by J. D. Robb
“Do you know of anyone who’d want to harm her, or to harm Denzel by causing her harm?”
“I don’t.” He shook his head. “I honestly can’t imagine it. They’re both happy and successful in their work, have a good circle of friends.”
“Lawyers make enemies,” Eve pointed out.
“As do judges. I understand that very well. But Denzel deals with estate law, primarily, tax laws, finances. He doesn’t litigate, doesn’t handle criminal law or family law—the sort of thing that can incite passions. He’s a numbers man.”
“And Marta was an accountant.”
“They spoke the same language,” he said with the ghost of a smile.
“Shared clients?”
“Yes, from time to time.” He rose as Dickenson came back in.
“Genny’s making coffee. She . . . she asked if you’d go back and speak with her for a minute, Lieutenant.”
“All right.” Eve glanced at Peabody, got a subtle nod.
“Mr. Dickenson, if I could ask you a few more questions,” Peabody began as Eve walked out.
Eve passed through another living space. More bright and comfortable furniture, this time focused around a whopping-ass entertainment screen. Shelves held more photos, various trophies, lidded boxes.
It opened into a large dining area with a dark-finished table holding a big blue vase of white flowers. And that opened into the kitchen. More dark wood in the cabinetry, a soft gray for the counters, and a window niche with padded benches flanking a table where she imagined the family usually had their meals.
Pretty little pots, the same blue as the vase, lined another window and held what Eve vaguely recognized as herbs.
Judge Yung stood at a center island arranging thick blue mugs on a tray.
“He’ll never get over it, my brother. They met in college, and that was that. I didn’t approve, not at first. I wanted him to finish law school, pass the bar, get established before he entered into a serious relationship.”
She opened a cupboard, took out a creamer.
“I’m ten years older than Denzel, and I’ve always looked after him. Whether he wanted me to or not.” She smiled a little. The attempt only highlighted her red-rimmed eyes. “But it didn’t take long for Marta to win me over. I loved her very much. My little sister.”
Those red-rimmed eyes filled before she turned away, opened a glossy white refrigerator, took out a container of cream. Composed herself.
“They waited to have children, focused on their marriage, their careers, and when they had children, focused on them. They opted not to be professional parents. They both love their work, and so they’re fulfilled in that area, and devote their non-work time to each other and the family. That’s an enviable balance. Denzel will never find that balance again.”
She placed the filled creamer on the tray, added a matching bowl heaped with cubes of sugar.
“I’m telling you this for a reason,” she continued when Eve held her silence. “I know you have to look at my brother. The spouse is always the first suspect. I’ll give you a list of their friends, the neighbors, their coworkers and supervisors. The nanny, the cleaning people. Everyone you need or want to interview.”
“I appreciate that. We’re going to need the ’link he used to contact her, and we’ll want a look at the other electronics, other communications. It would speed things up if we had permission to search the residence, any vehicles as well as his office.”
“He’ll give it. He’ll do whatever you ask him to do. But to keep it absolutely clean, I can’t arrange for the warrant. I’ll have another judge issue and sign on. It shouldn’t come from me. I only ask that you conduct your search when the children aren’t here. I’m going to have Denzel bring them to my home for the day.”
“That’s no problem.”
“Tell me what you know.”
“I can’t give you specific details at this time. You know that, and I’m sorry. I can only tell you it appears as though she was mugged, and it went south. I assume she’d have carried a handbag, maybe a briefcase.”
“Both. Most likely, both. A brown leather shoulder strap–style briefcase with silver trim. Denzel gave it to her when she was promoted about five years ago. Her wedding ring, she always wore it. A white gold band etched with hearts. And the wrist unit Daniel and I gave her for her fortieth birthday. They’re both insured. We can get you photographs and descriptions.”
“That would help.”
“You’ll want their financial information. They each have individual accounts, but most of their assets are held jointly. We’ll give you all that information. You know Denzel didn’t hurt Marta.”
“Judge—”
“You have to do the job, you have to be thorough, and eliminate him as quickly as possible. But you know. You’re smart, you’re cagey, and I think, very intuitive. I don’t have to ask you to do your best for Marta, because you will.”
When her voice wavered, she stopped a moment, pressed her fingers to her eyes and took several long breaths.
“Not long ago,” she began, “I joked to Daniel, sometimes in our position we need to make light of the risks for the people we love who worry. I joked that if any of the scum I’d sent over followed through on their death threats, he was to make sure you headed the investigation into my death. Get me Eve Dallas, I told him. And I’m telling you, if you hadn’t caught Marta’s case, I’d have used every string I have to pull to have you put on as primary. I want you and Detective Peabody to find who did this, who killed a lovely woman, who took her from my brother, from her children. From us. Oh God.”
She broke for a moment, shuddering as she covered her face with her hands. “Oh God. I have to do what’s next, do what’s next, and keep doing it until it’s done. That’s all.”
She lowered her hands, visibly pulled herself in. “If Morris isn’t handling her . . . her body, as he usually does with yours, please arrange that. Will you?”
