow to lead her inside the apartment building, she turned her head and frowned at him. "Aren't you even the least bit annoyed at being summoned across a damn ocean for a conversation?"
    "Darling, I often go a great deal farther for less. And without such charming company."
    She snorted and had nearly taken out her badge to flash at the security droid before she remembered herself. "Eve Dallas and Roarke for Mirina Angelini."
    "You're expected, Eve Dallas and Roarke." The droid glided to a gilt-barred elevator and keyed in a code.
    "You could get one of those," Eve nodded toward the droid before the elevator's doors closed, "and ditch Summerset."
    "Summerset has his own charm."
    She snorted again, louder. "Yeah. You bet."
    The doors slid open into a gold and ivory foyer with a small, tinkling fountain in the shape of a mermaid.
    "Jesus," Eve whispered, scanning the palm trees and paintings. "I didn't think anybody but you really lived like this."
    "Welcome to Rome." Randall Slade stepped forward. "Thank you for coming. Please come in. Mirina's in the sitting room."
    "She didn't mention you'd be here, Mr. Slade."
    "We made the decision to call you together."
    Biding her time for questions, Eve walked passed him. The sitting room was sided on the front wall in sheer glass. One-way glass, Eve assumed, as the building was only six stories high. Despite the relatively short height, it afforded an eye-popping view of the city.
    Mirina sat daintily on a curved chair, sipping tea from a hand that shook slightly.
    She seemed paler, if possible, and even more fragile in her trendy robe of ice blue. Her feet were bare, the nails painted to match her robe. She'd dressed her hair up in a severe knot, secured with a jeweled comb. Eve thought she looked like one of the ancient Roman goddesses, but her mythology was too sketchy to choose which one.
    Mirina didn't rise, nor did she smile, but set her cup aside to pick up a slim white pot and pour two more.
    "I hope you'll join me for tea."
    "I didn't come for a party, Ms. Angelini."
    "No, but you've come, and I'm grateful."
    "Here, let me do that." With a smooth grace that almost masked the way the cups rattled in Mirina's hands, Slade took them from her. "Please sit down," he invited. "We won't keep you any longer than necessary, but you might as well be comfortable."
    "I don't have any jurisdiction here," Eve began as she took a cushioned chair with a low back, "but I'd like to record this meeting, with your permission."
    Mirina looked at Slade, bit her lip. "Yes, of course." She cleared her throat when Eve took out her recorder and set it on the table between them. "You know about the... difficulties Randy had several years ago in Sector 38."
    "I know," Eve confirmed. "I was told you didn't."
    "Randy told me yesterday." Mirina reached up blindly, and his hand was there. "You're a strong, confident woman, Lieutenant. It may be difficult for you to understand those of us who aren't so strong. Randy didn't tell me before because he was afraid I wouldn't handle it well. My nerves." She moved her thin shoulders. "Business crises energize me. Personal crises devastate me. The doctors call it an avoidance tendency. I'd rather not face trouble."
    "You're delicate," Slade stated, squeezing her hand. "It's nothing to be ashamed of."
    "In any case, this is something I have to face. You were there," she said to Roarke, "during the incident."
    "I was on the station, probably in the casino."
    "And the security at the hotel, the security Randy called, they were yours."
    "That's right. Everyone has private security. Criminal cases are transferred to the magistrate -- unless they can be dealt with privately."
    "You mean through bribes."
    "Naturally."
    "Randy could have bribed security. He didn't."
    "Mirina." He hushed her with another squeeze of his hand. "I didn't bribe them because I wasn't thinking clearly enough to bribe them. If I had, there wouldn't have been a record, and we wouldn't be discussing it now."
    "The heavy charges were dropped," Eve pointed out. "You were given the minimum penalty for the ones that stood."
    "And I was assured that