The In Death Collection Books 21-25 - J. D. Robb [165]
“Car’s on its way, sir,” Peabody reported. “Nice pedestrian-hurdling, by the way.”
Eve crouched down to have another word with the snatcher. “If you’d run the other way, we’d be at Central, out of this damn cold drizzle.”
“Yeah, like I’d be that stupid.”
“Stupid enough to do the grab right in front of the courthouse.”
He gave her a sorrowful look. “I couldn’t stop myself. The woman’s swinging the damn purse around, gabbing to the woman walking with her. She practically gave it to me.”
“Right. Tell it to your PD.”
“Lieutenant Dallas?” Nadine, huffing a little, stepped up. She had a hand clamped over the arm of a woman with huge brown eyes. “This is Leeanne Petrie, whose property you’ve just recovered.”
“Ma’am. I just don’t know how to thank you.”
“Start by not calling me ma’am. We’ll need you to come down to Central, Ms. Petrie, to make a statement and sign for your property.”
“I’ve never had so much excitement. Why, that man just shoved me right down on the ground! I’m from a little place called White Springs—just south of Wichita, Kansas. I’ve never had so much excitement.”
It had to be said. “You’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Because she pulled rank and ordered Peabody home, straightening out the mugging mess kept her at Central until after shift. Dark had the temperatures dropping, and the incessant drizzle turned into sleet. The now tricky streets turned the drive home into a marathon of annoyance.
Stuck in it, she sipped on ice water to soothe her sore tongue, and let her mind drift. She was a handful of blocks from home when it drifted to Trudy Lombard, and the light went off.
“Not me. Jesus, it’s not about me. Why would it be? Damn it, damn it, damn it.”
She flicked on sirens, shot into vertical. Cursing herself and the snarls that made the maneuver all but suicidal, she engaged her dash ’link.
“Roarke,” she snapped when Summerset came on. “Is he there yet? Put him on.”
“He’s just come through the gates, hasn’t yet reached the house. If there’s an emergency—”
“Tell him I’ll be there in ten. I need to talk to him. If anyone named Lombard contacts the house, don’t put her through to him. You got that? Don’t put her through.”
She flicked off, whipped her wheel, and nipped back down to the street to narrowly miss a trio of fenders.
Son of a bitch! What else would she be after but money? Big, shiny piles of it. And who in the known universe had the biggest piles?
She wasn’t getting away with it. And if he even thought of paying her off to make her go away, Eve vowed she’d personally skin him.
She fishtailed, and roared through the gates of home. Roarke opened the door himself as she braked in front of the house.
“Am I under arrest?” he called out, and circled a finger in the air. “Sirens, Lieutenant.”
She called them off, slammed the door. “I’m so stupid! I’m a goddamn idiot.”
“If you’re going to talk that way about the woman I love, I’m not going to offer you a drink.”
“It’s you. It was never me. If I hadn’t let her turn me inside out, I’d’ve known it from the get. Lombard.”
“All right. And what’s this?” He skimmed a finger gently over the faint bruise on her jaw.
“Nothing.” Anger had smothered any lingering pain. “Are you listening to me? I know her. I know the type. She doesn’t do anything without a purpose. Maybe the purpose is jollies, but she didn’t go to all the trouble and expense to come here just to bust my balls. It’s about you.”
“You need to calm down. In the parlor.” He took her arm. “There’s a nice fire. You’ll have some wine.”
“Will you stop.” She slapped his hand off, but he simply shifted and tugged off her wet coat.
“Take a minute, catch your breath,” he advised. “You may not be wanting a drink, but I am. Filthy weather.”
She did take a breath, pressed her hands to her face to steady herself. “I couldn’t think, that was the trouble. Didn’t think. Just reacted. And I know better. She must’ve figured she’d come see me, try to play the reunion card. I was just a kid, and messed up with it. So maybe she banked that I didn’t remember what it had been like with her.