Big Jack

His skin was dark, and his hair had sprinkles of gray, like dashes of salt. He sat at his desk, surrounded by his com unit, his data center, disk files and the framed holos of his wife and family.

Eve respected the man, the rank and what he’d accomplished. And secretly marveled he’d kept his sanity between the job and a wife who lived to socialize.

“Commander, I apologize for being late. I was detained at the lab.”

He brushed that away with one of his huge hands. “Progress?”

“Sir. My case and Detective Baxter’s co

“So I see from the files.”

“Further information has come to light after a follow-up interview with Ga

She sat only because he pointed to a chair. She preferred giving her orals standing. She relayed the details of the morning interview.

“Captain Feeney is handling the search personally,” she continued. “I haven’t yet spoken with him this afternoon, but have word there’s been some progress in that area.”

“The son would be in his sixties. A bit old to have interested a girl of Cobb’s age.”

“Some are attracted to older men for their experience, their stability. And he may have passed as younger.” Though she doubted it. “More likely, he has a partner he used to get to Cobb. If this link holds, Commander, there are numerous possibilities. Judith Crew may have remarried, had another child, and that child may have learned of the diamonds and Ga

“We got a break through the lab. There was trace of a fire-retardant substance on Cobb. A sealant, professional-grade. We’ll run it down and concentrate on buildings near the dump site. He’s been very careful, Commander, and this was a big mistake. One I don’t believe he would have made if he had applied the sealant himself. Why kill her on or around flame-retardant material when you plan to light her up? It’s too basic a mistake for this guy. Once we find the crime scene, we’re a big step closer to finding him.”

“Then find it.” He shifted when his interoffice ’link signaled. “Yes.”

“Commander, Detectives Peabody and Yancy.”

“Send them in.”

“Commander, Lieutenant.” Peabody angled over so Yancy, the Ident artist, could precede her. “We thought it would be more expedient if Detective Yancy reported to both of you at once.”

“Wish I had more.” He handed out printouts and a disk. “I worked with the witness for three hours. I think I got her close, but I’m not passing out cigars. You can only lead them so far,” he explained, and studied the printout image Eve held. “And you can tell when they’re just making things up, or mixing them up, or just going along so you’ll finish and let them go.”

Eve stared at the rendering and tried to see a resemblance to Alex Crew. Maybe, maybe around the eyes. Or maybe she just wanted to see it.

But this was no sixty-year-old man.

“She tried,” Yancy continued. “Really gave it her best shot. If we’d gotten to her closer to the time she saw the guy, I think we could’ve nailed it down. But a lot of time’s passed, and she sees dozens of men at her tables every day. Once we got to a certain point, she was just tossing in features at random.”

“Hypnosis could juggle her memory.”

“I tried that,” he said to Eve. “Mentioned it to her, and she freaked. No way, no how. Added to that, she caught a media report on the murder, and she’s freaked about that. This is going to be the best we get.”

“But is it him?” Eve demanded.

Yancy puffed out his cheeks, then deflated them. “I’d say we’re on, as far as the skin tone, the hair, the basic shape of the face. Eyes, the shape’s close, but I wouldn’t bank on color. She thought age-wise, late twenties, early thirties, then admitted that was because of the age of the girl. She bounced to thirties, back to twenties, then maybe older, maybe younger. She figures rich because he had an expensive wrist unit, paid in cash and added a substantial tip. And some of that played into her description.” He jerked a shoulder. “Smooth complexion, smooth ma

“Is it close enough to give it to the media, get some play?”

“Sorta stings the pride, but I wouldn’t. You gotta call it, Lieutenant, but my sense is we’re off. I think a cop, a trained observer, might be able to make him from this, but not a civilian. Sorry I couldn’t dunk it for you.”

“That’s okay. You probably got us closer than anybody else could. We’ll run this through an ID program, see if we get any hits.”

“You’re going to want to set for at least a thirty-percent adjustment.” Yancy shook his head at his own work. “With that, you’re going to get a few thousand hits, citywide alone.”

“It’s a start. Thanks, Yancy. Commander, I’d like to get moving on this.”

“Keep me in the loop.”

Back in her office, she pi

She would leave the person search to Feeney, the electronic excavation to McNab. She sent a memo to Baxter detailing the new data and included a copy of Yancy’s sketch.

While Peabody worked to nail down the sealant, Eve looked at construction sites. Her ’link signaled an incoming through the data port, and switching over, she brought up a list of all properties with current construction or rehab licenses in a ten-block radius of the dump site.

Roarke was not only quick, she thought, but he got the gist without anyone having to spell it out.

She separated them into tenanted and untenanted.

Empty, she thought. Privacy. Hadn’t he waited until he believed the Ga

Empty buildings first.

Taking them, she broke them down a second time into construction and rehab.

Had to lure her in. Smarter to lure her rather than force or debilitate. She’s young and foolish, but she’s a girly girl, too. Would that type want to tromp around a construction site, even to make a date happy?

She rose, paced. Probably. What did she know about that kind of thing? Young girls in love, or who believed they were in love, probably did all sorts of things that went against type.

She’d never been a young girl in love. A few lust bouts along the way, but that was a different thing. She knew that much seeing as love had sucker punched her and dumped her right into Roarke’s lap. And didn’t she slick herself up from time to time, fiddling with enhancements and hair, draping on fancy duds, because he liked it?

Yeah, love could easily make you go against type.

But what about the killer? No reason for him to go against type. He wasn’t in love. He hadn’t been in lust, either. And his type liked to impress, show off. He liked to be comfortable and in charge. He liked to plan things out with an eye toward his own goals, his own ego, his self-preservation.

A rehab with some fancy touches. A place he knew he wouldn’t be disturbed. Where he wouldn’t be questioned if caught on the premises. Where he could, again, deal with any security features.

She sent the data to her home unit, printed out her lists, then went into the bull pen to get Peabody. “With me.”

“I’m ru

“Run it down in transit.”

“Where are we going?” Peabody demanded as she scrambled to gather her work disk, files, jacket.

“To look at buildings. To talk to guys with power tools.”