Salvation in Death (In Death #27)(39)

She turned to first on scene. “Officer, where’s the vic’s wife?”

“In her dressing room, sir. I’ll escort you.”

“In a minute. Peabody, when you’re done, have the body bagged and tagged and flag Morris. I want COD asap. Cap and bag that open bottle separate from the rest. They’re all for the lab and they’re priority. The vic had three daughters, all here. You take them. I’m on the wife, the manager. McNab can take Security.”

“On that.”

Eve turned to Roarke. “Want to go home?”

“Whatever for?”

“Then find someplace quiet and comfortable. Dig into the vic.” She offered her PPC. “I’ve got the initial run on here.”

“I’ll use my own.”

“I’ve got the run started on mine.”

He sighed, took hers, tapped a couple buttons. “Now it’s on mine, too. Anything in particular you’d like me to find?”

“It’d be really keen if you found Jimmy Jay Jenkins had ties to some guy named Lino from Spanish Harlem. Otherwise . . .” She looked around the arena. “God’s a big business, right?”

“Biblical.”

“Ha. Find out how much in Jimmy Jay’s pockets, and who gets what. Thanks. Officer?”

They exited the stage, moved through the wings. “Where’s the vic’s dressing room?” she asked.

“Other side.” The cop jerked a thumb.

“Really?”

He shrugged. “Mrs. Dead Guy got the hysterics. Had to carry her off, call the MTs in for her. We got a female officer in with her. MT gave her a mild soother, but . . .”

He trailed off as wailing and sobs echoed off the walls.

“Didn’t help much,” he added.

“Great.” Eve stepped to the door where the wails and sobs battered the metal. She rolled her shoulders, opened it.

She might have staggered, not just from the sounds, but from all the pink. It was like a truckload of cotton candy exploded, and it immediately gave her a phantom toothache.

The woman herself wore a pink dress with an enormous skirt that poofed up as she sprawled on a chaise like a candy mountain. Her hair, a bright, eye-dazzling gold, tumbled in disarray around a face where several pounds of enhancers had melted and washed down in black, red, pink, and blue streaks.

For a moment, Eve thought Jolene had torn some of her hair out in her mad grief, then realized the hunks of it scattered on the floor and chaise were extensions and enhancers.

The cop on the door gave Eve a look that managed to be weary, cynical, relieved, and amused all at once. “Sir? Officer McKlinton. I’ve been standing with Mrs. Jenkins.”

Please was the underlying message. Please set me free.

“Take a break, Officer. I’ll speak with Mrs. Jenkins now.”

“Yes, sir.” McKlinton moved to the door, and mumbled, “Good luck,” under her breath.

“Mrs. Jenkins,” Eve began, and in response Jolene shrieked and threw her arm over her eyes. And not for the first time, Eve decided, as the arm was covered with smears of the facial enhancers like a kind of weird wound.

“I’m Lieutenant Dallas,” Eve said over the shrieks and sobs. “I know this is a difficult time, and I’m very sorry for your loss, but—”

“Where is my Jimmy Jay! Where is my husband? Where are my babies? Where are our girls?”

“I need you to stop.” Eve walked over, leaned down, took Jolene by the quaking shoulders. “I need you to stop this, or I’m walking out. If you want me to help you, help your family, then you’ll stop. Now.”

“How can you help? My husband is dead. Only God can help now.” Her voice, thick with tears and the South, shrill with hysteria, sawed through the top of Eve’s head. “Oh why, why did God take him from me? I don’t have enough faith to understand. I don’t have the strength to go on!”

“Fine. Sit here and wallow then.”

She turned away, and got halfway across the room when Jolene called out, “Wait! Wait! Don’t leave me alone. My husband, my partner in life and in the light eternal, has been taken from me. Have pity.”

“I’ve got plenty of pity, but I also have a job to do. Do you want me to find out how, why, and who took him from you?”

Jolene covered her face with her hands, smearing enhancements like fingerpaint. “I want you to make it not happen.”

“I can’t. Do you want to help me find out who did this?”

“Only God can take a life, or give one.”

“Tell that to all the people, just in this city, who are murdered by another human being every week. You believe what you want, Mrs. Jenkins, but it wasn’t God who put poison in that bottle of water.”

“Poison. Poison.” Jolene slapped a hand to her heart, held the other up.

“We need the medical examiner to confirm, but yes, I believe your husband was poisoned. Do you want me to find out who did that, or just pray about it?”

“Don’t be sacrilegious, not at such a time.” Shuddering, shuddering, Jolene squeezed her eyes shut. “I want you to find out. If someone hurt my Jimmy, I want to know. Are you a Christian, miss?”

“Lieutenant. I’m a cop, and that’s what matters here. Now tell me what happened, what you saw.”