Born In Death

“It’s been forced. Evac’s here on this level, but he likely exited that way. Could have sent it back up from the ground. We’ll want the sweepers to dust the controls. Won’t be prints, but it keeps them busy.”

She ran through the scene, and her take of it, for her partner.

“Maybe some DNA on the pieces of the lamp, some on the vic’s fists.” Peabody looked down at the body. “Guy was in good shape. Looks like he gave his attacker some trouble.”

“Not enough.”

They left the crime scene in the hands of the sweepers and headed for the accounting firm.

“You know, seeing the kid back there reminded me. How’d the coaching class go last night?”

“It’s not to be discussed,” Eve said. “Ever.”

“Aw, come on.”

“Ever.”

To hide a smirk, Peabody glanced out the side window and looked longingly at a corner glide-cart. “Baby shower’s coming right up. You set?”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Or she hoped she was.

“I made her this sweet baby blanket while I was in the weaving mode over the holidays. It’s all rainbow colors. I’m doing these cute little booties and a hat, too. What’d you get her?”

“I don’t know.”

“You haven’t gotten her shower gift yet? Cutting it close.”

“I got a few days.” Considering, Eve glanced over. “You could go buy something to cover it. I’ll pay you.”

“Uh-uh. It’s not right.” Peabody folded her arms. “She’s your oldest friend, your best pal, having her first baby. You have to buy it yourself.”

“Damn it. Damn it, damn it.”

“I’ll go with you, though. We can swing by this baby place she’s been haunting after we hit the offices. Grab some lunch, too, maybe.”

Eve imagined the process of shopping in a baby boutique, and had to fight off a shudder. “I’ll give you a hundred dollars to go on your own.”

“That’s hitting below the belt,” Peabody replied. “But I’m too strong to be bribed. You have to do the thing, Dallas. It’s Mavis.”

“Coaching classes, baby showers, now shopping. Is there no end to the price of friendship?”

Eve put it aside – buried it – and made her way to the main reception area of Sloan, Myers, and Kraus.

In keeping with their service of high-end clients, the area was plush, glass-walled, and full of green, leafy plants. The wide stone-gray counter served as a work area for three receptionists, all of whom wore headsets and worked busily on keyboards. A trio of waiting areas fa

Eve laid her badge on the counter in front of a three-piece-suited man with streaked blond hair worn in short, tight curls. “I want to see someone in charge.”

He gave her a cheerful smile. “That certainly wouldn’t be me. In charge of a specific department, or altogether in charge?”

“Let’s start small. I want Natalie Copperfield’s and Bick Byson’s supervisors.”

“Let’s see. Copperfield’s Senior Account Exec, Corporate, Foreign and International. That’s this floor. You’ll want Cara Greene. And ah, Byson, Byson. Byson, Bick,” he all but sang as he read his screen. “Vice President, Personal Finance, Domestic. That’s up a level, and it would be Myra Lovitz.”

“We’ll take Greene first.”

“She’s in a meeting.”

Eve tapped her badge. “Not anymore, she’s not.”

“Okay by me. I’ll call through. You want to have a seat?”

“No, just Greene.”

Swank place, Eve thought as she waited. A lot of money came through these doors. And nothing tempted murder so much as lots of money.

Cara Greene wore a dark red suit, and though it buttoned to the throat, it was cut in such a way that showed she had a nice, perky rack. She also had an impatient expression on a smooth, caramel-toned face, and clipped out into reception on ice-pick heels.

“You’re the police?” she demanded and shot an accusing finger at Eve.

“Lieutenant Dallas, Detective Peabody. You’re Greene?”

“That’s right, and you’ve just pulled me out of an important meeting. If my son’s hooked school again, I’ll deal with him. I don’t appreciate the cops coming to my office.”

“We’re not here about your son. We’re here about Natalie Copperfield, and if you’d prefer, you can come to my office. Now.”

The irritation shifted immediately to wariness. “What about Natalie? You’re not going to tell me she’s in any trouble. She’d never break the law.”

“Can we take this into your office, Ms. Greene?”

The expression changed again, and this time there were hints of fear in bottle-green eyes. “Something happened to her? Was there an accident? Is she all right?”

“Your office would be best.”

“Come with me.” Moving fast, Cara skirted around the reception desk, through a pair of glass doors that swished open on her approach. She kept up the brisk pace, past a jungle of cubes where the drones slaved away, past offices where accountants crunched their numbers, to the corner office that suited her position.

She shut the door behind them, turned to Eve. “Tell me fast. Please.”

“Ms. Copperfield was murdered early this morning.”

Her breath hitched, a quick in and out before she held up a hand. She moved, not so briskly now, to a refreshment station along one wall, pulled out a bottle of chilled water. And sank to a chair without opening it.

“How? How? I don’t understand. I should have known something was wrong when she called in sick yesterday and didn’t make this meeting this morning. I should have known. I was so mad at her. This meeting…” She held up her hand again. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. It’s such a shock.”

Before Eve could speak, she lurched to her feet. “Oh, God, Bick. Her fiancé. Does he know? She’s engaged to one of the VP’s in personal finance. He should be upstairs. Oh, God. They’re getting married in May.”

“She worked for you directly?”

“She’s one of my senior account execs and on a fast track. She’s good. I mean… Oh, God, oh, God, she was good. Excellent. Personable, smart, hard-working. I pla

“You were friends,” Peabody put in.

“Yes. Not best pals. I have to keep some distance being her boss, but yes.” Closing her eyes, she pressed the chilled bottle to her forehead. “We were very friendly. I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Why don’t you tell us where you were between midnight and four this morning.”

“You don’t think…” Cara sat again, and this time she opened the water bottle and drank. “I was home, with my husband and our twelve-year-old son. My husband and I went to bed just after midnight. God, how was she killed?”

“We’re not releasing the details of that at this time. Since you were friendly, and you were in a position of authority, did she say anything to you about being worried or bothered? Threatened?”

“No. No. No. I’d say she seemed a little off the past couple of weeks, but I put that down to distraction. Wedding plans. She’d have told Bick if someone was bothering her. She told him everything.”

Yeah, Eve thought, most likely she did. And that’s why he was dead.

“What was she working on?”

“She had several accounts, heads quite a number and is on teams that hold others.”

“We’re going to need a list of all her accounts, and we’ll need to see her files.”

“I can’t do that. I can’t. We have to protect our clients’ privacy. We’d be sued up the butt if I turned confidential files over to the police.”

“We’ll get a warrant.”

“Please do. I mean that, sincerely. Please get a warrant and I’ll personally see that you have any and all data the law demands. I need to contact Mr. Kraus,” she continued as she got back to her feet. “I need to tell him what’s going on. What’s happened. And Bick. You’ll need to talk to Bick.”

“Bick Byson was also murdered early this morning.”

She lost all of her color, every drop of it. “I – I can’t think. I don’t know what to say. This is horrible.”