Loyalty in Death

“I know you love me, but I don’t know why. I look at you, and I just can’t get why it’s me. Every time I get my balance, I lose it again. Because it shouldn’t be me, and I think it’d kill me if you ever figured that out.” - Eve to Roarke, Loyalty in Death

Loyalty in Death
Loyalty in Death 2nd Edition US Cover
Book Number	9
Release Date	October 1999
Publisher	Penguin Group USA
ISBN	ISBN 042517140X
Publication order
Previous	Conspiracy in Death
Next	Witness in Death

Plot Summary

An unknown bomber is stalking New York City. He is sending Eve Dallas taunting letters promising to wreak mass terror and destruction among the “corrupt masses.” And when his cruel web of deceit and destruction threatens those she cares for most, Eve fights back. It’s her city...it’s her job...and it’s hitting too close to home. Now, in a race against a ticking clock, Eve must make the pieces fit—before the city falls.

--The Penguin Group

Map

Please reference the Loyalty in Death Map for locations or approximate locations of sites listed here.

Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode.

Timeline

Approximate Story Start Date: February, 2059

Prologue

• Prologue is a letter addressed “Dear Comrade, We are Cassandra. It has begun.” It includes a dossier about Lieutenant Eve Dallas, naming her as a target, and indicates that plans for a revolution are being engaged, with the first rumble of battle to occur “tomorrow.”

Day 1 (February 2059)

Chapter 1

• NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her aide, Delia Peabody, are in the home of J. Clarence Branson, the fifty-year-old co-president of Branson Tools and Toys.
• J. Clarence was skewered through the heart to the wall with one of his own multi-power porta-drills. His mistress of three years, Lisbeth Cooke, has already acknowledged that she killed him, and sits calmly watching while Eve and Peabody examine and record the scene.
• Ms. Cooke states that she learned Mr. Branson had been cheating on her, and that she came to his home to confront him. During the confrontation, she saw the drill laying on a table, picked it up and used it to kill him. Afterwards, she called the police to report what she had done, and waited for them to come.
• Eve conducts a brief interview with Ms. Cooke, then has her transported to Cop Central for further questioning.
• As Eve and Peabody are leaving the scene, one of Eve’s informants contacts her to say he has some information for her. They agree to meet in a few minutes at a local bar, The Brew.
• Ratso tells Eve that The Fixer is dead, fished out on the New Jersey side of the river. About a month ago, The Fixer told him about a big job he was working on, putting together explosives for a couple of shady characters. But a couple of weeks later, Fixer told him that it was a really bad deal, he was afraid of another Arlington. Fixer was really scared and asked if he could stay with Ratso for awhile, but he never showed up.
• Ratso wants Eve to find out who killed Fixer. Eve initially demurs, pointing out that New Jersey cops are handling the case, but Ratso talks her into looking at it. As they leave the bar, Eve tells Peabody to run down the file on Fixer tomorrow, and also on “Arlington,” to see if anything pops.
• Later that evening, Eve lets herself into her house, exchanging insults with Summerset. She finds Roarke in the video room, watching an old movie (Dark Victory, starring Bette Davis). She tells him briefly about the Branson case, and they end up making love.

Day 2

Chapter 2

• The next morning, Eve is in her office at Central. She is disgusted to learn that Ms. Cooke pleaded her case down to manslaughter two, and will probably serve about a year in a fancy prison.
• While working on her investigative report, E-Detective Ian McNab comes in. He has examined Branson’s ’links and personal memo book, and found no evidence of another woman – or man. Eve tells Ian to run the office logs for Branson, wondering aloud if Ms. Cooke lied about her motive. 
• Peabody tells Eve that Detective Sally is willing to let Eve take over investigating Fixer’s death. The medical examiner says that Fixer was in the river for at least thirty six hours before he was found. Cause of death was drowning. Fixer was bashed on the head and his tongue was cut out.
• A young man whom Eve has never seen before comes to her office door, peers in, and Peabody jumps up, squealing with excitement and joy – it’s her younger brother, Zeke Peabody. Eve tells her to take the rest of the day off to be with her brother, and watches them leave.
• Alone, Eve visits the offices of Branson Tools and Toys, talks to J. Clarence Branson’s executive assistant, Chris Tipple. He says JC was absolutely devoted to Lisbeth and was never unfaithful to her. Lisbeth was handsomely compensated financially.
• After leaving Tipple, Eve goes to meet B. Donald Branson, JC’s brother. When Eve informs him that Lisbeth says JC was cheating, BD angrily dismisses the idea. He states that he will inherit all of the business portion of JC’s estate, but that JC’s substantial personal estate can be distributed in any manner that JC wanted.
• Eve asks for the name of JC’s lawyer, and permission to know the contents of JC’s will. BD grants permission, and refers her to Suzanna Day.

