Celebrity in Death (In Death #34)(31)

“If you say so.” She knocked, noting the security—solid—and the fact somebody had recently painted the door hot candy pink.

Leonardo, his big, gilded, tawny eyes a bit sleepy, his coppery hair in long dreads, opened the door with a huge smile. “Good morning! What a nice surprise.”

He wore what Eve supposed was his home wear of long cream-colored tunic with elaborate embroidery on the cuffs over loose chocolate brown pants.

Though he’d seen them only hours before, he greeted them both with enthusiastic bear hugs. “Mavis is just finishing getting Bella dressed for the day. We’re going to a family yoga class later this morning before Mavis goes to the studio for a recording and I start a round of meetings on spring designs.”

“Yoga? The kid does yoga?”

“It’s a good activity for the family.”

“Okay. And spring? It’s barely fall.”

“Fashion is forward. Coffee? I have some of Roarke’s blend. I’ve been spoiled.”

“I’ll get it.” At home, Peabody moved through the open space to a newly designed kitchen.

Eve took a moment to glance around. Everything was color—the walls, the art, the fabrics hanging here and there as if at random. They’d separated the kitchen from the living space with half walls of some sort of textured glass.

Every time she came by, it looked less and less like what she’d left behind.

“It looks like you,” she decided. “Like all of you.”

“We’re happy here.”

“Yeah, it feels happy here. Look, Leonardo, I’m sorry to crash into your morning, but—”

Before she could finish, Mavis bounced out, hair bundled up in a curly topknot, a sunburst of color in her snug top with her knee-length pants picking up the pattern with wide cuffs. On her hip, Bella wore similar pants in the same pink as the front door and a white top with Namaste spelled out in sparkling rhinestones.

Bella squealed. “Das!” After that, her current name for Eve, she babbled out a stream of the incomprehensible.

“I thought I heard somebody. And Peabody!” Mavis did a quick dance on sparkly red skids. “You’re just in time. Wait till you see this. Okay, Bellissima, go see Dallas!”

“Das!” Bella called as Mavis set her carefully on her feet with the baby gripping Mavis’s fingers.

“You can do it, baby. You can do it.”

Blue eyes huge, Bella took a shaky step on her pink skids. Then another, with her hands waving like bird’s wings when she let go of Mavis’s fingers.

“What’s she doing? How can she do that?” Eve had to will herself not to retreat as the little legs and hands worked, and the blue eyes shone with the thrill of it.

“She’s walking!” Leaving the coffee behind, Peabody eased out of the kitchen. “She’s taken her first steps.”

And finished them by ramming into Eve’s legs, clutching her trousers like a rope off a cliff.

“Just this morning,” Mavis sniffled, “Leonardo put her down to play on the floor while we got her breakfast. And she pulled herself up on the chair, and walked to him. She walked to her daddy. It still waters me up,” she managed, and swiped at her eyes.

Behind Eve, Leonardo sniffled in stereo.

And Bella, head tilted back, fingers clutching, eyes imploring, said, “Das.”

“What does she want?”

“She wants you to pick her up,” Mavis said.

“Why? She can walk.”

“Das,” Bella said again, and managed to infuse the single syllable with absolute love.

“Okay, okay.” With trepidation, Eve reached down, hauled her up.

Bella kicked her feet in delight, shouted, “Slooch!” and pressed her mouth—always damp—to Eve’s cheek. “Hi! Hi!”

“Hi.”

Bella patted Eve’s cheeks, babbled, then threw out her arms. “Peebo!”

“That’s me,” Peabody said, stepping over to take Bella. “I’m Peebo. You’re so pretty. You’re so smart.” Peabody gave Bella a toss in the air that all but stopped Eve’s heart.

“Are you crazy?”

“She loves it.” Peabody tossed the kid again, and made Bella laugh like a lunatic.

“We’re actually here officially,” Eve began, and noted Mavis didn’t seem to mind a bit that Peabody threw her kid around like an arena ball. “K.T. Harris was murdered last night.”

“Murdered?” Mavis’s mouth dropped open. “Come on, we were all there. She was fine, for a total mega b-word.”

“She drowned in the lap pool on the roof. She had help.”

“This is horrible. This is …” Leonardo passed a hand over his wide face. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You’d left before the body was discovered, but we need to talk to you both.”

“Listen, why don’t I take Belle in to play?” Peabody suggested. “It’ll go faster and easier that way.”

“Yeah, would you? I don’t want her around the murder vibes anyway,” Mavis decided. “It can’t be good.”

Bella leaned over Peabody’s shoulder as they started out, waved her hand, blew kisses. “Bye-bye. Bye-bye.”