“Yes. I’ll take care of it.”
“Then she has the best taking care of her. That’s all I can ask for now.”
“Do you know what coat she was wearing?”
“Coat?”
“She wasn’t wearing a coat. Considering the temperature—”
“Good God.” Yung took a breath, rubbed at her temple. “On a day like this, she’d have worn her long gray wool—gray with black sleeves, black buttons. And a scarf. She always wore a scarf, and has quite a collection. I’m not sure even if I went through what’s here I’d know. Denzel may remember.”
“We’ll ask him about that detail later.”
“I need to see to my brother now. The children . . .” She paused, drew in a harsh breath. “The children will be up soon.”
“We’ll give you your privacy.”
“Thank you. I’ll get you everything you need as quickly as possible. If you need more, contact me.”
• • •
When they stepped outside into the murky dawn, Peabody pressed her fingers to her eyes as Judge Yung had done. “That was pretty much as bad as it gets.”
“It’ll get worse when the kids wake up.” Eve handed Peabody the evidence bag holding the ’link Denzel had given them. “I’m going to drop you off at Central. Contact McNab and tell him to get his skinny ass in. I want him to process that ’link.”
As she spoke, she pulled open the car door, got behind the wheel. “I requested Harpo—self-proclaimed queen of hair and fiber—to process the fibers on the vic’s pants. I’ll follow up on that. Yung’s arranging for a search warrant—residence, vehicles, offices. Get Detectives Carmichael and Santiago on that as soon as it comes through, but they’re to make sure the family’s not there. They’re going to the judge’s place.”
She pulled out, made the turn for downtown. “I want Uniform Carmichael to pick a team for a canvass. He’ll meet Offic
er Turney at the scene at oh-seven-thirty, so get on that. Contact Sergeant Gonzales at the one-three-six, tell him I requested Turney for the duty.”
“You want the first on scene?”
“I want Turney. She’s got good instincts. There’s a little Peabody in there.”
“Yeah?” Peabody puffed up, then immediately pouted. “Is she—”
“Don’t even think about asking if she’s got a smaller ass, prettier face, tougher chops or whatever you’re thinking. Just get it done.”
“I wasn’t thinking about her ass,” Peabody muttered. “But now I am.”
“I want EDD on the electronics, and as soon as we get the insurance information I want a sweep on the items she was wearing—wedding ring, wrist unit. The coat. We’ll talk to the husband later, see if he remembers the earrings, and the scarf Yung claims she’d have worn. He couldn’t take any more on this first pass. Start a run on the work places. Look for anything that links them, and links either or both to Whitestone’s company. There’s got to be something there. If this was a random kill, I’m a monkey’s cousin.”
“Uncle.”
“What?”
“It’s a monkey’s uncle, and before you ask, no, I don’t know why because, really, on the evolutionary train, cousin’s about right.”
“What the hell do I care?”
“I’m just saying.”
Eve spared Peabody a glance as she turned to cut across town. The blocks went smooth and fast—too early for pedestrians to swarm the sidewalks and crosswalks, too late for the Rapid Cabs packed with club hoppers and partygoers.
She avoided Times Square where the hoppers and goers never gave in or up, then zipped by a maxibus filled with sleepy commuters either coming on or going off shift.
“Somebody grabbed her, and had to make the grab close to her office. Or they waited in a cab then just cruised up for the grab. They took her to that empty apartment because they knew it was empty. Either they had the codes or they’re damn good at B&E. Knocked her around a little.”
“You think a righty, and a backhand.”
“Yeah, it reads that way to me. A backhand across the cheekbone’s going to hurt a lot, knock her down, scare the living shit out of her. Too much bruising for just a slap, not enough for a solid punch.”
She brought the victim’s face back into her head. “Probably more than one hit. We’ll see if Morris tells us she was stunned or tranq’d, but I’m betting no. They wanted to make it look like a mugging. If they’d stunned or drugged her, they’d open themselves to a closer look. Manhandle her into a vehicle, take her to the apartment where they’d have privacy.”
“For what? Say this is payback on Yung, it’s a pretty circular route. Yeah, they’re close, but you’d go closer—Yung herself, her husband, one of her kids or grandkids. She’s got two daughters, in case you wondered. One grandkid from each.”
“It’s not payback.” Eve had circled that through her mind, poked holes through it. Eliminated it. “They’d have messed her up a lot more, made a statement for payback. And yeah, gone closer than a sister-in-law. Maybe to pressure the husband for something, but if you can grab her, you can probably grab him. And it’s more pressure if she’s alive. Information maybe. On a client. She’d know a lot of money secrets, tax shit, account data. They knew she was working late, so they’ve been watching her or they have a route inside—or they are inside her firm.”
She pulled up at Central. “I’m going to see Morris. As soon as her offices open, we’ll talk to her supervisor, her coworkers. I want her client list, her current files. Same for the husband.”
“Follow the money.”
“It’s always an interesting route. Beat it.”
“Beating it.”
