Ritual in Death

by J. D. Robb

  “Lieutenant.”

  She turned to the sleepy-eyed McNab in her doorway. He wore pants of screaming yellow that matched the fist-sized dots shrieking over a shirt of eye-tearing green. His long blond hair was pulled back from his thin, pretty face into a tail. She wondered if the hank of it somehow balanced the weight of the tangle of silver loops in his ear.

  “Doesn’t it ever give you a headache?” she wondered. “Just looking in the mirror.”

  “Huh?”

  “Never mind. Discs.” She gathered them from her desk, pushed them at them. “Find something on them. Roarke’s on his way.”

  “Okay. Why?”

  “They’re his discs. Palace Hotel security. I’ve already shot a report to your unit in EDD. Read it, work it. Get me something.”

  He stifled a yawn, then focused on her board. “Is that the vic?”

  Eve only nodded, said nothing when he came in to study the board. He’d work better and harder, she knew, if he was invested. “That’s fucked up,” he said. “That’s seriously fucked up. And that’s gotta be more than one killer.” He slipped the discs into one of the pockets of his pants. “If there’s an image on these, we’ll get it.”

  If there were no images, she thought when McNab left, it meant the security had been compromised on site. Knowing how tightly any ship in Roarke’s expansive fleet ran, that would’ve taken some serious magic.

  She turned toward her ’link with the idea of tagging Roarke on his way in. And he walked into her office.

  “That was quick.”

  “I’m in a hurry.” He set a bag on her visitor’s chair. “Where are the discs?”

  “I just passed them off to McNab. Wait.” She shot out a hand as he turned. “If the security was breached on site, how could it be done?”

  “I don’t know until I see the discs, do I?”

  “Be pissed off later. How could it be done?”

  He made an obvious effort to settle himself, then walked to her AutoChef to program coffee for himself. “It would have to be through security or electronics, and one of the top levels. Most likely both, working in tandem. No one at that level would consider a bribe of any kind worth their position.”

  “Threat, blackmail?”

  “Anything’s possible, of course, but doubtful. It would be more to their advantage to come to me with the problem than to circumvent security.”

  “I’ll need names anyway.”

  He set the coffee aside, took out his PPC. After a moment’s work, he nodded toward her machine. “Now you have them. And if any of my people had a part in what happened to that girl, I want to know when you know.”

  He walked out, his barely restrained fury leaving a bolt of energy behind. Eve blew out a breath, and since he’d forgotten his coffee, picked it up and drank it herself.

  Four

  Though she had no doubt Roarke’s screening process was more stringent than the Pentagon’s, she ran the names he’d given her. She got clean and clear on all. If, she decided, the word from EDD was an on site screwup, she’d run their spouses, when applicable, and family members.

  But for now she couldn’t put off informing next of kin.

  It took, Eve thought when she’d finished, under thirty seconds to shatter the world of two ordinary people, with ordinary lives. More time, she reflected as she turned back to her board, than it had taken to slash Ava Marsterson’s throat, for her brain to process the insult. But not much. Not much more.

  She rubbed the heels of her hands over eyes gritty with fatigue, then checked the time. A couple of hours until she could bitch at the lab for any results, or go to the morgue for the same on the victim’s autopsy.

  Enough time for a shower to clear her head before nagging EDD. She picked up the bag Roarke had left her.

  “Take two hours in the crib,” she ordered Peabody when she stepped back into the bullpen. “I’m going to grab a shower.”

  “Okay. I ran the Asant Group from every possible angle. It doesn’t exist.”

  “It’s just a cover.”

  “Then I tried a search for any occult holidays, or dates of import that coordinate with today—or yesterday now. Nothing.”

  “Well, that was good thinking. Worth a shot. It was a damn party, that’s for sure. Maybe they don’t need an occasion. No, no,” Eve corrected herself. “It was too elaborate, planned too far in advance to just be for the hell of it.”

  “For the hell of it. Ha-ha. God.” Peabody rubbed her eyes. “I need those two hours down.”

