Leverage in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel (In Death #47)(99)

“I’ll take care of it. We’re all pulling for Nadine.”

“She’s lucky they’re not pulling her out of the East River. Thanks.”

Taking a breath, rubbing her temples, she started outlining a takedown plan, grabbed her ’link again when it signaled incoming.

The colonel had come through with her requested list of military personnel on base at the time of the attack.

A lot of military personnel, she thought. But she could eliminate females, the dead, anyone on active duty. He’d be retired, she thought. Or discharged—honorably or not.

Could be older than Iler, she considered, as the dominant partner. Or . . . Baby brother. The dominant still, she thought, but also a kind of surrogate.

She looked at the little screen on her ’link, then with envy at the generously sized wall screen. And went out, once again, to Rhoda.

By the time Baxter and Trueheart joined her, she had a pot of coffee, and a good chunk of her elimination done and displayed on the wall screen.

“That’s real coffee,” Baxter said. “I can smell the real.”

“Rhoda had a stash.”

“You should marry her,” he told Trueheart as he poured out mugs.

“I have a girl.”

“Keep the girl, marry Rhoda. She has amazing powers.”

“If we have that settled.” Eve kept working as she spoke. “We have the art and finance half of our suspects nailed down in Lucius Iler, apartment 5005.”

“You got him. Hot damn!” Baxter lifted his mug in salute. “Is Peabody hauling him in?”

“No, he’s in 5005. I’ve got uniforms in soft clothes watching the building, and Rhoda—of the amazing powers—in the lobby, should he decide to leave. Peabody’s on her fricking way to fricking Hollywood.”

“She is?” Trueheart’s earnest face broke into smiles. “I thought it was tomorrow.”

“It was. Now it’s not. Sit. Listen.”

She caught them up quickly.

“He’ll have contacted his partner,” Eve concluded. “No way to prevent that. The partner may rabbit, but I don’t think so. He’s a soldier.”

“Leave no man behind.” Baxter nodded.

“They’re brothers—as least in Iler’s mind. They go, they go together. The probability’s high the partner’s on the list on-screen—all of them were on base at the time of the terrorist attack. I’ve eliminated females, deceased, active duty. They’ve been at this for months, so it’s extremely unlikely the partner’s active duty. Trueheart, pick this up. Cross-check these names with the list of residents. If they both live here—”

“We can wrap this up,” Baxter finished, “and go out for burgers and brew.”

“If we have that kind of luck, I’ll buy both. I’ve got a consult with Mira in a few. Rhoda—and I concede her amazing powers—has it set up so we can do it on-screen here. That way I don’t have to relay to you afterward.”

“Maybe I’ll marry her,” Baxter considered.

“She’s too smart for that.”

“I overcome female brains with my smooth charm and sexual prowess.”

“He really does,” Trueheart agreed as he worked.

“It’s a skill.”

“Save it until we bust these bastards. Roarke’s on his way in.”

“Peabody’s standin.”

“While Trueheart’s doing the cross-check, give me what you got.”

Baxter huffed out a breath. “Goose egg. Nobody we interviewed fits, nobody pops.”

“If I’m not on the hook for burgers and brew, we’re back at that. But we focus on military history. The partner could have changed his name.”

“If he lives here, or comes to see Iler frequently? Rhoda.”

“And/or the night manager, the doormen. So you’re going to generate ID shots of the list currently on-screen.”

She checked the time. “After the consult.”

*

With Mira on-screen Eve ran through the data, impressions, conclusions, while Mira sat at her desk at Central sipping tea.

“The less physically adept older brother, proud and protective of his younger sibling,” Mira began. “Both of them often left in the care of staff while their parents traveled—with the father a dominant figure, one who controlled and demanded. The father did not, certainly in Iler’s mind, offer unrestricted, selfless love—and may, in fact, have been critical of, demeaning to, the more frail, unathletic older son. While the mother, in his view, cared less about tending and protecting her children than pleasing her husband, and perhaps herself.”

“It’s envy? Targeting the family-focused parents?”

“It’s certainly a motivator. The younger brother grows up, becomes the soldier, as expected. He forms new ties—new brothers, in a sense. He falls in love, another replacement. Iler, rather than building his own relationships, keeps his brother as the center. On a very real level, he sees himself not just as his brother’s keeper, but as his father figure. But he can no longer protect his brother, who dies a hero.”

“As a soldier,” Eve put in. “Because the father demanded it.”

“Yes. Iler can’t blame himself. He has no capacity for self-blame. The father should have protected the child, but caused his death instead, and lives on. The woman his brother loved, a link to his brother, moved on, chose another. Women are weak, calculating, without loyalty. He feels, as much as he’s capable of feeling, only for the child. His loyalty has transferred to his partner, his brother substitute.”