Eve drove away, glanced at the time, then used her in-dash ’link to contact Roarke. Maybe it was dawn, but she knew damn well he’d been up at least a solid hour, and had probably already bought a minor solar system.
“Lieutenant.”
And there he was, filling her dash screen, those staggering blue eyes alert in a face created on a day God had felt particularly generous. As that mane of silky black hair was tied back, she recognized work mode.
“I figured I should let you know I won’t be back.”
“I assumed as much.” His native Ireland cruised through the words, like music. “Eat something.”
“I think I’ll wait until after this trip to the morgue. Their Vending seriously blows.”
“It’s bad. I can see it.”
“Murder’s never good, but this one wasn’t particularly messy. But . . . mother of two, with a husband I broke into pieces at notification. Well-heeled Upper East Side family, both of them with careers in finance, living in a penthouse condo. But without the flash, you know? Homey, pictures of the kids everywhere. And she was Judge Yung’s sister-in-law.”
“Judge Yung?”
“Criminal. One of the best I know.” She could let the pity come, just a little with him. “You couldn’t swim through the love and grief in that place. It just kept flooding the air.”
“It’s difficult being the one who has no choice but to open the gates to the flood.”
“It’s part of the job, but like Peabody said, sometimes it’s worse than others. This was worse. Yung’s going to make it as easy as possible for me, search warrants, full disclosure, full access.”
“And yet.”
“And yet the mother of two who helped build what looks like a really happy home is still dead. So, anyway. What do you know about Brewer, Kyle, and Martini?”
“Ah . . . Corporate accounting primarily, or serving those who have as much money as a corporation.”
“Not yours?”
“No, but I’d take a good look at them if I decided to make a change in that area. They have a steady, straightforward reputation. Victim or husband?”
“Victim. Husband’s a lawyer with Grimes, Dickenson, Harley, and Schmidt. He’s Dickenson. Estate law and financial junk’s his deal.”
“I don’t know them, but I can see what I can find out.”
“Shouldn’t be hard. Their offices are in your headquarters building.”
“That does make it simple.”
“If you have time. It never hurts to have somebody who knows that money crap on board. One more. The WIN Group—investments, money managers, like that.”
“Nothing rings, but again, it’s easy enough to get information. How do they play in?”
“Bradley Whitestone—the W—found the body outside his being-renovated apartment early this morning when he brought a woman by he obviously hoped to bang. We met her, she says, at some gala. Alva Moonie.”
“Of the New York Moonies—old money, old pedigree. Shipping, as in building ships and using them to transport cargo and people on cruises. I don’t know her personally, but can tell you she was known as a wild child who lived for parties, extensive travel, shopping, drink, drugs, sex until a few years ago.”
“She looked like money,” Eve recalled. “She didn’t look wild.”
“I believe she designs or helps design the decor on the cruise ships, and does some nonprofit work these days. Is she a suspect?”
“About as far down the list as you can get at this point, but you never know.”
“You do,” he corrected. “Or you find out. How did she die, your mother of two?”
“Somebody broke her neck. Unless Morris tells me different,” she added as she pulled up to the morgue. “I’m going to go talk to him. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Eat something,” he repeated.
“Yeah, yeah.” But she grinned at him before she broke transmission.
Sometimes you got lucky, she thought remembering Daniel Yung’s words. She’d hit the mega-jackpot with Roarke, a man who understood her and loved her anyway.
And som
etimes, she thought as she walked into the long white tunnel of the morgue, luck ran out as it had for Marta and Denzel Dickenson.
Too early for change-of-shift she decided as her footsteps echoed. People were either dealing with the death toll the city hauled in during the night, or doing paperwork in offices, or things she didn’t particularly want to think about with body parts in labs.
She paused at Vending, rejected even the idea of what passed for coffee at this particular establishment. She ordered a tube of Pepsi instead, and chugged some caffeine into her system as she headed for Morris’s area.
If he hadn’t been notified and come in, she’d contact him with Yung’s request.
But she heard the music—weeping sax, tearful bass, as she pushed through the double doors.
He had Marta Dickenson on the slab, had opened her with a Y-cut and delicately lifted out her heart to weigh it.
He glanced over at Eve, his dark eyes large behind his microgoggles.
“Our day began when hers ended.”
“She was putting in overtime at the office. Her day didn’t end very well.”
“She has children. I checked for rape, no sign of sexual assault, but signs she’s borne at least one child.”
“Two.”
He nodded as he worked. He wore chocolate brown under his protective cape, a perfectly cut suit with a cream-colored shirt. He’d braided his hair, left it in one, long, complicated black tail down his back.
“I was going to pull you in if you weren’t on her.”
“I took the night shift this week. Restless.” But he glanced up again. “Any particular reason you’d want me on her?”
“She’s Judge Yung’s sister-in-law.”
“Genny?”
Eve’s eyebrows winged up. “You’re on a first-name basis with Yung?”
“We share an appreciation for the same types of music. This is her brother’s wife? Denzel’s wife. I met them once, when Genny had a musical evening at her home. I didn’t recognize her, but Genny always spoke so warmly of her.”