Devoted in Death (In Death #41)(66)

“You got your ’link?”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ve been pissed at him.” He glanced at his roommates – one short and burly with a lot of purple hair, the other wiry with the shaved-on-one-side look and sleeve tats.

The living area boasted a sagging couch, a table covered with takeout boxes and brew bottles, and a lot of music equipment.

Benj found the ’link in the takeout rubble. Punched in, played back.

You coming or what? Roxie’s here, we’re all here.

Yeah, yeah, I’m on my way. Jeez, it’s like the South Pole out here tonight. Nearly there. I’m nearly there. Fire it up!

Eve heard another voice, barely register.

“Hold it. Play that back, boost it.”

“Sure, but I can’t get it to boost much. It’s a crap ’link.”

Eve grabbed the ’link, held it against her ear.

“  ‘Hey, cutie,’  ” she murmured.

Then Reed’s voice blasted. Back to you.

“That’s it,” Benj said. “You can hear how I tried to tag his ’link a couple times, I left v-mail there, and on his home ’link. And Roxie did the same.”

Ignoring him, she replayed again, listened, noted the time. Five minutes, forty-eight seconds from exiting his building to ending the transmission.

“I need this ’link.”

“It’s the only one I got,” he began, then shook his head. “Yeah, take it. Jesus, sure, take it. You really think… Maybe he detoured to Maddy’s. They’re not really sizzling, but maybe.”

“His mother contacted her, and no. Anyone else?”

“We’re his crew.” He looked at his friends again. “We’re his crew, you know? We were pissed. We were all pissed he ditched us. What can we do? We can troll for him.”

She didn’t see the point in it, but didn’t see one in trying to stop them, either.

“That’s her voice on here.” She secured the ’link in her pocket for now. “  ‘Hey, cutie.’ Bitch. Right there in the loading zone. I know it. About halfway between his place and where he was going.”

“Wrong place, wrong time,” Roarke said, and rubbed a hand on her back.

“That’s worked for them so far, but their luck’s going to change. We’ll get something off the damn cam, and we’ve got her voice on this shitty pocket ’link. We know almost to the minute when he was grabbed, and, goddamn it, they’re close. They’re close by.”

Legwork, she decided, and as they walked back ordered up droids and uniforms to knock on doors along that stretch of Seventh.

She’d get started on the loading zone feed, get McNab ready to boost anything they hit on there – and add more boost to the voice on the ’link.

It would be some wild luck to hit a voiceprint match, but they were due.

In the car again, she pulled out her own ’link.

“Who are you tagging at this hour?”

“Carmichael. She and Santiago can get started.”

“Eve, it’s still shy of five in the morning there.”

“Why?”

“Well, the magic elephant who carries the wide dish of the planet on its massive back moves ponderously on its daily trek around the sun.”

“Oh, bite me.” But the image he’d painted made as much sense to her as the scientific one. She decided to give her detectives another thirty minutes in the rack.

“No plan. Just like the other two in New York. There couldn’t have been a plan, couldn’t have been a specific target. So what prompted them to go hunting last night? One, they’ve already killed Campbell. Ahead of schedule, or she just gave out on them unexpectedly. And they didn’t get enough of a rush from it.”

“They’d dump her body quickly, wouldn’t they, in that eventuality. You’ll likely find her soon after the sun’s up.”

“No point keeping her. Might be they went to dump her, and here comes a new one, right into their lap. But why not wait to do the dump until later? Barely midnight – it’s early for a dump, less risk in another hour or two.”

“Part of the rush? That risk?”

“Yeah, maybe. Let’s raise the bar a little. So maybe. Second scenario, they decided to grab the next before they finish her. They’ve got a place, they’re where they want to be. Room for another? Got room, so why not have the next in the batter’s box?”

“Or…”

“A duet.” She nodded. “Two at once. We can’t know for sure, not for sure, they haven’t done that before along the way. We’ve profiled it one at a time, and it’s most likely, but we can’t be sure they haven’t pulled a twofer.”

“With two, you could use one to terrify the other. Or you could each have your own, work in tandem.”

“A lot of ugly possibilities. Until we find Jayla Campbell’s body, we’re going with the scenario they took a second, purposefully. Maybe impulsively. The loading zone wasn’t smart. But, if they haven’t lived in an urban area, they might not be aware of the cams on those.”

“It’s likely many who do and don’t own a vehicle or drive aren’t aware. And even many who own and do may not think of it. You have to drive onto the grid to activate the cam, and they’re notorious crap.”