Kindred In Death

“Peach,” she said. “No, I don’t, but I looked her up when you requested I locate her. Miss Wallace.”

“Dr. Lapkoff.” The girl was no more than twenty with skin pale as the moon and what looked to be several pounds of red hair piled on top of her head. She was slightly out of breath from, Eve concluded, the trip across campus and fear at being summoned by the president.

“You’re not in any trouble.” The power female took on a faint maternal tone. “And you won’t be penalized for the time out of the retreat. This is Lieutenant Dallas, with the NYPSD. She hopes you can help her.”

“Help?”

“Yes. Would you like me to step away, Lieutenant?”

“It’s not necessary. You work at Sports Center.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m a year-round student, and I work there to help with living expenses. I’ve worked there for over a year now.”

“You were working there on March thirty-first.”

“Ah. I’m not sure. Maybe.”

“You sold several items to this man.” Eve drew out the sketch. “Do you remember him?”

“I’m not sure. Exactly. It’s over two months ago, and we’re a really popular store. It can get really busy.”

“I have a list of what he bought. It might help you remember.” Eve started down the list, saw Fiona blink when she got to the shoes. “You remember?”

“I do. It was a really big sale, and the shoes are really high. I remember because I told him they were going on sale, for one day, in just another week. Ten percent, and that’s a lot when they go for three and a half bills, you know? But he wanted them right then. He looked a little different from this picture. That’s why I didn’t recognize him right away.”

“How so?”

“His hair was a lot longer, and wavy. He had mag hair. He was really cute. I guess I flirted with him a little, the way you do, asked if he lived on campus, and what his major was. I think he said he was living off campus. He was nice, but he didn’t flirt back, so I figured he was seeing someone or I didn’t push the buzzer for him. I made some joke about him hitting the jackpot or something because he was buying so much. I remember he smiled, because, wow, killer smile. And he said-because I thought it was fu

“Have you seen him since?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Okay, Fiona. Thanks.”

“Did he do something illegal?”

“We’re interested in talking to him. If you do see him, do me a favor. Don’t approach him, and contact me.” Eve handed her a card.

“Sure. Should I go back to the retreat now?”

“Yes,” Peach told her. “Straight back.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Did that help?” Peach asked as Fiona hurried off.

“It confirms some information, continues to establish pattern, and tells me he’s got smug going up against careful, and sometimes smug wins. Yeah, that’s helpful. As you’ve been. Thank you.”

“I’m happy I could help, and I hope the media reports, very soon, that you’ve arrested this man.”

“So do I.”

When they reached the car, Roarke asked, “What next?”

“I need to go back over the list of names and data of those co

“They don’t all live in New York.”

“No.” She got into the car. “But he’s got, apparently, an endless supply of IDs, and credit to go with them. Maybe his next target’s in New York, maybe not. I need to interview all the co

“Not all the co

“I’d rather a face-to-face, but it’s not practical, so most of it will have to be by ’link. The problem is people expand. They get married and/or have kids. The kids do the same. Or they have sibs who do it. In twenty-odd years, you’ve got a horde spiraling out of one person.”

“People and their propensity for progeny.” Amused at her, Roarke shook his head. “What can be done?”

“What I’d like to do is get them all into Central, take them one at a time, then if necessary, pool them altogether, to see if one person’s answers jogs something salient from another.”

“I can arrange that.”

She slanted him a bland look as he drove them home. “What? You’ll have everyone transported to Central-from wherever they happen to be? Not only impractical, but plenty of them won’t go for it. Another problem with people is they have lives, and can get fussy when asked to put them on hold to aid in a police investigation they may or may not believe really involves them.”

“There’s transporting,” he said, “and there’s transporting.”

“Well, sure, your transports are all slick and shiny, but-”

“Eve, while I often have to travel for business, or have someone brought in, how much more often do I conduct business halfway around the world, even off planet, without leaving New York?”

“Yeah, but you’ve got…” She had a sudden memory of walking into his office una

“You’re not looking for a confession, not interviewing suspects, or even people of interest.”

“Yeah, it could work. I’ll want to run it by an APA, make sure there’s no procedural angle I need to cover. If any information I get leads to an arrest, we don’t want some slick lawyer trying to claim the information was tainted, therefore, blah, blah. But I think we can do this.”

“You used holo on Ricker.”

“Yeah, and he’s already doing life without possibility of parole. They can try to dance around the method for slapping him with conspiracy on Coltraine. But you order a cop’s murder, from the inside of an off-planet penal colony where holo-visitations and legal consultations are allowed? It’s going to be hard for anyone to argue the method, and I cleared it first. Cleo wasn’t part of the holo, and she was allowed to view it. I didn’t use any evidence, per se, from the holo in drawing her confession, and I, again, cleared it first. The judge already tossed her lawyer’s petition to dismiss on that one.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“I think we can use this, if the parties agree. I’d save hours of time, and have the next-best to face-to-face. I just need to make sure our ass is covered on it.”

“You cover the asses, and I’ll set it up.”

“How long to set it up?”

“The basic program, twenty minutes at most. Then I’d need the coordinates of those you want to bring in. It would take a few minutes to triangulate each holo.”

“It bears repeating. You’re handy to have around.” She took out her ’link and contacted APA Cher Reo.

There was, as expected, some legal jumbo. But even with it, she would save considerable time. She continued to consult with Reo as she walked into the house, and thought one advantage to legal crap was the opportunity to totally ignore Summerset.

Once she got the nod, she began making the contacts and arrangements. She’d hit the halfway point when Roarke beeped through. “The program’s set, in the holo-room. I need those coordinates.”

“I’ll bring them to you. Peabody can make the rest of the contacts. Five minutes.”

She routed the rest to her partner, then gathered what she needed. She used the elevator, and stepped out into a larger and somehow swankier version of her home office.

“Hmm.”

“Appearances can count. One of these days, you might consider replacing that desk of yours with a workstation like this one.”