Midnight in Death (In Death #7.5)(3)

“I’m better with the dead than with buying presents. Otherwise I’d have come up with more than one.”

She looked over at the small mountain of gifts under the tree—gifts it had taken her more than an hour to open. And her wince made him laugh.

“You know, one of the greatest rewards in giving you presents, Lieutenant, is the baffled embarrassment they cause you.”

“I hope you got it out of your system for a while.”

“Mmm,” was his only response. She wasn’t used to gifts, he thought, hadn’t been given anything as a child but pain. “Have you decided what to do with the last one?”

The final box he’d given her had been empty, and he’d enjoyed seeing her frown in puzzlement. Just as he’d enjoyed seeing her grin at him when he told her it was a day. A day she could fill with whatever she liked. He would take her wherever she wanted to go, and they would do whatever she wanted to do. Off-planet or on. In reality or through the holo-room.

Any time, any place, any world was hers for the asking.

“No, I haven’t had much time to think it through. It’s a pretty great gift. I don’t want to screw it up.”

She let herself relax against him another moment with the fire crackling, the tree shimmering, then she pulled back. “I’ve got to get started. There’s a lot of drone work on this one, and I don’t want to tag Peabody today.”

“Why don’t I give you a hand?” He smiled again at the automatic refusal he read in her eyes. “Step into Peabody’s sturdy shoes for the day.”

“This one’s not connected to you in any way. I want to keep it that way.”

“All the better.” He nudged her up, got to his feet. “I can help you do the runs or whatever, and that way you won’t have to spend your entire Christmas chained to your desk.”

She started to refuse again, then reconsidered. Most of the data she wanted were public domain in any case. And what wasn’t was nothing she wouldn’t have shared with him if she’d been thinking it through aloud.

Besides, he was good.

“Okay, consider yourself a drone. But when Peabody’s got her balance, you’re out.”

“Darling.” He took her hand, kissed it, watched her scowl. “Since you ask so sweetly.”

“And no sloppy stuff,” she put in. “I’m on duty.”

Chapter Two

The huge cat, Galahad, was draped over the back of Eve’s sleep chair like a drunk over a bar at last call. Since he’d spent several hours the night before attacking boxes, fighting with ribbon, and murdering discarded wrapping paper, she left him where he was so he could sleep it off.

Eve set down her bag and went directly to the AutoChef for coffee. “The guy we’re after is David Palmer.”

“You’ve already identified the killer.”

“Oh, yeah, I know who I’m after. Me and Dave, we’re old pals.”

Roarke took the mug she brought him, watched her through the steam. “The name’s vaguely familiar to me.”

“You’d have heard it. It was all over the media three, three and a half years ago. I need all my case files on that investigation, all data on the trial. You can start by—” She broke off when he laid a hand on her arm.

“David Palmer—serial killer. Torture murders.” It was playing back for him, in bits and pieces. “Fairly young. What—mid-twenties?”

“Twenty-two at time of arrest. A real prodigy, our Dave. He considers himself a scientist, a visionary. His mission is to explore and record the human mind’s tolerance to extreme duress—pain, fear, starvation, dehydration, sensory deprivation. He could talk a good game, too.” She sipped her coffee. “He’d sit there in interview, his pretty face all lit with enthusiasm, and explain that once we knew the mind’s breaking point, we’d be able to enhance it, to strengthen it. He figured since I was a cop, I’d be particularly interested in his work. Cops are under a great deal of stress, often finding ourselves in life-and-death situations where the mind is easily distracted by fear or outside stimuli. The results of his work could be applied to members of the police and security forces, the military, even in business situations.”

“I didn’t realize he was yours.”

“Yeah, he was mine.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I was a little more low profile in those days.”

He might have smiled at that, knowing it was partially her connection to him that had changed that status. But he remembered too much of the Palmer case to find the humor. “I was under the impression that he was safely locked away.”

“Not safely enough. He slipped out. The victim this morning was dumped in a public area—another of Dave’s trademarks. He likes us to know he’s hard at work. The autopsy will have to verify, but the victim was tortured pre-mortem. I’d guess Dave found himself a new hole to work in and had the judge there at least a day before killing him. Death by strangulation occurred on or around midnight. Merry Christmas, Judge Wainger,” she murmured.

“And that would be the judge who tried his case.”

“Yeah.” Absently, she put her mug down, reached into her bag for a copy of the sealed note she’d already sent to the lab. “He left a calling card—another signature. All these names are connected to his case and his sentencing. Part of his work this time around would be, at my guess, letting his intended victims stew about what he has in store for them. They’re being contacted and protected. He’ll have a tough time getting to any of them.”