Imitation in Death

She took a long breath, a long sip of coffee. “The moving van, that was his stage set, so he was careful there. He wanted us to find her inside the van. But he had to run, with his eyes burning, his throat on fire from the spray. Had to get to his bolt-hole.”

She looked over as a doctor in surgical scrubs came down the hall. On his face she could see what Sela Cox had seen-the grimness. “Damn it.”

Eve got to her feet, and waited for him to go in and speak with the family.

She heard weeping, male and female, and voices down to murmurs. She was waiting when he stepped back out.

“Dallas.” She flipped out her badge. “I need a minute.”

“Dr. Laurence. She can’t talk to you, or anybody else.”

“She’s alive?”

“I don’t know how she made it through surgery, and I don’t expect her to last the morning. I’m letting her family go in, to say goodbye.”

“I wasn’t able to speak to the MTs on-scene. Can you tell me about her injuries?”

He stalked over to a vending machine, ordered coffee. “Broken ribs. I’d say he kicked her. Collapsed lung, bruised kidneys, dislocated shoulder, broken elbow. Those are just some of the minor injuries. Her skull, that’s a different matter. Ever taken a hard-boiled egg, run it with your palm over a hard surface to break up the shell?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s about what her skull looked like. The MTs got to her fast, and they did a heroic job, but she’d lost a lot of blood before they responded. Her skull’s fractured, Lieutenant, and the damage is severe. There were bone splinters in her brain. The chances of her regaining consciousness, even for a few minutes, are slim to none. The odds of her being able to speak, have a coherent thought, motor functions-should that miracle occur?” He shook his head.

“I’m told she sprayed the guy,” he added.

“There was a container of mugger spray on-scene,” Eve confirmed. “The siren engaged. It was identified as belonging to her. My take is she got him; otherwise, he’d have finished what he started. I’m betting she got his eyes.”

“I’ve put the word out. Anybody comes in this ER, or any other facility I’ve been able to reach with the symptoms, we’ll send up a flag.”

“That’s helpful, thanks. Any change in her condition, one way or the other, I’d appreciate it if you’d contact me. Peabody? You got a card?”

“Yes, sir.”

“One more thing,” Eve said when he’d slipped it into his pocket. “You have much call to use this anymore?” She offered him a shard of plaster.

“Haven’t used this since my intern days,” he said, turning it over in his hand. “Still see it now and then, depending on the injury and the insurance. Plaster’s cheaper than the skin casts used more habitually now. A break takes longer to heal, and the cast’s cumbersome, uncomfortable. More likely to see these on low-income patients.”

“Where do you get it, the stuff you make it from?”

“Medical supply company, I imagine. Hell, probably pick some up at a higher end rehab place, for people who want the old stuff, want authentic plasterwork.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Appreciate it.”

“Medical supplies or building supplies?” Peabody asked as they walked out.

“I want both. Cash sales. He won’t want a paper trail. And I’m betting there aren’t that many cash sales for this sort of thing. Small amounts, self-pickup. Delivery means he had to give an address. He walked in and bought this, paid cash, walked out. Run building supplies first,” she decided. “AnyJoeBlow can walk into one of them and nobody notices. That’s his first choice.”

She checked the time as she slid into the car. “Briefing in one hour. When we’re done, we’re going shopping.”

– -«»--«»--«»--

She walked into her office and wasn’t sure if she was a

“Don’t snap and snarl. I brought you doughnuts.”

“What kind of doughnuts?”

“Cream-filled, sprinkled with colored sugar.”Nadine opened the small bakery box. “Six of them, and they’re all yours, fatso.”

“I like a good bribe. Now get out of my chair.”

She walked to the AutoChef, ordered up coffee. When she turned backNadine was sitting in her single visitor’s chair, crossing her silky legs.

“I should rephrase. Get out of my office.”

“I thought we’d have breakfast together.”Nadine lifted the minuscule muffin to her lips, and took a biteEve estimated contained three crumbs. “Dallas, I appreciate your stand on playing favorites, and the bitching and moaning from other members of the Fourth Estate. I’ve backed off. You have to agree.”

“I’m not seeing your back, but with that shirt, I’m seeing a lot of your tits.”

“Pretty, aren’t they? But to remain on track, I’ve respected your stand because you had a point. I know you’ve fed Quinton some information-no more, no less, than you wanted out there. I respect that as well.”

“We’re just loaded with respect this morning.” She took a huge bite of pastry. “Bye-bye now.”

“He hasn’t put it together. He may, especially after I give him a good nudge. He’s bright and he’s eager, but he’s green. As yet, he hasn’t wondered why you’re primary on what is now three seemingly unrelated homicides.”

“Crime is ru

“Sorry, my information was she wasn’t expected to make it through surgery.”

“She has. Barely.”

“Even more curious then. Why our stalwart homicide lieutenant is picking at the threads of an assault.” She took a tiny sip of coffee, rubbed her lips together. “I say we’ve got one killer employing a variety of methods. And this occurred to me when I got wind of the last-”

“Cox was attacked about two-thirty this morning. Shouldn’t you have been asleep, or banging your flavor of the month?”

“I was asleep, and was awakened from my virginal bed-”

“Pig’s eye.”

“With an anonymous tip,”Nadine finished with a little cat’s smile. “I started wondering, then I started working, and I started asking myself what these three women had in common, besides you. I decided, the killer. The first was, obviously, an imitation of the infamous Ripper. What if the others were also imitations of previous crimes?”

“I’m not going to comment on this,Nadine.”

“AlbertDeSalvo andTheodore Bundy.”

“No comment.”

“I don’t need you to comment.” She leaned forward. “I can put enough together to go on the air with a story, with supposition.”

“Then what’re you doing here?”

“Giving you a chance to confirm or deny, or to ask me to hold the story I’m putting together. I’ll hold it if you ask me, because you won’t unless you need to.”

“You’re also thinking I won’t ask unless you’re right, and then you’ll have a big, sexy story with big, sexy ratings.”

“That plays, too. But I’ll still hold it, if you need me to. And by holding it, I’m giving competitors the chance to come to the same conclusions I have.”

Evecontemplated her doughnut. “I need to think a minute, so just be quiet.”

There were pros and cons here, andEve ran through them all whileNadine sat silently, eating her muffin crumb by crumb.

“I’m not going to give you data. I’m not even going to give you hints. Because when I’m asked, and I will be, I want to be able to say honestly that I didn’t. That I wasn’t your source. I’m not going to confirm or deny your supposition, which is what you’ll have to say if and when you break this story.LieutenantDallas would neither confirm nor deny. I will, however, make a personal comment, between us girls. Besides having those pretty tits, you’ve got a sharp brain.”

“Why, thank you. I’ve also got great legs.”

“Now if I were doing this story, which I’m not, I’d wonder why this particular bag of nuts has so little personality, power, and imagination. He has to pretend he’s somebody else to do the job. And the last time out, he flubs it up so bad, a girl about half his size hurts him and he has to run away.”