  “Take them now. It’s the last you’ll be seeing of the back of your eyelids for a while.”

  She headed to the showers. In the locker room she checked the contents of the bag, noted that Roarke hadn’t missed a trick. Underwear, boots, pants, shirt, jacket, weapon harness, her clutch piece, communicator, restraints, spare recorder, PPC, and cash. More than she normally carried on the job. She stuffed it all in her locker, grabbed a towel, then wrapped herself in it once she’d stripped off.

  In the miserly shower cube she ordered the water on full at 101 degrees. It came out in a stingy lukewarm trickle, so she closed her eyes and pretended she was home, where the shower sported multiple and generous jets that pummeled the body with glorious heat. Then spun around, soaking wet, when her instincts tingled to see Roarke standing in the narrow opening, hands in pockets.

  “If this is the best the NYPSD offers it’s no wonder you’re prone to hour-long showers at home.”

  “What’s wrong with you? Close the door. Anybody could walk in here.”

  “I locked the door, which you neglected to do.”

  “Because cops aren’t prone to sneaking peeks while another cop is in the damn shower. What are you doing?”

  “Taking my clothes off so they don’t get wet. That’s the usual procedure.”

  “You can’t come in here.” She jabbed a finger at him when he draped his shirt over a bench. “Cut it out. There’s barely room for me. Besides—”

  “The security was breached on site. It’s going to be a very long day. I want a shower, and since she’s naked, wet, and here, I want my wife.”

  He stepped in, slid his arms around her. “Not only is this excuse for a shower stall the approximate size of a coffin, but it’s bloody noisy for the amount of water dripping out.”

  “Who’s the most likely to have compromised—”

  “Later,” he said, and drew her in. “Later,” and covered her mouth with his.

  She’d seen his eyes before their lips met; seen the worry and the fatigue in them. It was so rare for him to show either, even to her, that she instinctively wrapped around him. Need. She understood the need, not just for the physical, but for the unity.

  Touch, taste, movement. Knowing who you were, each to the other, and what you became when that need brought you together.

  “Anybody finds out about this,” she murmured in his ear, “I’ll get razzed for years.” She bit lightly at his lobe. “So make it good.”

  Her heart slammed against her ribs when he drove into her. “Okay. That’s a start.”

  He laughed, an unexpected and welcome zing of humor along with the pleasure. The old pipes clanged and rattled as he slowed his thrusts, smoothed the pace down from urgent to easy. He turned his head, found her mouth again, and drew them both down, deep, deep. Filled them both from the shimmering well of sensation and emotion.

  He felt her rise up, the cry of her release tangled in the kiss. And let himself follow.

  On a long, long breath, she dropped her head on his shoulder. “This is not authorized use of departmental facilities.”

  “We expert civilian consultants need our perks, too.” He tipped her head up. “I adore you, Lieutenant.”

  “Yeah? Then shove it over some, pal. You’re hogging what there is of the water.”

  When they stepped out and she began toweling off, he lifted a brow. “Towel over drying tube? Not your usual.”

  “I don’t trust them in here.” She gave
the tube a suspicious glare. “You could get fried, or maybe worse, trapped. Anyway, I gave Peabody some crib time, but I’m going to cut it short, see if they’ve gotten to the vic at the morgue.”

  “I’ll be going with you.”

  She didn’t argue; it was a waste of time. “You’re not responsible for what happened to Ava Marsterson.”

  He watched her as he buttoned his shirt. “If you put one of your men in charge of an op, and there was a screwup, if a civilian lost her life, who does it fall on?”

  She sat to pull on her boots, tried another way. “No security, not even yours, is completely infallible.”

  He sat beside her on the bench. “A group of people came into my place, breached the security from the inside, and ripped a woman to pieces. I need to know how, and I need to know why. If one of my people was part of it, I’m going to know who.”

  “Then I’d better roust Peabody. I hope you came down in my ride,” she added. “That toy we drove last night won’t hold the three of us.”

  “I drove something that will.”

