Celebrity in Death (In Death #34)(95)

“He manipulates,” Mira commented. “No one can live as he’s lived, do what he’s done for four decades and not have a mastery of manipulation. Nadine also manipulates expertly. And so,” she said to Eve, “do you. You know he’ll lie to her.”

“Yeah. But about who? Because at a point where he believes we’re nearly ready to make an arrest, he has to throw some dirt on someone else. There’s a limited number of suspects. He’s going to have to toss one of his own into the fire to feel safe. He’ll have to lie, or shave the truth into another shape. The more he does that, the better chance he’ll slip up.”

“He may kill one of his own,” Mira pointed out. “And, as he did with his partner, stage it as a self-termination, one executed out of guilt.”

“Yeah, so we’ll have to take steps there. I’m working it out.”

“Excuse me.” Kyung held up a hand. “I’m not a detective, but am I seeing what I think I’m seeing?”

Eve glanced at the board when he gestured. “That information stays in this room.”

“Understood. Of course. But … have you actually connected nine murders to Joel Steinburger? One of the most respected, revered, successful, and celebrated producers in the industry?”

“Just because he makes a good vid doesn’t mean he’s not a stone killer. And I’m about to end his streak and his celebrated status.”

“This is going to be huge. The media will explode over this, and the NYPSD—and you, Lieutenant, will be at ground zero.”

“You sound happy about that.”

He only smiled, took a neat bite of his doughnut. “We all do what we do.”

“You got that right.”

Eve went straight to her office from the conference room to contact Nadine. “Boat lady,” she said to Peabody.

“Lives in Tribeca with her cohab.”

“Contact her. I want her to meet us at the boat.”

“At the boat?”

“Asap, Peabody. Nadine,” she said the minute the reporter came on. “We have to talk.”

“I have a window this afternoon, about—”

“Now.”

“Dallas, I’m right in the middle of—”

“Believe me, whatever you’re in the middle of isn’t as juicy.”

“Really? What’s juicier than finalizing arrangements for an exclusive with Isaac McQueen as he awaits transport to his new facilities—an off-planet, maximum-security penitentiary? To tie in with interviews with the Jones twins, with the young girl McQueen and his accomplice snatched from the Dallas mall, and interviews with every survivor a certain rookie cop freed when she took McQueen down in New York over twelve years ago? We’re getting a six-hour special, in three parts, on this. It’s going to be mega.”

“Good for you. Want something else mega? The kind of mega that could mean another book, and sure as it’s sweaty in hell, would have Hollywood beating down your door.”

“When and where?”

“The Land Edge Marina, Battery Park. Hold on.” She glanced over as Peabody came back, held up a finger, mouthed: In an hour. “In two hours. Don’t be late.”

She clicked off.

“It is mega,” Peabody said. “I don’t mean books and vids. I mean cop mega. When I became a cop it wasn’t for cases like this. I mean, it’s hard to even imagine anybody could do what he’s done, for forty years. It makes me feel …”

“Depressed,” Eve finished. “Like he should’ve been stopped long before this. If one cop had looked right instead of left, up instead of down, had asked one more question, maybe he would have been stopped.”

“Yeah. I know some people never get caught, or they slip through because you just can’t nail the case shut. But this is … It’s been decades, Dallas. And I look at the board, and I see that college guy, a guy younger than me. He’ll never get older, never graduate or fall in love. He’d be old enough to have grandkids now, but he’s always going to be twenty.”

“He’s a good one for you to keep in your head. A good one for you to stand for in this. You remember his face and his name, Peabody, and remember he never had a chance to be older than twenty because Joel Steinburger cut off that chance. He cut it off, and he got away with it. So he cut off other chances.

“We’re going to make sure he never does it again.”

She answered her beeping ’link. “Dallas.”

“McHone. I got lucky. Found the evidence box, case book, the tagged electronics. The works. Couldn’t get it off my head after I talked to you, so I went in, started digging.”

“I owe you. Look, we’re hot here. If I could have what you found, I can get our top dog in EDD and a civilian consultant with mad skills to dig into the e-stuff. I’d appreciate getting my hands on that case book, and the rest.”

“If you find something that lets me tell Pearlman’s widow he wasn’t a coward and a thief, we’ll be square. I’ve got to push through some paperwork to clear sending this out to you, then make arrangements for secure transport.”

“I can expedite some of that. I’ll have my commander deal with the red tape, and I’ll get the transport. If you ever need anything from me, D-S McHone, just reach out.”