Forgotten in Death(110)

“I’ll let you know.”

“Can you tell me? You must know. We, ah, Johara and I, weren’t going to find out before the birth, but you must know.”

Eve started to say the fetus was male, but saw his eyes. “A boy.”

“A boy.” His lips trembled, then firmed. “Thank you.”

After Eve took the letter Lilith had folded in an envelope, they left the Singers and stepped out into the quickening rain.

“You trust them not to make that contact.”

“Yeah, I do. Especially since we’re going to move fast now. Get us a copter.” She looked up at the boiling sky as she got into the car. “There’s more than one storm coming.”





22





While Roarke drove, Eve tagged Peabody and snapped out orders. “Don’t ask questions, just listen. Contact the local LEOs in Hudson Valley and inform them I’m on my way there, to arrest Elinor and J. B. Singer on suspicion of murder.”

“Holy—”

“Shut up. The warrant will include bringing Marvinia Singer in for questioning. There will be a search warrant. As the murder took place in New York City, I will transport the individuals and any evidence found to New York City. They are to do nothing, I mean nothing, until I arrive. They are not to approach, not to enter, not to do anything. Whoever’s in charge can contact me for details if deemed necessary.”

“Got it. Should I meet you at the heliport?”

“No time. Get to Central, set things up there. I’ll write up what I can on the flight there—God help us all. Shit, contact Mira. I want her in Observation. I may need a shrink on this. Contact Baxter, tell him and Trueheart they’re on the search. They can drive. Give them the particulars. And have them pick up McNab for the electronics.”

“Got it.”

“Good. Go.” She clicked off, tagged Reo. “Warrants, now. Listen.”

She banged out details, continued to bang them out as she ran through the rain to the waiting copter.

She heard the helipad guy say, “It’s going to be rough up there, sir.”

“Too rough for clearance?” Roarke asked.

“No, but rough enough.”

“I’ll see you at Central, Reo. I have to keep a jet-copter from crashing with the strength of my will.”

“You’re taking a chance—with the arrests, and the flight. Let’s have good luck on both.”

“Yeah, let’s.” She strapped in. “This is a bigger machine than Peabody and I took this afternoon.”

“I assumed you’d be transporting prisoners on the return.”

“That’s right.” She tried not to think about what he did with switches and monitors or who he talked to on the headset. “It’s not raining that hard.”

“Not here.”

She closed her eyes as the jets wound up. “Oh shit.”

“I’ve got you, Lieutenant. Reo meant you’re taking a chance, as you don’t have hard evidence so much as circumstantial.”

“Piles of circumstantial now. And I’m betting on a seventy-five, maybe eighty percent chance the gun that killed Johara Murr’s in that big, ugly house.”

“Is it ugly? And why do you think they kept the gun?”

He was keeping her talking as they rose into the air. Good idea, she decided.

“Strict and stern, Peabody said. She’s right. You’ll see for yourself.” Everything shook, including the contents of her stomach. “And the gun’s power. I didn’t find a collector’s license or any record of a license in the past for that weapon. It probably came down through the family.”

“Licenses, bugger licenses. We’re too important for that.”

“Yeah, that’s it.” She saw lightning flash in a giant five-pronged fork in the distance. The shake and roll of the answering thunder made her seriously consider curling into a whimpering ball.

“You see Elinor pulling the trigger.”

Talk, talk, keep talking. Why wasn’t she on the ground somewhere, battling a rampaging horde of chemi-heads hopped up on Zeus?

“J.B. could have done it if his ass was on the line—the way I had it playing out. Knocked her up, get rid of her. But for this? He wouldn’t have the guts. Oh, fuck, fucking fuck, there’s another one.”

“We’re fine.”

She risked a glance at him. He looked calm—calm, determined, and focused. Which meant more than the strength of her will kept them aloft.

“I know what I saw in Elinor Singer today.” It wasn’t easy to keep her voice as calm as his, but she worked on it. “But I got a look through Lilith’s lens. She’s a tyrant. On top of the rest. What Lilith didn’t add on the standards? White and Christian. Johara fell short on those, too. Maybe you don’t have to be really religious, or totally pure, but a young, Lebanese, Muslim pianist? That would never do. She’s not going to be able to pull Bolton back, get him firm under the thumb if he makes a life with that substandard girl and their illegitimate child.”

She pulled in a breath, let it out slowly. “I have to ask. How much longer before we land?”

“About five minutes.” He reached over, gave her hand a squeeze. “We’re coming into the rough part now.”