  “This is so mag!” Peabody bounced on the backseat of the muscular and roomy all-terrain. “First we get to zip in that way-uptown Stinger, and now we’re pumping the road in this.”

  “Glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Eve commented. “We wouldn’t want murder to dampen your day.”

  “You’ve got to take your ups where you get them. I’ve never even seen one of these before.” Peabody petted the seat as she might a purring cat.

  “It’s a prototype,” Roarke told her. “It won’t go on line for a couple of months yet.”

  “Sweetness.”

  “Peabody, as soon as you finish enjoying yourself, run the heads of security and electronics in the file. Run their spouses, parents, siblings, cohabs, offspring, spouses and cohabs of offspring. I want to know if anyone has a sheet. I want to know if anyone’s family pet has a sheet.”

  “They’ve been screened,” Roarke told her. “Caro can forward you all the data.”

  Eve had no doubt his efficient admin could gather and transmit data in record time. “We need to confirm, and confirm through official channels.”

  When he said nothing, she took out her own PPC, copied all data to Dr. Mira’s office unit. She wanted the department’s top profiler and psychiatrist to review and analyze. Added to it, Eve thought, one of Mira’s daughters was Wiccan. Maybe, just maybe, they’d tap that source.

  The cold white tiles of the morgue echoed with their footsteps. Eve scented coffee—or what passed for it here—as they strode past Vending. She scented death long before they pushed through the double doors of the autopsy room.

  Ava lay naked on a slab with Chief Medical Examiner Morris working on her. His delicate and precise Y-cut opened her, exposed her. Eve heard Peabody swallow hard behind her.

  Morris straightened as they came in. The protective gown covered his silver-edged blue suit. He wore his dark hair pulled back in a long, sleek tail. “Company,” he said, and the faintest of smiles moved across his exotically sexy face. “And so early in the morning. Roarke, this is unexpected.” But his eyes tracked over to Peabody. “There’s water in the friggie, Detective.”

  “Thanks.” Her face glowed with sweat as she hurried over for a bottle.

  “What can you tell me?” Eve asked him.

  “We haven’t gotten very far. You flagged her for me specifically, and I’ve only been in about an hour. And that’s because the ME on duty was pissy that he couldn’t get his hands in.”

  “I didn’t want anyone but you on her. I’d rather wait. I have a pretty good idea how it went anyway. Can you tell me if she was raped?”

  “I can tell you she had rough sex—very rough—multiple times. As to whether it was consensual or not? She can’t tell us. But from the tearing, I’d say rape. Gang rape.”

  “Sperm?”

  “They doused her—vaginally, anally, orally to remove. I’ve already sent samples to the lab, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for DNA. I’d say multiple partners. She was brutally used, pre-and postmortem.” He looked down at the body. “There are so many levels of cruelty, aren’t there? And they all walk in our doors.”

  “What about the tat? It looked fresh and real.”

  “It’s both. Inked within the last twelve to fifteen hours.”

  “They wanted her marked,” Eve mused. “The throat wound came first. Death blow. Right-handed assailant, facing.”

  “If I were a teacher, you’d be my pet. There are sixty-eight other wounds, several of which would have been mortal on their own, some of which are relatively superficial. I want to run a closer analysis, but on a first pass, at least a dozen different blades were used on her. The bruising, from finger grips, hands, fists, feet. Some premortem. And yet—”

  “Not one defensive wound,” Eve finished. “No sign she was restrained. She took it. I need to know what she took or what they gave her.”

  “I’ve flagged the tox screen priority. I can tell you she wasn’t a user, unless it was very rare, very casual. This was a very healthy woman, one who tended to her body, inside and out. There’ll be a rape drug in her, something potent enough to cause her to tolerate this kind of abuse without a struggle.”

  “I’ve got somebody in the tank. He was loaded. I sent a sample to the lab. Her parents and her brother are coming in from Indiana.”

  “God pity them.” Morris touched one sealed and bloodied hand to Ava’s arm. “I’ll see she’s cleaned up before they view her.” Morris glanced over at Roarke, with understanding in his dark eyes. “We’ll take care of her,” he said. “And them. You can be sure of it.”

