Searching for Celia.

By Elizabeth Ridley.

Synopsis.

Dayle Salvesen, a bestselling spy novelist from Wisconsin, arrives in London for a writers' conference only to be told that her best friend and former lover, Celia Frost, has died under mysterious circ.u.mstances. Or has she? There's no sign of Celia's body, and Celia's flat contains items suggesting she planned to travel. Dayle joins forces with Celia's ex-girlfriend, Nigerian-British university lecturer Edwina Adebayo, to investigate. Hampering their efforts is Detective Constable Andrea Callaway, who claims that Celia, who ran a refugee center, profited financially from her work rescuing trafficked s.e.x slaves.

The deeper Dayle and Edwina dig, the more Dayle questions not only how well she knew Celia, but also how well she knows herself.

Acknowledgments.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this book possible, especially Adam Pernak for a "spin around the wheel," Trish Hindley, everyone at Bold Strokes Books for being so great at what they do, and special thanks to Claudius and Calpurnia, just for being such consistently fantastic cats.

Dedication.

For Yaya, so she'll stop bugging me to write a mystery...

The heart of the person before you is a mirror. See there your own form.

-Shinto.

Chapter One.

Wednesday, March 23.

6:42 a.m.

The talkative Belgian at my elbow concerns me more than the potential terrorist across the aisle in seat 46D. Sure, 46D could kill all of us...o...b..ard this loaded 747 at any moment, but the Belgian's incessant speculation about our deaths has me truly frightened. "Ze air would rush from ze cabin, of course, in ze first few moments..."

Ignoring the Belgian, I pray. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi...

46D is ringed with sweat. His heavy-lidded eyes dart to the overhead luggage rack; muscles spasm in his neck.

And the woman conceived, and bare a son...

A press of air and a deep creaking as the Belgian shifts in his seat. "Can't you hear his briefcase ticking?" The Belgian's breath is sour with Chardonnay and soft cheeses. "Tick-tock. Tick-tock."

And when she saw him that he was a goodly child...

6:42 a.m. Seven hours and fifteen minutes into a seven-hour-forty-minute flight from Chicago to London. Why would 46D wait so long to detonate? The Belgian reads my mind. "He'll wait until we're over London," he intones. "Ze more casualties, ze better."

She took for him an ark of bulrushes...

I peer out the window. The thinning clouds reveal a patchwork quilt of rich English soil, squares of deep emerald green rising and falling like steady sighs toward the horizon. I long to touch that damp familiar land and inhale the cool fetid loam. But if I die, we'll be together. No. Don't think that. When you reach London, you'll see Cecelia Frost. Just pray: She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch...

"Oh my G.o.d! Look!" The female voice is garrulously American. 46D stands, clutching his briefcase and caressing the handle.

"It's Candee Cronin!"

Not again.

"Hey, Candee!" The woman barrels toward me, waving a tattered paperback whose cover proclaims: a.s.signment: Prague-A Redleigh Smith Mystery.

The woman stops in the aisle beside me, beaming.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not Candee Cronin," I explain.

The woman-a tall Texan with sh.e.l.lacked hair and oversized silver jewelry-turns the book, revealing a photograph of a thirtysomething woman with bobbed black hair, pale skin, and round blue eyes.

"But Miss Cronin," she protests, indicating the photo, "here y'all are! I'm only like your biggest fan!"

46D, still clutching his briefcase, squeezes past the Texan and stumbles into the aisle.

The woman holds out her heavily jeweled hand. "Audrey Fiscus," she drawls. "It's such an honor. a.s.signment: Bangkok is my all-time favorite. When Redleigh rescues those Green Berets...!"

I shake Audrey's hand as 46D straightens himself and moves toward the restroom. I scan his shoes for exposed wires or a lightable device. "Nice to meet you," I tell Audrey. "But my name is Dayle Salvesen."

Audrey drops my hand and gazes at the paperback, puzzled. "For real? This picture sure looks like you."

I force a smile. "My name is Dayle."

"Sorry." Audrey blushes amiably, but then her eyes narrow. "Unless Dayle is just your alias. Your nom de plume." She shoves the book at the Belgian. "Don't y'all think this is her?"

The Belgian sizes up the photo, then shakes his head. "Non. Ze bone structure is not ze same."

46D disappears through the lavatory's folding door. I brace for the explosion, followed by nothing but blue sky for 15,000 feet.

Audrey frowns at the jacket photo. "But check out the eyebrow. There's a little scar right below, and this gal here"-she peers over the Belgian and straight into my face-"has the same little scar."

I pull my battered pa.s.sport from my backpack and hand it to Audrey. She flips it open and reads: "Surname: Salvesen. Given names: Dayle Anne." Her face falls. "Oh," she says. "Sorry."

"No problem." I take back the pa.s.sport. "I'm flattered, in fact."

"They're turning her books into a TV series." Audrey brightens. "Starring Hilary Duff."

"So I've heard."

A bell chimes, the seat belt sign blinks on, and a clipped female voice, quintessentially British, comes over the loudspeaker: Ladies and gentlemen, we're about to begin our initial descent into London Heathrow. Please return to your seats, fasten your seat belts, stow and lock your tray tables, and return your seats to an upright position.

Audrey squints at me, then rocks back on her heels. "You know, you don't really look much like her at all. Frenchie here is right."

"Oh, well." I return the pa.s.sport to my backpack. "We can't all be famous authors."

Audrey shuffles back to her seat. Meanwhile, 46D has yet to emerge. Several pa.s.sengers ma.s.s at the lavatory door-a bored teenage girl, a frail elderly man in a fedora, a mother clutching a feisty, red-faced baby. The first casualties, I think bleakly, and return to my prayer: And she put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink...

