Memory in Death (In Death #22)(58)

"For a minute. You've known Bobby and D.K. awhile."

"Since I started working for them. Bobby, he's just the sweetest thing." She sat, brushed at the thighs of her pants. "I fell right off. He's a little shy, you know, with women. D.K. was always teasing him."

"Bobby mentioned that D.K. and Trudy didn't get along."

"Oh, well." Zana's color resurfaced, just a little. "Mostly D.K. just kept his distance. Kind of a personality clash, I guess. Trudy, she'd just say what she was thinking, right out. And sometimes, well, people got a little offended."

"You didn't?"

"She's—she was—the mother of the man I love. And she raised him single-handed." Her eyes went starry. "Raised such a good man. I didn't mind her giving me advice. I've never been married before, after all, or kept a home. Anyway, Bobby knew just how to handle her."

"Did he?"

"He'd just tell me to nod and go along, then do what I wanted." Zana laughed, then covered her mouth with her hand as if to smother the sound. "That's what he did, mostly, and there was hardly ever a cross word between them."

"But there were some."

"Little spats now and then, like families have. Eve—is it all right if I call you Eve?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"Do you think we can go home soon?" Her lips trembled before she pressed them together. "I was so excited about coming here, seeing New York, it was all I could think about. Now I just want to go home."

"At this point of the investigation, it's more convenient if you and Bobby are here."

"That's what he said." She sighed. "And he doesn't want to go home for Christmas. Says he just doesn't want to be there for it. I guess I can understand. It's just..." Tears shimmered in her eyes, but didn't fall. "It's selfish."

"What is?"

"It's our first Christmas married. Now we'll spend it in a hotel room. It is selfish." She sniffed back the tears, shook her head. "I shouldn't even be thinking about it with his mama..."

"It's natural enough."

Zana cast her guilty look toward the pocket doors. "Don't tell him I said anything. Please. He's got enough on his mind."

She got to her feet when the doors opened. "Hi, honey. Look who's here."

"Eve. Thanks for coming. I was just talking to my partner." He worked up a smile for his wife. "We closed the deal."

She slapped her hands together, bounced on her toes. "The big house?"

"The big one. D.K. got the contract and deposit from the buyer this morning."

"Oh, honey! That's just wonderful. Congratulations." She hurried around the sofa to give him a fierce hug. "You both worked so hard for that."

"Big sale," Bobby told Eve. "Hell, a white elephant we took on. We'd just about given up, when we got a nibble last week. My partner tied it up in a bow this morning."

"Back in Texas."

"Yeah. Took them through it three times over the weekend. They just wouldn't commit. Wanted to go through it again this morning, so he walked them through it again, and they finally bit. It's a big commission for us."

And put the partner out of the running, Eve decided, unless he'd found a way to be two places at once. "Congratulations."

"Mama would've been on the moon."

"Honey." Zana took his arms. "Don't be sad. She wouldn't want you to be sad. She'd be so proud. In fact, we're going to celebrate. I mean it." She gave him a little shake. "I'm going to order a bottle of champagne, and you're going to take a little while to relax and be proud of yourself. Will you have some with us, Eve?"

"Thanks, but I've got to go."

"I thought maybe you had some news, about my mother."

"The investigation's moving forward. That's the best I can tell you now. I'll check in with you tomorrow. If anything breaks beforehand, I'll let you know."

"Okay. Thanks. I'm glad it's you, Eve. It's easier somehow because it's you."

* * *

She could go home, Eve thought, as she muscled her way into traffic. It was more than Bobby could do at this point. She could go home where things were normal, at least by her standards.

As traffic snarled, she studied one of the bright, animated billboards, touting cut rates for holiday trips to Aruba.

Everyone wanted to be somewhere else, she decided. People from Texas, and wherever, flocked to New York. New Yorkers crawled up the highway to the Hamptons, or got on a shuttle south for some island.

Where did people on the islands go? she wondered. Probably to some noisy, overcrowded city.

Why couldn't people just stay put?

Because they didn't, the streets and sidewalks were clogged, with the airways overhead little better. And still, there wasn't anywhere she'd rather be.

She drove through the gates, finally, toward the lights.

Every window was lit, candles or festooned trees glittering. It looked like a painting, she thought. Dark sky, rising moon, and the fanciful shapes and shadows of the house, with all those windows glowing.

She could go home.