Innocent In Death

She zipped out before Eve could delay her.

Alone, Eve circled the table, the board. And thought about the dead.

The boy had been good-looking, fun-looking, she added. Big, goofy grin on his face in most of the pictures that weren’t taken in infancy. Happy, healthy family, she mused, studying the picture she’d copied of one in Allika’s box-the four Straffos gri

Everyone touching some part of someone else. An attractive unit. Somehow complete.

She compared it to the one she’d copied from Rayleen’s room. One kid now framed by mom and dad. And yeah, even though Allika gri

Something missing.

Did she try to fill that void with social functions, routines, appointments, structure? Medications and men?

Don’t be sad, Mommy!

Bright kid, that Rayleen. Smart, perceptive, pissy. Eve couldn’t hold the pissy against her. So Rayleen had looked up her data, her service record, her cases. Easy enough to do, Eve mused, but interesting work for a ten-year-old.

Nixie, she remembered. Nixie had been another bright, perceptive kid. Courageous kid. One who’d lost a brother, too-and her entire family, her entire world, in one horrible night.

Nixie’d been full of questions, as Rayleen seemed to be. Maybe they just popped out smarter and more full of curiosity now.

At their age, Eve had barely started real school. Had she been curious? she wondered. Maybe, maybe, but she hadn’t been one to ask questions. Not then, not for quite a while. For the first eight years of her life asking too many questions meant a fist in the face. Maybe worse.

Better to stay quiet, watch, figure it out than to ask and end up bloody.

Something was going on in that house, Eve thought. Something was just a little tilted in that perfect space. She wasn’t afraid to ask questions anymore. But she needed to figure out the right ones to ask.

She ate something that might have once wished to be chicken inside cardboard pretending to be bread. And ran a series of probabilities.

She was fishing and knew it, following various lines of logic-and one knotted string of pure instinct.

The computer told her that her instinct was crap, but that didn’t surprise her. Then she ran a hypothetical, omitting certain details, and the computer called her a genius.

“Yeah, wouldn’t that be a kick in the ass?”

She sat back. It was, of course, bullshit to run a hypothetical or probability without including known details or evidence. But she’d satisfied her curiosity.

Intrigued, she copied it all to Mira and asked for an opinion. She sent copies to her home unit, then gathered what she wanted to take home before she headed out to the bull pen and Peabody’s desk.

“I’m going to work from home.”

“It’s nearly end of shift.”

“And your point is?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

“I’m swinging by the school on the way. Just want another feel of the place. Tell McNab I want individual D-and-C’s from the Straffos’ dug deep. Any shadow, any smudges, I want to know.”

“Um, day off tomorrow. Yours, mine, and ours. Valentine’s Day, too.”

“Jesus. Consider yourself on call, Detective. So be prepared to throw something over whatever embarrassing outfit you’re going to put yourself into for McNab’s perverted delight if and when I tag you.”

Peabody gave a sober nod. “I have a trench coat reserved for that purpose, sir.”

Eve considered it. “I’m forced to say: Ick. You don’t head out until you get your report written and copied to my unit here and at home. I want your notes, too. Impressions, opinions.”

“You’ve got something.”

“Du

“And I’d be looking for?”

“Let me know when you find it,” Eve said as she strode out.

She took the glides down to the main level, cast a couple of wistful glances at the vending machine. She wanted a Pepsi, but didn’t want to interact with the damn machines.

They hated her.

Rather than squeeze onto the elevator, she jogged down the steps to the garage, pulling out her ’link as she went.

She hit Caro first, and Roarke’s ever-efficient admin sent out a warm smile. “Lieutenant, how are you?”

“Good enough. Can-” She stopped herself from shooting right to the point. How-are-yous required a how-are-you-doing back. She kept forgetting those sort of details. “How’re you doing?”

“Just fine. I want to thank you for the use of your house in Mexico. Reva and I had a lovely mother and daughter weekend there. It’s just beautiful, and the weather couldn’t have been better. It was a perfect break from the winter for both of us.”

“Ah.” She didn’t know Roarke had given Caro and her daughter a couple of days in Mexico. “That’s good.” Now she had to ask about Reva, didn’t she? “So, how’s Reva doing?”

“Really well, thank you. She’s dating again-casually. It’s nice to see her enjoying herself again. I’m sure you’d like to speak to Roarke.”

Whew, she thought, navigated the chatty session of the program with no casualties. “If he’s tied up, you could just pass him a message whenever.”

“I’ll check.”

Just a little worn out by the ’link socializing, Eve got into her vehicle as Caro switched her to blue screen hold. Moments later, it was Roarke’s blue eyes that blazed on screen.

“Lieutenant.”

God, he was pretty. “Sorry to interrupt any world domination meeting.”

“That was this morning. We’re finishing up satellite and planetoid dominations just now.”

“Okay, then. I’m just heading out, going to swing by the school.”

“For?”

“Not sure. I just want another run-through on scene.”

His smile was easy and still made her insides curl. “Would you like some company?”

“What about satellite and planetoid domination?”

“I believe we have that under control. I’ll meet you there.”

“Good. Great.” In fact, it was perfect. “See you.”

“Lieutenant?”

“Damn stupid traffic,” she muttered as she fought her way into it. “What?”

“I love you.”

Okay, that was perfect. “I heard that somewhere. There’s a rumor going around I love you, too. Goddamn maxibus. Gotta go.”

She stuffed her ’link back in her pocket and enjoyed the armed combat of driving uptown. Once there, she scouted out then fought for a parking spot, another type of warfare, then walked the block and a half to the school.

He was getting out of a car when she was half a block away. Tall and rangy, long black coat billowing in the wind. As the car cruised off-he’d have arranged that so they could drive home together-he turned. Just as he’d done the very first time. Turned as if he sensed her, knew she was there, and latched those wild blue eyes on her face.

Just like the first time, the very first time, something inside her leaped.

It wasn’t her style, it wasn’t her way, but there were times, she thought, you just went with the moment. She strode right up to him, gripped the front of his coat in her fists and took his mouth with hers. Strong and hot and real.

He drew her in. He always drew her in. So they stood, drenched in the heat of the kiss while the cold blew around them, and New York’s irritable traffic bitched and complained.

“There she is,” he murmured.

“Yeah, here I am.” She drew back. “You’ve got a great mouth, ace. I happen to know your hands are pretty damn good, too. Get us in.”

He lifted his brow. “Are you suggesting I break into the school, Lieutenant?”

“I’m ordering it, if you’re standing as expert consultant, civilian.”

“I love when you pull rank. Stirs me up.”

“A wink and a smile stirs you up, pal. Give it a shot.”