by J. D. Robb
With as much pride as avarice she stroked the wrapper. It was the real thing, genuine chocolate, rich and pricey as gold. And hers. All hers.
She replaced the tile, studying it from all angles to make certain it was exactly positioned, then hopped down. She unlocked her door, sat back down, then began to slowly peel away the wrapper with all the attention, the affection, the anticipation a woman might use to undress her beloved.
She sighed deeply, and savored the first bite. And tasted both chocolate and victory.
“Okay, let’s get serious.”
Straightening in her chair, she nibbled candy and studied the information on-screen.
Browning and Brightstar had a big-ass apartment close to the university. Rachel would have trusted her instructor, her instructor’s spouse. She’d have gone with either one of them, or both of them into the parking port, even to their apartment if the play had been good enough.
Of course, there was the sticky part, getting Rachel past the doorman, past security. But nothing was impossible.
Motive? Jealousy—pretty young girl. Art? Notoriety?
She input data, and ordered a probability scan.
WITH CURRENT DATA, the computer informed her, PROBABILITY BROWNING AND/OR BRIGHTSTAR MURDERED RACHEL HOWARD IS THIRTY-NINE POINT SIX.
“Not so hot,” Eve said aloud. “But we’re just getting started.”
“Lieutenant, I found something I think—” Peabody stopped her forward march into the office and stared at the small chunk of candy still in Eve’s hand. “What’s that? Is that chocolate? Real chocolate?”
“What?” Panicked, Eve shoved the hand behind her back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m working here.”
“I can smell it.” To prove it, Peabody sniffed the air like a wolf. “That’s not chocolate substitute, that’s not soy. That’s real goods.”
“Maybe. And it’s mine.”
“Just let me have a little—” Peabody’s gasp was shocked and heartfelt as Eve stuffed the remaining chunk in her mouth. “Oh, Dallas.” She swallowed hard. “That was very childish.”
“Uh-uh. And delicious,” Eve added with her mouth full. “What’ve you got?”
“I don’t have chocolate breath, that’s for damn sure.” At Eve’s arch look, she pokered up. “While others, who will remain nameless, were stuffing their face with candy, I diligently pursued an angle in the investigation that I believe might be of some interest to the incredibly selfish candy-hog primary.”
“It was dark chocolate.”
“You’re a mean person and will probably go to hell.”
“I can live with that. What angle did you diligently pursue, Officer Peabody?”
“It occurred to me that one or more of the individuals attached to businesses around the college might have a sheet. It seemed prudent to do a run on said individuals to determine any and all criminal records.”
“Not bad.” And exactly what Eve had in mind to do next. “You can sniff the wrapper,” she offered, and held it out.
Peabody grimaced, but she took it.
“And the results?”
“There’s good news and bad news. Bad news is the city’s full of criminals.”
“My God. How could this be?”
“Which leads to the good news that our jobs are secure. Most of what I got was petty stuff, but I did get a couple of nice pops. An assault with illegals possession, and a multiple stalking.”
“What’s your pick?”
“Oh, well.” Suddenly nervous, Peabody puffed out her cheeks. “We’d have to check out both, because . . . the assault doesn’t ring so much since the kill was careful, and he didn’t rough her up any. But the illegals does, because of the tranq used. But the stalking’s more in line with the MO, so I guess I’d start with the stalker.”
“You’re coming right along, Peabody. Got the name and address?”
“Yes, sir. Dirk Hastings, Portography, on West 115th.”
“Dirk’s a really stupid name. Let’s take a ride.”
With Dr. Louise Dimatto as his guide, Roarke took a tour of the newly completed common rooms of the abuse shelter. He approved the soothing colors, the simple furniture, and the privacy shields on the windows.
He’d wanted to establish this . . . sanctuary, he supposed, as a kind of symbol of what both he and Eve had ultimately escaped. And to provide a safe haven for the victims.