Chapter 3

• Peabody and Zeke arrive at her apartment. When Zeke comments that he likes Eve, Peabody chastises him mildly for peeking at Eve’s aura without consent.
• While Zeke is showering, he thinks about the woman who employed him to come to NYC. He is very attracted to her, and knows he shouldn’t be thinking about her, as she’s married. But he is happy to be in NYC, visiting his sister and seeing the city.
• After he has showered, they go sightseeing, exploring the city. Peabody worries that he is very green and tells him to be careful. He mentions that his client is Mrs. B. Donald Branson, to which Peabody responds “Oh, shit, Zeke.”
• Meanwhile, Eve is at Fixer’s dilapidated storefront, where she attempts to engage Fixer’s computer, but fail-safe warning makes her decide to let Feeney deal with it. She finds an empty weapon rack under the counter that looks like it held an old army-issue blaster. She puts the rack into an evidence bag and leaves.

Chapter 4

• Back at Central, Eve visits Feeney. He remembers Fixer, and says he had magic hands. Eve asks him to look at Fixer’s computer.
• She goes to her office, stopping en route to help break up a catfight between two women.David Baxter is disappointed that she intervened before clothes were ripped off.
• Back in her office, she calls Suzanna Day and is told that the will is to be read that night, at B. Donald Branson’s home. Eve asks if she can attend the hearing.
• As Eve is about to go home, Peabody calls and tells her that Zeke’s customer is B. Donald Branson. Eve doesn’t like it. She thinks it’s coincidence – but she hates coincidence. She asks Peabody to tell her brother not to mention that his sister is a cop, and heads home.
• When she arrives home, she goes to the weapon room and searches for a weapon that will fit the rack she took from Fixer’s shop. While she’s there, Roarke strolls in. He helps her find the weapon she’s looking for, and explains how it works.
• Eve wants to test it out, so they take the hidden elevator down to the lower-level target range. Roarke loads the weapon, shows her how it works. At Eve’s request, he loads a hologram program so she can test it.
• When she’s finished, he kisses her, seduces her, reminds her about the first time they made love – in the same place and the same way. He drags her to the elevator and she barely manages to call Dispatch to say she’s taking an hour of personal time before he’s tugging her clothes off. They indulge in some really great sex.
• Afterwards, Roarke reminds her that they have a business dinner engagement at eight. They agree to stop at the Bransons’ for the will reading on their way to the dinner.

Chapter 5

• Eve and Roarke go to B. Donald Branson’s house, where B. Donald’s wife, Clarissa Branson greets them. They are introduced to Suzanna Day, and to Lisbeth Cooke’s attorney, Lucas Mantz. The will is read.
  • There are various bequests, but JC left the bulk of his personal fortune to Lisbeth.
  • B. Donald is outraged and tells Lucas Mantz that he will fight the will. He lunges at Mantz, Roarke intervenes and tells BD to take Clarissa upstairs, as she’s very upset.
• Roarke and Eve leave and head for the business dinner. One thing leads to another in the limo and it’s implied that they are late to dinner.
• During the dinner, Eve quietly requests a warrant to access Lisbeth Cooke’s financial data, and it’s approved.
• When she and Roarke arrive home, Roarke helps her search for and analyze Lisbeth’s finances. They learn that JC gave her a quarter million every three months, and that she has over four million in her accounts, all of it invested.
• Eve is sure that Lisbeth knew she’d inherit, and how much, and says she will talk to Lisbeth again tomorrow.
• Meanwhile, Roarke’s hands have gotten busy and he makes a suggestion that Eve isn’t sure is physically possible.