  As they walked down the white-tiled tunnel, Roarke spoke for the first time. “It’s a hard life you’ve chosen, Lieutenant. A brutal road that brings you to that so often.”

  “It chose me,” she said, but was grateful to step outside, and into the cool air of the new spring morning.

  Five

  Eve gave Roarke an Upper West Side address when they got back into the AT.

  “Mika Nakamura’s worked for me for nine years.” He pulled out of the parking slot. “Four of those as head of security at the hotel.”

  “Then she must be good,” Eve commented. “And should be able to explain what the hell went wrong last night. She was on the log from noon until just after twenty-three hundred. Do you usually work your people for an eleven-hour stretch?”

  “No. She should have logged out at eight.” His eyes stayed on the road, his voice remained cool and flat. “Paul Chambers came on at seven. I spoke with him last night, and again this morning. He took the main hotel as Mika told him she’d handle the VIP and Towers, as she had other work to catch up on. She also told him she’d be running some maintenance on the cams.”

  “Is that usual?”

  “As head of security, Mika would have some autonomy. She’s earned it.”

  Touchy, Eve thought. Very touchy. “Have you spoken with her?”

  “I haven’t been able to reach her. And, yes, I fully intended to see her in person before you contacted me about the discs.” The tone, very cool, very level, spoke of ruthlessly restrained fury. “She wouldn’t hold the position she does if she hadn’t passed the initial screening, and the twice yearly screening thereafter.”

  In the backseat, Peabody cleared her throat. “She comes up clean. So does her husband of five years. One child, female, age three. Um, born in Tokyo, and relocated to New York at age ten when her parents—who also come clean—moved here for career purposes. Attended both Harvard and Columbia. Speaks three languages and holds degrees in Communications, Hotel Management, and Psychology.”

  “How did she end up yours?” Eve asked Roarke.

  “I recruited her right out of college. I have scouts, you could call them, and they brought her to my attention. It’s not in the realm of any reality that she had any part in what was done to that girl.”

  “She logged out about ten minutes before Pike walked into Maxia’s
party. And minutes before the security for the elevators and lobby cleared. We have to look at that. She could’ve been forced, threatened.”

  “There are fail-safes.” He shook his head. “She’s smart. She’s too damn smart to get herself trapped that way.”

  Better to let it lie, Eve decided, until they spoke to the woman in question.

  Security paid well enough, in Roarke’s domain, to warrant a tidy duplex in a tony neighborhood. People clipped along the sidewalk wearing suits and style while they sipped what she assumed was fancy fake coffee out of go-cups. Pretty women with bouncy hair herded pretty children toward what, she assumed again, would be private schools. A couple of teenagers whizzed by on airboards while a third chased after them on street blades.

  Eve climbed the short steps to the door. “You can take the lead with her,” she told Roarke, “but when I step in, you have to step back.”

  Rather than respond, he rang the bell.

  Privacy screens shielded the front windows, and the security lock held a steady red. As the seconds ticked away, Eve wondered how a woman might go into the wind with a husband and a kid. They had a weekend home in Connecticut, she mused, and relatives in Japan. If . . .

  The security light blinked green.

  Mika Nakamura was a stunner. Eve had seen that from the ID shot. But at the moment, she looked hard used. Sallow skin, dull, bloodshot eyes, the tangled mess of ebony hair all spoke of a hard night, or an illness.

  “Sir?” the voice rasped. Mika cleared her throat, opened the door a bit wider. She wore a long scarlet robe messily tied at the waist.

  “I need to speak with you, Mika.”

  “Of course. Yes. Is something wrong?”

  She stepped back. Eve noted the house was dim, that the privacy screens had been boosted up to block the light. Even so, the interior was splashed with vibrant colors from rugs and art.

  “Please come in. Won’t you sit down? Can I get you some coffee? Tea?”

  “Aren’t you well, Mika?”

  “I’m just a little off. I had my husband take Aiko out for breakfast because I can’t seem to pull it together.”