The In Death Collection Books 21-25 - J. D. Robb [227]
She turned to Baxter. “That’s where you and your partner come in. I want you out there, soft clothes, tailing them. I want to know where they go, how they look.”
“You’re tossing us out on the street on Christmas Eve—Eve . . . Eve.” Baxter grinned. “Somebody had to say it.”
“It would be you. They split up, you split up. You stay in contact with each other, and with me. This is low risk, but I don’t want sloppy. They may be approached. It’s unlikely they’ll be harmed. Probability’s in the low twenties. Let’s take that down to zero and keep sharp.”
“Lieutenant?” As was his habit, Trueheart raised his hand. He wasn’t as green as he once was, Baxter was ripening him. But a little color rose up his throat over his uniform collar when Eve turned to him.
“If they are approached, do we move in to apprehend?”
“You observe, use your own judgment. I don’t want you giving chase and losing this guy on the street. You take him if you’re close enough to do so without risk. Otherwise, you follow, give me the coordinates. From all evidence, the victim was target specific. There’s little risk to the populace, so let’s keep it that way.”
She gestured to the board, and Trudy’s picture. “Still, he did that, so we’re dealing with someone who can and will kill if motivated. I want everybody home for Christmas.”
She held Peabody back when the others left. “I’m going to see Mira, run this by her and get her behind me on this warrant. I’ve got names of former fosters. The ones I was unable to reach are marked. See what you can do with them. But first, contact Carly Tween from that list. She wouldn’t talk to me. She’s eight months pregnant, scared, and cranky. Use your soft sell. If you can confirm her husband’s whereabouts for the murder, so much the better.”
“She got a father? Brothers?”
“Shit.” Eve rubbed her neck. “Can’t remember. Doubtful on the father as she was in foster, but check it out.”
“On that. Good luck with the warrant.”
To Eve’s shock and surprise, Mira’s admin didn’t throw herself bodily in front of the office door. Instead, she beeped through, got the okay, then gestured Eve in.
“Oh, Merry Christmas, Lieutenant, if I don’t see you before.”
“Ah, thanks. Same to you.”
She glanced back, still baffled, as the dragon at the gates began to hum “Jingle Bells.”
“You’d better do a head exam on your admin,” Eve said to Mira as she shut the door. “She’s suddenly perky and she’s out there singing.”
“The holidays do that to people. I told her to put you through at any time, unless I was in session. It’s important that I keep up, not just with the progress of your investigation, but with your emotional state.”
“I’m fine. I’m good. I just need—”
“Sit down, Eve.”
Because Mira turned to her AutoChef, Eve rolled her eyes behind Mira’s back. But she sat, dropping into one of the pretty blue scoop chairs. “I’m hitting snags and dead-ends on the investigation, so I’m pushing it open. I want to—”
“Have some tea.”
“I really don’t—”
“I know, but indulge me. I can tell you didn’t get much sleep. Are you having nightmares?”
“No. Not exactly. I worked late last night.” She took the tea—what choice did she have? “I dropped off for a few minutes. Had a weird dream. Nothing major.”
“Tell me anyway.”
She hadn’t come for a session, damn it. But she knew that arguing with Mira on her own turf was like beating your head against rock.
She described the dream, shrugged. “Weird, mostly. I didn’t feel threatened or out of control.”
“Even when the other women stampeded you?”
“No, that just pissed me off.”
“You saw yourself, as a child, through the glass.”
“Yeah. Having a sandwich. I think it was ham and cheese.”
“And, at the end of it, your father.”
“He’s always there. Can’t get around it. Look, I get it. Him on one side, her on the other. Me in the middle. Then and now. I’m squeezed on this, but it