Day 3

Chapter 6

• At Cop Central, Eve tells Peabody that Lisbeth Cooke will be inheriting millions and that she (Eve) wants to talk to her about that.
• Eve finds a disc in her mail, addressed specifically to her. It is from Cassandra and says, in essence, that they are planning to overthrow the government. They have a small demonstration planned for nine-fifteen this morning, to demonstrate their scope.
• Eve checks the address on the pouch that the disc arrived in, and she and Peabody drive there.
  • Eve tells Peabody to call for backup.
  • Before Peabody can do so, the building blows up. Eve and Peabody take cover under the car. The car is severely damaged and debris is spewed out over two blocks.
  • As Eve and Peabody crawl out from under the car, Roarke drives up. He owned the building, and received a disc similar to the one that Eve received, from Cassandra. He says he’ll meet Eve at her office in a couple of hours, and Eve turns to work with the bomb squad.
• When Eve returns to Cop Central, Roarke is in her office, talking to Nadine Furst. Eve tells Nadine that there was no homicide, so she (Nadine) should visit the Explosives and Bombs department.
• After Nadine leaves, Eve tells Roarke that the explosion appears to be linked to Fixer’s death. When she asks if he ever had dealings with Fixer, he asks if that’s an official question, making it clear that yes, he did.
• Eve, Feeney, and Lieutenant Anne Malloy from the Explosives and Bombs Division are called to Commander Whitney’s office to give him an update about the explosion. Malloy says it appears the people who blew up the building are organized and well-funded. Feeney is still working to get into Fixer’s computer.
• When Eve asks if he knows anything about Arlington, Malloy answers, saying a radical group called Apollo blew up the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia during the Urban Wars, killing over eight thousand people.

Chapter 7

• Zeke is fixing things in Peabody’s apartment and daydreaming about Clarissa Branson - and feeling guilty and ashamed about it.
• Back at Cop Central, Eve, Feeney, Anne, and Peabody are in a conference room, discussing Apollo. The leader of the group was James Rowan; his assistant was William Henson. After the Pentagon was blown up, the government put a five million dollar price on Rowan’s head – wanted dead or alive, no questions asked. He was killed when his house was blown up, and William Henson disappeared the same day.
• The data is sealed, but there were rumors that in the process of hunting down the terrorists, the government tortured and/or killed people, imprisoned or executed family members without trials. Eve and the rest of the group believe that Cassandra is related in some way to Apollo.
• They scatter to research data, while Eve and Peabody interview Ratso again. Ratso’s friend, Pokey, saw a van and two men at The Fixer’s place the night he disappeared. He describes the van.
• Eve and Peabody interview Lisbeth Cooke again, ask her how she found out about JC’s affair. Lisbeth shows them pictures that were delivered to her anonymously, containing pictures of JC in compromising positions with a young woman. Back in their car, Eve tells Peabody to try to ID the young woman in the pictures.

Chapter 8

• McNab has succeeded in identifying Fixer’s true identity: Colonel Howard Bassi, retired. His wife, Nancy, was a civilian liaison between the army and media. Nancy and the children (ages six and eight) were in the Pentagon and killed when it was blown up.
• Eve speculates with his STF background, Fixer may have been involved in hunting down members of Apollo.
• From her home office, Eve calls Anne Malloy, who tells her that Roarke just left the bomb site. He identified a chunk of the explosive as high-impact politex, manufactured by Roarke Industries and Branson Toys and Tools, along with two other companies.
• Mavis calls Eve - a hologram image of her appears in the room, and she shows off her outfit. She says her tour is going great, then winks out.
• Meanwhile, Peabody has identified the van that was used to snag Fixer – a black Airstream, 2058 model, loaded – registered to Cassandra Unlimited. Eve runs the name (it’s bogus) but finds Cassandra Electronics (also bogus), a branch of Mount Olympus Enterprises.
• A messenger from Zippy Service comes to the house with a disc containing a message from Cassandra. The message demands that certain prisoners be released from jail, or else a New York landmark will be sacrificed. Eve notifies her superiors, who forward the demand to the governor. She knows the governor will not comply with the demand.
• Zeke and Peabody arrive for dinner. Zeke mentions he was at the Branson house today and will start working there tomorrow.

