Desperation in Death (In Death #55)(108)

“That’s Iris Beaty. That’s damn good.”

“Did one full length.” He flipped a page, had Eve’s blood pumping. She wanted Beaty in the box.

“Really damn good,” Eve murmured.

“She hits details.” Yancy pushed at his curling mop of hair. “I’ve got three more suspects, and I think she could give us more, but you said it was time to bring her in.”

“We’re going to line them up for her. Show me the rest. That’s the night matron, the dead one. The doctor, and I don’t have a name on this one yet.”

“Cyril Gum,” Whitney supplied. “Santiago and Carmichael are interviewing him now, and he’s holding his line.”

“We’ll put him up for her, see how he holds it after that. Good work, Yancy. We’ll get copies for the file, get the originals to the PA.

“Sir, I need to review the interviews before I bring Beaty and her lawyer up. Reo tells me we’ve already flipped one.”

“Let me know when you’re ready, Dallas. And good work, as usual, Detective.”

“Buy me some time, Yancy, and take her through another. I want her occupied.”

“Glad to do it.”

When he left, Eve sat and began her review.

An hour into it, she paused when she heard Peabody’s clump.

“Please, coffee, please.”

Eve jerked a thumb at the AutoChef.

“Philamenia Horowitz,” Peabody said as she got her coffee. “Cleaning supervisor and Domestic instructor. She taught those trainees selected as Domestic Slaves. Three years in, and you know what? You know the fuck what? She has daughters of her own, teenage daughters, but she did this. Needed the job—boo-hoo—needed the money. Never hurt anyone, taught useful skills. Sniveling bitch.”

“Status?”

Peabody gulped coffee. “Cracked her like an egg. And I got to be bad cop. Willowby looks like a kid, so I got to come in hard. She flipped on Beaty among others, tried to claim she had no idea what was really going on, and we shoveled out that bullshit. Carlyse, one of the APAs, dealt her a hard twenty. See how she likes it.”

“Where’s Willowby?”

“She’s checking in with Feeney, something about the auction and the change of status there. We didn’t have time to talk about it. What’s the change?”

“Dead Devereaux ran it. Something Beaty may or may not have been aware of.”

“So he was double-dipping.”

“That’s one way to put it. He could buy, sell, trade, collect the membership fees, take the auction house percentage, and preview all the other entries. And I’m thinking an enterprising soul like him? Maybe you supplement with a little blackmail here and there.”

“So like quadruple-dipping. How about the woman who stabbed Dead Devereaux?”

“I have to check on her, but no charges. Her family in Tunisia—parents, two sibs—has been or will shortly be contacted. For now at least, we have to leave the bulk of the victims to Mira, the therapists, and SVU while we keep cracking those eggs.”

“I’m ready for that.” Seriously ready, Peabody did a quick boxer’s shuffle. “Who’s up first?”

Eve checked the time and decided she couldn’t wait any longer. “I’m putting Beaty and some of the others in lineups. Check with Mira. She was going to select some of the victims she thought could handle it. I’ve got Dorian with Yancy.”

The battle light in Peabody’s eye went soft and sober. “You’re giving them back power. The power these people took from them.”

“Positive eyewitness identification is the purpose, but that’s a solid side benefit. I’ll set it up, get Dorian. Meet me with the others.”

She left it to the PA to roll over defense lawyerly objections. She didn’t mind the delay, as it gave her a chance to see Sampson Merit’s tap dance. She started with one of the hard cases, Frank Bestor, security, an egg who’d yet to show the thinnest crack.

Dorian stood with her arms folded as behind the one-way glass men filed out. “Number three, that one,” she said without hesitation. “I saw him around.”

“Around where?”

“The Academy, where do you think? And sometimes he’d come into the studio and watch. He’d meet with Auntie in her office, mostly during the day, but … Can you make him say something?”

“What do you want him to say?”

“Um. Spread out and find those bitches.”

She stepped to the intercom. “Number three, step forward. Repeat this. Spread out and find those bitches.”

He curled his lip, but repeated the phrase.

“That’s him, that’s him. He was in the tunnels that night, and outside when we were hiding. He said that before Mina ran. She ran because he said that, and I couldn’t run.”

“Number three, step back. Dorian, you’re going to step out with Dr. Mira.”

“Why?”

“I have others who need to look at the lineup.”

“But I said it was him. If you don’t believe—”

“I absolutely believe you, but why should you have all the fun? The more of you who ID him, the more he’ll pay.”

Out of six witnesses, Eve got five positive IDs. She worked her way up the chain, security, matrons, instructors, medical personnel, until she came to what she considered the grand prize.