Holiday in Death (In Death #7)(41)

“If this guy comes to your door, keep it secured and call me. Stall him if you can, let him go if you can’t. Don’t, under any circumstances, open your door. He’s smart, and he’s deadly.”

“I won’t be opening the door. The woman I was seeing — from the service — I need to tell her.”

“I’ve got your match list. I’ll tell her. I need to keep this out of the media as long as I can.”

“I’d rather the press didn’t get ahold of the story of the lonely-hearts LC, thanks very much.” He grimaced. “Can you get to her right away, to Darla McMullen? She lives alone, and she’s… naive. If Santa came knocking, she’d open the door and offer him milk and cookies.”

“She sounds like a nice woman.”

“Yeah.” Now his eyes were bleak. “She is.”

“I’ll go see her.” Eve rose. “Maybe you ought to call her again.”

“No good.” He rose and worked up a smile. “But you be sure to let me know if you decide to ditch Roarke, Lieutenant Sugar. My offer’s open-ended.”

The heart, Eve thought as she drove, was a strange and often overworked muscle. It was hard to connect the sophisticated, smooth-talking LC with the quiet, intellectual woman she’d just left. But, unless her instincts were way off, Darla McMullen and Charles Monroe were halfway in love.

They just didn’t know what to do about it.

On that score, they had her full sympathy. Half the time, she didn’t know what to do about the impossible feelings she had for her own husband.

She made three more stops on the way back to her home office, doing interviews with people on the match lists, giving them the basic and specific warning and instructions she had written up and had approved by the commander.

If Donnie Ray had been warned, she thought, he might still be alive.

Who was next in line? Someone she’d spoken with, or someone she’d missed? Driven by that, she accelerated and blew through the gates toward home. She wanted Peabody and McNab to sign up with Personally Yours and get their profiles in before the end of the business day.

She saw Feeney’s vehicle parked in front of the house. The sight made her hope her campaign to add him to the investigative team had been successful. With Feeney and McNab doing the e-work, she’d be freed up for the streets.

She headed straight up to her home office, wincing when she heard the blast of music — if it could be called music — searing the air of the hallways.

Mavis had one of her video clips on screen. She sang along with herself, screaming out lyrics that seemed to have something to do with ripping out her soul for love. Feeney sat behind Eve’s desk, looking bemused and slightly desperate. Roarke stood behind a chair, looking completely comfortable and politely attentive.

Knowing her chances of being heard over the din were nil, Eve waited until the last notes clashed out and Mavis, flushed with effort and pleasure, giggled and took her bows.

“I wanted you to see the rough cut right away,” she said to Roarke.

“It looks like a winner.”

“Really?” Obviously delighted, Mavis rushed him, threw her arms around his neck, and squeezed. “I just can’t believe it’s really happening. Me, cutting a disc for the top recording company on the planet.”

“You’re going to make me lots of money.” He kissed her forehead.

“I want it to work. I really want it to work.” When she spotted Eve, Mavis grinned. “Hey! Did you catch any of the cut?”

“The tail end. It was great.” And because it was Mavis, she meant it. “Feeney, are you on?”

“Officially assigned.” He leaned back in her chair. “McNab’s doing his prelim consult at Personally Yours. We profiled him as a computer droid for one of Roarke’s companies. His data’s been inputted, and his new ID is in place.”

“Roarke’s company?”

“Seemed logical.” Feeney grinned at her. “You got weight, you use it. Appreciate your help, boy-o.”

“Anytime,” Roarke told him, then smiled at his wife. “We cut a few corners as you’re in a bit of a hurry. Peabody’s profiled as a security guard at one of my buildings. Feeney thought it would be simplest to keep the profiles somewhat in line with truth.”

“Oh yeah, let’s keep it simple.” But blowing out a breath, she nodded. “Good enough. You own half the damn city anyway, and nobody’s going to question it, or find any holes in your personnel files if you had your hand in it.”

“Exactly.”

“Where’s Peabody?”

“Trina’s just finishing her.”

“I need her now. She’s got to get over here and put in her app, get the consult going. She looked okay, for God’s sake. How long does it take to primp her up and put some street clothes on her?”

“Trina had some mag ideas,” Mavis assured her with such enthusiasm Eve’s blood chilled. “Wait till you see. Oh yeah, Trina wants you to plug in a session before your party. She wants to glam you some for it, since it’s the holidays.”

Eve merely grunted. She had no intention of being glammed — now or ever.

“Sure, right. Where the hell…” Her voice trailed off as she heard them coming. She turned toward the doorway and blinked. Gaped.