Day 4

Chapter 9

• Zeke arrives at the Branson house to begin work. While in the workroom, he overhears BD abusing his wife.
• Meanwhile, Dr. Mira has worked up a profile on Cassandra, and comes by Eve’s office at Central to deliver it. They try to figure out which NY landmark is targeted by the group for destruction, and conclude that it is probably a building that Roarke owns.
• Eve asks Anne Malloy to sweep Roarke’s midtown office. She tells Peabody to keep working while she (Eve) goes into the field.
• McNab stops in after Eve has left. He and Peabody exchange snippy words, and suddenly McNab grabs her and kisses her. It turns into an explosive, mutual kiss and embrace. Feeney walks in, shocked at what he sees them doing. They spring apart, and Feeney tells them that Cassandra’s target is Radio City.

Chapter 10

• Eve is working feverishly with other cops to clear people out of Radio City while Anne Malloy and her team work frantically to locate and disable the multiple explosive devices that are scattered throughout the building.
• Roarke shows up – he owns Radio City. His hand-held scanner indicates an explosive device on the catwalk, and he heads up to disable it; Eve is right behind him, bitching all the way. They are successful at disabling it.
• Feeney indicates that the building has been cleared of all explosives. Roarke goes home; Eve and the rest of the cops head back to Central.
• Meanwhile, at the Branson house, Clarissa visits Zeke in the room where he is working on the cabinets. One thing leads to another, and Zeke holds her, kisses her. When they part, she dashes out and Zeke realizes he has fallen in love with her.

Chapter 11

• Back at Cop Central, a conference is held between Eve, Peabody, EDD and Anne Malloy’s team to discuss a message that Cassandra sent.
  • The message makes it clear that Cassandra people had cameras hidden in Radio City, and watched as NYPSD searched and disabled all the explosive devices.
  • They have also upped their demands and indicated that another bomb has been planted in another location, set to go off within a matter of minutes. Eve realizes they won’t be able to find and disable this new bomb in time - they can only wait helplessly for it to go off.
• Meanwhile, McNab has decoded Fixer’s personal journal and learned that Cassandra is armed to the teeth with weapons, timers, remotes, and explosives.
• Feeney comes in and tells them that the Tea Room at the Plaza Hotel has been blown up. They all head over there to pick up the pieces.
• Hundreds of people (including children and infants) have been killed or injured. They work for hours clearing the dead, getting care for the injured. When they’re finished, Roarke takes Eve home. He owns the Plaza, and demands to be included in the investigation. They argue, he wins, and they end up making love.

Chapter 12

• Roarke discovers that the whole complicated Cassandra/Mount Olympus/Apollo organization only exists only on paper. There is an actual group, but it is much smaller than the various shell companies would indicate. Roarke hacks into sealed FBI files and digs out names.
  • The original founder of Apollo, James Rowan, and his two children – Charlotte and James Junior – are believed to have died together when the Feds blew up the house where he was hiding.
  • His widow, Monica Stone Rowan, has retired and lives in Maine.
  • The FBI has apparently been keeping tabs on the family, as they have recent information.
• As Eve and Roarke dig, they find the names of hundreds of people that the government apparently hunted down and killed over the years as revenge for blowing up the Pentagon. James’s top assistant, William Henson, is not on the list.
• While Roarke continues to search, Eve falls asleep, has a nightmare about her father and mother. She screams in her sleep, Roarke shakes her awake and they make love.
• Roarke collects a list of names for Eve to investigate. One of the names he finds is Paul Lamont – a member of the security team of one of Roarke’s own businesses – Autotron. It manufacturers droids and small electronics.
  • They learn that Paul’s father was a saboteur who specialized in explosives during the French Wars.

