When no one at the table responded, he resumed.
“You should also know that I’ve decided to reopen my law offices, with an eye toward hiring attorneys who will serve as relentless watchdogs and advocates against ever coming so close to losing control of our government again. So, to anyone who may be of a mind to repeat the same mistakes made by this lawless administration, or for a single moment believe they are above the law, I have a message for you: don’t.”
* * *
At the meeting’s conclusion an hour later, Mackensie Smith escorted the participants through the reception area to the elevators that opened directly into the firm’s offices. Brixton trailed him out of both propriety and the reality of his need to move gingerly to avoid tearing any of his stitches or exacerbating his slew of injuries.
As men and women filed into the cab, turning their phones back on, none of them seemed to notice Lia Ganz seated off to the side, a cane resting against the side of one of three metal folding chairs that had replaced the elegant office furniture.
Smith noticed her after the elevator had begun its descent, casting her a smile before turning back to Brixton.
“I’ve got some things to finish up in my office. Can I trust the two of you alone?”
“Thanks, Mac,” Brixton said, hugging him tight with a single arm and balancing the majority of his weight on his good leg.
“Hey, what are friends for?”
Lia Ganz waited for Mackensie Smith to take his leave before she rose and hobbled toward Brixton, relying heavily on her cane. He met her halfway across the floor with his crutch, taking her hand in the one not held in a sling.
“You’re looking your age,” Brixton commented, wincing from the pain in his chest when he started to laugh.
“From one grandparent to another.”
“We need to stop doing that,” Brixton told her.
“What?”
“Reminding ourselves of our age.”
Lia considered that. “It was Henry Ford who said, ‘Anyone who stops learning is old. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.’”
Brixton moved a step closer to her. “And what have we learned from all this?”
“That the world still needs people to show them how it’s done.”
“Hopefully we’ll never have to do that again, Lia.”
“I’ve been doing it all of my life, Robert. Why should tomorrow be any different? If nothing else, it makes us appreciate the truly important things in life. Like grandchildren.”
Brixton’s mind was clearly elsewhere. “And more.”
* * *
Flo Combes was redressing a mannequin perched in the window of her Manhattan boutique when a steady clip-clop of hooves meeting pavement announced the arrival of a horse-drawn carriage directly in front of her upscale boutique. Carriages had been limited to Central Park for years now, so its presence seemed entirely anomalous—until she spotted Robert Brixton stepping down from the rear, wearing full tails and a top hat, his injured leg still requiring him to move gingerly.
Mystified, Flo met him on the sidewalk, where a crowd had begun to gather even before he dropped slowly to one knee and peeled open a ring box.
“Well?” he posed.
Flo dropped down to the pavement and hugged Brixton tight, like she never intended to let go, until she finally did.
“Can I take that as a yes?” he asked her.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Longtime fans of the thirty-one previous Capital Crimes books, as well as readers familiar with my work, will note that this is my first effort in Margaret Truman’s fabulous series and I find myself extremely fortunate to have inherited that mantle from the great Don Bain.
Many thanks to our mutual agent, Bob Diforio, for giving me the opportunity and to Tor/Forge CEO, Tom Doherty, for trusting me with one of mystery-thriller fiction’s most iconic brands. Both Tom and Forge’s publisher, Linda Quinton, are dear friends who still publish books “the way they should be published,” to quote my late agent, the legendary Toni Mendez. The great Bob Gleason is there for me at every turn. Editing may be a lost art, but not here thanks to him, and I think you’ll enjoy all of my books, including this one, much more as a result. Thanks also to Robert Davis, Jessica Katz, Anna Merz, and my great copyeditor, Todd Manza. I’m eternally in debt to Russell Trakhtenberg, who designed the cover and created a graphic package that perfectly complements the story I told the best way I know how.
No one is more important to assuring that than Jeff Ayers—there is indeed a reason why I call him “the Wizard,” and his sage advice on this book was more vital than ever. Thanks, again, to Jeff’s wife, Terry Ayers, for making my scientific jargon sound much better than it did originally and for introducing me to nuclear physicist Jeremiah Ratcliff, who helped me make my impossible conjuring credible.
A final and special acknowledgment to Sister Megan Rice, the inspiration for the Sister Mary Alice Rose character you’ve just met in these pages. While Sister Mary Alice’s exploits were the product of fiction, Sister Megan’s exploits on which they are based are anything but that. She should be an inspiration not only for a character in this book but to all of us in terms of stopping at nothing to make a difference in the world. Sister Megan sacrificed her freedom and spent three years of her ninth decade in a federal penitentiary fighting the same fight waged by her fictional counterpart in this book. I find myself in awe of her fortitude and bravery, and no mention or acknowledgment this slight does her justice.
Check back at www.jonlandbooks.com for updates or to drop me a line, and please follow me on Twitter @jondland. And if we haven’t met in such pages before, I hope we will again soon, perhaps in one of my Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong thrillers I hope you’ll check out online or at your favorite bookstore.
I remember the end credits of the early James Bond movies starring Sean Connery always included a teaser about the next film coming in the series. Picking up on that tradition, let me say that Robert Brixton will indeed be back in Murder at the CDC. So let’s make a date, you and I, to meet up the same time next year.
BY MARGARET TRUMAN
Souvenir
White House Pets
Harry S. Truman
Women of Courage
Letters from Father: The Truman Family’s Personal Correspondence
Bess W. Truman
Where the Buck Stops: The Personal and Private Writings of Harry S. Truman
First Ladies
The President’s House: A First Daughter Shares the History and Secrets of the World’s Most Famous Home
THE CAPITAL CRIMES SERIES
Murder in the White House
Murder on Capitol Hill
Murder in the Supreme Court
Murder in the Smithsonian
Murder on Embassy Row
Murder at the FBI
Murder in Georgetown
Murder in the CIA
Murder at the Kennedy Center
Murder at the National Cathedral
Murder at the Pentagon
Murder on the Potomac
Murder at the National Gallery
Murder in the House
Murder at the Watergate
Murder at the Watergate
Murder in Foggy Bottom
Murder in Havana
Murder at Ford’s Theatre
Murder at Union Station
Murder at The Washington Tribune
Murder at the Opera
Murder on K Street
Murder Inside the Beltway
Monument to Murder
Experiment in Murder
Undiplomatic Murder
Internship in Murder
Deadly Medicine
Allied in Danger
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
MARGARET TRUMAN won faithful readers with her works of biography and fiction, particularly her Capital Crimes mysteries. Her novels let readers into the corridors of power, privilege, poverty, and pageantry in the nation’s capital. You can sign u
p for email updates here.
JON LAND is the USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty books, eleven of which feature Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong. The critically acclaimed series has won more than a dozen awards. He has also authored six books in the Murder She Wrote series. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Part Two
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Part Three
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Part Four
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 56
Part Five
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
By Margaret Truman
About the Authors
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
MARGARET TRUMAN’S MURDER ON THE METRO
Copyright © 2021 by Estate of Margaret Truman
All rights reserved.
Cover photographs: train station by Hisham Ibrahim / Getty Images; woman by Magdalena Russocka / Trevillion Images
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-23887-0 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-23886-3 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250238863
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First Edition: 2021