Origin in Death

11

Eve cleared her mind and let herself see. The quiet house. Familiar. Through the door, alone. She'd gone to the Center alone. Killed alone.

Back to the kitchen. Why the tray? she asked herself as she took the route she imagined the killer had used. To comfort and distract.

Someone he knew. Had he known his father's killer, hidden that?

In the kitchen, she stood a moment, gauging the ground.

«The domestic didn't put the food on a tray. It's unlikely Icove did it for himself.»

«Maybe he was expecting her all along,» Peabody suggested. «So he shut down the droids.»

«Possible. But why lock down for the night? You're expecting com­pany, why set full night security? Could have set it, shut down the droids, then been contacted by her. Came down, let her in himself. Hey, let's have a snack.»

But she didn't like it.

«The way he was positioned on the couch up in the office. It's not en­tertaining company. It's 'I just want to lie down awhile.' Let's try it this way for now. She comes in, knows the code or has clearance. She comes back here, puts the food together. She knows he's upstairs.»

«How does she know?»

«Because she knows him. She knows. Could easily verify by the house scanner if she's not a hundred percent. Probably used it, yeah. I would have. Confirm not only his location, but that he was alone in the house. Checks the droids, too, makes sure they're shut down. Carries the tray up.»

She turned, walked the way she'd come.

Was she nervous? Eve wondered. Did the plate rattle on the tray, or was she calm as a sea of ice?

Outside the office door, Eve mimed holding a tray, cocked her head «If he's locked in, she'd use voice command to unlock and open. Why put the tray down to free her hands? Let's have EDD take a look, see what they see.»

«Check.»

Eve walked in, studied the angle. «He wouldn't have seen her, not at first. He'd have heard her if he'd been awake, but he was facing away from the door. Crosses over, sets the tray down. Did they talk? I brought you a little something. You need to eat, take care of yourself. See, that's wifely. She shouldn't have bothered with the tray. That's a mistake.»

Eve eased a hip down near the outside center of the sofa. There'd been room for that, she thought, bringing the image of Icove's body po­sition into her mind. «If she sat like this, it blocks him from getting up and it's wifely again. It's nonthreatening. Then all she has to do is…

Eve leaned forward, fisting her hand as if holding the handle of a blade, pressed it down.

«Cold.»

«Yeah, but not entirely. The tray's the thing. Maybe the content were tranq'd, and it was backup. Otherwise it was, I don't know, maybe guilt. Give the guy a last meal. There was nothing like that the first time. Go in, do it, walk out. No frills.»

She got up again. «Everything else is efficient. Lock the door behind you, take the discs, reset security. This tray keeps shouting at me.»

She blew out a breath. «Roarke does stuff like that. Pushes food on me. It's an instinct with him. If I'm feeling off or upset, he's going to be shoving a bowl or plate under my nose.»

«He loves you.»

«That's right. Whoever did this had feelings for him. A relationship of some sort.»

She took a turn around the room. «Let's go back to him. Why does he lock himself in here?»

«To work.»

«Yeah. But he lies down. Tired, off, maybe he thinks better on his back. Whatever.» She poked into the adjoining bath as she thought it through. «Kinda dinky bathroom for a swank house like this.»

«It's off the office, inaccessible from the rest. He wouldn't need plush.»

«Yes, he does,» Eve responded. «Look at the rest of the space. Over­sized, fancy furniture, art. His private bath at the center was bigger than this, and this is his home.»

Curious now, she stepped all the way in. «Dimension's aren't right, Peabody.»

She hurried out, Peabody behind her, and went to Avril's office on the other side of the bath. She stared at the wall, covered with art, the small table, two chairs precisely centered.

«There's something between. Something between this wall and the bath.» Walking back over, she studied the small linen and supply closet, pulled the doors open.

She rapped the back with a fist. «Hear that?»

«Solid. Heavy. Probably reinforced. Hot doggies! We got us a secret room, Dallas.»

They searched for a mechanism, running hands over the walls, the shelves. Finally, Eve sat back on her heels, muttered a curse, and pulled out her 'link.

«Can you squeeze out any time between formulating plans for world domination and buying all the turkey in all the land?»

«Possibly. If there was incentive.»

«I've got a hidden room. Can't find entry. It's probably electronically activated. I can call in EDD, but since you're still home, you're closer.»

«Address.»

She gave it to him.

«Ten minutes.»

Eve sat more comfortably on the floor. «I'll wait for him, contact tr ??? alibi while I do. You want to have chats with some of the neighbors.»

«No problem.»

Eve made the call from where she sat, and wasn't surprised when Avril's Hamptons alibi checked out precisely. For the hell of it, she contacted the ice-cream parlor where Avril stated she'd taken the children. And was again unsurprised when the statement held up to the letter.

«You were damn well prepared,» she muttered, and rising, walked back downstairs.

She tagged Morris.

