Immortal in Death (In Death #3)(41)

“That’s pretty much what you’ve given me already.”

“That’s because I’m stuck on Element X. It’s vegetation, I can tell you that. Similar to the sharpleaf valerian found in the Southwest. Indians used the leaves for healing. But valerian isn’t toxic, and this is.”

“It’s poison?”

“Taken alone and in sufficient dosage, it would be, yeah. So are a lot of herbs and plants used in medicine.”

“It’s a medicinal herb.”

“I didn’t say that. It’s not yet identified.” He puffed out his cheeks. “But it’s likely some off planet hybrid. That’s the best I’ve got right now. And you and Illegals hassling me isn’t going to make me find the answer quicker.”

“This isn’t an Illegals case, it’s mine.”

“Tell them that.”

“I will. Now, Dickie, I need the toxicology on the Pandora homicide.”

“That’s not my baby, Dallas. That was dumped on Suzie-Q, and it’s her twenty-four hours off.”

“You’re chief tech, Dickie, and I need the report.” She waited a beat. “There are two locker room passes that go along with those box seats.”

“Yeah. Well, it never hurts to spot-check your team.” He keyed in his code, then the file. “She secured it, good for her. Chief Tech Berenski, override security on File Pandora, ID 563922-H.”

VOICE PRINT VERIFIED.

“Display toxicology.”

TOXICOLOGY TESTS STILL IN PROGRESS. PRELIMINARY RESULTS ON SCREEN.

“She’d been drinking a lot,” Dickie murmured. “Top French bubbly. Probably died happy. Looks like Dom, ‘55. That’s good work for Suzie-Q. Added a little happy powder to it. Our dead girl liked to party. Looks like Zeus… No.” His shoulders bowed in as they did when he was intrigued or irritated. “What the hell is this?”

When the computer started to detail elements, he cut it off with an annoyed flick of the finger and began to run the report manually. “Something mixed up here,” he muttered. “Something screwy.”

His fingers played over the controls like those of a well-trained pianist giving his first recital. Slow, cautious, and accurate. Dallas watched symbols and shapes form, disperse, realign. And she, too, saw the pattern.

“It’s the same.” Eyes steely, she looked over at the silent Peabody. “It’s the same stuff.”

“I didn’t say that,” Dickie interrupted. “Shut up and let me finish running this test.”

“It’s the same,” Eve repeated, “right down to that green squiggle of Element X. Question, Peabody, what do a high-powered model and a second-rate weasel have in common?”

“They’re both dead.”

“You’ve answered part one correctly. Care to try for part two and double your winnings? How did they both die?”

The faintest of smiles flitted around Peabody’s mouth. “Beaten to death.”

“Now for the grand prize and part three. What connects these two seemingly unrelated murders?”

Peabody looked down at the screen. “Element X.”

“We’re on a roll, Peabody. Transmit that report to my office, Dickie. Mine,” she repeated when he glanced up at her. “Illegals calls, you don’t know any more than you knew before.”

“Hey, I can’t bury data.”

“Right.” She turned on her heel. “I’ll have those tickets delivered by five.”

“You knew,” Peabody said as they took the sky glide to the Homicide sector. “Back at the victim’s apartment. You couldn’t find the box, but you knew what was in it.”

“Suspected,” Eve corrected. “A new blend, one she was proprietary about, increased sexual performance and strength.” She checked her watch. “I got lucky. Working on both cases at the same time, having them both on my mind. I worried I was just overlapping, but then I started to wonder. I saw both bodies, Peabody. There was the same overkill, the same viciousness.”

“I don’t think it was luck. I was in on both of them, too, and I was six steps behind the whole way.”

“You catch up fast.” Eve stepped off the glide to take the elevator to her level. “Don’t beat yourself up over it, Peabody. I’ve got more than double your time on the job.”

Peabody stepped into the glass tube, gave a disinterested glance at the city below as they climbed. “Why did you bring me in on these?”

“You’ve got potential — brains and guts. That’s what Feeney told me when he brought me in under him. That was Homicide, too. Two teenagers hacked to death and strewed over the skyramp at Second and Twenty-fifth. I stumbled along about six paces behind him, too. But I found my rhythm.”

“How’d you know you wanted Homicide?”

Eve stepped out of the tube, turned down the corridor toward her office. “Because death’s an insult anytime. When somebody hurries it along, that’s the biggest insult of all. Let’s get a couple of coffees, Peabody. I want to put this all in black and white before I take it to the commander.”

“I don’t suppose we could actually eat something.”

Eve tossed a grin over her shoulder. “I don’t know what’s in my AutoChef, but…” She trailed off as she walked in and found Casto sitting at her desk, long, denim-clad legs propped up and crossed at the ankles. “Well, Casto, Jake T., you look right at home.”