Creation In Death

“And say, okay, maybe you can’t get to the head, not at first, but you get a good hold on one of those tentacles, then-”

“I get it, Peabody.” Because she now had an image of a giant octopus swimming in her head, Eve was relieved when her dash ’link signaled. “Dallas.”

“So, what’s up?”

“Nadine.” Eve let her glance shift down to the screen where Nadine Furst, a very hot property in media circles, beamed out at her.

“Media conference, you as the department’s spokesperson-I know you love that one.”

“I’m primary.”

“I got that.” On screen, Nadine’s cat eyes were sharp and searching. “But what gives this one enough juice? A dead woman in the park, identity yet to be given.”

“We’ll give her name at the conference.”

“Give me a hint. Celebrity?”

“No hints.”

“Come on, be a pal.”

The trouble was, they were pals. Moreover, Nadine could be trusted. And at the moment, Nadine had plenty of juice of her own. She could, Eve mused, be useful.

“You’re going to want to come to the media conference, Nadine.”

“I’ve got a conflict. Just-”

“You’re going to want to be there, and when it wraps, you’re going to want to find your way to my office.”

“Offering me a one-on-one after a media a

“You’re not getting a one-on-one. Just you, just me. No camera. You’re going to want to do this, Nadine.”

“I’ll be there.”

“That was smart,” Peabody said when Eve clicked off. “That was really smart. Bring her in, bargain, and get her resources and contacts.”

“She’ll keep a lid on what I ask her to keep a lid on,” Eve agreed. “And she’s the perfect fu

Dick Berenski had earned his nickname. Not only did he have a head like an egg covered with slick black hair, his personality was oilier than a tin of sardines. He was slippery, sleazy, and not just open to bribes-he expected them.

But despite being a dickhead, he ran a top-flight lab and knew his business as well as he knew the exact location of the dimples on the ass of this month’s centerfold.

Eve strode in, moving by the long white counters and stations, the clear-walled cubes. She spotted Berenski scooting back and forth on his stool in front of his counter, tapping his spider-leg fingers on keyboards or tapping them to screens.

For a dickhead, she thought, he was hell at multitasking.

“Where’s my report?” she demanded.

He didn’t bother to look up. “Back up, Dallas. You want it fast or you want it right?”

“I want it fast and right. Don’t fuck with me on this one…Dick.”

“I said, ‘Back up.’”

She narrowed her eyes because when he swung around on the stool, there was fury on his face. Not his usual reaction to anything.

“You think I’m screwing with this?” he snapped out. “You think I’m jerking off here?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“This isn’t the first time either, is it?”

She flipped back through her memory. “You weren’t chief nine years back.”

“Senior tech. I did the skin and hair on those four vics. Harte took the bows for it, but I did the work. Goddamn it.”

Harte, Eve remembered, had also had a nickname: Blowharte.

“So you did the work. Applause, applause. I need an analysis of this vic’s hair and skin.”

“I did the work,” he repeated, bitterly now. “I analyzed and researched and identified what was barely any trace. I gave you the damn brand names of the soap, the shampoo. You’re the one who didn’t catch the bastard.”

“You did your job, I didn’t do mine?” She leaned down, nose-to-nose. “You’d better back up, Dick.”

“Ah, excuse me. Don’t clock the referee.” Courageously-from her point of view-Peabody eased between the chief tech and the primary. “Everyone who was involved nine years ago feels this one more now.”

“How would you know?” Dick rounded on Peabody. “You were in some Free Ager commune sitting in a circle chanting at the frigging moon nine years ago.”

“Hey.”

“That’s it.” Eve kept her voice low, and the tone stinging. “You can’t handle this one, Berenski, I’ll request another tech.”

“I’m chief here. This isn’t your shop. I say who works what.” Then he held up his hand. “Just back off a minute, back off a minute. Goddamn it.”

Because it wasn’t his usual style, Eve kept silent while he stared down at his own long, mobile fingers.

“Some of them stick with you, you know? They stick in your gut. Other shit comes in and you work that, and it seems like you put it away. Then it comes back and kicks you in the balls.”

He drew a breath, looked up at Eve. It wasn’t just fury, she saw now, but the bitter frustration that on the job could push perilously close to grief.

“You know how when it stopped, just stopped cold, everybody figured he got dead, or he got tossed in a cage for something else? We didn’t get him, and that was a bitch, but it stopped.” Berenski heaved out a breath. “But it didn’t. He didn’t get dead or tossed in a cage. He was just bopping around Planet Earth having his high old time. Now he’s back on my desk, and it pisses me off.”

“I’m serving as President of the Pissed-off Club. I’ll take your application for membership under advisement.”

He snorted out a laugh, and the crisis passed.

“I got the results. I was just reru

“The old brands still available?”

“Yeah, yeah, here’s the thing. He used shea butter soap with olive and palm oils, oils of rose and chamomile on the four prior vics. Handmade soap, imported from France. Brand name L’Essence or however the frogs say that. Cake style, about fifteen bucks a pop nine years back. Shampoo, same manufacturer, same name, caviar and fe

“They put caviar in shampoo?” Peabody demanded. “What a waste.”

“Just fish eggs, and disgusting if you ask me. Tech in Wales was good enough to work the trace, got the same deal as me. Same for Florida. They didn’t get anything in Romania or in Bolivia. But now he’s switched brands.”

“To?”

“Okay, what we got is still handmade soap, got your shea butter-cocoa butter addition, olive oil, and oil from grapefruit and apricot. Specifically-and this took a little finessing-your pink grapefruit. It’s made in Italy, exclusively, and get this, it’s going to run you fifty smacks a bar.”

“So he upgraded.”

“Yeah, that’s the thing. I took a look at the Internet site, check these out.” He brought the images of the soaps up. Each was a deep almost jewel-like color, with various flowers or herbs studding the edges. “Only one store in the city carries them. The shampoo’s from the same place. White truffle oil, ru

He sniffed, he snorted. “I wouldn’t pay that for a bottle of prime liquor.”

“You don’t have to pay,” Eve said absently. “You get your booze in bribes.”

“Yeah, but just the same.”

Pricey, exclusive products. Prestige, Eve thought. The best of the best? “What’s the outlet in the city?”

“Place called Scentual. Got a store midtown on Madison and Fifty-third, and one down in the West Village on Christopher.”

“Good. How about the sheet?”

“Irish linen, thread count of seven hundred. That’s another change. First time he used Egyptian cotton, five hundred thread count. Manufacturer’s in Ireland and Scotland. Buncha outlets around. Your higher-end department stores and bedding places carry the brand. Fáilte.”

He massacred the Irish, Eve knew, as she’d heard the word before.

“Okay, send copies to me, to Whitney, to Tibble, and to Feeney. You finish with the water?”

“Still working it. At a guess, and I mean guess, it’s city water, but filtered. May be out of the tap, but with a filtration system that purifies. We got good water in New York. This guy, I’m thinking, is a fanatic for pure.”