He wouldn’t have taken advantage of such a place, he thought. No matter how hungry, bruised, battered, he wouldn’t have bolted to a shelter.
Too proud, he supposed. Or too bloody mean.
He might have hated his father, but he hadn’t trusted the social workers, the cops, the do-gooders, and had figured better the devil you know. There’d been no system for him, as there had been for Eve once she was found broken and bloody in that alley in Dallas.
She’d learned to work her way through the system, while he’d spent most of his life working around it. And somehow he’d become part of it and a do-gooder himself.
It was baffling.
He stood at the wide doorway leading to the recreation area. There were children playing a bit too quietly, but playing. Women with babies on their hips, and bruises on their faces. He caught the looks aimed his way—panic, suspicion, dislike, and outright fear.
Men were a rarity within these walls, and were usually the reason others huddled inside them.
“I’ll only interrupt for a minute.” Louise spoke in an easy tone as she looked around the room. “This is Roarke. There’d be no Dochas without him. We’re pleased he could make the time today to visit, and see the results of his vision and generosity.”
“As much your vision, Louise, if not more. It’s a nice room, feels like a home.” He, too, looked around, at the faces. He felt the weight of their waiting, and their discomfort.
“I hope you’re finding what you need here,” he said, and started to step out again.
“How come it’s got such a funny name?”
“Livvy.” A thin woman, no more than twenty-five, by Roarke’s gauge, and with faded bruises covering most of her face rushed over. She scooped up the little girl who’d spoken. “I’m sorry. She didn’t mean anything.”
“It’s a good question. It’s always smart to ask a good question. Livvy, is it,” he continued, addressing the child now.
“Uh-huh. It’s really ’livia.”
“Olivia. That’s a lovely name. It’s important, don’t you think, what something’s called? People, places. Your mum picked a special name for you, and see how well it fits you.”
Livvy watched Roarke and leaned closer to whisper in her mother’s ear, loud enough for half the room to hear. “He talks pretty.”
“She’s only three.” The woman managed a nervous laugh. “I never know what she’s going to say next.”
“What an adventure that must be.” As the tension lines around the woman’s eyes relaxed, Roarke lifted a hand, smoothed a finger over Livvy’s brown curls. “But you had a question about the name of this place. It’s a Gaelic word, Dochas. That’s an old, old language people spoke—and still do here and there—in the place I was born. In English it means hope.”
“Like I hope we can have ice cream again tonight?”
He flashed a grin. They hadn’t broken this child yet, he thought. And God willing, they never would. “Why not?” He looked back at the mother. “Are you finding what you need here?”
She nodded.
“That’s good then. It was nice to meet you, Livvy.”
He stepped out, and made certain they were out of earshot before he spoke again. “How long have they been here?” he asked Louise.
“I’d have to ask one of the staff. I don’t remember seeing them when I was here earlier in the week.
“We’re helping them, Roarke. Not every one, not every time, but enough. I know how hard it is, from my clinic, to have some slip away, and how hard it is not to get involved with every one, on a personal level.” Though she’d
been brought up in wealth and privilege Louise knew the needs, the fears, the despair of the disadvantaged. “I can’t give more than a few hours a week here myself. I wish it could be more, but the clinic—”
“We’re lucky to have you,” Roarke interrupted. “For whatever time you can manage.”
“The staff—the counselors and crisis workers—are wonderful. I can promise you that. You’ve met most of them.”
“And am grateful to you for finding the right people. I don’t know my way around this sort of thing, Louise. We’d never have pulled this off without you.”
“Oh, I think you would have, but not half as well,” she added with a grin. “Speaking of the right people,” she said, pausing by the steps leading up to the second floor. “How is PA Spence working out for you?”
He let out a long breath, knowing there would be more hell to pay when he got home again. “When I left, she hadn’t yet smothered Summerset in his sleep.”
“That’s a plus. I’ll try to stop by and take a look at him myself.” She glanced up the steps, broke into a huge smile. “Moira, just who I wanted to see. Have you got a free minute? I’d like you to meet our benefactor.”
