Indulgence in Death (In Death #31)(37)

“Probably have to be whacked, too. Killing two people, and it’s looking like those two people were pulled out of a hat—if you’re right and it’s not about the victim as much as the method and the killing.”

“Who hires the most exclusive LC in the city, then doesn’t take time to bang her? She gets paid a hefty deposit in advance, so it’s somebody who doesn’t mind pissing several thousand dollars away.”

“Not his money anyway, since it came out of Intelicore’s coffers.”

“Yeah.” Eve turned it over in her mind as she drove to Central.

“Back-to-back murders,” she said, crossing the underground lot to the elevator. “Both planned out, set up, both using somebody else’s ID, and both expensive whoever gets dinged for the cost. Big-ass corporations would probably be insured against this sort of fraud.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Bet they are. Sweet and Urich will take some heat, but if it can be proved they didn’t authorize the payment, they could squeak out of it—and the company probably will. The insurance company takes the hit. Let’s find out who insures these people.”

They switched to a glide. “Start the runs. I’m going up to EDD, see if they’ve got anything for us.”

For once EDD was almost peaceful. Only a handful manned the cubes and desks at this hour. They paced and pranced, snapped gum and fingers, but there wasn’t so much of a crowd. Noting McNab wasn’t at his station, she veered off to the lab.

She saw him behind the glass, prancing and snapping—and sucking down a jumbo drink—probably something so sweet it caused the teeth to ache. Roarke sat manning keyboard and screen, his hair tied back, what she assumed was a sensible coffee on the counter.

To her surprise, she saw Feeney, EDD’s captain and her former partner. His hair, an explosion of ginger and silver, looked as though he’d been struck by lightning. His face looked saggier than usual, probably because he’d been called into work in the middle of the night. He wore a white shirt more wrinkled than his brown pants.

She stepped in. “Geek report.”

Feeney glanced her way. “Kid, can’t you catch something normal? Freaking bayonets and crossbows?”

“Keeps me from getting bored.”

“Rich people get bored. Working stiffs don’t have time to.” He took the drink out of McNab’s hand, slurped some down. “Security discs got shaked and baked. Solid system for an amusement, but it’s compromised. We’ll get back what we can.”

“It won’t be much. Bloody buggering hell.” Roarke shoved back. “The system wasn’t simply jammed—and in a pinpoint manner at that—but wiped with a shagging virus tossed in for good measure. The device used had to be very sophisticated, possibly military.”

“So it’s a wash? You can’t do anything.”

His eyes narrowed, blue lightning, as she’d expected. “It’s early days yet, Lieutenant.”

“What about general park security? Have we picked her up there?”

“I’m all over that.” McNab plopped down, swiveled to a unit. “We’ve got her coming in. Limo pulls up here, see? Driver gets out.”

“Yeah, got her name. We’ll talk to her.”

“Vic gets out—some legs. Walks straight to the entrance for scan.”

“She’s looking around for him,” Eve added. “Waiting just past the scanners, looking around. There, she spots him. See how she puts on the big smile, gives the hair a toss, starts forward.”

“Yeah, and we hit another blip. Just a few seconds. Zap, zap. I’ve run through with her image as focal, picked up a couple more blips. When you cross them with the layout, you can basically follow them straight to the spook house.”

“He didn’t waste any time.”

“And he knew the layout,” Roarke added. “Of the park, and its security.

“But he missed just a nanosecond. Going into the spook house. Switching from jamming the outer cam and the inner. We’ve got a piece of him.”

She saw the partial profile, the shoulder, the side of the body as the killer stepped in, one hand lifted, palm on the back of the white dress Crampton had worn, the other in his pocket.

“Just the face, enhance it.”

McNab ordered the computer.

“Facial hair—you catch the side of a beard. Wearing the hair long. Looks heavier than Urich. A few pounds. It’s not him, but from what we can see there’s enough resemblance to his ID shot to have fooled her. She’s expecting this guy, and he’s likely told her what he’d be wearing, maybe how he’d grown the beard, the hair, gained a little weight. She saw what she’d been prepped to see. How much more can we get from this?”

“I’m working on a composite. We can get a solid spec from this. We’ve got the shape of his face, part of one eye, basic jawline.”

“The beard’s going to be fake. He’s got to convince her he’s Urich, so he’s got to have something to mask some features. Get me a composite with and without.”

“On it.”

“Tiny little mistake. He’s excited, and he slipped up, just a little bit. He’s going to be about Urich’s height. Could be wearing lifts, but he’s going to be about his height. He could be wearing some padding to add weight, but that doesn’t play for me. He’d want to be as close to Urich as possible, so he’s a little heavier, carries more pounds. Give me the shoe.”