by Nora Roberts
“I don’t know what you think about this sort of thing,” Eve began. “But I know this priest.”
A faintest ghost of a smile touched Morris’s mouth. “A priest.”
“A Catholic guy, from this case I worked.”
“Oh yes, Father Lopez, from Spanish Harlem. I spoke with him during that business.”
“Sure. Right. Well, anyway… There’s something about him. Something solid, I guess. Maybe, if you wanted someone outside of the circle, outside of the job, you know, you could talk to him.”
“I was raised Buddhist.”
“Oh, well…”
That ghost of a smile remained. “And as I grew up, I experimented and toyed with a variety of faiths. The organized sort, I found, didn’t stick with me. But it might be helpful to talk with this priest. Do you believe there’s more, after death?”
“Yes,” Eve answered without hesitation. “No way we go through all this crap, then that’s it. If it is, I’m going to be seriously pissed off.”
“Exactly. I feel them, and I’m sure you do, too. Sometimes when they come to me, it’s done. They’ve gone, and all I have is the shell of what they were. Others, there’s more. It lingers awhile. You know?”
“Yeah.” It wasn’t something she easily expressed, or shared. But she knew. “It’s harder to take when it lingers.”
“For me, it’s hopeful. She was gone when I saw her. I wanted, selfishly, to feel her. But she’d gone, wherever she needed to go. I needed to be reminded of that, I think. That she’s not gone, not from me, because I can see her. And that she’s somewhere she needs to be. Yes, Father Lopez may help me come to terms. But so can you.”
“What do you need?”
“Bring me in. Tell me what you know, all of it, everything. Not just what you think I should know, but everything. And give me something to do, some part of it. However mundane. Fact-checking or follow-ups, buying fucking doughnuts for the team. I need to be involved. I need to have some part in finding the person who did this.”
She studied his face. Yes, the need was there. The intensity of it nearly burned a hole in her heart. “You have to tell me this, tell me straight. Respect her, respect me, and tell me the truth.”
“I will.”
“What do you want when we find him? What do you want done?”
“You’re asking if I want to kill him, to take his life?”
“That’s what I’m asking.”
“I thought of it, even imagined it. There are so many ways, and in my position a lot of avenues to take. I did think of it. It would be for me, and not for her. It wouldn’t be what she wanted. I would… disappoint her. How could I do that? I want what she would want.”
“What is that?”
“Justice. There are a lot of colors there, though, a lot of degrees and levels. We know that, too.” His gaze skimmed to Roarke. “All of us know that. I want his pain, and I want his pain to last a very long time. Death ends-at least this part of us. I don’t want his death, and I’ll promise you on hers that I’ll do nothing to end him. I want him in a cage, years, decades in a cage. Then I want him in whatever hell might exist when death ends that. I want a part of making that happen.”
He reached across the table now, gripped her hand. “Eve. I won’t betray her, or you. I swear to you.”
“Okay. You’re in.” She picked up her coffee. “I’m going to start by telling you she was clean. There’s no evidence that she was on the take or in anybody’s pocket. All evidence is to the contrary. She ended her relationship with Alex Ricker in Atlanta. Her only connection to him was friendship.”
“Did he kill her?”
“It’s not tipping that way. It’s reading like she was killed because of him, but not by him, and not with his knowledge, not through his orders, his wishes. I think Max Ricker ordered it done to punish the son, to screw with him.”
“He killed her to… Yes, I can see that.” When he picked up his coffee, Morris’s hand remained steady. “I can easily see that now.”
“To do it, he’d need someone close to Alex, and someone close to Col-to Ammy,” she corrected. “I have two e-detectives on their way to Omega now. I think Ricker’s got someone up there covering his visitor and communication log. I think he’s been in touch, and he’s been orchestrating this-maybe more than this. I’m going to see Alex in the morning-but more, I’m going to see his personal assistant. That’s the guy I’m looking at. Nobody’s closer to Alex than this guy, this Rod Sandy. On the other part, I’m looking at her squad.”
