Read Shadow Ritual for Free Online Page B

still don’t get what you want from me. I can’t do anything here, and your security chief will be furious. I would be. Why isn’t he here, anyway?”
    Jaigu gave a sheepish smile. “Okay, okay. You caught me. I’ve been at war with her.”
    “Her?”
    “Special Agent Jade Zewinski. Fearsome—ask anyone who knows her. Some people don’t even bother calling her by her last name. They just call her Jade because she’s hard as stone. Joined the army young, rose quickly, intelligence, commandos, tours in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Lots of rage and lots of connections. Luckily, the guard who found this woman is a friend of mine, and he contacted me first. I just want your thoughts so I can tell the ambassador before she gets to him.”
    “You’re out for a promotion on this?”
    “Listen, anything you find could help us solve this case. First impressions are important in a murder investigation, right? And on top of that, if I could stick it to that pain in the ass Jade, well, why not? It’s the first murder in this palace since the Farneses lived here, and the victim happens to be a friend of hers. That should put a dent in her career. If it doesn’t get her transferred to a French embassy in Latvia or Angola, I’ll apply for Freemason initiation just to learn your handshake.”
    Marcas didn’t want to get involved in a power struggle that had nothing to do with him. Still, the murder was intriguing, and he started to go over the body, paying special attention to the forehead and shoulder. What a strange way to die. It reminded him of something, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

8
    Special Agent Jade Zewinski pushed her way through the guests. The call to her cell phone had interrupted a tête-à-tête with a handsome Italian actor. He was insufferable and pretentious but attractive enough for a romp in the sack. Jade had left the buck standing there with his Champagne. She didn’t even excuse herself.
    Her second-in-command didn’t waste any time when she got to him. “It’s your friend,” he spit out. “She’s dead. They found her upstairs. I’m so sorry.”
    The blood drained from her face. She felt a lump in her throat. She and Sophie had known each other since high school in Paris. Back then, they were like sisters. They hadn’t seen each other in more than a year, though—until two days ago, when Sophie had shown up in Rome. She’d changed. She was more mature and had lost nearly all of her youthful spontaneity.
    Jade’s second-in-command cleared his throat. “Ma’am, Jaigu is already up there.”
    Jade stiffened. “What the hell?”
    “He got the news before we did. I don’t know how.”
    “That shit’s got no business being at our crime scene. He’s just an intelligence officer. Have the men toss him out.”
    “That’s hard to do, Chief. He’s got the ambassador’s ear.”
    Jade picked up her pace, bumping into an Italian minister and nearly knocking over the German ambassador. She was thinking about Sophie. At breakfast in a small café on the Piazza Navone, Sophie had filled in the gaps. She had finished her degree in comparative history and taken over her parents’ Paris bookstore on the Rue de Seine. It specialized in old esoteric manuscripts. Demand was exploding for alchemy treatises, Masonic documents, and occult breviaries from the eighteenth century. She had customers from all over the world.
    On the side, she had become a Freemason, mostly out of curiosity. Her thesis director had sponsored her. The path fascinated her, and she volunteered as an archivist at the Grand Orient Freemason headquarters in Paris. With her knowledge of ancient manuscripts, she had quickly organized and documented the tons of archives hidden away there.
    Jade had made a face when Sophie mentioned the Freemasons. There was no love lost with these people. She’d rubbed shoulders with brothers twice in her life and had bitter memories of both occasions. The last time, she’d missed out