Sunken Pyramid (Rogue Angel) Read Online Free PDF Page B

stairs for some other reason. He wouldn’t normally have done that.”
    Manny offered a wry smile that deepened the crinkles around his eyes. “Lieutenant Greene is a young man, Ms. Creed. And so he doesn’t understand old men. We don’t take the stairs unless we have to. Especially fat old men like your Professor Schwartz.”
    “Edgar would have taken the elevator—”
    “If he would’ve taken any way out of the hotel at all. My guess was he hadn’t intended to go anywhere. He’d just ordered room service,” the detective continued. “Wouldn’t think a man like your Professor Schwartz would abandon a fancy meal.”
    Another siren wailed from out on the street, an ambulance by its tone. It grew until it seemed on top of them, then cut out.
    “So someone took him into the stairwell,” Annja mused aloud. “Dragged him or forced him or chased him. Someone killed him there and tried to make it look like an accident.”
    “That’s my thinking.” He straightened his tie, folded his notebook and stuck it in the inside pocket of his jacket. “Laptop’s missing, but the cord is here. Found the cord on the floor. Another clue some amount of foul play’s involved. The perp maybe was an amateur because he left the cord. But it’s too early to say just what went down. All just guesses on my part.” He sighed. “And you shouldn’t be saying anything about any of this. I don’t need Lieutenant Greene on my wrinkled ass because I talked about a case to a movie star.”
    Annja nodded. “I won’t say anything.” She looked around the room for...for what? “I...I want to help.” Need to help, she decided. All thoughts of attending the conference had vanished.
    “ Chasing History’s Monsters, right? That’s the name of your television show.”
    She didn’t answer, still glancing around, eyes recording all the details and searching. There was the laptop cord on the desk, next to the folder. Edgar’s folder? “He always brought a laptop everywhere,” she said. “Never an iPad or tablet. An old laptop, because for whatever reason he liked its operating system and didn’t mind its bugs.”
    “Sounds like you really did know him.”
    “His laptop. It wasn’t in the suitcase? It wasn’t with him...in the stairwell?”
    She registered his lack of reply as a no.
    Edgar was an aging archaeologist, pushing seventy or more likely already past it; she’d never pried about his age. He wasn’t into anything controversial that she knew of, hadn’t been on a single dig in the past six months because he’d told her his arthritis was getting worse. Why would someone murder him? For money? Edgar wasn’t wealthy, but he was reasonably comfortable and very old-fashioned. He preferred to carry cash over credit cards. Would someone kill him for money? Or had he—possibly—discovered something worth getting killed over? Edgar?
    “His wallet? Was it on him? Was—”
    The detective interrupted her. “Why don’t you go back to your conference? There are no monsters here for you to chase, Ms. Creed.” He picked up the folder, carefully tucked it under his arm and bent to grab the suitcase, but his chirping cell phone stopped him.
    He scowled as he dug for it, then put it to his ear. “Really? Really? This is going to be a long day, Arnie. I’ll be down in a few.” He returned the cell to his pocket, picked up the suitcase and gestured with his chin to get Annja to leave.
    She remembered the email Edgar had sent her yesterday. I have quite the monster for you to chase, dear Annja. We must meet for dinner tomorrow so I can give you my notes.
    “Oh, there’s a very real monster here, Detective Rizzo. The one that killed Edgar. And I definitely plan to chase it into the ground.”
    She spun on her heel and headed toward the elevator just as the radio started to play Alice Cooper’s rendition of “Only Women Bleed.”

Chapter 5
    The elevator doors opened to the lobby, revealing the flashing red lights of an