“One of her squad?” Morris set his cup down again. “Jesus. Jesus.”
“It was an inside hit-inside her world, inside Alex Ricker’s. I know it.”
For a long moment, he stared at the fire. Stared in silence.
“I didn’t think you were so close. I didn’t believe you’d gotten this far. I should’ve known better. What can I do?”
“You can spend some time tonight thinking about anything she told you about the people she worked with. Little things: comments, observations, complaints, jokes. Anything you remember. Anything you observed personally when you went to see her at work, when you joined her for a drink, for a meal with anyone in her squad. Note it down.”
“I will. I can do that.”
“And try to sleep. You’re no good to me if your brain’s fuzzed up with exhaustion. Think, note, sleep. I’m heading out in the morning to interview Alex and his PA. Send anything to my unit here, and I’ll review. I can talk to you more about it when I get back.”
His eyes held hers, and they were sharp again-the dullness honed away by purpose. “All right. I’ll start right away.”
“Why don’t I take you up?” Roarke rose.
“I was just coming to do so.” Summerset walked in. “Let me show you your room, Dr. Morris, and you can tell me if there’s anything else you need.”
“Thank you.” Morris looked back at Eve. “I have what I need.”
As Morris left with Summerset, Roarke skimmed a hand over Eve’s hair. “You’re no good to me if your brain’s fuzzed up with exhaustion. I don’t know how you could choke those words out without them burning off your tongue. Nicely done, though. He’ll will himself to sleep because of it.”
“That’s the plan. I need to finish up, and stow the murder board. I won’t have him wander into my office and see that.” She smiled at him as she rose. “It was nice what you did, seeing that he stayed here tonight.”
Roarke took her hand. “We’re family.”
Somewhere in the dim hours of the morning, Eve felt herself being lifted. She managed to focus about the time Roarke carried her into the elevator from her office.
“Damn it, I conked. What time is it?”
“Around two, fuzzy-brain.”
“Sorry. Sorry.”
“It happens I got caught up myself, and the work took longer than I’d anticipated. I just surfaced myself.”
“Oh.” She yawned. “Maybe I should be carrying you.”
“Easy to say now that I’m hauling you into the bedroom.” Crossing it, he dumped her unceremoniously on the bed. “And I doubt either of us have the energy for a sexy new nightgown.”
She managed to pull off a boot, toss it. “I don’t know. I could fuel up if you put one on.”
“Aren’t you the funny one when you’re asleep on your feet?”
She tossed the second boot. “I’m not on my feet.” She dragged off her shirt, wriggled out of her pants. Then crawled up the bed. “Screw nightgowns,” she muttered, then snuggled down in her underwear.
When Roarke slipped in beside her, she was already asleep again.
In the dream, Coltraine circled Eve’s murder board. She wore a pale blue sweater and trimly tailored pants, and her weapon at her hip.
“I worked murder cases a couple of times,” she said. “Not as primary, but part of a team. A break-in or mugging gone bad, that kind of thing. It always depressed me. I can’t say I ever thought someone would be working my mu
rder.”
“Who does?”
Coltraine smiled over at Eve. “Good point. You know more about me now than you did when you started.”
“That’s usually the way it works.”
“Some of it you’re getting through Li’s eyes. You can’t trust that a hundred percent.”
“No, but he won’t lie.”
“No, he won’t.” Coltraine moved over to where Eve sat at her desk, then leaned a hip on it. “I used to think you had to be cold to be a murder cop. Cold enough to walk in death every day, or nearly every day. To pick through lives, uncover all the secrets of people who couldn’t hide them anymore. But I was wrong. You have to be able to control the heat, but there has to be heat. Otherwise, you wouldn’t give a damn, not really. You wouldn’t care enough to do what you have to do to chase murder.”
“Sometimes it takes the cold.”
