Naked in Death (In Death #1)(31)

Two of six, she thought, and in the privacy of her car, she shuddered from more than the cold. There were four more people out there whose lives were in her hands.

After pulling into her garage, she swore she’d call the damn mechanic the next day. If history ran true, it meant he’d have her vehicle in for a week, diddling with some idiotic chip in the heater control. The idea of the paperwork in accessing a replacement vehicle through the department was too daunting to consider.

Besides, she was used to the one she had, with all its little quirks. Everyone knew the uniforms copped the best air-to-land vehicles. Detectives had to make do with clinkers.

She’d have to rely on public transportation or just hook a car from the police garage and pay the bureaucratic price later.

Still frowning over the hassle to come and reminding herself to contact Feeney personally to have him go through a week’s worth of security discs on the Gorham, she rode the elevator to her floor. Eve had no more than unkeyed her locks when her hand was on her weapon, drawing it.

The silence of her apartment was wrong. She knew instantly she wasn’t alone. The prickle along her skin had her doing a quick sweep, arms and eyes, shifting fluidly left then right.

In the dim light of the room, the shadows hung and the silence remained. Then she caught a movement that had her tensed muscles rippling, her trigger finger poised.

“Excellent reflexes, lieutenant.” Roarke rose from the chair where he’d been lounging. Where he’d been watching her. “So excellent,” he continued in that same mild tone as he touched on a lamp, “that I have every faith you won’t use that on me.”

She might have. She very well might have given him one good jolt. That would have wiped that complacent smile off his face. But any discharge of a weapon meant paperwork she wasn’t prepared to face for simple revenge.

“What the f**k are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you.” His eyes remained on hers as he lifted his hands. “I’m unarmed. You’re welcome to check for yourself if you won’t take my word for it.”

Very slowly, and with some reluctance, she holstered her weapon. “I imagine you have a whole fleet of very expensive and very clever lawyers, Roarke, who would have you out before I finished booking you on a B and E. But why don’t you tell me why I shouldn’t put myself to the trouble, and the city to the expense of throwing you in a cage for a couple of hours?”

Roarke wondered if he’d become perverse that he could so enjoy the way she slashed at him. “It wouldn’t be productive. And you’re tired, Eve. Why don’t you sit down?”

“I won’t bother to ask you how you got in here.” She could feel herself vibrating with temper, and wondered just how much satisfaction she’d gain from clamping his elegant wrists in restraints. “You own the building, so that question answers itself.”

“One of the things I admire about you is that you don’t waste time on the obvious.”

“My question is why.”

“I found myself thinking about you, on professional and personal levels, after you’d left my office.” He smiled, quick and charming. “Have you eaten?”

“Why?” she repeated.

He stepped toward her so that the slant of light from the lamp played behind him. “Professionally, I made a couple of calls that might be of interest to you. Personally…” He lifted a hand to her face, fingers just brushing her chin, his thumb skimming the slight dip. “I found myself concerned by that fatigue in your eyes. For some reason I feel compelled to feed you.”

Though she knew it was the gesture of a cranky child, she jerked her chin free. “What calls?”

He merely smiled again, moved to her tele-link. “May I?” he said even as he keyed in the number he wanted. “This is Roarke. You can send the meal up now.” He disengaged, smiled at her again. “You don’t object to pasta, do you?”

“Not on principle. But I object to being handled.”

“That’s something else I like about you.” Because she wouldn’t, he sat and, ignoring her frown, took out his cigarette case. “But I find it easier to relax over a hot meal. You don’t relax enough, Eve.”

“You don’t know me well enough to judge what I do or don’t do. And I didn’t say you could smoke in here.”

He lighted the cigarette, eyeing her through the faint, fragrant haze. “You didn’t arrest me for breaking and entering, you’re not going to arrest me for smoking. I brought a bottle of wine. I left it to breathe on the counter in the kitchen. Would you like some?”

“What I’d like — ” She had a sudden flash, and the fury came so quickly she could barely see through it. In one leap, she was at her computer, demanding access.

That annoyed him — enough to have his voice tighten. “If I’d come in to poke through your files, I’d hardly have waited around for you.”

“The hell you wouldn’t. That kind of arrogance is just like you.” But her security was intact. She wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed. Until she saw the small package beside her monitor. “What’s this?”

“I have no idea.” He blew out another stream of smoke. “It was on the floor inside the door. I picked it up.”

Eve knew what it was — the size, the shape, the weight. And she knew when she viewed the disc she would see Lola Stair’s murder.