The corpulent Belgian in his creased linen suit reaches into the seat pocket and pulls out the international edition of the New York Times. UK Terror Alert Highest Ever, the 24-point headline proclaims. Authorities Fear Attack is Imminent.

The Belgian, sensing me peering over his shoulder, raps the paper with his meaty knuckles. "Frightening, non? It won't be much longer now."

Where is 46D? I close my eyes and pray. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him...

Pressure builds behind my ears as the plane begins its descent. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down...

My temples pound. We're so close now. The next twenty minutes will either bring safety, or annihilation.

Ten minutes later a shadow darkens my eyelids. I look up as 46D returns to his seat. Without his briefcase. Oh no. I flip open my seat belt and begin to stand. The stewardess rushes down the aisle, briefcase slapping her narrow hip. "Sir?" She is breathless. "You forgot this." She holds out the briefcase and 46D accepts it, blinking a wordless thanks. A dark yoke of sweat spreads from his shoulders to his chest.

A b.u.mp, then grinding. Oh G.o.d. No, it's just the landing gear. 46D rests the briefcase on his lap and fiddles with the locks. Five minutes to touchdown-it will either happen now, or not at all. Just pray: And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's side...

My ears pop. The ambient aircraft noises rush in to fill the void, sounding huge and malevolent.

...and she saw the ark among the flags, and sent her handmaid to fetch it.

The wheels touch ground. Gravity captures the aircraft, drawing me backward and sucking my tailbone deep into the upholstered seat. Buildings, hangars, and other aircraft poised for takeoff shoot past in a blur as we hurtle forward, at one with the earth and all its forces once again. 46D doesn't scare me anymore.

And she opened it, and saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. "The babe wept," I echo, releasing my fists.

As the plane taxies to the gate, the Belgian grabs my arm with an unexpected intensity. His eyes, formerly a washed-out bluish gray, have turned small and steely in the now more natural light. "Ze flight is over but ze danger remains," he warns. "Safety is only an illusion."

The Belgian's words still ring in my ears as I wait in line at pa.s.sport control. "What is the nature of your visit?" the officer asks when I reach the front. His ID badge says Geoffrey Curzon and he is a thin civil-servant type with a receding hairline and pinched, colorless lips.

"Attending a conference."

"I see." He riffles through my pa.s.sport. "You've spent a great deal of time in the UK."

"Yes."

"Over the course of several years." He licks a fingertip, then pages through my pa.s.sport again, this time in reverse.

"Yes." The strap of my laptop bag presses heavily against my neck.

"Conference, you say?"

"That's right. I'm giving the keynote speech." I pull a small white envelope from my backpack and place it on the countertop.

Curzon opens the envelope, takes out the invitation, and types something into his computer. His eyebrows arch as his pupils collapse to tiny slits.

"Please come with me, Miss Salvesen."

"Why?"

"Just come with me." He steps down from his stool and around his gla.s.s-sided pod. Clutching my arm, he leads me out of pa.s.sport control, through a bank of elevators, and down a long, narrow, darkened hallway. He opens a door, one of several in a row, and guides me into a small, windowless room with bare white walls, two metal chairs, and a clear Plexiglas table. Another man, already inside and leaning, arms folded, against the far wall, motions for me to drop my bags and extend my arms. The heavyset fellow steps closer, waves an electronic wand over me, then starts to pat me down. My eye is level with his ID badge, which reads Barry Everton.

"I'd prefer a female officer," I say carefully.

Everton's bloodshot eyes retract into the folds of his fleshy face. "If you insist. But it might be a while."

"All right then." I sigh and lift my arms again, just wanting to get this over. No doubt Celia is already waiting for me in the arrivals area. I can just see her, clutching an unlit cigarette, with her hair disheveled and day-old mascara smeared across her cheek. She is defiantly beautiful as she slouches, tapping her foot.

Everton's plump, stubby hands are lewd and brutish, lingering at my b.r.e.a.s.t.s and cupping my b.u.t.t. I fight back tears.

"Take a seat," Everton orders, pointing to one of the small metal chairs. Geoffrey Curzon flips the invitation onto the table. "This is for a Candee Cronin," he says as I sit down.

"Yes. That's my pseudonym."

No response.

"You know-my pen name."

Curzon and Everton exchange glances without saying a word.

Nervous, I continue. "I'm speaking on Contemporary Genre Fiction and the Post-Feminist Paradigm. I'll be explaining how, by embracing seemingly stereotypical female pursuits such as shopping and romance, our protagonists are in fact creating a new, and ultimately empowering, feminist norm."

Everton grabs the other chair and straddles it, pressing his weight against the table. The thin, efficient Curzon, still standing, picks up my pa.s.sport and cracks it open, bending back the cover. He licks his index finger and pages through it, nodding. I know what he sees: Bangkok, Jakarta, Hamburg...

"Miss Cronin..."

"My name is Dayle Salvesen."

"Miss Cronin, did you travel to Madrid on the fifteenth of January this year?"

Madrid? "Yes. For the book fair."

"And did you travel from Munich to Budapest on the second of February?"

"Yes. For a literary festival." My voice quivers. "Look, call my agent in New York. Call the conference organizers here in London. I'm sure we can sort this out."

I'm interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come," Everton barks. A young woman in uniform enters. She could have frisked me. She hands Everton a folded piece of paper, whispers in his ear, and quickly retreats. Everton leans forward. His meaty forearms flatten on the table, looking as pink and greasy as boiled hams.