Possession in Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

around. “We’re not going to have a table free for at
least a half hour, but you can use the kitchen.”
    “That’s fine. Your name?”
    “Mirium Frido. This is my place, my husband’s and mine. He’s the chef. Is
this about Beata? Beata Varga?”
    “Indirectly.”
    “Give me one minute to put someone else on the door.” Mirium hurried
over to one of the waitresses. The girl glanced at Eve and Peabody, nodded.
    Mirium signaled Eve forward, then led them through the dining room, past
the bar, and through one of a pair of swinging doors into the chaos of the kitchen.
    “Dinner rush. I’ll set you up over here—our chef’s table. Jan invites
customers back sometimes—gives them a treat. I told Vee to send Detective
Lloyd back when he gets here. He’s been in several times about Beata, so
everyone knows him. Can you tell me anything about her? Do you have more
information?”
    “I’ll know more when I speak with the detective. She worked for you.”
    “Yes. A beautiful girl and a good worker. She was a pleasure.” Mirium
reached back to a shelf, picked up three setups, and arranged them on the table.
“I know they think she just took off—Gypsy feet—but it doesn’t make sense. She
made amazing tips—the looks, the voice, the personality. And… well, she just
wouldn’t be that rude and careless, wouldn’t have left without telling us. Or her
family.”
    “Boyfriend?”
    “No. Nothing serious and no one specific. She dated—she’s young and
gorgeous. But she was serious about her dancing. Went to auditions, took classes
every day. She had an understudy spot in a small musical review. And she’d just
landed a part in the chorus on a new musical spot off-Broadway. There wasn’t
enough time for a serious boyfriend. I’m sorry, please sit. How about some
food?”
    “We’re good, thanks. You have flyers at the reservation station, I noticed.”
    “Yes. Her grandmother—well, great-grandmother—is here from Hungary.
She had them made up and takes them around the city. She comes by here every
day. Detective—”
    “Lieutenant,” Eve said automatically.
    “Lieutenant, Beata worked here nearly a year. You get to know people who
work for you, and I promise you, she wouldn’t worry her family this way. I’m so
afraid something’s happened to her. I know Madam Szabo’s determined to find
her, but with every day that passes…”
    “I’m sorry to tell you Gizi Szabo was killed this afternoon.”
    “No.” Instantly Mirium’s eyes filled. “Oh, no. What happened?”
    “We’re going to find out.”
    “She told my fortune,” Mirium murmured. “Said I would have a child, a son.
Jan and I haven’t… That was two months ago. I found out yesterday I’m
pregnant. I told her just today.”
    “She was in today.”
    “Yes, about eleven, I guess.” Shaking her head, Mirium swiped at a tear
while the kitchen bustle raged on around them. “She was so happy for me. She
said she’d felt his search, my son’s. An old soul, she said, who’d turned the
wheel again. She talked like that,” Mirium murmured. “I don’t really believe that
sort of thing, but when she looks at you… She’s—she was—Romany, and a
speaker for the dead.”
    So am I, Eve thought with a quick chill. I speak for the dead. “What time did
she leave?”
    “She was only here a few minutes. She said she was going home. She said she
felt closer to Beata, felt something coming. Or someone. I don’t know, she was
—I want to say optimistic. She was going to rest and then do a new spell because
she was breaking through, well, the veil. She said Beata was toward the setting
sun, below the rays, um, locked beyond the red door. I have no idea what that
meant,” Mirium added. “Or if it meant anything, but she was
fierce
about it. She
swore Beata was alive, but trapped. By a devil.”
    “I know how that sounds,” she continued. “But—” She glanced over.
“Here’s Detective Lloyd. Sorry I went on like