Reunion in Death by J. D. Robb

Smiling, I think. Yes, I recall thinking she was very personable, and how she seemed to take an interest in what Walt was saying. I think I smiled at her when Walt finished his toast, but she was watching him. Then we all drank, and I didn't notice her once Walt began to choke."
    "I think I saw her." Nadine lifted a hand to the long triple string of pearls she wore. "When I ran out to call for help, I saw her in the foyer."
    "What was she doing?" Eve asked.
    "I think, well, she must have been leaving. She was walking away, toward the door."
    "None of you had seen her before tonight?" When they all looked at each other, a sort of baffled head-shaking, Eve went on, "Does the name Julie Dockport mean anything? Maybe your father mentioned it."
    "I never heard him mention that name." Wally glanced around as the rest of his family shook their heads again.
    "Do you know if he was concerned about anyone, or anything? A business deal, a personal problem."
    "He was happy," Sherilyn said quietly. "He was a happy man."
    "A happy man," Eve stated after she released the family, "loved by one and all doesn't get poisoned on his birthday. There's something under this pretty picture, Peabody."
    "Yes, sir. The officers who went to Dockport's address report that she's not there. Her across-the-hall neighbor told them she moved out that morning. Claimed she was moving to Philly."
    "I want sweepers over there, now. I want that place combed. They won't find anything, but I want it done."
    "Sir?"
    "Looks like we've got ourselves a pro."

CHAPTER 4
    Though it was after one in the morning when she got home, Eve wasn't surprised to find Roarke in his office. It was rare for him to sleep more than five hours a night. Rarer still for him not to wait up until she was home.
    The work fueled him, she knew. More than the obscene amounts of money he made every time he wheeled a deal, it was the deal itself-the planning, the strategizing, the negotiating, that engaged his interests and energies.
    He bought because things were there to be bought. Though she often thought of the companies, the real estate, the factories, the hotels he acquired as his toys, she knew he was a man who took his toys very, very seriously.
    He'd broadened her focus considerably since they'd been together. Travel, culture, society. Somehow he managed to carve out time for everything and more. The money was nothing to him, she thought, unless it was enjoyed.
    The man who ruled a business empire with a scope beyond reason sat at a desk at one-fifteen in the morning with a brandy at his elbow, a fat, purring cat on his lap, and his sleeves rolled up while he worked at his computer like any lowly office drone.
    And, she thought, he was enjoying it.
    "Are you in the middle of something or are you playing?"
    He glanced up. "A bit of both. Save data and file," he ordered the computer, then sat back. "The media's already got your homicide. I was sorry to hear about Walter Pettibone."
    "You knew him?"
    "Not well. But enough to appreciate his business sense and to know he was a pleasant sort of man."
    "Yeah, everybody loved good old Walt."
    "The media report said he'd collapsed at his home during a party to celebrate his sixtieth birthday; one we were invited to," he added. "But as I wasn't sure precisely when we'd be back or what mood we'd be in, I declined. Murder wasn't mentioned, just that the police were investigating."
    "Media vultures wouldn't have the official ME's report yet. I just got it myself. It's homicide. Somebody slipped some cyanide in his drink. What do you know about the ex-wife?"
    "Not a great deal. I believe they were married for a number of years, divorced without any scandal. He married some pretty young thing sometime after. There was some head shaking over that, but the gossip died down quickly enough. Walter wasn't the sort of man who made a target for gossip. Just not enough juice."
    Eve sat, stretched out her legs. When she reached down to pet Galahad, the cat