Possession in Death Read Online Free PDF

come
back, didn’t pay the rent.”
    It hurt, hurt to look through, to touch, to
feel
Beata as she dug through
pretty blouses, skimmed over worn slippers.
    She knew better, she reminded herself, knew better than to become
personally involved. Beata Varga wasn’t her victim, not directly.
    The promise is in you.
    The voice spoke insistently inside her head, inside her heart.
    “Tag these,” Eve ordered, shoving to her feet. She crossed over to the chest,
studied the photo of Beata propped there and fronted by three scribed candles.
Beside the photo a handful of colored crystals glittered in a small dish along with
an ornate silver bell and a silver-backed hand mirror.
    “What do we have on the granddaughter?” Eve asked.
    “Beata Varga, age twenty-two. She’s here on a work visa, and employed—
until she went missing three months ago—at Goulash. No criminal. The family
filed a report. A Detective Lloyd is listed as investigating officer. Missing Persons
Division out of the One-three-six.”
    “Reach out there,” Eve told her. “Have him meet us at the restaurant. Thirty
minutes.”
    She opened the first drawer of the chest, found neatly folded underwear and
nightclothes, and a box of carved wood. She lifted the lid, studied the pack of
tarot cards, the peacock feather, the small crystal ball and stand.
    Tools of her trade, Eve thought, started to set the box aside. Then,
following impulse, pressed her thumbs over the carved flowers on the sides.
Left, left, right. And a narrow drawer slid out of the base.
    “Wow.” Peabody leaned over her shoulder. “A secret drawer. Frosty. How
did you open it?”
    “Just… luck,” Eve said, even as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.
    Inside lay a lock of dark hair tied with gold cord, a wand-shaped crystal on a
chain, and a heart of white stone.
    “They’re hers.” Eve’s throat went dry and achy. “Beata’s. Her hair,
something she wore, something she touched.”
    “You’re probably right. Szabo probably used them, along with the cards and
crystals, maybe the bell and the mirror in locator spells. I’m not saying you can
find people with spells,” Peabody added when Eve just stared at her. “But that she
thought she could. Anyway, Detective Lloyd’s going to meet us.”
    “Then let’s see what else we can find here first.”
    The old woman lived simply, neatly, and cautiously. In the cloth bag in the
bottom of the chest Eve found a small amount of cash, another bag of crystals and
herbs, a map of the city, and a subway card, along with ID and passport and a
number of the flyers with Beata’s image and information.
    But taped under the friggie they found an envelope of cash with a peacock
feather fixed diagonally across the seal.
    “That’s about ten thousand,” Peabody estimated. “She didn’t have to read
palms to pay the rent.”
    “It’s what she did. What kept her centered. Bag it, and let’s seal this place
up. We should get to the restaurant.”
    “She made it nice,” Peabody repeated with another glance around. “I guess
that’s what travelers do. Make a home wherever they land, then pack it up and
make the next one.”
    Beata hadn’t packed it up, Eve thought, and wherever she was, it wasn’t
home.
     
    Goulash did a bustling business on Saturday evening. Spices perfumed air
that rang with voices and the clatter of silverware, the clink of glasses. The
waitstaff wore red sashes at the waist of black uniforms while moving briskly
from kitchen to table.
    A rosy-cheeked woman of about forty offered Eve a welcoming smile.
“Welcome to Goulash. Do you have a reservation?”
    Eve palmed her badge. “We’re not here for dinner.”
    “Beata! You’ve found her.”
    “No.”
    “Oh.” The smile faded away. “I thought… I’m sorry, what can I do for
you?”
    “We’re meeting Detective Lloyd on a police matter. We’ll need somewhere
to talk. And I’ll need to speak with you and your staff.”
    “Of course.” She looked