“Maybe. I know more about you now, too, seeing as you’ve got me stuck in your head. You struggle with the law, because you have such intense and marrow-deep respect for it. Such strong belief. But it’s the victim who pulls you, the victim who might have you question that line of law. More even than justice, and justice is your faith.”
“This isn’t about me.”
“You know it is. We’re as intimate as lovers now. Cop/victim. I’m one of the faces in your head now, in your dreams. You never forget them, no matter how many there are. That’s your burden, and your gift. You let Li in, when the rules and regs come down against that. He’s too close. But you’ve blurred the rules and regs because he’s a victim, too. And he needed it. It’s the cold part of you that’s questioning that now, in the back of your mind. And it’s the heat that knows it’s right.”
“Which part of you walked away from Alex Ricker?”
“That’s a question, isn’t it?” Coltraine rose, bent down to stroke Galahad as he bumped against her leg. “Nice cat.”
“How about an answer?”
“You’re wondering if I walked because he didn’t love me enough to pull back from that line. To show me how much I mattered. Or if I walked because I remembered I was a cop, and I had a duty to that line of the law.”
“It doesn’t matter.” Eve shrugged. “You walked, and that’s what plays here.”
“It matters to you, because of Li. It matters because of the badge. And it matters because you wonder what you would’ve done, if Roarke hadn’t shown you how much you mattered.”
“Not altogether. One and two, that’s true. But the last? He shows me every day. I think I get how much you hurt when Alex didn’t, because I don’t have to wonder. I know. And I don’t think it was the cop who walked. I think the cop came after. I think, maybe, you were a better cop once you came here.”
“That’s nice. Thanks. Still, I wasn’t a good enough cop to keep myself from being taken out with my own damn weapon.”
“Yeah, that’s a bitch. But I’m looking at you, Detective. I’m looking at the way I think this set you up. And I’m thinking you didn’t have a chance in hell.”
“Well.” Coltraine set her hands on her hips. “That’s a real comfort to me now.”
“Best I got.”
A soft spring drizzle greeted Eve when she strode outside to meet Baxter. She watched him whip his snazzy two-seater down the drive and jerked a thumb at the unsnazzy body of her own vehicle.
“Aw, come on, Dallas, why take your latest hunk of junk when I’ve got my primo?”
“Official business, and I’m driving.”
“A man’s gotta haul his ass out of bed on a rainy Saturday, and he can’t even set it down in a decent ride.” He grumbled all the way, but transferred his ass from one car to the other. “Well, nice seats, I gotta say.”
“Is your ass all comfy now?”
“Actually it is. Surprising how… what, whoa.” He leaned forward to goggle at the dash. “Look at this! Sizzling Jesus, this heap is loaded. It’s-”
He broke off, flung back against the seat as she poured it on down the drive. “And she fucking moves, baby! This is not departmental issue. I am not a fool.”
“Depends on who you’re asking. And I have the option, per regs, of using my personal ride if it meets code. Just like you use that toy back there.”
“Dallas, you have depths I’ve never plumbed.”
“You never plumbed any of my depths.”
“That’s your loss, sister. And Peabody never said a word about this ride.”
Eve actually winced as she remembered. “She hasn’t seen it yet. So you’ll keep it zipped about it. Otherwise, she’ll get all whiny about not seeing it first, or some such shit. Partners can be ass pains.”
“Not mine. Boy’s a jewel. So, you figure Ricker Junior’s PA and bestest pal fucked him over and killed Coltraine.”
“Killed her or helped set her up for it. And set up Alex Ricker for good measure.”
“Bestest pals can be ass pains.”
She had to laugh. “You can’t begin to know. We’ll work them separate. Start out straight interview. Just going over details. Then I’m going to peel Sandy off, leave you on Ricker. I want to heat him up, and I don’t want his bestest pal getting in the way.”
“Works for me. You really don’t figure Junior’s in it? Motive’s there, opportunity, even with the alibi. All he had to do was snap his fingers.”