“That makes me sound like an old man with a beard and a belly.”
“And that you’re surely not.”
Roarke lifted a brow when he heard the Irish in her voice. He could see it in her face, as well. The soft white skin, the pug nose and rounded cheeks. She wore her dark blonde hair in a short wedge to frame them. Her eyes, he noted, were misty blue and clever. The sort that warned him she would see what she intended to see and keep her thoughts to herself.
“Roarke, this is Moira O’Bannion, our head crisis counselor. You two have something in common. Moira’s originally from Dublin, too.”
“Yes,” Roarke said easily. “So I can hear.”
“It does stick with you, doesn’t it?” Moira offered a hand. “I’ve lived in America for thirty years, and never have shaken it. Dia dhuit. Conas ta tu?”
“Maith, go raibh maith agat.”
“So, you do speak the old tongue,” she noted.
“A bit.”
“I said hello, and asked how he was,” Moira told Louise. “Tell me, Roarke, have you family yet in Ireland?”
“No.”
If she noticed the flat, and very cool tone of the single syllable, she gave no sign. “Ah well. New York’s your home now, isn’t it? I moved here with my husband, he’s a Yank himself, when I was twenty-six, so I suppose it’s mine as well.”
“We’re lucky it is.” Louise touched her arm as she turned to Roarke. “I stole Moira for us from Carnegie Health Center. Their loss is very much our gain.”
“I think it was the right choice, all around,” Moira commented. “This is a fine thing you’ve done with this place, Roarke. It’s the finest of its kind I’ve seen, and I’m pleased to be a part of it.”
“High praise from Moira,” Louise said with a laugh. “She’s a very tough sell.”
“No point in saying what you don’t mean. Have you seen the roof garden as yet?”
“I was hoping I’d have time to take him up.” Wincing, Louise glanced at her wrist unit. “But I’m running behind. You really should take a look before you go, Roarke.”
“I’d be pleased to show you,” Moira said. “Would you mind if we use the elevator? There are a number of groups and classes in session on the upper levels. The sight of you might make some of the residents uneasy.”
“That’s fine.”
“You’re in good and capable hands.” Louise rose to her toes to kiss Roarke’s cheek. “Give my best to Dallas. I’ll drop by and see Summerset the very first chance I get.”
“He’ll look forward to it.”
“Thanks, Moira. I’ll see you in a few days. If you need anything—”
“Yes, yes, go on now. Not to worry.” She shooed Louise, then gestured. “She never walks when she can run,” Moira added as Louise dashed toward the doors. “A bundle of energy and dedication, all wrapped up in brains and heart. Thirty minutes with her, and I was agreeing to resigning my position at the center and taking one here—and at quite a significant cut in salary.”
“A difficult woman to resist.”
“Oh aye. And you’re married to one I’m told.” She led the way through another living area and to a narrow elevator. “A woman of energy and dedication.”
“I am.”
“I’ve seen the two of you on the news reports, from time to time. Or read of you.” She stepped inside. “Roof please,” she ordered. “Do you get back to Dublin often?”
“Occasionally.” He knew when he was being studied and measured, and so studied and measured in turn. “I have some business interests there.”
“And no personal ones?”
He met those eyes, those clever eyes, straight on. He also knew when he was being pumped. “A friend or two. But I’ve a friend or two in a number of places, and no more ties to Dublin than anywhere else.”
“My father was a solicitor there, and my mother a doctor. Both still are, come to that. But life gets so busy, I’m lucky to get back every second year for a few weeks. It’s come back well from the Urban Wars.”
“For the most part.” He had a flash of the tenements where he’d grown up. The war hadn’t been kind to them.
“And here we are.” She stepped out when the doors opened. “Isn’t this something? A little bit of country, high up here in the middle of the city.”
He saw the dwarf trees, the flowering beds, the tidy squares of vegetables with straight paths lined between. A faint mist from the perpetual sprinkler system kept everything lush and watered in the blazing heat.