Day 5

Chapter 13

• While Peabody and McNab struggle against the strong physical attraction they feel for each other, Eve organizes a meeting of everyone involved in the investigation.
• Anne Malloy takes Eve aside and confides that she is pregnant.
• Chief Tibble and Commander Whitney arrive and tell Eve that the mayor and governor want to call in the FBI to help investigate. Eve and the team give a status of their investigation and Whitney decides it’s not necessary to call in the Feds yet.
• Meanwhile, Zeke is in the basement of the Branson house, working on the cabinets. Through the vent, he hears Branson abusing his wife, Clarissa. Unable to stop himself, Zeke goes upstairs to rescue Clarissa, but Branson has already left. Zeke comforts Clarissa, tells her she should leave her husband, come home with him to Arizona. Clarissa asks for a day to consider it and Zeke leaves.

Chapter 14

• Eve and Peabody visit Roarke’s company, Autotron, to interview Paul Lamont. Roarke is already there, waiting for them in a conference room. Once they settle, Roarke sends for Lamont but lets Eve take over the interview.
• They learn Paul’s father made bombs during the French War, and that Paul makes sophisticated little devices for Roarke’s firm.
• Eve and Peabody fly to Maine to interview Monica Rowan about her dead husband and children. She does not give them any information.
• After they leave, she makes a phone call and demands her share.

Chapter 15

• Clarissa calls Zeke and tells him to come and get her. He plans to take her home to his family in Arizona.
• Peabody and McNab stop fighting their mutual attraction. After work, they head to McNab’s apartment, three blocks away from Cop Central.
• Zeke is at the Branson house helping Clarissa pack up to leave. B. Donald Branson comes home unexpectedly and during an ugly confrontation, he assaults Clarissa. Zeke jumps into the fray and BD slips, falls, cracks his skull and dies.
• Zeke wants to call the police, but while he is out of the room momentarily, Clarissa has a droid take the body and dump it in the river.
• Zeke calls Peabody, tells her what has happened. Peabody calls Eve, who is at home with Roarke, and everybody heads to the Branson house.

Chapter 16

• At the Branson house, Eve takes a distraught Zeke’s statement. She has Peabody ride with him when he’s taken to Central.
• Eve manages to get herself assigned to the case, and has Clarissa taken downtown, too. She sends a team to drag the East River for BD’s body and has McNab work on the droid that dumped the body.
• Eve interviews Clarissa and arranges for her to be taken to a health center until morning.
• Wanting to control the media coverage of the story, she calls news reporter Nadine Furst and offers her an interview.

Day 6

Chapter 17

• Next morning, after shower games with Roarke, it belatedly occurs to Eve to wonder why McNab was with Peabody the night before. Roarke clues her in and Eve has a hissy fit, insisting cops and romance don’t mix. Roarke takes offense over her opinion and turns chilly.
• At the office, Eve confronts Peabody about McNab; Peabody insists it won’t happen again.
• Eve learns Paul Lamont is dead.
• A message is delivered from Cassandra, demanding release of various prisoners and an exorbitant amount of money – the money is to be delivered personally by Eve. If conditions are not met, another target will be blown up.
• Eve asks Roarke for fake money to give to Cassandra. He is still cool, but agrees to supply the fake funds, then cuts her off and hangs up.
• Eve and Peabody go to the morgue to examine Paul Lamont’s body. His ’link has a recording of phone call he made to Cassandra, saying he wanted out. Eve runs a trace and learns the call was made to B. Donald Branson’s private line.
• Eve orders a lockdown on Clarissa Branson’s room and tells McNab to hide Zeke.

