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She clipped back, furious, her face throbbing, and only shook her head when she saw Roarke moving quickly north toward her.
“We lost him. Goddamn it.”
Roarke took a handkerchief out of his pocket, handed it to her. “Your nose is bleeding.”
“I got clocked twice, maybe more in that riot. Knocked out my com, trampled my communicator. And he walks right out, right under the noses of two cops. He did exactly what he’d come to do, and had the extra benefit of watching us act like morons. What the fuck happened?”
“I don’t know.” He took her elbow to steer her through the Fifth Avenue throng. “I saw you go down, but by the time I was able to get through that mass of panic, you were gone. I came after you when Trueheart said you’d gone in pursuit.”
“A lot of good it did me. He was lost before I hit the sidewalk.”
As she approached the building, arrowing through the people congregating on the sidewalk, Peabody came down the main stairs.
“Gone,” Eve said.
“Damn it.” Peabody hissed out a breath, then winced at Eve’s face. “I thought I took a knock,” she said, tapping ginger fingers to the bruise on her cheek. “You took harder.”
“Let’s go clean this mess up. What do you know?” Eve demanded as they went back in.
“The best I can get is some hair-trigger tackled some kid, and another cop helped him wrestle the kid to the ground and restrain him. Panic ensued. We’ve got all parties in one of the private parlors upstairs. Baxter’s riding herd there. Whitney’s with the MacMasterses, and is to be advised when you’re back on site. We had to call in MTs. People got bruised and bloodied. We’ve got a really big mess, Dallas.”
“Clean up what you can on the periphery, and inform Whitney I’m talking to the officers and the civilian involved. My communicator’s toast.”
“Why don’t I speak to whoever manages this place,” Roarke suggested. “Smooth over what I can.”
“Couldn’t hurt. But I’m going to speak to him later. Son of a bitch.” Eve squared her shoulders and went up to the second level.
The scent of lilies and roses was stronger now, probably because so many of them lay trampled. She skirted around broken glass, puddles of water, to where Trueheart stood outside a door.
“We got the word on the suspect, Lieutenant. Sorry. Ah, Baxter has the two officers involved here, and the kid. We brought in an MT to look at the kid. He’s got some bruises.”
“Perfect. Just perfect.”
She stepped inside, closed the door at her back.
A male of about eighteen sat in a blinding-white chair while a grizzled MT checked his pupils.
“I’m okay,” the boy said. “Mostly just got the shit and the wind knocked out of me. I’m okay.”
“I get called to take a look atcha, I take a look atcha.”
The MT ran a wand over the bruise on the boy’s jaw.
Eve spared a glance toward the two cops slumped on a sofa of the same blinding white, flicked one to Baxter who rolled his eyes heavenward.
Yeah, she thought, call on that higher power. We’re going to need it.
“I’m Lieutenant Dallas,” she told the boy.
“Ah, yeah, hi. I’m Zach. Can I just get out of here now? I need to find Kelly. I came with Kelly. She went to school with the dead girl. I just came with Kelly because she was freaked about seeing the dead girl.”
“What’s Kelly’s full name?”
“Kelly Nims. Everything went whacked in there, and I don’t know if she’s okay.”
“Detective Baxter, have someone find Ms. Nims.”
“Yes, sir, right away.”
“Thanks. I’ll feel better once I know she’s frosted. We’re tight, and like I said, she was already freaked.”
He bore a surface resemblance to Pauley, she noted. The basic build, coloring, the shaggy hair. She noted the ball cap in his lap.
“Zach, I’d like to apologize for the unfortunate occurrences, and any inconvenience you’ve experienced. And also to assure you, I’ll look into this thoroughly and personally.”
“I was just standing there, then it’s like I got hit by a maxibus and I’m chewing carpet, and everybody’s yelling and ru
She hoped to hell he didn’t. Any lawyer worth a single billable hour would snatch him for a client and sue the department up the ass and out again.
“You’re not in any trouble, Zach. It was a mistake, a very regrettable one. Again, I hope you’ll accept my personal apology.”
“Sure. No big really.”
Baxter slipped back in. “Kelly’s fine, Zach. She’s waiting for you right outside.”
“Straight. So, can I go?”
“Is he clear?” Eve asked the MT.
“Got a couple knocks, that’s all.” The MT turned his gimlet eye on Eve. “You got worse.”
“If you’d give Detective Baxter your full name and contact information,” Eve told Zach, “the officer on the door will take you down to Kelly. If you have any questions, or any problems, you can reach me at Cop Central.”
“That’s a major.” He put his cap back on, rose. “It’s all been totally Dali.”
“At least. Baxter, lend me your recorder. Mine was damaged.” She took his, pi
“Want me to take a look at that face?” the MT asked.
“Not now.”
“Well.” He pulled a cold wrap out of his case, tossed it to her. “Get that on there anyway.”
She waited until both Zach and the MT left, then turned to the two cops.
“Engage recorder. Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, in interview with two hotheaded fuckups who have managed to completely undermine a precisely organized operation and allow a murder suspect to stroll away.”
“Lieutenant-”
“You do not speak until so ordered.” Deliberately, she turned to the one who’d kept silent. “Name, rank, house, division.”
“Officer Glen Harrison, out of the One-Two-Five, assigned to Illegals under Captain MacMasters.”
“You, same data.”
“Officer Kyle Cu
“And you two clowns decided to do my job for me today?”
“We came to pay our respects, offer our support to the captain and his wife. It’s all over how the investigation’s stalled.”
“Is it?” Eve said pleasantly while Harrison shut his eyes at his companion’s comment.
“That’s the word,” Cu
“And you decided to give the investigation a little momentum by manhandling a civilian, disrupting a memorial service, and causing general panic. During which time the actual suspect was able to elude those of us who are actually working the investigation.”
“The kid looked like him.”
Her eyes went to slits. “And how do you know that, Officer Cu
“Word gets around.”
“So, on one hand word gets around that the investigation is stalled, and on the other word gets around that we have a description of a suspect. You decide to join those hands together and fuck up my op. A man who’s killed two people is now in the wind due to your actions. The investigation is compromised, the department is now vulnerable to a civil suit not only from a kid you tossed to the ground, but from this establishment, and any other individuals who may have been injured or just decide to claim emotional hardship. You assholes.”
“Look, I don’t have to take this.” Cu
Eve stepped forward. “Sit your fat ass down or I’ll put it down.”
“Like to see you try.”
“Cu