The in Death Collection Books 11-15 - J. D. Robb [353]
His grin flashed as he rose. “Such a clichéd and female weapon.” He turned, started down the stairs. And wasn’t the least surprised when she landed on his back.
“That’s more like it,” he managed as she squeezed his windpipe with her crooked arm.
“Just be careful who you call a female, ace.”
She dropped off, strode naked into the bath. Watching the indignant twitch of her ass, Roarke chuckled. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
She only ate because there was no point in wasting the food. She only updated him because it helped her sort through data when she relayed events out loud.
He listened, idly stroking the cat.
“Between the hospital and MT staff,” he commented, “the media will have been fed by now. That could work in your favor.”
“I’m figuring. These two, they’re not the type to go into the wind. Too much ego on the line for them to stop cold. I’ve got a lot of data on them. Maybe too much, maybe that’s part of the problem. Too much data, not enough focus. You got all these lines to tug, they can get tangled on you.”
She got up to strap on her shoulder harness. “I’ve got to streamline it.”
“Why don’t you let me take Allegany? It’s mine, after all. People would be more likely to tell me things they wouldn’t tell a badge. And what they don’t tell me,” he added, “I can find out in other ways. Ways that would probably be legal, more or less, since I now own the company.”
“Your definition of more or less has a wider scope than mine.” But it would save her time, and time was essential. “Try to stay close to the line on it.”
“Whose line would that be? Yours or mine?”
“Har. I’ve got a briefing with the team at Central. Pass me anything you pick up.”
“Naturally.” Bringing the cat with him, he rose and crossed to her. Kissed her. “Take care of yourself, Lieutenant.”
“Why should I?” She headed for the door. “You get such a charge out of doing it for me.”
Roarke glanced down at the cat as he listened to his wife’s boots click down the hall. “That’s a point.”
In the conference room she’d booked at Central, Eve played the security disc from Moniqua’s building.
“We see here she’s more in line with Bryna Bankhead. Similar physical type, more sophisticated appearance and lifestyle. He uses yet another look himself here, which tells me he doesn’t like to repeat his character. Keeps it fresh for him. Same pattern, but he can walk through the performance from a new angle. Feeney?”
He picked up the rhythm. “According to the overscan of her home unit, he used the name Byron in correspondence with her. Probability indicates this is from the poet guy. Lord Byron. The e-mail messages go back two weeks.”
“Again, follows pattern. He takes his time. With this pattern he’d have studied her in real life. Finding a place near her apartment or her workplace. We check both.”
She glanced over as the door opened. Trueheart, young and ridiculously fresh in his uniform, flushed as heads turned in his direction. “Sorry. Excuse me, sir. I’m late.”
“No, you’re on schedule. Report?”
“Sir, subject Cline’s condition remains unchanged. No one without authorization entered her hospital room. I remained on post, inside the room, throughout the shift.”
“Were there any calls of inquiry relating to her?”
“Several, Lieutenant, beginning at approximately oh six hundred when the first media report hit. Five inquiries from reporters requesting medical information.”
“That jibes as I’ve had double that on my office ’link. Sign out, Trueheart. Go get some sleep. I want you to resume your post at the hospital at eighteen hundred. I’ll clear your duty sheet with your sergeant.”
“Yes, sir. Lieutenant? I appreciate you requesting me.”
Eve shook her head when he’d closed the door behind him. “Thanking me for sticking him with the most boring duty on or off planet. Okay, Roarke’s digging into Allegany. I want all pertinent data on J. Forrester, and this Theodore McNamara who’s currently dodging my messages. And we slog away at the online dealer. We concentrate on the chemicals. How, why, and where they get their supply.”
“My