Immortal in Death (In Death #3)(10)

It was no more than she expected. “I’d like to have Officer Peabody with me on it.”

He stared at her balefully. “You want me to approve an aide for a case like this?”

“I want Peabody,” Eve returned without flinching. “She’s proven herself excellent in the field. She’s aiming for detective. I believe she’ll get it quick with some hands-on training.”

“You can have her for three days. If something more vital comes through, you’re both off.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Dallas,” he began when she turned to leave. He bit down on his pride. “Eve… I haven’t had the chance to offer my best wishes, personally, for your upcoming marriage.”

Surprise flickered in her eyes before she controlled it. “Thank you.”

“I hope you’ll be happy.”

“So do I.”

A bit unsettled, she made her way through the maze of Cop Central to her office. She had another favor to call in. Wanting privacy, she closed her door before engaging her tele-link.

“Feeney, Captain Ryan. Electronic Detective Division.”

She was relieved when his rumpled face filled her screen. “You’re in early, Feeney.”

“Shit, didn’t even have time for breakfast.” He spoke mournfully and through a mouthful of Danish. “One of the terminals springs a leak, and nobody can fix it but me.”

“Being indispensable’s tough work. Can you fit in a search for me — unofficial?”

“My favorite kind. Shoot.”

“Somebody whacked Boomer.”

“Sorry to hear it.” He took another bite of Danish. “He was a shit, but he usually came through. When?”

“I’m not sure; he was fished out of the East River early this morning. I know he sometimes fed somebody over in Illegals. Can you find out for me?”

“Linking weasels and their trainers is dicey work, Dallas. You got to be real security conscious about that stuff.”

“Yes or no, Feeney?”

“I can do it, I can do it,” he muttered. “But don’t bring this back on me. Cops hate to have their files searched.”

“Tell me about it. I appreciate it, Feeney. Whoever did him worked him over hard. If he knew something worth killing him over, I don’t think it was one of my ongoings.”

“So maybe it was somebody else’s. I’ll get back to you.”

She leaned back from the blank screen and tried to clear her mind. Into it floated Boomer’s battered face. A pipe or a bat maybe, she mused. But fists, too. She knew what hard, bare knuckles could do to a face. She knew what they felt like.

Her father had had big hands.

It was one of the things she tried to pretend she didn’t remember. But she knew how they’d felt, how the blow would shock even before the brain registered the pain.

What had been worse? The beatings or the rapes? One was so mixed with the other in her mind, in her rears.

That odd angle of Boomer’s arm. Broken, she mused, and dislocated. She had a vague, hideous memory of the brittle sound of a bone snapping, the nausea that went above the agony, the high-pitched whine that substituted for a scream when a hand was clamped over your mouth.

The cold sweat, and the bowel-loosening terror of knowing those fists would come back, and come back until you were dead. Until you wished to God Almighty that you were.

The knock at her door had her jolting, had her swallowing a yelp. Through the glass she saw Peabody, uniform pressed, shoulders straight.

Eve ran a hand over her mouth to steady herself. It was time to go to work.

CHAPTER THREE

Boomer’s flop was better than some. The building had once been a low-rent hourly motel that had catered to hookers on a budget before prostitution had been licensed and legalized. It was four stories, and no one had ever bothered to put in an elevator or glide, but it did boast a dingy lobby and the dubious security of a surly-faced droid.

From the smell, the health department had recently ordered insect and rodent extermination.

The droid had a tick in her right eye from a faulty chip, but she focused her good one on Eve’s badge.

“We’re up to code,” she claimed, standing behind cloudy safety glass. “We have no trouble here.”

“Johannsen.” Eve tucked her shield away. “Anyone visit him lately?”

The droid’s dinky eye hitched and rolled. “I’m not programmed to monitor visitors, only to collect rents and maintain order.”

“I can confiscate your memory discs and play them back for myself.”

The droid said nothing, but a faint hum indicated she was running her own disc. “Johannsen, room 3C, has not returned in eight hours, twenty-eight minutes. He left alone. He had no visitors in the last two weeks.”

“Communications?”

“He does not use our communication system. He has his own.”

“We’re going to have a look at his room.”

“Third floor, second door left. Don’t alarm other tenants. We have no trouble here.”

“Yeah, it’s a paradise.” Eve headed up the steps, noting the crumbling wood, well gnawed by rodents. “Record, Peabody.”

“Yes, sir.” Dutifully, Peabody clipped her recorder to her shirt. “If he was here about eight hours ago, he didn’t last long after he left. Probably no more than a couple hours.”