Bronze Gods Read Online Free PDF Page B

girl’s aunt, who was pale and red-eyed. She looked a good deal like Cira Aevar’s mother, he thought, just a bit older and more worn.
    “I’m sorry to put you through this at such a difficult time,” Ritsuko was saying. “But any insight you have could be crucial in locating Cira.”
    He sat beside his partner, cracking his senses like a bottle of beer, just enough to let a rivulet of emotion trickle into his consciousness. Anna Aevar was distraught, worried about her niece. Mikani sat silently and gathered impressions while Ritsuko asked all the pertinent questions. At the end of the session, he shook his head subtly to indicate the woman wasn’t hiding anything. They went on in such fashion for an hour, until Cira’s cousin stepped in.
    She was a sly-looking creature with fine brown hair and a narrow face complete with deep-set eyes. Though she said all the right things, she exuded a quiet satisfaction, as if Cira’s disappearance was no more than her just desserts. Mikani nudged Ritsuko’s foot with the tip of his cane to indicate there was something wrong.
    His partner broke from the prepared questions, leaning forward to spear the young woman with a stern look. “Miss Aevar, why don’t you simply admit that you’re hiding something? Your prevarications cannot fool the CID.”
    The girl’s face paled. “There’s nothing, I swear.”
    But sweat beaded on her prominent brow, and Mikani’s sense that she had a secret intensified. So he broke protocol and joined the interrogation, thinking she might find him more intimidating. “You do realize that we are at liberty to detain you at our discretion.”
    “My grandfather would never let that happen,” the girl cried.
    “Let’s call him down here to ask,” Ritsuko suggested coldly. “When I tell him that we believe you’re concealing key evidence relating to your cousin’s disappearance, do you think he’ll be inclined to protect you?”
    “Cira’s always had everything, and she didn’t appreciate
any
of it.”
    Mikani exchanged a look with his partner, wondering if this girl had a hand in her cousin’s vanishing act. “Prove your innocence. Tell us what you know.”
    “I don’t know everything,” the girl whined. “Only whispers. My mother said Cira was involved in something Grandfather wouldn’t approve of, and her mother was covering it up. That’s all I know, I swear.”
    Ritsuko glanced at him for confirmation. At his thoughtful nod, she made a note, and said, “Thank you again, Miss Aevar. You may go.”
    “We definitely need to interview Cira’s mother again,” Mikani noted when the girl stepped away. “If the cousin’s correct, and Mistress Aevar is hiding something, we need to find out what.”
    “Let’s ask the commander to set it up before we start canvassing theaters.”
    “Great job on the greasepaint lead,” he said, pushing to his feet.
    Ritsuko smiled. “It helps when a lab specialist likes you.”
    They spent the remainder of the evening canvassing, covering three theaters, where nobody had heard of Cira Aevar, though they had, of course, read about the poor girl in the newssheets. Past a certain hour, however, the CID went to a skeleton crew, and they had to spend the wee hours responding to other calls. Yet there was no question that this case would be top priority until they closed it.
    The following day was Sunday; normally they took the day off, but with a case this pressing, they had to work straight through. Mikani waited for Ritsuko at the Royale, the next stop on their master list of places where Cira might’ve come into contact with greasepaint. Age left its mark on the walls of a place, and the theater was among the few structures that had survived the renovations of the previous century. Its dome design and marble columns bespoke classical origin, unaltered over the years.
    He lit a slender cigarillo, summoning a thin shroud of sweet smoke to the lobby. As he dragged on the laced tobacco, he glanced