Origin in Death (In Death #21)(55)

"Don't say it." Gamely, Feeney grabbed his fork. "I'm eating it."

Figuring Peabody would be at it hours yet, Eve went from lunch to Whitney's office to update him.

"You think a school with a reputation like Brookhollow is a front for what, sex slavery?"

"I think it pertains."

Whitney dragged his fingers through his short crop of hair. "If memory serves, it was on my wife's list of potential colleges for our daughter."

"Did you apply?"

"Most of that process is, thankfully, a blur. Mrs. Whitney would remember."

"Sir, speaking of Mrs. Whitney . .." Touchy, touchy. "I've sent Baxter in on an informal recon, under, as a potential client. Get him in, tour the facilities, check out the system. However, I wondered, should it become necessary, would Mrs. Whitney agree to talk with me about her, um, experience?"

He looked, for a moment, as pained as Eve felt. "She won't care for it, but she's a cop's wife. If you need a statement, she'll give you one.

"Thank you, Commander. I doubt I will. I hope I won't."

"So, Lieutenant, do I. More than you know."

From there, she went to Mira's office, wheedled her way past the admin between patients. She didn't sit, though Mira gestured to a chair.

"You okay?" Eve asked her.

"A bit dented, actually. Both of them gone. I knew Will, enjoyed him and his family on the occasions we got together."

"How would you characterize his relationship with his wife?"

"Affectionate, a bit old-fashioned, happy."

"Old-fashioned in what sense?"

"My impression is that he very much headed the house. That it ran around his needs and routine, but my impression is also that the dynamic suited them. She's a very loving and devoted mother, and enjoyed being a doctor's wife. She has talent, but seemed happy to dabble with her art rather than passionately pursue it."

"And if I told you she had a part in the murders?"

Mira's eyes blinked, then widened. "On the basis of my profession. evaluation of her character, I would disagree."

"You saw them socially-now and then. You saw them as they wanted to be seen. Would you agree?"

"Yes, but... Eve, my profile of the killer indicates a cool-headed, efficient, highly controlled individual. My impressions of Avril Icove- and these come over years-is of a soft-hearted, mild-tempered woman who was not only content with her life but enjoyed living it."

"He raised her for his son."

"What?"

"I know it. Icove molded her, educated her, trained her, he all but f**king created her as the perfect mate for his son. He wasn't a man to settle for less than perfect."

She sat now, leaned forward. "He sent her to school-small, exclusive, private, where he had control. He, and his friend and associate, Jonah Wilson. A geneticist."

"Wait." Mira held up both hands. "Wait. Are you talking about gene manipulation? She was five or more when Wilfred took over her guardianship."

"Maybe, or maybe there was an interest in her long before. There's a relationship between her and Wilson's wife. They share a family name, yet there's no data on the connection. There had to be a relationship between her mother and Icove, who became her guardian. Wilson and his wife founded the school-Icove sent Avril there."

"There may very well be some connection, which might very well be why he chose the school. The simple fact that he knew or had an association with a geneticist-"

"There are bans on gene manipulations that veer outside of disease and defect control. Put there because people, and science, always want more. If you can cure or fix an embryo, why not make it to order? I'll have a girl, thanks, blonde, blue eyes, and give her a pert little nose while you're at it. People pay a hell of a lot for perfection."

"These are huge leaps, Eve."

"Maybe. But you've got a geneticist, a reconstruct surgeon, a tony private school. With those building blocks I don't have to leap too far to wonder. I know what it's like to be trained." She sat back now, gripped the arms of her chair.

"You can't imagine that a man like Wilfred would physically, sexually abuse a child."

"Cruelty is only one training method. You can do it with kindness. Sometimes he brought me candy. Sometimes he gave me a present after he raped me. Like you give a dog a treat for doing a trick."

"She was fond of him. Eve, I saw it. Avril thought of Wilfred as a father. She wasn't locked away. If she'd wanted to leave, she could have done so."

"You know better," Eve replied. "The world's full of people who are locked away without any bars. I'm asking you if he could have done something like this. Could the pull of it, the science, the thrill of perfecting have pushed him into manipulating a child, turning her into wife for his son, a mother for his grandchildren."

Mira closed her eyes a moment. "The science of it would, certain-have intrigued him. Coupled with his perfectionist tendencies, it may have seduced him. If you're right on any level, on any level at all, he would have seen what he was doing as being for the greater good.'

Yeah, Eve thought. Self-made gods always did.

WHEN EVE JUMPED ON THE GLIDE, BAXTER