Divided in Death (In Death #18)(16)

"You have the code for the studio elevator."

"Of course. It's required that all tenants file their security and passcodes with us."

"What is it?"

"I'm not permitted to give out that data, not without proper authorization."

Eve wondered if stuffing her badge up the woman's snooty nose would qualify as proper authorization. Instead, she shoved her own memo book onto the desk, tapped the screen. "Is this it?"

Once again, the woman turned to her data unit, keyed in a complex series of numbers. She glanced at her screen, then Eve's. "If you have it, why are you bothering to ask me?"

"It doesn't work."

"Of course it works. You just didn't do it properly."

"Why don't you show me how to do it properly?"

Heaving a sigh, the woman gestured to a coworker. "Watch the station," she snapped, then clipped her way over to the elevators on hair-thin heels.

She coded in, and when she got the same result as Eve, coded in again. "I don't understand it. This is the proper code. It's registered. Building security checks all passcodes twice a week."

"When was the last check?"

"Two days ago."

"How long will it take maintenance to bypass?"

"I have no idea."

"Is there access from the gallery to the studio?"

Obviously aggrieved, she marched back to her station, called up the diagram for the top level. "There is. There's a security door between them. I have the passcode for that."

"Which, I imagine, is about as much good as the one you have for the elevator. Give it to me anyway."

Eve pulled out her pocket 'link as she walked to the gallery elevator. "I need you at the Flatiron Building," she said the minute Roarke answered. "Bissel Gallery, top floor. The security codes for the direct elevator to his studio has been changed, so I can't access it. I'm going to try to get through the door between the gallery and the studio, but I'm figuring I'll find the same block."

"Leave it be. If someone tampered with it, using the original code could add another block. I'm on my way."

"What could Bissel have in his studio he didn't want his wife to see?" Peabody wondered.

"Doesn't make sense." Eve shook her head. "Nothing in his file to indicate he's that security savvy. It takes savvy to alter a code without building security sniffing it out. And a guy who risks an affair with his wife's friend, all but under her nose? Why'd he do that? For the sex, sure, but also for the thrill. Look what I can get away with. Why does a man who goes for the thrill take such extensive precautions with his home office unit, his art studio. What does one have to do with the other?"

She stepped off the elevator, into a space filled with sculpture, paintings, both static and animated. In the midst of the softly lighted room, a woman sat on the floor, sobbing her heart out.

"Man," Eve said under her breath. "I hate when this happens. You take her."

Pleased to have a concrete assignment, Peabody approached the woman, crouched in front of her. "Miss."

"We're closed." She wailed into her own hands. "Due to a de-de-death. "

"I'm Detective Peabody." Under the circumstances, she tried not to display too much glee in being able to say just that. "This is my partner, Lieutenant Dallas. We're investigating the deaths of Blair Bissel and Felicity Kade."

"Blair!" She all but screamed it, and threw herself facedown on the floor. "No, no, no, he can't be dead. I can't stand it."

"I'm sorry, this is a difficult time for you."

"I don't think I can go on! All the light, all the air's gone out of the world."

"Oh, Jesus Christ." Since enough was enough, Eve stalked over, took the woman by one arm and hauled her back to a sitting position. "I want your name, your connection with Blair Bissel, and the reason you're here."

"Ch-ch-ch-"

"Suck it in," Eve snapped. "Spit it out."

"Chloe McCoy. I run the gallery. And I'm here, I'm here, because..." She crossed her arms over her heart, as if she were trying to hold it inside her. "We loved each other."

Barely old enough to buy a drink in a legit bar, Eve gauged. Her face was ravaged, swollen and splotchy, with huge brown eyes still busily pumping out the tears. Her hair was ink black and tumbled over her shoulders, over a pair of young and perky br**sts shown off in a snug black shirt.

"You had an intimate relationship with Bissel."

"We were in love!" She threw out her arms, then wrapped them tightly around her own body. "We were soulmates. Destined for each other from our first breaths. We were-"

"Did you f**k him, Chloe?"

The crudeness did what Eve had hoped, and the tears magically dried up. "How dare you? How dare you demean something so beautiful?" She threw up her chin, and though it trembled, it stayed so high it nearly pointed at the ceiling. "Yes, we were lovers. Now that he's dead, my soul is dead, too. How could she do it? That horrible, horrible woman? How could she turn out the light on someone so good, so true, so perfect."

"So good and true he was sleeping with her friend and one of his employees?" Eve said pleasantly.