Celebrity in Death (In Death #34)(16)

“What the—oh. I know. It gave me a major jitter, too. I’m all good. See.” She gave his ass a quick squeeze—something Eve decided, given the circumstances, to ignore.

“McNab, status.” Eve pushed to her feet, and once again angled herself to block the body. “Detective McNab, give me the status.”

“Sir.” He could have passed for a corpse himself under the moody blue lights.

“Eyes on me,” Eve snapped. “Look at me when I’m talking to you. Report.”

“We took the staff—household and the outside catering team—into the kitchen. The rest are in the living area. Two uniforms on each group. They’re asking a lot of questions. Except for Cross. He’s still passed out, and I thought it best to just leave him that way until you advised otherwise.”

“Good enough. Go down, send one of the uniforms on the staff up here to secure this area. You replace him, and start getting names, contacts, and statements. How many have we got?”

“Three household staff on duty tonight, ten catering staff.”

“Okay. Peabody, give him a hand with that. What about security up here?”

“I asked Roundtree. They don’t have cams up here. Security cams on the entrances, but nothing internal or here on the roof.”

“That’s too bad. We’ll want to review what they’ve got, eliminate any possibility of an intruder. Let’s use the dining area for interviewing the owners and guests. Go ahead and get Matthew Zank in there—alone. I’m right behind you.”

Eve waited until they’d gone, with Peabody slipping her hand back in his. “It’s not going to turn out simple.”

“No?”

“It could be an accident. Except the shoe she’s still wearing is scraped up on the back of the heel. And a slight bruise on her right cheekbone.”

“You think she was dragged in?”

“I think it’s possible she was dragged, then rolled in. Or she could’ve scraped it up, bruised her face in a fall.”

“You don’t think so,” Roarke observed.

“No, it looks like drag marks. It looks like her face bumped against the pool coping on a roll. But even if it was an accident, we’ve got a corpse that looks uncomfortably like one of the investigators, a houseful of Hollywood—along with a reporter—and a media machine that’s going to eat it like gooey chocolate.”

“And the primary investigator is the star of the show.”

Eve shook her head, glanced back at the body. “Right now I’d say she has top billing.”

Downstairs she asked Roarke to do a quick review of the security discs, then walked into the living area. Everyone started talking at once.

“Stop. Sit. I’m not going to be able to answer any questions at this time, so don’t waste your breath. I can confirm K.T. Harris is dead.”

“Oh God.” Connie put her hands over her face.

“Until the ME examines the body I can’t give you any more than that. I’ll be talking to each of you individually.”

Andrea held a shot glass. She tossed back the contents, eyed Eve with steady interest. “We’re suspects.”

“I’ll be talking to you,” Eve repeated. “Doctor Mira, if I could have a moment.”

“Of course.”

Mira rose from her position on a sofa, followed Eve out of the room.

“What’s your take? Just a quick thumbnail of reactions.”

“Is it homicide?”

“I can’t tell you. Really can’t. It has earmarks of an accident—or. So until that’s determined, we’ll proceed as if it’s or. What’s your take?”

“Individually and as a group, they’re upset, nervous. Connie’s managed to hold on to her role as hostess. Roundtree had her, and everyone else, half convinced Harris had just passed out like Julian. The producer and the publicist huddled together awhile. He wasn’t happy—well, several weren’t—when McNab confiscated all ’links. But no one caused any trouble. Matthew and Marlo were the most shaken, but as they found her, that’s to be expected.”

“Maybe you could sit in on the interviews, at least for now.”

“If you think I can help.”

“It’s a weird, f**ked-up situation. You’re a shrink. That’s your area. Weird and f**ked up, right?”

The tension on Mira’s face dissolved with her laugh. “I suppose it is.”

4

SHE STARTED WITH MATTHEW AT THE DINING room table where they’d all shared a meal. A low centerpiece of white lilies and short candles replaced the food and dishes, and a gray T-shirt and sweatpants replaced Matthew’s suit.

“Connie gave me a change of clothes. They have a home gym and she keeps some workout gear for guests. McNab said it was okay if I changed. My clothes were wet. Marlo’s, too. Wet. She changed, too.”

“No problem. I want to record this, and just to cover everything, I’m going to read you your rights.”

“Been a while.”

“Sorry?”

“I got arrested for drunk and disorderly and underage drinking when I was seventeen. One of those ‘the parents are away so let’s party’ deals at a friend’s. Too loud, too stupid, and I mouthed off to the cop. A thousand-dollar fine, alcohol school, and three months’ community service. I got grounded for three months on top of it.