The In Death Collection Books 21-25 - J. D. Robb [401]
“Suit yourself.”
He went through with her, weapons drawn. Behind them, Roarke and McNab peeled to the right.
“This is the police!” Eve shouted as she charged up the steps with Peabody and Trueheart behind. “We have a warrant to enter these premises, to search same, and to seize any items relating to the terms of the warrant. Go, go,” she ordered Peabody, then swung off the steps with Baxter on the second level.
She heard something crash below, and kept going.
Chase burst out of the room on the left, hastily tying the belt of a plaid robe.
“What is the meaning of this? This is outrageous.”
Eve held up the warrant. “This is America, and we love the outrageous. You will cooperate with the terms of this warrant, or be restrained and removed from the premises. I’m hoping you’re not feeling cooperative.”
“I’m ringing our solicitor, immediately.” Madeline’s robe was bright red, her pale hair loose. And without the carefully applied enhancements, Eve counted a good five years older. She stood, vibrating with rage, in the doorway beside her son.
Her lover.
“Help yourself. Detective Baxter will be happy to accompany you.”
“Detective Baxter can go to hell, and so can you. This is my home. This is my bedroom.” She gestured dramatically behind her. “No one enters without an invitation.”
“Invitation,” Eve said, holding up the warrant again. Then she reached behind and jiggled her restraints. “You want a new set of bracelets?”
Fury blotched her cheeks with red. “Win, say nothing. Do nothing. I’ll not only have your job before this night is done, Lieutenant, I’ll have your hide.” The skirts of the robe swirled out as she spun back into the bedroom.
“Got a flair, doesn’t she?” Eve said conversationally. “You always do what she says, Win? You a good boy and mind your mommy, even when you’re diddling her?”
“How dare you, you filthy-minded whore.”
“Call them as I see them. Did your mother tell you to torture Natalie Copperfield before you killed her, or was that your idea?”
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Right, Mommy told you to be quiet. It’s okay. When we finish searching the house we’ll have everything we need. I know Tandy’s on the third floor. I’ve got two cops upstairs right now, getting her out of your cold room.”
She saw it in his eyes, so when he yanked the stunner out of his robe pocket she was ready. She kicked out, disarming him, then pivoted when he charged so the fist he struck out with glanced off her shoulder. The elbow she jabbed into his solar plexus doubled him up, but he used his forward motion to ram her like a bull. Adrenaline pumped into her as her back hit the wall, and his hands closed around her throat. When her knee came up, hard, between his legs, the air wheezed out of him so he deflated like a balloon.
“By not cooperating you made my night. Now, Winfield Chase, you’re under arrest for assaulting an officer.” She bent down to roll him onto his face, yank his arms behind his back, and slap on the restraints. “And believe me when I say that’s just the beginning.”
She looked up in time to see Madeline run out of the bedroom, her hands curled like claws, her face murderous. Even as Eve sprang up, Baxter leaped out of the doorway and took Madeline down with a flying tackle.
“Sorry, Dallas. She got away from me.”
“No problem.” She rolled her shoulder, watched Roarke and McNab come up the stairs.
“First level’s secure, Lieutenant,” McNab told her. “Three droids—one servant, two security. They’re down.”
“And so are these two. McNab, help Baxter keep them down. Roarke and I are going up.”
20
ON THE THIRD LEVEL A DROID IN A PALE GREEN lab coat was sprawled on the floor against an overturned chair.
“We had to take it down.” Peabody pulled her master out of a lock slot in a door designed to blend into the wall.
Trueheart crouched in front of a small comp unit. “The droid must have deactivated this when it heard us come in.” Trueheart shook his head. “I can’t reactivate.”
“I’ll have a go at the lock.” Roarke took some tools out of his coat pocket.
“Looks like