Chapter 18

• Clarissa has cleared out, leaving Zeke to take the fall.
• Eve puts it all together in her head, figures out it was all one big setup.
  • She interviews Zeke again, and has him bunk at Central, but not in a cell – she has already realized he was just a pawn.
  • She’s also quite sure that B. Donald Branson is alive, and that the previous night’s activities were a setup.
• Eve visits Lisbeth and questions her about relations between B. Donald, Clarissa, and J.C. Lisbeth says B. Donald adored Clarissa and would never have abused her. She also says Clarissa was the one who brought her photos of JC and the “other woman.” Lisbeth now realizes the pictures were fake, and that J.C. had not been unfaithful.
• Eve suspects that Zeke did not kill B. Donald, but “killed” a droid instead – a droid that looked like B. Donald. She also suspects that the fake photos given to Lisbeth were a deliberate (and successful) attempt to so enrage Lisbeth that she’d kill J.C., thus putting B. Donald in full control of the family fortune.
• Eve and Peabody drive to Roarke’s office and pick up the counterfeit bonds. Roarke is still pissy, but agrees to Eve’s request that he dig out info about Clarissa Branson.
• Eve has Feeney wire her with a tracking device so they can track her when she delivers the ransom.
• Roarke calls – he did some deep digging and learned that Clarissa is actually Charlotte Rowan, daughter of James Rowan. He also learned that B. Donald’s father was heavily involved with the Apollo group.
• Eve brings ransom money to Grand Central Station, where she is directed to move on to various locations. She knows the bad guys are tracking her to make sure she isn’t being followed.
• Eventually two droids make contact with her in Queens, and try to take the ransom. She takes one down, tries to take the other, but he/it falls under the subway train and is completely demolished.
• McNab dashes up to her and tells her that Madison Square Garden is the next target, and is currently being evacuated.

Chapter 19

• When Eve and McNab arrive at Madison Square Garden, they find complete pandemonium. The first bomb has already gone off and the building is being evacuated, along with the subway station underneath it.
• Eve pushes her way in, calling Anne Malloy on her ’link.
• Roarke is there, finds Eve, drags her away as more bombs go off.
• Anne Malloy was killed while trying to disable the last bomb.
• While Roarke helps with rescue efforts, Eve and Feeney visit Malloy’s family to break the news.
• It’s nearly dawn when Eve returns home. She and Roarke talk about their feelings and make love.

Chapter 20

• Cassandra group plans their next move.
• Peabody and McNab run into each other in the conference room. Peabody feels guilty that she was with McNab when Zeke got into trouble. She lashes out at McNab; they end up in a passionate embrace just as Eve walks in. She tells Peabody to get her coffee and check lab reports.
• Feeney arrives and they discuss the case, divvying up tasks that need to be done.
• Sergeant Howard from Search and Rescue calls and tells Eve they’ve found the droid that looks like B. Donald Branson – the one that Clarissa had dumped in the river.
• Zeke doesn’t believe Eve when she tells him about the droid; nor does he believe her when she says Clarissa isn’t as innocent as Zeke thinks she is.
• Mavis shows up. Eve has her take Zeke to the mansion where he will be safe.
• Mavis takes Zeke to the house and discusses the case with him; he finally believes what Eve told him, and is devastated.

Chapter 21

• Eve inspects B. Donald Branson’s office, looking for clues, but comes up empty, so she and Peabody go to the Branson house, where she finds Clarissa’s hidden office.
• Eve asks Roarke to join her in the hidden office so he can hack into Clarissa’s computer. While he does so, she goes through papers that are stashed in a file cabinet. She finds background information about Cassandra, leading back to Apollo.
• On the computer, Roarke finds records of the buildings destroyed, names of the dead, and plans for future targets: Empire State Building, Twin Towers, and the Statue of Liberty. The plans show where the bombs are to be placed at each location.
• Eve orders bomb teams to all three locations, and sends Peabody and McNab to the Empire State Building. She sends Feeney to the Twin Towers; she and Roarke head for the Statue of Liberty.

