Salvation in death

“You just did it.” He leaned over, kissed her again.

“I can reschedule some stuff, if you want me to-”

He looked at her, just looked, and the heaviest of the grief that had woken with him eased. “Thanks for that, but I’m better just for having it out.” He skimmed a finger down her chin. “Go to work, Lieutenant.”

She wrapped her arms around him first, hugged hard. And holding her, he drew in her scent-hair and skin-knowing it would come with him through the day.

She drew back, stood. “See you tonight.”

“Eve? You asked me before if I thought your victim, your Lino, would tell someone who he really was. I think, if they stood as family for him, if he considered them part of him-any of the pieces that made him-he had to. He didn’t go to his mother, but there had to be someone. A man can’t stand on a bridge alone, not at home, not for five years. Even the hardest needs someone to know him.”

She managed to cut Peabody off, but barely. Eve jogged down the steps just as Summerset opened the door to her partner. Eve kept going. “Peabody, with me.”

“But I was just…”

“We’re moving,” Eve said and pointed toward their vehicle. “Get in. One minute.” Eve turned to Summerset while Peabody sulked her Danish-deprived way to the passenger side. “Roarke could use a call from his aunt.”

“He wants me to contact his aunt in Ireland?”

“I said he could use a call from her. He’s fine,” Eve said, anticipating him. “He could just use the co

“I’ll take care of it.”

Knowing he would, Eve climbed behind the wheel, and put her mind back on the job.

“Are we ru

“If you’re finished whining about it, I’ll fill you in.”

“A real partner would have brought me a coffee to go so I could drink it while being filled in.”

“How many coffee shops did you pass on your endless and arduous hike from the subway?”

“It’s not the same,” Peabody muttered. “And it’s not my fault I’m coffee spoiled. You’re the one who brought the real stuff made from real beans into my life. You addicted me.” She pointed an accusing finger at Eve. “And now you’re withholding the juice.”

“Yes, that was my plan all along. And if you ever want real again in this lifetime, suck it up and do my bidding.”

Peabody stared. “You’re like Master Manipulator. An evil coffee puppeteer.”

“Yes, yes, I am. Do you have any interest, Detective, in where we’re going, who we’re going to see, and why?”

“I’d be more interested if I had coffee.” At the utter silence, Peabody sighed. “Okay. Where are we going, Lieutenant, who are we going to see, and why?”

“We’re going to the bodega beside St. Cristóbal, and I can actually hear you thinking ‘breakfast burrito.’ ”

“Psychic Master Manipulator! What, besides breakfast burritos, is of interest at the bodega?”

Eve went through it, taking Peabody through the interviews, the search results, and the agenda.

“You woke Whitney up?”

She would hone in on that single point, Eve thought. “Apparently. We need the access. Two explosions, one likely in retaliation for the first, both with fatalities. Gang turf. And that’s when Lino Martinez and friend skipped town. Lino was upper rung in the Soldados, he had skills with electronics. No way this went down without his participation.”

“And this Pe

“Inez knows something, and the something caused a rift. It’s worth feeling Pe

“Do you think he made contact with the old girlfriend, gang friend, and didn’t make contact with his mother?”

“I think he didn’t make contact with his mother. I think she played it straight with me. I don’t think he co

She thought of Roarke, and his lost Je

“It would take a hell of a lot of willpower not to co

Peabody nodded. “Besides, why come back here, specifically, if you didn’t want to co

“There you go. And if you want to co

Eve hunted up parking. “If he co

Even from the sidewalk, Eve could hear the jingle of the bell as people went in and out of the bodega. She spotted Marc Tuluz from the youth center stepping out with a large, steaming go-cup.

“Mr. Tuluz.”

“Oh. Lieutenant…”

She could see him searching mental files for her last name. “Dallas.”

“Right. Morning hit,” he said, lifting the go-cup. “I can’t fire all cylinders without a jumbo sucre negro. Are you here about Miguel?” He paused, looked flustered. “I don’t know what else to call him. Do you have any news?”

“There may be, later today. So, you hit this place daily?”

“Sometimes twice a day. This stuff’s probably corroded all my pipes, but hey.” He lifted the cup like a toast. “Who wants to live forever?”

“Did you run into Flores here?”

“Sure, now and again. Or if we were both up at the center, and one of us got the jones, he might spring for a couple of hits. Killer burritos, too, best in the neighborhood. One of us usually picked up lunch here at least once a week when we had meetings at the center. I still can’t believe… Is there anything you can tell me, Lieutenant? Anything I can pass on to Magda? She’s having a rough time of it over this.”

“We’re working on it.”

“Yeah. Well. I’d better let you get back to that, and get myself to the center.”

“Came in most every day,” Eve stated when Marc walked away. “Just how much temptation can a fake priest handle?”

She went inside, to the jingle of the bell. It was colorful, in looks and scents, with the counter of breakfast choices doing steady business. Others jammed at the coffee kiosk or did morning shopping, filling red handbaskets with items off shelves.

Two women worked the breakfast counter, and Pe

Eve stepped to the end of the line. The few minutes it would take to reach the counter would give her more time to observe. Gold hoops, wide enough to slide a burrito through, swung at Pe

On her forearm rode the symbol of the Soldados, with the kill mark.

“Go ahead and order,” Eve told Peabody.

“There is a God.” When she reached the counter, Peabody ordered the hash and egg (substitute) burrito and a café con leche.

“How’s it going, Pe

Pe

“That’s fine, then we’ll go down to Central, see if you change your mind.”

Pe