The Miraculous Plot of Leiter & Lott by Jonathan Lowe Read Free Book Online

also in residence, awaiting
    the return of her husband from a hunting safari in Kenya."

    Etherton pulled over next to a public park. Then he rolled to a stop, a look of puzzlement plying the shadows on his face. But as the Burj Al-Arab came into view, though, David was diverted, and got out of the car to walk rapidly to the right, toward a spot that afforded a better view.
    "Wait! What--"
    David stared at what he remembered had been described as the most stunning hotel on Earth, the massive sail-like structure rising from its ocean platform base as the first signature symbol of the city's unique architecture.
    "Wait up!" Doug admonished from behind him, but he didn't stop until a hand landed on his shoulder and turned him around. "What's the matter with you?"
    David hooked a thumb. "There are cocktails at the restaurant atop that hotel that cost two thousand dollars each," he said, with almost the same sense of awe he'd once experienced helping to measure the red shift of a gravitationally lensed quasar.
    "Probably half that price these days, buddy, but still out of your budget unless you also bought BP stock after their Gulf of Mexico spill," Doug quipped.
    David turned to gaze again at the Burj Al-Arab. "First time Ted Cashman came here, though, that's where he stayed. . . praise the Lord, and pass the bucket." He smiled. "I should be angry. I was angry."
    "And now you're just obsessed?"
    "No. Curious. And I want to meet them. Cashman and Innes."
    "Really? Why? And why not P. Diddy and Kanye West and whatever members of the Trump family are in town?"
    "Them too."
    Doug came around to stand in front of him, looking into his eyes like a doctor might. "You okay?"
    "Better."
    "You keep saying that, although it doesn't sound like you heard the news."
    "What news is that?"
    "About Swann's family. Because now I might be able to swing Gregg Swann for you, if not the others. Since Nasheed knows him, and since his family just died. And because we'll be going to the funeral."
    "We will? Why is that?"
    "I have questions, for one thing."
    "So do they, apparently," David said.
    "Who?" Doug asked.
    He motioned one final time in the direction of the Burj Al-Arab, where two police officers now approached them on foot, walking briskly across the park--one of them with hand raised, the other with a hand on his holstered pistol.

8
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    The interrogation room he was hustled into resembled an upscale lavatory, complete with tiled floors and walls, a toilet stall, sink, and a suspiciously inset mirror too large for its usual purpose. The only thing out of place was the metal table and chairs.
    When the door finally opened, after ten minutes’ silence, an Arab man in a white cotton shirt bearing a Dubai Police detective I.D. tag came in with a manila folder, and sat opposite him. The man had a neatly trimmed goatee, appeared to be in his mid thirties, and possessed wide-set but piercing brown eyes, and a predilection for slow, deliberate movements. After silently reading the two sheets of paper the file contained, he looked up, directly into David's own eyes.
    "You are an engineer from Arizona," he said, speaking perfect English, but betraying no hint of direction or judgment.
    "Yes," David confirmed, giving nothing back. "What's this about?"
    "This?"
    "Yes. This." David offered one open, upraised palm.
    The man nodded, then looked back down at his thin file. "It says. . . here . . . you are an optics engineer."
    Â  "Was. I'm on vacation now."
    "In the company of your friend, Dr. Etherton?"
    "Yes."
    "Can you tell me why you evaded a police check point?"
    "Ask Doug, he was driving."
    "We are."
    He felt a slight shiver at the man's emphasis of the word are , but hoped it didn't show. "Just sight-seeing is all, not looking for trouble."
    The man's eyes narrowed for a second, then he propped up his chin with one hand, the forefinger pointing toward his temple. "Are you aware the city is under siege by American military aircraft?"
    He