Faithless in Death (In Death, #52)(55)

“You’re exposing them to a half-assed street thief right now. Get gone. Stay gone.”

She stood. He ran. With a shake of her head, she picked up the shopping bag he’d left behind, then stuffed it in the nearest recycler before she went back to the bench.

“How did you make him?” Nadine wondered.

“He’s loitering around a playground with no kid—not watching them, so I figure not a pervert. But watching the adults, and easing his way toward the bags the adults are brainless enough to leave unattended. So thief. Anyway.”

She gave Nadine the basics on the murder, on Gwen’s relationship with the victim, and the cover-up.

“She could have contacted somebody, had them do the murder.” When Eve simply leveled a stare, Nadine sat back. “Which you’ve already looked into. Oliver and Paula Huffman—I don’t know anything about them except they’re doctors, rich, and were giving the bride away. They’re members of Natural Order.”

Nadine rolled that around. “They don’t know their daughter’s gay?”

“She was caught as a teenager with another girl.”

“So they know. Listen, Dallas, there are rumors—or were when I tried to break into this—of conversion centers.”

“Realignment centers they call them, according to Gwen. Her parents sent her to one, on the island Natural Order owns.”

“That’s criminal,” Nadine murmured. “Except maybe it’s not, in the legal sense, as Utopia Island has sovereign nation status, and its own laws. Listen, I’ve got to get to the station. I’ll dig up my research, send it to you, and I’ll dig in some more. I want this exclusive, Dallas. Wilkey’s a lunatic. I didn’t have the chops to expose this before. My chops are bigger and sharper now.”

“You help expose all this, I’ll give you an exclusive one-on-one.”

“On Now. It’s important, Dallas, and a full segment on Now, with my audience, it has reach.”

“Done.”

Before Eve could stand, Nadine put a hand on her arm. “Wait. I was coming to Central to give you this.”

She reached in her bag again, pulled out a book. “Hot off the press.”

“The Red Horse Legacy,” Eve read. “Talk about lunatics.”

“It’s not out for another ten days, but you get the first copy. Who knows how many more they’d have killed if you hadn’t rooted them out?”

Eve merely grunted. “Your name’s bigger on this one than on The Icove Agenda.”

Smiling, Nadine fluttered her lashes. “Is it? I didn’t notice.” She shouldered her bag and rose. “Ten days and it launches, and I start a very intense book tour. We’re going to close your case, expose Wilkey and his sick order, and report it all on Now before I leave. We’ll do that because we’re the smart girls.”

“That’s order of priority.” Eve got to her feet. “Close the case, expose Wilkey, blather about it on-screen.”

“We wouldn’t have had this conversation if you didn’t know I understand the priorities.”

“You got that right.”’

“And I got something else.” Grinning, Nadine wiggled her shoulders. “I got my next book.”





12


As Eve walked back into Central, her communicator signaled with a message to report to Whitney. One glance toward the banks of elevators had her taking the glides.

When she reached the commander’s office, she found his door open and his admin’s desk empty.

He sat at his desk, broad-shouldered, wide-faced, his close-cropped black hair shot with gray.

He still had the eyes of a street cop, and she had reason to know he still carried those instincts. It made him, to her mind, well suited for command.

He read something on his desk screen while a glass of dank green liquid stood at his elbow.

Eve rapped her knuckles on the doorjamb.

Whitney glanced up, gestured her inside.

“Lieutenant, I’ve read your reports on the Ariel Byrd investigation. Any further progress since your morning interviews with Gwendolyn Huffman and Merit Caine?”

“I consulted with Dr. Mira.”

Eve ran through the salient points while Whitney nodded, and while he scowled at the glass on his desk.

“Following that, I had a conversation with Nadine Furst.”

He glanced up. “While Nadine’s a reliable and ethical source, this investigation leans hard into sensitive areas.”

“She’ll hold the information I gave her, sir, and gave me more than I gave her.”

“Such as?”

Again, he listened, this time sitting back as he took in the information.

Through the window behind him, Eve saw an ad blimp lumber over the city. Across its fat body flashed some hype for spring sales at the Sky Mall.

“And she’s willing to turn over her notes and research on Natural Order?”

“I’d say the word is eager, Commander. She’s got her teeth in it. She was less experienced, likely made some mistakes, and they booted her out. She hasn’t forgotten that. Clearly, she wants another shot.”

“She may have been lucky to have been considered a nuisance rather than a threat, and only got the boot.” He gestured to her. “What have you got there?”