Chapter 22

• Eve and Roarke go tearing home, where Roarke fires up his jet-copter. He and Eve head over to Liberty Island. While en route, Eve contacts Commander Whitney, who tells her that a bomb squad will get to Liberty Island in about twelve minutes; Eve and Roarke will get there within three minutes.
• Roarke’s special scanning equipment indicates there are two droids and two people on the island, and five bombs.
• Roarke has Eve retrieve his (illegal) long-range laser rifle from its hiding place in the copter. As he maneuvers the jet-copter low, Eve spots a droid; shoots it with the laser rifle; spots another one, and destroys that one as well; then she jumps out of the jet-copter and heads for the building.
• While Eve heads for Lady Liberty, Roarke blows up the transpo that belongs to Clarissa and B. Donald, then follows Eve.
• Inside the statue, Eve chases Clarissa up the stairs while Roarke follows, disarming bombs as he goes.
• B. Donald fires at Roarke when he reaches the top of the stairs, hitting Roarke’s arm. They struggle and both fall out the window, over the railing. B. Donald falls all the way down.
• Roarke barely hangs on; Eve pulls him back in. Clarissa jumps out the window to her death.
• Roarke disarms the last bomb with four seconds to spare.
• The bomb team arrives as Eve and Roarke descend down the stairs. They are both a mess, but they have saved the day.

Character List

List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book

• Eve Dallas
• Roarke

List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book

• David Baxter
• Ryan Feeney
• Mavis Freestone
• Nadine Furst
• Galahad
• Leonardo
• Charlotte Mira
• Ian McNab
• Delia Peabody
• Lawrence Summerset
• Jack Whitney

List of Recurring Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book

• Dickie Berenski
• Crack
• Charles Monroe
• Harrison Tibble
• Trina 

List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book

• B. Donald Branson
• Clarissa Branson
• Chambers
• Sherry Combs
• Lisbeth Cooke
• Suzanna Day
• Sergeant Howard
• Paul Lamont
• Anne Malloy
• Lucas Mantz
• Zeke Peabody
• Ratso
• Monica Stone Rowan
• Captain Sully
• Chris Tipple
• Richard Troy

List of Peripheral Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book

• Barry
• Howard Bassi (The Fixer)
• Nancy Bassi
• E. Francis Branson
• J. Clarence Branson
• Cassandra
• Jessica Deals
• Driscol
• Madia Henson
• William Henson
• Peter Johnson
• Milicent Jung
• Carl Minnu
• Julia Rowan Peterman
• Pokey
• James Rowan
• James Rowan, Jr.
• Detective Sally
• Sheila
• Silvie
• Officer Snyder
• Clarissa Stanley
• Susan B. Stoops

Deaths

Victim	Cause of Death	Weapon	Perpetrator
J. Clarence Branson	drilled to the wall through the heart	Branson 8000 drill	Lisbeth Cooke
Col. Howard Bassi (Fixer)	beaten & drowned in river	droids	Cassandra (Clarissa Branson & B. Donald Branson)
300+ unlisted victims	bomb explosion in Tea Room of Plaza Hotel	terrorist bombs
Lt. Anne Malloy & “less than 400” unlisted victims	bomb explosions & panicked stampede for exits in Madison Square Garden
B. Donald Branson	fall from crown of Statue of Liberty	gravity	misadventure
Clarissa Branson (Charlotte Rowan)	jump from crown of Statue of Liberty		suicide

Trivia

• Because it was released before the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001, the original cover of Loyalty, showed the Statue of Liberty with the Twin Towers in the background.

• We were introduced to the first of Delia Peabody’s family, her youngest brother Zeke.

• We learned that Peabody was a Girl Scout, Eagle Level.

• The exact date that the Pentagon was blown up was September 25, 2023.

• In Ceremony in Death, Peabody lived on Houston St. In this book, she said Autotron was “a few blocks west of my place, on Ninth. Ninth and Twelfth.” There is no 12th Avenue at 9th St, and the intersection of Little West 12th St and 9th Ave is at least 16 blocks north of the nearest point on Houston St.

Other Covers

Additional covers here

US neon edition cover	UK edition cover	German 1st edition cover	German Book Club edition cover	BR edition cover
US neon edition cover	UK edition cover	German 1st edition cover	German Book Club edition cover	BR edition cover	Brilliance Audio unabridged edition cover

YANNI

• Branson Tools and Toys became Branson Toys and Tools after the first two mentions.