Calculated in Death (In Death #36)(8)

She broke for a moment, shuddering as she covered her face with her hands. “Oh God. I have to do what’s next, do what’s next, and keep doing it until it’s done. That’s all.”

She lowered her hands, visibly pulled herself in. “If Morris isn’t handling her . . . her body, as he usually does with yours, please arrange that. Will you?”

“Yes. I’ll take care of it.”

“Then she has the best taking care of her. That’s all I can ask for now.”

“Do you know what coat she was wearing?”

“Coat?”

“She wasn’t wearing a coat. Considering the temperature—”

“Good God.” Yung took a breath, rubbed at her temple. “On a day like this, she’d have worn her long gray wool—gray with black sleeves, black buttons. And a scarf. She always wore a scarf, and has quite a collection. I’m not sure even if I went through what’s here I’d know. Denzel may remember.”

“We’ll ask him about that detail later.”

“I need to see to my brother now. The children . . .” She paused, drew in a harsh breath. “The children will be up soon.”

“We’ll give you your privacy.”

“Thank you. I’ll get you everything you need as quickly as possible. If you need more, contact me.”

• • •

When they stepped outside into the murky dawn, Peabody pressed her fingers to her eyes as Judge Yung had done. “That was pretty much as bad as it gets.”

“It’ll get worse when the kids wake up.” Eve handed Peabody the evidence bag holding the ’link Denzel had given them. “I’m going to drop you off at Central. Contact McNab and tell him to get his skinny ass in. I want him to process that ’link.”

As she spoke, she pulled open the car door, got behind the wheel. “I requested Harpo—self-proclaimed queen of hair and fiber—to process the fibers on the vic’s pants. I’ll follow up on that. Yung’s arranging for a search warrant—residence, vehicles, offices. Get Detectives Carmichael and Santiago on that as soon as it comes through, but they’re to make sure the family’s not there. They’re going to the judge’s place.”

She pulled out, made the turn for downtown. “I want Uniform Carmichael to pick a team for a canvass. He’ll meet Officer Turney at the scene at oh-seven-thirty, so get on that. Contact Sergeant Gonzales at the one-three-six, tell him I requested Turney for the duty.”

“You want the first on scene?”

“I want Turney. She’s got good instincts. There’s a little Peabody in there.”

“Yeah?” Peabody puffed up, then immediately pouted. “Is she—”

“Don’t even think about asking if she’s got a smaller ass, prettier face, tougher chops or whatever you’re thinking. Just get it done.”

“I wasn’t thinking about her ass,” Peabody muttered. “But now I am.”

“I want EDD on the electronics, and as soon as we get the insurance information I want a sweep on the items she was wearing—wedding ring, wrist unit. The coat. We’ll talk to the husband later, see if he remembers the earrings, and the scarf Yung claims she’d have worn. He couldn’t take any more on this first pass. Start a run on the work places. Look for anything that links them, and links either or both to Whitestone’s company. There’s got to be something there. If this was a random kill, I’m a monkey’s cousin.”

“Uncle.”

“What?”

“It’s a monkey’s uncle, and before you ask, no, I don’t know why because, really, on the evolutionary train, cousin’s about right.”

“What the hell do I care?”

“I’m just saying.”

Eve spared Peabody a glance as she turned to cut across town. The blocks went smooth and fast—too early for pedestrians to swarm the sidewalks and crosswalks, too late for the Rapid Cabs packed with club hoppers and partygoers.

She avoided Times Square where the hoppers and goers never gave in or up, then zipped by a maxibus filled with sleepy commuters either coming on or going off shift.

“Somebody grabbed her, and had to make the grab close to her office. Or they waited in a cab then just cruised up for the grab. They took her to that empty apartment because they knew it was empty. Either they had the codes or they’re damn good at B&E. Knocked her around a little.”

“You think a righty, and a backhand.”

“Yeah, it reads that way to me. A backhand across the cheekbone’s going to hurt a lot, knock her down, scare the living shit out of her. Too much bruising for just a slap, not enough for a solid punch.”

She brought the victim’s face back into her head. “Probably more than one hit. We’ll see if Morris tells us she was stunned or tranq’d, but I’m betting no. They wanted to make it look like a mugging. If they’d stunned or drugged her, they’d open themselves to a closer look. Manhandle her into a vehicle, take her to the apartment where they’d have privacy.”

“For what? Say this is payback on Yung, it’s a pretty circular route. Yeah, they’re close, but you’d go closer—Yung herself, her husband, one of her kids or grandkids. She’s got two daughters, in case you wondered. One grandkid from each.”