Loyalty in Death (In Death #9)(86)

“Why do you assume it won’t work?”

“Because it won’t. It doesn’t. Your energies and your focus get all split up when they need to be channeled on the job. You start mixing sex and romance and Christ knows what into it, everything gets tilted. They’ve got no business having sex. Cops aren’t supposed to — “

“Have a personal life?” he finished, just a bit coolly. “Personal feelings and choices?”

“I didn’t mean that. Exactly. But they’re better off without them,” she added in a mutter.

“Thank you so much.”

“This isn’t about us. I’m not talking about us.”

“Meaning you’re not a cop, and we haven’t mixed sex, romance, and Christ knows what into it?”

She’d pushed a button all right, Eve noted and wished she’d broken her finger first. “This is about two cops working on my team and on two messy investigations.”

“An hour ago I was inside you, and you were wrapped around me.” His voice was more than cool now, it was cold. As were his eyes. “That was about us, and the investigations were still there, messy or otherwise. How long are you going to keep believing you’d be better off without that?”

“That’s not what I meant.” She got to her feet, surprised to find herself just a little shaken.

“Isn’t it?”

“Don’t put words in my mouth or thoughts in my head. I don’t have time for some marital crisis right now.”

“Fine, I don’t have the tolerance for one.”

When he turned and left her, snapping the door closed between their offices, she lifted a fist. Then, as the temper refused to build and spare her from guilt, she lifted the other and knocked them against her temples.

Heaving out a breath, she strode to the door, opened it, and faced him down. He was already behind his desk and barely acknowledged her.

“That’s not what I meant,” she said again. “But maybe it’s part of it. I know you love me, but I don’t know why. I look at you, and I just can’t get why it’s me. Every time I get my balance, I lose it again. Because it shouldn’t be me, and I think it’d kill me if you ever figured that out.”

He started to get to his feet, but she shook her head. “No, I don’t have time. I mean it. I just wanted to say that, and to tell you it wasn’t what I meant. Peabody — she got hurt before, she got bruised because she tipped for a cop — another cop, another case. I’m not going to see that happen to her again. That’s it. That’s all. I’m going in. I’ll be in touch if there’s anything you need to know.”

She moved fast. He could have stopped her, but he stayed where he was and let her go.

Later, he told himself, he’d deal with her. And she would have to deal with him.

Eve strode into Central. The glowing mood with which she’d started the day was now tarnished. She thought it just as well. She’d work better, sharper, if she was edgy. Spotting Peabody, she jerked her chin, then pointed a finger toward her office.

She could see the signs of an unhappy, sleepless night on her aide’s face. She’d expected that. She held the door herself until Peabody moved through, then closed it. “As of now, you put Zeke out of your mind. It’s being handled, and you have a job to do.”

“Yes, sir. But — “

“I’m not finished, Officer. If you can’t guarantee that I’ll have all your energy and all your concentration on the Cassandra matter, I want you to withdraw from the team and request leave. Now.”

Peabody opened her mouth, closed it again before something nasty could escape. When her control was back, she nodded briefly. “You’ll have the best I can give you, Lieutenant. I’ll do my job.”

“So noted. Lamont should have been picked up last night. Arrange for him to be brought up to interview. When the scanners received from Securities arrive, I want to know about it.” Keep her busy, Eve thought. Keep her swimming in grunt work. “Contact Feeney and see if the tap warrant came through on Monica Rowan. Did you sleep with McNab?”

“Yes, sir. What?”

“Shit.” Eve shoved her hands in her pockets, paced to the window, back. “Shit.” She stopped, and they stared at each other. “Peabody, have you lost your mind?”

“It was a momentary lapse. It won’t be repeated.” She intended to tell McNab so at the first opportunity.

“You’re not… stuck on him or anything?”

“It was a lapse,” Peabody insisted. “A momentary lapse brought on by unexpected physical stimuli. I don’t want to talk about it. Sir.”

“Good. I don’t even want to think about it. Get me Lamont.”

“Right away.”

Delighted to escape, Peabody fled.

Eve turned to her ‘link and began to run the incoming messages. When Lamont’s name popped, she swore, punched the machine. “Why the hell wasn’t this transmission forwarded when it came in?”

Due to a temporary lapse in the system, all transmissions received between one hundred and six hundred and fifty hours were placed on hold.

“Lapses.” She smacked the machine again, for the hell of it. “We’re just full of lapses these days. Transmit full report on Lamont, hard copy.”