Fantasy in Death (In Death #30)(92)

“Something might happen while we’re not here.”

“I’ve got your ’link numbers,” Peabody told Benny. “If anything happens, anything changes, I’ll let you know right away.”

“Maybe we could get some air. And they probably have a chapel or meditation center. We could...” Var flushed a little, lifted his hands helplessly. “You know.”

“Yeah. That’s good. That’s a good thing to do. Just for a few minutes. If anything happens—”

“I promise.” Peabody watched them walk out together, nodded at Eve as she pulled out her communicator.

“Tell the shadows not too close,” Eve said. “I don’t want them to know we’ve got anyone on them yet.” She turned to Roarke. “Look, I know you’ve got an interest in this, but if you’re not going back to work to buy up the northern hemisphere, I think Feeney could really use you.”

“Distracting me?”

“That’s a side benefit. Either Peabody or I will be in here, keeping tabs on Cill, and watching the partners. I’m going to see if I can cop a room where I can set up shop and do some work while we switch off.”

“Let me be liaison there. I’ll see about getting you a work area, then I’ll see if Feeney wants me.”

“Good enough.”

“You said you had technical questions, before.”

“Yeah, and I do.” Wrong place, wrong time, Eve thought. “Let me line them up a little better first.”

“All right.” He curled the tips of his fingers in hers briefly. “Stay in touch, will you?”

“Yeah.” She turned back to Peabody. “Anything about the last ninety minutes I should know?”

“No. They’re acting and reacting as you’d expect given the circumstances. I swear, I don’t get any vibe off either of them.”

“If I’m gone before they get back, I want you to get them to agree to having officers go in their apartments to check their alibis. Just getting it off the slate so we can focus on Cill and how this happened to her. You know how to play it.”

“Can do.”

“Get their agreement on record. Then get EDD to send somebody to each place. I want somebody who knows how to look for details that aren’t on a comp. Just observe, note, report. We have the record from yesterday’s search. Let’s see what’s different today, if anything.”

“Yes, sir. How bad was it? Was she? When you were observing?”

“Jesus, Peabody, she’s a mess.” She jammed her hands in her pockets as memories of the dream snuck back in her head.

You couldn’t save them all.

“They’ve got the brain doc messing around in her head, and another guy working on her arm. It must be bad, really bad if they started there instead of the leg. They’ve got that in a sterile cage—whatever they’re called. Her face looks like somebody went at it with a bat. They’re dealing with internal injuries on top of it, trying to tie off bleeders or whatever they do when things inside are bleeding out. It looked to me like she was busted up every-damn-where.”

She did a short circuit of the room. “I’ve seen a lot of beatings. I’m not sure that’s what this is.”

“What else could it be?”

Eve shook her head. “We need to see the medical data, talk to the doctors, get a better look at her. Until then, it’s just speculation.”

“I got the report on the blood samples. It’s all hers.”

“Yeah, it would be.”

“Lieutenant Dallas?” The floor nurse came to the doorway. “We have an office set up for you.”

“What’s the status on my victim?”

“There have been some complications, but she’s holding her own.”

“We’ll take shifts,” Eve said to Peabody. “I’ll come back for you.”

She followed the nurse down the long corridor, then to the right down another. “I got a look at her in observation,” Eve commented. “She does look like she fell off a cliff.”

“It’s really just an expression.”

“Maybe. You people took pictures. Bone and body and scans. I’d like to see them.”

“I’m not authorized.”

“You can get authorization. You got a look at her.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Your people are doing everything they can to save her. I’m doing everything I can to find the son of a bitch who did that to her. Her name’s Cilla Allen, but they call her Cill. She had her twenty-ninth birthday six weeks ago. A couple days ago one of her closest friends was murdered, and yesterday she ordered food and flowers for his memorial. She cried for him. And last night or early this morning, the same person who killed her friend tried to kill her. The sooner I see what he did to her, the sooner I figure out how he did it, and who did it, the sooner I put the f**ker away so he never hurts anyone else.”

The nurse opened a door. “I’ll get the authorization. This room is generally available for family members of surgical patients. You’re free to use the equipment.”

“Thanks.”

It was a small office and still nearly twice the size of hers at Central. It boasted a sleep chair, an AutoChef and Friggie that took credit swipes. The desk held a comp, a ’link, and a small vase of yellow flowers.