Concealed in Death (In Death #38)(98)

“Yes! I refused to say where the dog was, and the pathetic man called the police. I was charged with taking the dog, and when the dog was examined, he was charged with animal abuse. That was satisfying.”

“What happened to the dog?” Eve wondered.

“We named him Bones, my daughter’s idea.” She smiled now. “He’s healthy, sweet-natured, and enjoying living in New York.”

She pulled out her pocket ’link, swiped, then held it up. On screen sat a sleek brown dog with floppy ears and a dopey look in his eyes.

“He’s so cute!” Peabody exclaimed.

“He is now, and worth the arrest and the fine.”

“If you’d’ve called the cops, you’d have avoided the arrest and the fine,” Eve pointed out.

“Maybe, but I was too mad. And I enjoyed breaking Bones out of jail. So, now that we’ve settled that, about the media—” She broke off as her pocket ’link played a bar of—of all things—one of Mavis’s current hits. “That’s my girl’s signal.”

“We’ll head over to Kendrick.”

“I’ll be a minute.”

“Take your time.”

“I hate when people are mean to animals,” Peabody said as they headed out.

“The guy was obviously an ass**le,” Eve said, “but taking the dog that way? It’s playing vigilante and shows a little problem with impulse control.”

“Maybe, but Bones sure looked happy. You’re really not going to tell her the theory?” Peabody glanced back as they turned toward Elsie Kendrick’s area.

“I don’t know her well enough to trust her, and don’t know if I’ll trust her when I do know her well enough.”

She walked in to find Elsie working at a control panel. “Hey. I’ve just about got her. Just fine-tuning.”

“These are really mag.” Peabody turned from the sketches pinned to Elsie’s board. “They’re really beautiful. I wonder if maybe we could have copies for the ones who had somebody. Their parents or guardians, who cared about them.”

“I can make copies, sure.”

“That’s a good thought, Peabody.”

“Here’s our last girl.” Elsie set the controls for the holographic reconstruction.

Eve watched it shimmer into three dimensions.

Not such a pretty girl, this one. A thin face, a little hollow on one side—the missing teeth, she thought. The eyes seemed hollow as well, a little sunken.

“Peabody.”

“Running it for match now, sir.”

“She’s not in the Missing Persons file. Nobody reported her, but then, from the forensics, she’d been on the street a long time.”

“It looks like it,” Elsie agreed. “She didn’t have an easy time of it.”

“Nothing’s popping,” Peabody put in.

“Keep running it. Elsie, can you make a copy of this, then do another? Can you do the reverse-age thing? Take her back about, let’s say, three years.”

“I can do that, good thought. Just hold on.”

Eve took the copy, stuck it in Peabody’s file bag, then watched as their Jane Doe morphed into a younger girl. Just a little more fat in the cheeks, a little more symmetry.

“Copy that, too. I’ll run this one.”

“I can do a lateral search and match while you are,” Elsie told her. “One of us should hit.”

But they didn’t.

“Maybe I went off,” Elsie began.

“I doubt it. You were on the nail with the other eleven. We’ll widen the search. Peabody, copy both images to EDD, ask Feeney to do a global. It’ll be faster going through EDD.”

“I’ll keep it running here, too. If you find her, send me her name. I feel—I don’t know why—more with this girl.”

“Maybe because it feels like she never really had anyone.”

“Maybe.” Elsie nodded at Eve.

Back in the car, Eve headed for Central. “Give Jones another push. He’s got to be out of whatever he was in by now. No, I’ll do it. Hit them with rank.”

She used the in-dash, put cold cop on her face.

“Higher Power Cleansing Center for Youths. How can I help you today?”

“This is Lieutenant Dallas, NYPSD. I need to speak with Nashville Jones immediately.”

“Oh! Just one moment, please, I’ll transfer you. Have a positive day.”

“Yeah, yeah. People are always saying shit like that,” Eve complained to Peabody. “Have a good day, have a happy day, have a peaceful day or whatever. I’d rather have a kick-ass day.”

“That should be your sign-off.”

“Mr. Jones’s office, this is Lydia. How can I serve you today?”

“You can serve me Mr. Jones, asap.”

“Lieutenant Dallas, yes, I gave him the message. I’m afraid Mr. Jones had to leave. Something came up and—”

“What the hell do you mean, he left?”

“He had something come up,” Lydia repeated. “He asked me to cancel the rest of his schedule for today. I’m sure it was very important. I’d be happy to leave him another message.”

“Because the first one worked so well.”