Free Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich Page A

I’m sorry,” Werner said. “This is my brother Hans.”
    The man stood up, all six foot four of him, massive and imposing in his four-star-general uniform. Hans Grunwald, the director of the NSA. One of the most powerful men in America. The second man in the rowboat.
    Riley had a rush of panic, fearing Hans had seen her in the kayak. She’d been wearing the RoboCop visor, and for the most part they were hidden in the cattails. Still, it was hard to miss a woman with red hair.
    “Were you close to Maxine?” Hans asked Riley.
    “No,” Riley said. “I hardly knew her.”
    “The police think it was a robbery,” Werner said. “Her purse, her watch, and her rings were all missing. Such a tragic waste.”
    The gold, Riley was thinking. The broken sunglasses. The men in the dark suits.
They killed her and dumped her in New York.
    “I never had the pleasure of meeting Maxine,” Hans said, “but Günter always spoke so fondly of her.”
    Riley’s mind was spinning. Hans had just lied to her. He’d seen Maxine alive, only yesterday.
    “I have to go,” she said, moving for the door. “I’m late for a meeting with Mr. Knight.”
    Werner blocked her way, looking ever so sympathetic. “Of course. But we were wondering. The police, as I say, think it’s a simple robbery. But then, they don’t know about Günter’s disappearance. And they don’t know about his…special relationship with Maxine.”
    “Relationship?”
    “Surely it was obvious.”
    “Okay.”
    “It’s possible, some would argue, that they were planning to run off together. And they had a falling out.”
    Riley took a beat to answer. “You think your brother could have killed her?”
    “No, no,” Werner and Hans said in the same breath.
    “Not at all,” Hans said.
    “But some might argue that,” Werner said.
    Hans nodded in agreement. “Some might.”
    Riley’s heart was skipping around in her chest. They were setting Günter up, throwing him under the bus.
    “How is Emerson’s investigation progressing?” Werner asked Riley. “Has he discovered anything?”
    Riley went with her gut reaction to lie. “Nope. Not a thing,” Riley said.
    Werner studied her for a long moment, and Riley felt her skin prickle.
    He took a step closer. “Just tell us what he did yesterday, Moonbeam.”
    “And where he went,” Hans said, closing in on her other side.
    These guys aren’t so tough, she told herself. I had law professors that could eat them for breakfast. All I have to do is swallow back the panic so I can think on my feet.
    “First of all, we went to see Günter’s wife,” she said. “And then Emerson wanted to talk to Maxine again so we came here, but Maxine was home sick.”
    Werner and Hans exchanged glances.
    Amateurs, Riley told herself. They probably sucked at poker too.
    “So we went to Maxine’s house,” she said.
    “And?” Werner asked.
    “And she didn’t look sick…or dead. And then we had lunch at Five Guys. That was it. It was pretty much a waste of time. Between you and me, I think Knight’s a little loony.”
    Hans nodded. “I see.”
    Werner stepped away and opened the door to his office, indicating the meeting was over. “Keep up the good work, Moonbeam,” he said. “And stay in touch.”
    The two men stood side by side and watched Riley walk down the hall and disappear into the elevator.
    “We have a problem with Moonbeam,” Werner said.
    “We’ll fix it,” Hans told him.

R iley hit the porch of Emerson’s mansion running. She barreled through the front door and almost tripped over a woman scrubbing the floor.
    “Watch where you’re going!” the woman said. “There’s capybara doody all over. I didn’t even know what a capybara was when I woke up this morning. Now I’m cleaning up after one.”
    An animal that looked like a giant guinea pig hurried across the hallway and out the front door. Aunt Myra ran after the animal.
    “Emerson’s in the dining room,” Myra yelled over her shoulder to