«Just about to buzz you, Dallas. Stomach contents confirm the reported last meal. Tox shows a blocker. Standard stuff. And a mild tranq. Both ingested under an hour prior to death.»

«How mild?»

«He'd have been relaxed, a little sleepy. He had a standard dose in him of both meds. A cocktail you might take if you had a nasty headache and wanted to rest.»

«Fits.» She thought of his position on the sofa. «Yeah, it fits. Got anything else?»

«No other trauma. Healthy male, superior face and body work. He'd have been conscious at time of death, but groggy. Identical weapon, sin­gle wound to the heart.»

The door opened, and Roarke strolled in. «All right. Appreciate the speed. Later. You didn't have to pick the locks,» she said to Roarke.

«Practice. Lovely home.» He studied the decor of the foyer and living area. «A bit overly traditional, not particularly creative, but love of its kind.»

«I'll be sure to put that in my report.» She jerked a thumb toward the stairs, then started up.

«It's good security, by the way,» he said conversationally. «It would have taken me longer if EDD hadn't already fiddled with it. As it was, a couple of neighbors gave me the eye. I believe they took me for a cop. Amazing.»

She glanced over at him, the god of eye candy in his ten-thousand-dollar suit. «No, they didn't. It's in here.»

He looked around the office. He could see the trace dust left by the sweepers, noted the lack of electronics. Already in EDD, he assumed. «The paintings are the best part of the decor.»

He walked to a chalk sketch, an informal family portrait. Icove sit­ting on the floor, one foot planted, his wife sitting beside him, head tipped toward his arm, her legs swept to the side. And the children snuggled in front of them.

«Lovely, loving work. Pretty family. The young widow is talented.»

«I'll say.» But Eve took time out to stand beside him, study the por­trait. «Loving work?»

«The pose, the light, the body Language, her lines and curves. It strikes me as a happy moment.»

«Why do you kill what you love?»

«We couldn't count the reasons.»

«You're right on that,» Eve agreed, and turned toward the bath­room.

«You believe she did it.»

«I know she was part of it. Can't prove dick at this point, but I know.» She hooked her thumbs in her front pockets, nodded. «It's behind there, other side of that closet.»

Like she had, he took scope of the room. «It would be.» From his pocket, he took a handheld. It shot out a thin red beam when he en­gaged it. Roarke ran the beam over the wall and shelves.

«What does that do?»

«Sssh.»

She heard it, barely. A low hum emitting from the gadget he held.

«You've got steel behind the wall,» he said, glancing at the readout.

«I figured that out without the toy.»

He merely lifted an eyebrow at her. Moving closer, he keyed some­thing into the handheld. The hum became a slow, rhythmic beep. He played the beam of light, centimeter by centimeter, until she could hear her own teeth grinding.

«What if you—«

«Sssh,» he ordered again.

Eve gave up and walked out to meet Peabody when she heard the front door open.

«Snagged a couple neighbors. Nobody noticed any activity. Lots of shock and dismay over Icove. Nice, happy family, according to next door. Caught the woman—Maude Jacobs—before she headed out to work. Belongs to the same health club as Avril Icove, and they'd work­out together sometimes. Have a veggie juice after. Describes her as a nice woman, good mother, happy. Families did the dinner party thing every couple months. She never noticed any friction.»

Peabody glanced upstairs. «I figured I'd come back since I saw Roarke was here. Check out the room before we hit more neighbors?»

«He's working on it. We'll call EDD,» she continued as they headed back to the office. «Have them bring down— Never mind.»

The back wall was open. The door, more accurately, Eve corrected. It was a good six inches thick, and she could see a complex series of locks on the inside now.

«Frosty,» Peabody said as she moved toward the opening.

From inside, Roarke turned, shot her a grin. «It's an old panic room converted to a high-security office. Once you're inside, door shut, en­gaged, there's no getting in from the outside. All the electronics are independent.» He gestured to a short wall of screens. «You've got full surveillance of the house, inside and out. Stock provisions, you could hold out against home invasion, possibly a nuclear attack.»

«Records.» Eve looked at the blank computer screen.

«Unit's passcoded and fail-safed. I could bypass, but—«

«We'll take it in,» she interrupted. «Keep the chain of evidence clear.»

«Well, you can, but I can tell you it's likely been wiped. And there's not a single disc in the room.»

«He destroyed them first, or she took them. If it's the latter, she knew about the room. The wife would've known. Even if Icove didn't tell her about it, she'd have known. She's an artist for one thing. She'd understand symmetry, dimensions, balance, and the proportions are off in the bathroom.»

She took a hard look at the room, walked back out, took another study of the office.

«He's not going to destroy the discs,» she decided. «He's too orga­nized, too like his father. And you know what, this project is their life's work. It's their mission. He didn't think he was going to die, and he's got that vault in there. He feels secure about that. He feels secure ex­cept I'm asking questions, and he realizes his father kept records— coded, sure, but a little too accessible. So maybe he checks the room, just reassures himself. And it's under his skin.»

