Secrets in Death (In Death #45)(110)

“Detective Trueheart’s going to take care of all that.”

“Her mom?”

“We’ll go see her mom. Thanks for your help. And I am sorry for your loss.”

Eve crossed quickly to Peabody. “Take statements from the two male wits, and make it fast. We’ve got him.”

“Who? How?”

“That fucker Hyatt—Knight’s admin. I’ll fill you in when you’re done. Get full statements, but don’t screw around.”

She went out, took a deep breath of cold air. She’d get justice for Larinda Mars. That was duty.

But she’d damn sure get it for Kellie Lowry.





22

Eve moved to Baxter.

“Trueheart’s arranging the female wit’s transpo, making sure her other roommate’s home. When he’s done, and you’re done here, I need you to make the notification.”

Though he nodded, Baxter pointed at her. “You hit.”

“Apologies for putting you on notification, but we need to move on this.”

“Throw me a bone.”

“Knight’s admin, Bill Hyatt. I knew I didn’t like that rat bastard, but he had an alibi—his log-in had him in the building here when Mars was attacked. Except it wasn’t his swipe. He switched on Kellie Lowry. She’s the one who was in the building until nineteen-six. And he’s the one who left—logging her out—at seventeen-fifteen. Plenty of time for him to get downtown when we can place him entering Du Vin.”

“He killed that girl, had her bleed out on the sidewalk, for her log-in?”

“He did.”

“Get the rat bastard, boss.”

“Count on it.”

She turned to Roarke, who offered her a go-cup of coffee. “Thanks.”

“The knight protecting Knight. Strangely poetic.”

“I couldn’t connect him to Mars—he’s not in her books, on her list, and I looked. Then today, I find out Mars made herself at home up there. He’d have had some dealings with her. He figured out what was going on, didn’t like it. It wouldn’t surprise me if he confronted her at some point, warned her off, got in her face some like he did with me. And it wouldn’t surprise me if she laughed in his face. He’s just an assistant, right? A lackey. He didn’t worry her.”

“Murder’s somewhat over and above for an employee,” Roarke commented.

“Some people take their job way too serious. You can head out, go on home. I’m going to bag this.”

“Mars, whatever she was, bled out on my floor,” Roarke reminded her. “I’ll see it through.”

“Fine. Baxter, you and Trueheart need to go up to the studio, get more statements. I’ll get you a warrant for Hyatt’s office and his electronics.”

“We know the drill, Dallas. We’ve got this covered.”

Sure of it, she pulled out her PPC, pulled up Hyatt’s info. “Handy, he lives about five blocks away.”

Pleased, she tagged Reo. “I need some warrants.”

By the time Peabody came out, the warrants were in the works.

“Somebody tell me something,” Peabody demanded.

“Talk and walk.”

In long strides, Eve headed to the car, giving Peabody the details on the way.

“For her log-out,” Peabody said as she settled into the backseat. “He killed someone for their log-out. But … why? He used it, switched it back obviously. Nobody knew.”

It gnawed in Eve’s craw. “I pushed him on his alibi, and made sure I pissed him off. And I pushed on it again with security. Nadine worked on a source inside Knight’s studio. I’d say he got wind of the second push, he got worried.”

Son of a bitch, Eve thought. Son of a bitching bastard.

Blood-soaked flowered pants, black wings of hair spread on the sidewalk. A girl from Queens with a nice mom.

“He killed Lowry,” she continued, “to cover his ass, but just like killing Mars exposed Knight’s secrets, what he did by taking Lowry’s life? He exposed himself and his cowardly white dick of an ass.”

“‘Dick of an ass’?” Roarke repeated.

“I’m pissed. I need to get through being pissed. Mars didn’t have any problem exploiting lives for profit. She made a goddamn science out of it. But she didn’t kill people. He did Mars, more than likely, because he has some pathological obsession with protecting Annie Knight—and you can bet your non-dick of an Irish ass he harbors a strong loathing for Bicford, because Bicford has access to Knight he doesn’t, has a relationship he doesn’t.

“Lowry he killed because maybe, just maybe, we’d have looked more closely at the log-outs.”

“You didn’t like him right off,” Peabody acknowledged.

“No, I didn’t like him. But I don’t like a lot of people who don’t decide they can kill people. Who don’t decide to slice someone’s artery so they can bleed out on the floor or on the street. And you know what?”

God, she was pissed!

“Sooner or later, there would’ve been somebody else. Somebody he deemed didn’t treat Knight the way she should be treated, somebody who he judged stood in his way for something. He’d have done it again, because now it’s his solution.”