Origin in Death (In Death #21)(40)

Leaving the body, Eve crossed to the desk and began to check incoming and outgoing transmissions, recent data input or deleted. She ragged all discs, marked the unit itself for EDD transfer.

"House is empty," Peabody reported. "Domestic droids-three in full-were all deactivated. All doors and windows were fully secured. No sign of tampering. McNab told me that the current security disc- which, in order from the previous, would have run since nine hundred hours this morning-is missing two hours."

Eve glanced back, frowned. "Two hours."

"Affirmative. There's no record through the system of entry or exit of the premises during that time. The disc stops at eighteen-thirty, and picks up again at twenty hundred and forty-two hours. It clearly shows us approaching, being verified, and admitted at twenty-one sixteen."

Minutes, Eve thought. Missed her by minutes. She gestured toward the desk 'link. "He had that on privacy mode. Set it at seventeen hundred. No transmissions in the holding area. Let's check the other links."

They headed down while the sweepers headed up.

"Icove's wife is being picked up now. She'll be here in about twenty minutes," Reo told them. "ME's on his way now. I got you Morris."

"Then you got me good. I need to check with my e-man. You can -old here, or go."

"Go?" Reo let out a short laugh. "Screw that. I've never been in on a homicide from the get. They're going to want to pull this out from under me when you close it down. I need ammo, to stay at the table. I'm here."

"Fine. Where's the security room?" she asked Peabody. "Utility and security space, off the kitchen. Rear of the house." "Start checking the 'links for transmissions. Bag any discs for re view. Let's tag all the units. Wife's, kids', domestics'." She looked back at Reo. "Did you speak with the wife, personally?"

"Yes. At the connection the household droid gave me. Hamptons.

"Okay." Eve nodded, walked off to find McNab.

He may have looked like a victim of Fashion Trends R Us, but McNab could romance electronics. He sat, a skinny tube of neon, flipping through screens on a console and muttering commands into a handheld.

"What are you doing? What's the deal?"

He spared Eve the briefest glance, and shoved his long, loose golden hair out of his face. "You really want to know?"

"Bottom line it. In English."

"Checking the system for jams, glitches, bypasses. You got a top-line here. Multisource, full scan, motion, voice, and visual detection. Entry through code and voice print. All I got on me is my PPC, but it's prime I'm not finding any holes."

"So how'd they get through?"

"That's the question." He swiveled on the stool, away from the security console, scratched the side of his jaw. "We'll take a closer look in-house, but it's looking like they came through on green."

"Meaning someone let them in, or they cleared security."

"I took a look at the door unit, and there's no sign of tampering Mostly it's going to show. Mostly. We'll take a closer at that, too, and other entries, but if you want my own site, yeah. Bad guy waltzed through. Either cleared through or was aided by an inside source Maybe the dead guy let him in."

"Then went upstairs, locked his office door, and stretched out on the couch and waited for a knife in the heart?"

He puffed out his cheeks, blew out air. Patting his pockets, he came up with a silver ring, then threaded his hair through it forming a tail "Okay, maybe not. Anyway, whoever it was took the discs for the time frame he'd show on camera. Slid them right out. No sign of search or fumbling around in here. And I had to use my master to open the door Locked up behind himself, nice and neat."

Eve studied the security room. It was about the size of her office at Central, and a hell of a lot slicker. A series of screens relayed images of various rooms and entry ways. McNab had left them live, and she could see sweepers in their protective suits working the scene, Reo on the main level talking on her 'link, Peabody doing the tags on a data and communication center in the kitchen.

She stood another moment, watching the screens. "Okay," she said, then watched Morris come through the front door. He had a brief consult with Reo, who then directed him up the stairs.

''Okay," she said again, and left McNab to his e-work.

The domestic droid was standing in the kitchen on wait mode. Eve engaged it.

"Did Dr. Icove have any visitors after his wife left the house today."

"No, Lieutenant."

"Did Dr. Icove leave the house at any time after he returned from work today?"

"No, Lieutenant."

One thing about droids, Eve thought, they kept to the point. "Who set the evening security? Who ordered the lockdown for the night?"

"Dr. Icove locked down personally at seventeen-thirty, just prior to deactivating me for the night."

"And the other droids?"

"Both deactivated before me. I was the last. Set on sleep mode at seventeen thirty-five, with do-not-disturb command."

"What did he have for dinner?"

"I was not asked to serve an evening meal. I served soup-chicken and rice-at thirteen-fifteen. However, Dr. Icove only consumed a small portion of the serving, along with a cup of ginseng tea and three wheat crackers."