The In Death Collection Books 26-29 - J.D. Robb [256]
She remembered what she’d felt like when they’d taken her badge. How she’d felt empty, helpless. Like nothing, like no one.
“I’m not doing that to him. Have I even got a right to do that to an innocent man? One who’s taken an oath pretty much the same as ours?”
“Protect and serve.”
“We do people, he does souls. I’m not going to sacrifice him to make my job easier. But I’ll tell you what we are going to do.” She got into the vehicle, switched on the engine. “We’re putting him under surveillance. We’re getting a warrant to monitor his communication devices. I’d put eyes and ears in the damn church if they’d clear it, but that’s not going to happen. We’re going to know where he goes, when, who he sees.”
“Do you think the killer will go for him?”
“He’s got that titanium faith, so he thinks not. Me? I’ve got faith that people mostly look out for their own ass. So we cover him—we protect—and we leave him out here as bait, hoping the sinner needs another shot at redemption. Put it in play, my authorization.”
As Peabody started that ball, Eve glanced at the time. Thought, Shit. “One more stop. We’ll see if we can jangle anything out of Inez.”
A woman answered this time, a looker with warm brown hair pulled back in a jaunty tail from a rose-and-cream face. Behind her, two little boys rammed miniature trucks together and made violent crashing noises.
“Pipe down,” the woman ordered, and they did, instantly. The crashing noises continued, but at whispers.
“Mrs. Inez?”
“Yes?”
“We’d like to speak to your husband.”
“So would I, but he’s stuck in New Jersey, there’s a jam at the tunnel. He’ll be lucky to get home in under two hours. What is it?”
Eve took out her badge.
“Oh, Joe said the police were here last night. Something about one of the tenants being a witness in a hit-and-run.”
“Is that what your son told you?”
“Actually, Joe filled me in.” Awareness came into her eyes. “And that wasn’t entirely accurate. What is this about?”
“We’re investigating an old connection of your husband’s. Do you know Lino Martinez?”
“No, but I know the name. I know Joe was in the Soldados, and I know he did time. I know he had trouble, and he pulled himself out of it.” She gripped the doorknob, eased the door closed a few more inches, as if to shield the children behind her. “He hasn’t had anything to do with any of that business for years. He’s a good man. A family man with a decent job. He works hard. Lino Martinez and the Soldados were another life.”
“Tell him we were here, Mrs. Inez, and that we’ve located Lino Martinez. We’re going to need to follow up with your husband.”
“I’ll tell him, but I’m telling you he doesn’t know anything about Lino Martinez, not anymore.”
She closed the door, and Eve heard the locks snick impatiently.
“She’s pissed he lied to her,” Peabody commented.
“Yeah. Stupid move on his part. It tells me he’s hiding something from his wife. Something from now, something from then? Either way, something. I’m going to drop you at the subway and work from home. Keep on those John Does. I think I’ll comb through those old case files, see if something swims up from the deep.”
“I know what you said back there to López is right. We’ve got to do the job no matter what a creep Lino was. But when you know some of the shit he pulled, and the shit we think he pulled, it’s hard to get worked up because somebody ended him.”
“Maybe if somebody had gotten worked up a long time ago, he wouldn’t have been able to pull so much shit, his mother wouldn’t be crying tonight, and somebody who strikes me as an especially good man wouldn’t be honor-bound, or faith-bound, to protect a murderer.”
Peabody sighed. “You’ve got a point. But I like it better when the bad guys are just the bad guys.”
“There’s always plenty of them to go around.”
18
SHE NEEDED THINKING TIME. CLOSED IN WITH the case time where she could put the pieces of