Divided in Death (In Death #18)(77)

"Detective McNab and I transported the units, personally, through customs and security and accompanied them directly here to the off-site lab for analysis and study. They were never out of our control. McNab is with the EDD team at this location now. I left him there to come report to you. Sir."

"No point in getting sulky because I ragged on your beads."

"Maybe I just won't give you your present."

"Why would you get me a present?"

"To commemorate my first out-of-town as detective." She dragged it out of her bag. "But you don't deserve it."

Eve stared at the little plastic palm tree with the little plastic naked man lounging under it. He held a tiny bowl-shaped glass filled with shimmering green liquid. Alcoholic in nature, no doubt, Eve concluded, from the goofy grin on his face.

"You're right. I don't deserve this."

"It's kitschy." Miffed, Peabody set it on Eve's desk. "And amusing. So there."

"Uh-huh. I'm going to bring you and the rest of the team up to speed momentarily. We'll have a short briefing that includes the civilians, then... Hold on," she said when her 'link beeped. "Dallas."

"We've got trouble."

From the tone of Morris's voice, and the grim look on his face, Eve knew the trouble was serious. "You at the morgue?"

"I'm at the morgue," he confirmed. "Bissel isn't."

"You lost the body?"

"Bodies aren't lost," he snapped, though he'd spent the last thirty-five minutes doing both a computerized and a personal search and scan. "And our guests rarely get up and take a walk to the corner deli for a bagel and schmear. Which means someone came in here and helped themselves to him."

"Okay." He sounded more insulted than angry. She was about to change that. "Lock the place down."

"Excuse me?"

"Lock it down, Morris. Nobody in, nobody out-living or dead-until I get there. And it's going to take me close to an hour."

"An hour to-"

"Seal off the room where the body was stored. Retrieve all security discs for the last twenty-four, and have any and all records of your work on Bissel copied for me. And I want to know everyone who had work or business in the dead zone since the last time you, personally, saw the body. Kade still there?"

"Yes, Kade's still here, damn it, Dallas."

"I'll be there as soon as I can." She cut him off. "Get the rest of the team," she told Peabody, then let out a curse of her own when her 'link beeped again. "Move." She snapped out the order and had Peabody hot-footing it to the door. "Dallas."

"Lieutenant." Whitney's face filled the screen and looked no cheerier than Morris's. "Report to the Tower for a meeting with the chief and Assistant Director Sparrow of the HSO. Nine hundred."

"It'll have to wait."

He blinked once, and his voice went to ice. "Lieutenant?"

"Sir, I'm about to brief my team. I'll keep it to the bones, but it has to be done. My presence is then required at the morgue. I've just spoken to Chief Medical Examiner Morris. Bissel's body is missing."

"Misplaced or gone?"

"I assume gone, sir. I've ordered a lockdown, seal, and retrieval. Detective Peabody and I will meet with Morris and evaluate within the hour. I believe this takes precedence over the Tower meeting. Homeland and Sparrow will just have to wait their turn to dance with me."

"I want the details, every last one of them, ASAP. The meeting will be rescheduled for eleven hundred. Be there, Lieutenant."

She didn't bother to respond as he'd cut her off as neatly as she'd cut off Morris. So she just scowled at the 'link and said, "Fuck."

Then she rose, turned the murder board face to the wall.

She got her first look at Tokimoto when he walked in beside Reva, and had to remind herself to trust Feeney and Roarke to pick their own people, even when she didn't know who the hell they were. She decided Reva looked sturdy enough, if a bit gaunt in the face, and that Roarke was off on the love vibes as Tokimoto didn't touch her, or so much as glance at her as they took seats.

"Captain Feeney will have briefed you on the electronics area," she began, "so I'm not going there except to say that I need data, any data, and I need it fast. Retrieval is first priority. The Code Red is now secondary."

"Lieutenant." Tokimoto spoke in his modulated voice, with his interesting face carefully bland. "May I say that by its very nature a Code Red cannot be secondary. In order to retrieve the data, we have to know how it was corrupted. Learning how it was corrupted will lead us to prevention. It is all of a piece, you see."

"No, I don't, which is why I'm not EDD. You were brought in to assist in a homicide investigation. Since the units were corrupted, there was data on said units that concerned person or persons unknown who have killed at least three people. When I see the data, I'll know why this was of concern, therefore the data is my priority. Understood?"

"Yes. Of course."

"Good. The units that Detectives McNab and Peabody transported from Carter Bissel's residence are now in-house. Carter Bissel is missing. It must be assumed he is or was part of this. The extent of his involvement is yet to be determined."