Birds in Paradise by Dorothy McFalls Read Free Book Online Page B

the bed. “I would like them to stay in the room with us. They are here for Kyra’s protection.”
    “Believe what you will,” Mr. Fu said. “But I will not talk with those dirty cops around. Nothing good comes from letting dirty cops hang around. Send them away, Kyra.” Mr. Fu closed his eyes and fell silent, which was a very good thing. It was becoming clear that if he’d said “dirty cop” one more time, Blakely would have pulled out his gun and shot him.
    Pete grimaced in the tense silence. There was nothing he could do but to send Blakely and Grant out of the room...and let me take the lead.
    “There’s nothing wrong with Blakely and Grant,” Pete grumbled under his breath soon after the two men had left the room.
    “Clean cops don’t wear thousand dollar shoes,” Mr. Fu said, his eyes still closed.
    Pete glanced down at his own shoes and frowned. I knew they had to be expensive—he only wore the best—but a thousand dollars a pair? Sheesh.
    “Those missing women,” Mr. Fu said, shaking his head, “a shame, really.”
    “Do you know what might have happened to them?” I asked, while wondering if he’d been the one who was scooping the young prostitutes off the street.
    “I’m dying,” Mr. Fu said, ignoring my question.
    “Open a window,” I suggested. “It’s so stuffy in here, I feel like I’m dying, too.”
    He chuckled and ended up coughing. “I wish it were that simple, my angel. I’m an old man. And there is no stopping this somber march to the grave.”
    “Some light and fresh air wouldn’t hurt.”
    “For you”—his eyes brightened as he lifted his head and turned toward me—“I will give the outside air a try.” With a wave of his hand, his housekeeper was in action, pulling back the heavy drapes and fighting with a window that looked as if it had never been pried from its sash. “I understand that someone tried to kill you,” he said.
    The housekeeper swore as she continued to fight the window that remained firmly shut. Pete crossed the room to help her.
    “I hope you haven’t suffered any permanent damage from your recent...um...mishaps,” Mr. Fu said.
    “That’s why we’re here,” Pete said. He was now fighting with the window. There was a loud crack that made me jump, and then the window swung open.
    “You don’t think that I—?” Mr. Fu’s voice grew strong with indignation.
    “I was stabbed in the stomach. And poisoned,” I told him, though I was sure he already knew every detail. Admitting aloud how I’d suffered smothered all the warm feelings I was having toward Mr. Fu. “The man who stabbed me said—and I quote—‘keep out of Mr. Fu’s business.’ You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
    Mr. Fu started coughing, choking really. “I was—I was—hoping—that—my—”
    “That your... what ?” I asked, pushing up to my feet.
    The housekeeper rushed to his side and handed him a cup. His hands were shaking as he took a long sip.
    “I really am dying,” he said finally. He cleared his throat. “You can ask my doctor. He’ll be only too happy to give you the sordid details of my imminent demise, the ghoul.”
    “I’m sorry,” Pete said, flashing me a sharp look. “And I’m sorry to be disturbing you at this time. However, I trust Kyra and what she was told by the man who stabbed her.”
    “Dustin,” it sounded like Mr. Fu said, but then he was coughing at the time.
    “What?” Pete asked.
    “I had hoped it hadn’t happened that way. I did pay to have you followed, my angel. But only because your investigation was taking you dangerously close to my current project.”
    He held up his bony hand when I started to ask him about it.
    “I have a great deal of power and money and no children. I wasted my time building an empire and forgot to think about the future.”
    “I don’t understand,” I said, though I had a feeling that if I’d taken a minute to think about it, I would have been able to figure