LITMIR.BIZ

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his back?

      He needed to talk to King Marcus this morning and convince him to order the woman back to the States on the next plane out.

      What he needed now was a safe place to leave her, somewhere she’d stay put while he accomplished that.

      “Can you handle reading the reports?” he asked. “Some are lengthy and fairly graphic. Pictures.”

      She looked suspicious. “Well, since I’ve seen the real thing, I think I can manage without freaking out. But what will you be doing while I’m doing that?”

      He glanced over at her before backing out of the parking lot and lied straight-faced. “Checking on the earring. What else? You want to catch up on the case or ride out to the airport? I figure there’s no point in duplicating our efforts, right?”

      She only hesitated a moment, looking doubtful, then agreed.

      Ryan almost heaved a sigh of relief. Once he spoke to the king and had her exiled, she was going to be mad as hell. He doubted she’d ever forgive him for it.

      But what did he care? He’d never see her again after she left. At the realization, depression hit him like a train. It had hit before on a fairly regular basis and he was used to it now, but this time it was a little different. This time, there was a smattering of hope mixed up in all that gloom.

      Maybe Nina would return to Montebello when all this was over. If she would just come back to ream him out about this, or visit her brother’s grave, or just see the sights she’d missed, he might have a chance to convince her he’d been doing her a favor.

      Stupid idea. None of those reasons would bring her back here. He was about to end it all before he even started anything with Nina Caruso. Safer that way, anyhow, he thought. He had no business letting her get a hold on him the way he’d been doing. It had been ages since he’d had anything going with a woman that lasted longer than it took to put his clothes back on. That was the way his life went now, and he would keep it that way.

      When they reached police headquarters, he took her up to the fourth floor and introduced her to Franz Koenig, his forensics specialist and erstwhile computer geek.

      Koenig was geeky, bless his heart, complete with postadolescent pimples and the requisite penholder sticking out of his pocket. He’d only recently replaced his taped-together horn-rims with round granny glasses, and then only after Joe had dragged him down to the optometrist.

      Franz was one of those guys who could get it all together, and then forget where he put it. The fact that he could get it all together so methodically was what had landed him the job. Ryan could take it from there, and actually preferred it that way. When it came to piling up seemingly insignificant bits of evidence, nobody did it better than Franz. Sorting them out was Ryan’s forte.

      “Franz here is our detail man,” he told Nina. “He catalogs and lines up the pieces of the puzzle, and I mean all of them.” Ryan clapped him on the shoulder. “Ms. Caruso found us a possible clue last night.” He pulled the wrapped earring out of his pocket and handed it to Franz. “Give me some quick photos of this and then get what you can off of it.”

      Franz held the thing between his thumb and forefinger and began looking around for the camera. He found it, then tugged on gloves to position the object for photographing.

      “Ms. Caruso’s going to keep you company while I run an errand, Franz. I’m giving her the initial reports to read. You see if you can answer any questions she has about them. I’ll be back in a couple of hours to pick her up.”

      Franz shrugged. “Okay.”

      Ryan scribbled a phone number on a phone pad and handed it to Franz. “If you need me, call my cell phone. Here’s an alternate number just in case.” He knew he’d be required to turn off the cellular during his audience with the king.

      “Okay,” Franz mumbled again, took the paper and laid it down beside his microscope.

      Ryan went to the portable file cabinet he had set up in the area where Franz was working. He unlocked it, withdrew a folder and brought it back to Nina.

      She eagerly took the file, looked around for a space to work and made herself comfortable at the desk nearest the door. Good. She’d be out of the way and occupied while Ryan took care of business at the palace.

      He waited around for the Polaroid shots of the earring to give to Joe, who would check it out with the airlines. Nina seemed thoroughly engrossed in reading and content to stay, but he shot a look of warning over her head to Franz, who nodded back. Ryan just wished Franz didn’t look quite so spacey. Most of the time it didn’t matter.

      Nina, eyes locked on a page in the file, tossed him a negligent wave as he walked past her to leave.

      Ryan experienced a strange sense of unease. He stopped at the table and looked down at her. “You have enough to do here?”

      She nodded, then placed her finger on the page to hold her place as she looked up at him. “You guys have been busy after all, I see. There’s much more here than I expected.”

      He shrugged off the backhanded compliment. “If you need anything while I’m gone, just ask Franz.” He gestured toward Koenig, who was so engrossed in his work he wouldn’t notice if the walls fell down around him. “Interrupt him.”

      “All right,” she replied and went back to reading the file, dismissing Ryan as surely as if she’d slammed the door behind him.

      Chapter 5

      Ryan wasn’t too surprised that he had to wait awhile when he arrived at the king’s offices. Not that it was a bad place to cool his heels, if he’d had time to waste.

      The lap of luxury hardly began to describe the palace. The furnishings were Italianate, of carved dark mahogany. The rich fabrics mirrored in the polished marble floors. Everything in the palace was as lush and exotic as the setting for the buildings themselves.

      The doors finally opened and Prince Lucas emerged. He spied Ryan immediately and inclined his head. “McDonough.”

      “Your Highness,” Ryan replied, shaking the prince’s hand when it was offered. “It’s good to have you back. It goes without saying, everybody’s been worried about you and relieved to have you home again.”

      The royal expression looked sad, distracted, even if the lips were turned up at the corners. “Yes, well, it was an eventful year to say the least.”

      “No doubt. Bet you’ve had enough of the States for a while.”

      A haunted look replaced his official for-the-public smile and Prince Lucas gave a short shake of his head.

      “Are you okay?” Ryan asked, peering a little more closely at him.

      Immediately Lucas straightened, once again regal. Didn’t matter if he was dressed today in slacks and a pullover sweater, nobody would ever mistake him for anything less than what he was, Ryan thought. And he guessed it was not all that politic to question the future king’s health, much less his state of mind.

      “I’m fine, thank you. And you? Lorenzo tells me you’re heading up the investigation into Desmond’s death. How is it going? I hear the crime scene was burned to a crisp last night. I suppose that won’t help.”

      “Not much,” Ryan agreed with a shrug.

      “Well, good luck with it.” He stood aside and nodded at the door he’d just exited. “The king’s ready to see you, I expect, so I won’t keep you.” He turned and walked away without another word.

      Ryan watched him start down the now-deserted corridor, noting his bowed head and the hands stuck in his pockets, the lack of spring in his step. Really glum when he thought no one was watching.

      Did the upcoming coronation weigh that heavily on him? Ryan wondered. After all he had heard about the exploits of Lucas Sebastiani, he couldn’t imagine that the mere job of running a little country would get him down. Must

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