Celebrity in Death (In Death #34)(105)

“Sarcastic bitchiness doesn’t go over well on camera.”

Eve smiled to herself as Valerie swept out of the room. “Interview end. I’m a sarcastic bitch.”

“No comment,” Peabody replied.

“And she’s a scared liar who doesn’t know whether to shit or spin. She’ll be dumping this on Steinburger asap. In fact, I’ll wager EDD’s going to get an earful before she gets all the way out of the building.”

“We may have put her head on the block, Dallas.”

“If he kills her, the upgrade and money only look more suspicious. We’d push at him for accessory, push the compensation as a bribe or payoff. He’s smarter to keep her alive, back up her version of the bonus and the need for bigger digs. But we’ll keep an eye on her.”

“How?”

Eve pulled out her ’link. “Dallas,” she said when Connie answered. “I need you to do something.”

“What do you need?”

“Contact Valerie, and tell her to meet you. I don’t care where, but I need you to keep her busy and with you or your husband for the rest of the day.”

“All right. Can I ask why?”

“You can ask, but I’m not going to tell you.”

“That’s annoying, but I could actually use some help this afternoon. The studio heads decree I should speak at K.T.’s memorial—and Mason should give the main eulogy. Between that and—well, I could use the help. When do you want me to send for her?”

“Now.”

“Now?”

“Now. And don’t tell anyone we spoke about this. I’ll be in touch later.”

“But—”

Eve clicked off, the better to avoid questions. “Valerie can’t say no to Connie—the vid star, the director’s wife. The memorial’s a lucky addition.”

“You trust her? Connie?”

“Trust is a strong word,” Eve considered, “but since she didn’t kill either of our vics, it’ll do for the moment.” She checked the time again. “Let’s go drop our bombshell on the unsuspecting public.”

She pulled out her communicator when it signaled. “Dallas.”

“Steinburger just took a tag from Xaviar,” Feeney told her. “She sounded a little out of sorts.”

“Is that so?”

“And she had uncomplimentary observations about you.”

“My feelings are hurt.”

“I’ll send a copy of the transmission to your files.”

“Thanks. For now, just give me the gist.”

“About you being really rude and offensive? Or the part about you being a bully with bad hair?”

“How about the part where she tells Steinburger I’m looking at her new job benefits.”

“Oh, that part. You had some nerve looking at her personal financial data, and questioning her hotel accommodations, trying to scare her. My take? You didn’t try, you succeeded. Steinburger grilled her on it. Wanted chapter and verse, which I’ll skip over since you were there. He told her she didn’t have a thing to worry about. Stroked and petted, said how she did just right, and the studio—and he personally—was grateful for her discretion and loyalty. He grilled her again when she told him you were making a new statement to the media on further info and an upcoming arrest. Then he told her to hold on, he had an incoming. He didn’t.”

“Needed some time to pull it together.”

“That’s my take. Left her holding for seventy-three seconds. Had himself cool and collected when he came back on. Told her not to worry. Both of them were only doing what was best for the project and the studio, and when everything settled down again, he’d show her his appreciation.”

“She buy that?”

“She thanked him, then said she was going back to the hotel to work. That she’d watch the media conference from there, and work out an official studio response.”

“She’s going to be busy for the next several hours, and out of his reach. Let me know what else you get. We’re going into the media deal in a few minutes.”

“Better you than me,” Feeney said and broke transmission.

Eve glanced over, saw that Peabody had stopped, and stood with her own communicator. A wide grin spread over her face as she put it away.

“Divers are bringing up some electronics from the coordinates we gave them. They’ll run the serial numbers when they get them in. But one of them reports he got lucky and found a ’link—a red ’link engraved with the initials K.T.H.”

“We got his ass, Peabody. Contact Reo, fill her in. Tell her she’s got her goddamn sliver and to get us the search warrants.”

21

SHE PLAYED THE MEDIA BY THE BOOK. IT WASN’T hard to look mildly disgruntled or show flashes of impatience. She felt more than mildly disgruntled giving the same answer—We can’t give specific details on the investigation at this time—over and over again. She wanted to talk to the water cops, to Reo, to get her warrants and completely ruin Steinburger’s day.

Along with the rest of his miserable life.

She could only hope her statement at least gave him indigestion.

“I’ll say again, while I can’t comment on specific details, the investigation is moving forward. And with new information that has come to our attention, we believe we’re close to making an arrest. But close isn’t good enough, so as I’ve said all I’m free to say, my partner and I are going back to work.”