“It’s something they could plant and that they can maintain themselves. For pleasure, for practicality, for beauty.” There was a quietness about her now, as if the gardens brought her peace. “We work here early mornings and evenings when it’s a bit cooler. I like to get my hands in the dirt, always did. Still, I swear to you, all these years, I’ve never got used to the bloody heat of this place.”
“Louise mentioned something about a garden.” Impressed, intrigued, he walked through. “I had no idea she meant something like this. It’s beautiful. And it says something, doesn’t it?”
“What does it say?”
He ran his fingers over the glossy leaves of some flowering vine. “You beat the hell out of me, you kicked me down. But I got back up, didn’t I? I got back up and I planted flowers. So bugger you,” he murmured, then shook himself back. “Sorry.”
“No need.” A faint smile ghosted around her mouth. “I thought pretty much the same myself. I think Louise might be right about you, with all her praise.”
“She’s prejudiced. I give her a great deal of money. I appreciate you showing me this, Ms. O’Bannion. I hate to leave it, but I’ve other appointments.”
“You must be the busiest of men. Not what I expected altogether, to see the powerful Roarke charmed by a rooftop garden. A plot of wax beans and turnips.”
“I’m impressed by resilience. It was good to meet you, Ms. O’Bannion.” He offered his hand, and she took it. Held it.
“I knew your mother.”
Because she was watching, very closely, she saw his eyes go to chips of blue ice before he drew his hand free. “Did you? That’s more than I can say myself.”
“You don’t remember her then? Well, why should you? I met you before, in Dublin. You weren’t much more than six months old.”
“My memory doesn’t stretch quite that far.” There was nothing of the simple pleasure of the rooftop garden in his tone now, but the edge of the Dublin alley. “What do you want?”
“Not your money, or some favor, or whatever it is people must try to wheedle out of you. Not every blessed soul’s on the take, you know,” she said with some impatience. “But I’d like a few minutes of your time.” She mopped at her face. “Out of this bloody heat. In my office? We could be private there, and I think you’ll have an
interest in what I have to tell you.”
“If it’s about her, I’ve no interest whatsoever.” He called for the elevator, fully intending to go all the way down, and straight outside. “I don’t give a damn where she is, how she is, who she is.”
“That’s a hard line, and from an Irishman, too. The Irish men, they love their mam.”
He flashed her a look that had her taking a full step back before she realized it. “I’ve managed fine without one since she walked out the door. I’ve neither the time nor inclination to discuss her, or any personal business with you. Louise may believe you’re a valuable asset to this facility, but push the wrong button, and you’ll be out on your ear.”
She lifted her chin. She squared her shoulders. “Ten minutes in my office, and if you’re so inclined, I’ll resign. I feel I have a debt to pay, and I begin to think I’ve left the paying too long. I don’t want anything from you, lad, but a bit of your time.”
“Ten minutes.” He snapped it out.
She led the way to an office, past a series of session rooms and a small library. It was cool inside, and orderly, with a trim little desk, a small sofa, two comfortable chairs.
Without asking, she went to a small friggie and took out two bottles of lemonade.
“I worked on a crisis line in Dublin,” she began. “I was fresh out of university, working on my advanced degree, and thought I knew everything I needed to know. I intended to go into private practice as a counselor, and make myself a tidy pile of money. The hours on the crisis line were part of my training.”
She handed him one of the bottles. “It happened I was working the lines when your mother called. I could tell she was young. I could hear that. Even younger than me, and hurt, and scared to death.”
“From what I know of her, that’s unlikely.”
“What do you know of her?” Moira shot back. “You were a baby.”
“A bit older when she walked.”
“Walked, my arse. Siobhan wouldn’t have left you if there’d been a knife at her throat.”
“Her name was Meg, and she dusted her hands of me before my sixth birthday.” Finished with this nonsense, he set the bottle down. “What’s your game?”