“If he was going to snap them, he’d have snapped them long-distance. His old man set him up, it’s just like him. Once we pin Sandy, he’s going to flip. He’s a turncoat, so he’ll turn again. And we’ll skewer whoever Ricker has in the Eighteenth Squad.”
“I hate it’s a cop. But yeah, I went through the files, your notes. It’s gotta be.”
Eve’s in-dash beeped. “Dallas.”
“Callendar reporting from Omega.” Callendar’s face, tired eyes, major grin, filled the screen. “There was some delay at docking, but Sisto and I are in. We’re cleared and logged, and about to be escorted straight to Communications. The warden’s authorized us access to… well, pretty much everything.”
“Get me something, Callendar.”
“If it’s here, we’ll get it. Man-o, this place is grim. You ever been here?”
“No.”
“Good choice. Even the staff and admin areas are grim. I bet if you gave kids a mandatory tour of this place, they’d never so much as think about boosting somebody’s airboard.” She glanced away, signaled. “They’re ready for us.”
“I want to hear the minute you have anything. Even half of anything.”
“Cha. Back when. Callendar out.”
“Cha?” Eve repeated.
“As in ‘gotcha.’ ” Baxter rolled his eyes. “E-geeks.”
Eve shook her head, in perfect accord. “E-geeks.”
She swung to the curb at Ricker’s building. “On duty,” she said and preened a little when her light flashed on.
“Solid.”
“If we wrap this, I’ll show you how she verticals as we head back.”
She badged her way in, moved straight to the elevator when the doorman said they were already cleared and expected by Mr. Ricker.
He met them in the foyer. “Lieutenant.”
“Mr. Ricker. Detective Baxter. We appreciate you making time to answer a few more questions.”
His tone was as polite and neutral as Eve’s. “I want to cooperate in any way I can.”
“As discussed, we’d also like to speak to Mr. Sandy.”
“Yes. He’s probably in the kitchen, getting coffee. Please sit down. I’ll get him.”
“Prime digs,” Baxter commented as he looked around. “And they say crime doesn’t pay.”
“Only idiots say that.”
“The world’s full of idiots.”
Alex came back alone. “Sorry, he’s generally an early riser, so I assumed… He must be upstairs. Excuse me.”
As Alex started up, Eve and Baxter exchanged glances.
“You thinking what I’m thinking?” Baxter murmured.
“Lieutenant.” Alex came to the top of the stairs, and she saw it in the pale set of his face. “Rod isn’t here. His bed hasn’t been slept in. I won’t object if you want to look for yourself.”
Damn right they would. Eve started up. “When did you last see him?”
“Last night, about eight. He had a date. But he knew you were expected this morning. It’s not like him to miss an appointment. And he’s not answering his ’link. I just tried it.”
Eve walked to the doorway of Sandy’s room. “Who’s the date?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
She moved past Alex to check the closet, then frowned. “His things are still here. Anything missing, that you can tell?”
“Whatever he wore last night-ah, let me think. He had on a brown leather jacket, black pants, I think. I can’t recall what color shirt. Casual. A casual date. His clothes are here, as far as I can tell. But why wouldn’t they be? He had no reason to leave, and wouldn’t leave without telling me.”
“Maybe it was a sudden decision,” Baxter suggested with just enough sarcasm to have Alex turn frigid eyes on him.
“He doesn’t make sudden decisions, and he works for me. He’s my oldest friend, and he works for me. Obviously, the date turned into something more than casual, and he stayed the night. He’s overslept and doesn’t hear his ’link. I’m perfectly willing to answer any questions you have for me now, and I’ll see to it that Rod makes himself available to you as soon as he gets back.”
He turned to Eve then. “I didn’t contact my lawyers. They don’t even know you’re here. I’m not playing you. Rod just-”
“Got lucky?” Eve suggested. “Baxter, wait for me downstairs.”
“Sure.”
“Rod’s done nothing but be careless about an appointment,” Alex began.
“Stow it. Who was your driver yesterday?”
Biting and cold replaced polite and neutral. “And that’s relevant because?”