Portrait In Death

She might have said something consolatory, even marginally friendly, but he shifted his head, spotted her. She saw surprise flicker an instant before his face shut down into an icy sneer.

"Lieutenant. Is there something you need?"

" Dallas!" Mavis gave a shout of greeting and threw out her arms. "Come on in, join the party."

Eve followed the direction of Mavis's hands and saw the colorful ba

Only Mavis, Eve thought.

"Want a drink? We got fizzy ices." Mavis spun over to an antique server that currently held a carnival setup of crushed ices, sparkling water, and syrups. "Nonalcoholic," she added, "because, you know. Hitchhiker in here's too young to drink." She patted her belly, wiggled her hips.

"How's it going?"

"I'm totally mag. Absolutely ult. Leonardo and I got the word on what happened to Summerset. Poor sweetie pie," she murmured, and whirled back to kiss the top of his head.

Eve felt her gag reflex engage at the thought of Summerset and sweetie pie in the same sentence.

"So we gathered up some fun stuff, and zipped right over to keep him company."

"We were at the doctor's this morning, too." Leonardo continued to beam at Mavis. He was draped in white, long, loose pants, long, loose shirt that flowed around his impressive body and gleamed against the gold-dust tone of his skin. He had a single pigtail draped down one side of his face, and like Mavis, had it tipped in pink and blue, and belled.

"Are you sick?" Eve demanded, forgetting her aversion to the room and moving quickly to Mavis. "Is the baby sick or something?"

"No, we're RRA-rolling right along," she explained. "We just had a checkup deal. And guess! We got pictures."

"Of what?"

"Of thebaby!" Mavis rolled her baby blue eyes. "Wa

"Oh, well, I don't really have-"

"I've got them right here." Leonardo pulled a portfolio from some ca

"Isn't the whole…" Eve gestured vaguely toward Mavis's belly. "… place its personal area?"

"He means any of the shots that would show if the baby has a penis or a vulva."

"Oh." She actually felt blood draining out of her face. "God."

"Come on, come on, look at your godbaby." Mavis took the portfolio from Leonardo, flipped it open. "Aww, can you believe that? Is that too cute for words?

Eve saw something that looked, sort of, like an underdeveloped, hairless monkey with a really big head. "Wow."

"See, you can even count the tiny, little fingers."

Which, to Eve's mind, made it all creepier. What did itdo with those fingers inside there?

"Leonardo's going to print the best ones on fabric and make me some tops." Mavis pursed her pink lips to blow Leonardo a kiss.

"Great. That'll be great. Um." Since they made her nervous, Eve looked over the top of the pictures to Summerset. "I just stopped by to see how everything was going."

"Let me make you a cold drink." Leonardo patted Eve's shoulder.

"Yeah, good, okay. Where's Roarke?"

"He's in the bedroom with the physician assistant, making sure everything's set up. Mavis and I will stay awhile."

"Sure we will." To prove it, Mavis perched on the arm of Summerset's chair. "We're going to be in town for the next couple weeks, so we'll come by every day if you want. And you only have to give me a buzz if you're lonely or feeling out of sorts. I'll come right over." She took Summerset's good hand, patted it.

Eve slurped up the flavored ice Leonardo passed her. "Well, I'll just see if Roarke… needs anything, then get going. I've got work to-" She let that hang, grateful when Roarke stepped in from the next room.

"Hello, Lieutenant. I wasn't sure you'd make it by."

"I was in the neighborhood." He looked harried, she thought. You wouldn't notice it, not unless you knew every inch of that fabulous face. And she did. "I had an hour to spare, so I thought I'd swing in, see if you needed any help."

"I think we're under control here. PA Spence is satisfied with the arrangements."

There was a quick, and audible sniff from Summerset. "I'm sure she's more than satisfied at the prospect of sitting around doing nothing but a

"That's all right," Roarke said pleasantly, "I'll dock it out of yours."

"I don't want that woman hovering over me every minute of the day and night. I'm perfectly capable of seeing to my own needs."

"It's her, or it's the hospital." The pleasant tone had taken on the faintest edge, one Eve recognized very well.

"And I'm just as capable about making my own decisions regarding my medical care."

"I guess they didn't get to do that anal probe while you were in the hospital," Eve said before Roarke could speak. "And extract that stick from your ass."

"Eve." Roarke pinched the bridge of his nose. "Don't start."

"Here now." The woman who came out from the bedroom was perhaps fifty, with a long white coat over pale pink shirt and pants. She had what seemed to be cushy, round breasts to go with a cushy, round butt. They suited her face, also cushy and round. She wore her hair in ginger-colored curls pulled back into a bouncing tail.

Her voice had that peppy, behave yourself tone used by child-care workers and novice parole officers.

"Isn't it nice to have company? But it's time for our nap."

"Madam." Summerset's tone was barbed wire. "WEdo not nap."

"We do today," she said, unfailingly pert. "A nice hour's rest, then an hour of therapy."

"Eve, this is PA Spence. She'll be seeing to Summerset's at-home care for the next several days. Ms. Spence, my wife, Lieutenant Dallas."

"Oh yes, a policewoman, how exciting." She marched to Eve, grabbed her hand and pumped. The skin might have been soft, Eve thought, but the woman had the grip of a wrestler. "Don't you worry about a thing, not a thing. Mr. Summerset's in good hands."

"Yeah, I bet. I guess we should clear out."

"I amnot going to be put to bed like a toddler. Or spoonfed, or clucked over by this-this person." Summerset snarled out the words. "If I can't be left in peace in my own quarters, then I'll go somewhere I can be left in peace."

"Now, Summerset." Still on the arm of his chair, Mavis stroked his head. "It's just for a few days."

"I've made my feelings on this matter abundantly clear." Summerset folded his lips and stared holes in Roarke.

"As I have mine," Roarke returned. "And as long as you're living under my roof and in my employ, you'll-"

"That, too, can be rectified."

"Oh, you bet your ass."

It wasn't Roarke's response-one that was music to Eve's ears-that had her stepping forward. It was the tone, thick with Ireland that warned her he was about to snap.

"Okay, everybody out. You-" She pointed at Spence. "Take five."

"I don't believe-"

"Take five," Eve repeated in a tone that made even seasoned officers tremble. "Now. Mavis, Leonardo, give me a minute here."

"Sure." Mavis leaned over, kissed Summerset's cheek. "It's going to be okay, honeybunch."

"You, too." She jerked a thumb at Roarke. "Out."

Those blue eyes narrowed. "I beg your pardon?"

"I said clear out. Go down to the gym and beat up a workout droid, or up to your office and buy Greenland. You'll feel better. Take off," she said and gave him a good, solid nudge.

"Fine." He bit the word off. "I'll just go and let the two of you snipe each other to death. At least that'll put paid to the bickering around here."

He strode out, slammed the door.

Summerset remained, arms folded, face set. And trapped in his chair. "I have nothing to say to you."