«If he knew the woman who killed his father, wouldn't he worry she'd come for him?» Peabody stepped out with Eve. «Could be why he sent his wife and kids away. For their safety.»

«A guy thinks there's a knife at his heart, he's going to shed some sweat. He didn't. He was pissy because I poked at his father. Con­cerned, even afraid that his father's death was a result of their work and we might screw that up. But you're afraid for your life, you run and hide. You don't hunker down in your house and take a sedative. Standard, mild. Morris,» Eve said before Peabody could ask.

«If there were records,» she added, «the killer has them. Question is, what was on them? And why does she want them?»

She turned to Roarke. «Let's look at it this way. You want to elimi­nate an organization, a company. Destroy it or take it over, whatever. What do you do?»

«A variety of things. But the quickest, most ruthless would be to cut off its head. Detach the brain, the body falls.»

«Yeah, like that.» Her lips curved, grimly. «The Icoves were pretty brainy guys. Even then, you'd want all the data, all the intel you can gather. Especially inside stuff. They didn't run it alone. You'd want to know the other players. Even if you know them, or some of them, you'd want the data. And to cover your tracks.»

«You think the killer will pick off others involved in this project:»

She nodded at Roarke. «I'm thinking hey, why stop now. Let's get the sweepers in here, Peabody. Then we're at Central. We've got a lot of reading to do.»

She started downstairs while Peabody called it in. «Oh, and Nadine's on for Thanksgiving,» she said to Roarke. «With maybe a date.

«Good. I spoke with Mavis. She said she and Leonardo will be there, ringing.»

«Ringing what?»

«With bells on, I assume.»

«What does that mean, anyway? Why would people come to your house wearing bells. It would just be annoying.»

«Mmm. Oh, and Peabody, she said if I spoke with you before she . . No, let me get this just right. If I tagged on you before she made the beep, I should tell you that she and Trina are jacked, and if it chills you. they'll group it tonight at Dallas's.»

Eve went dead white. «Dallas's what? Trina? No.»

«There, there,» Roarke soothed, and patted her hand. «Be brave, my little soldier.»

Instead, she rounded on Peabody like a panther. «What have you done?»

«I was… it was just I was thinking about maybe doing something with my hair, and I was talking to Mavis.»

«Oh. Oh. You bitch. I'll kill you. Rip out your internal organs with my bare hands then strangle you with your own large intestine.»

«Can I get my hair extensions first?» Peabody tried a game smile.

«I'll give you hair extensions.» She might have leaped, but Roark wrapped his arms around her from the back, held her in place. «Better run,» he warned Peabody, but she was already heading out the door at a trot.

«You could always kill Trina,» Roarke suggested.

«I don't think she can be killed.» Eve thought of the hair and skin specialist, and possibly the only entity on or off planet that terrified her. «Let go. I won't murder Peabody—yet—because I need her.»

He turned her around, gave her a squeeze. «Anything else I can do for you, Lieutenant?»

«I'll let you know.»

On the street there was no sign of Peabody. Waving Roarke off, she sat down on the steps to wait for the sweepers. Since her day was al­ready ruined with the prospect of an evening beauty treatment, she called the lab and had a round with the chief tech, Dick Berenski, not-so-affectionately known as Dickhead.

«Fruit was clean—and delicious.» His skinny face oiled onto her screen. «Cheese, crackers, tea, the whole shot. Cheese from cows and goats. Prime stuff. Too bad for his bad luck on dying before he ate.»

«Did you consume my evidence?»

«Sampled. Ain't evidence as it ain't tampered with. Got a couple strands of blond hair—natural blond. One off his sweater, two off the sofa. Nada on the murder weapon. Sealed tight. No prints on the snack tray either. Nothing on the food, plate, napkin, utensils. Nothing nowhere.»

No prints, she thought after she broke connection. If Icove had got­ten the tray, odds are he'd have left prints on something. So that added weight to her theory.

«Uh, sir?»

Peabody stood a safe distance away on the sidewalk. She rolled to the balls of her feet like a woman prepared to run. «I spoke with an­other neighbor. Same tone. I did verify the domestic's statement re­garding family routine and schedule.»

«Dandy. Why don't you come over here and sit down, Peabody.»

«No, thanks. Stretching my legs.»

«Coward.»

«No question about it.» Her face worked itself into an expression of mournful apology. «I didn't really do anything. It's not really my fault. I just ran into Mavis and said how I was thinking about new hair, and she grabbed that ball and sprinted for the touchdown.»

«You couldn't intercept from a pregnant woman?»

«She's fat, but she's spry. Don't kill me.»

«I've got too much on my mind right now to plan your murder. You'd better hope I stay busy.»

Back at Central, she set Peabody up with the masses of data Nadine had unearthed. Let her read until her eyes bleed, Eve thought, nearly satisfied.

She whipped around from Peabody's desk and grabbed Baxter by the collar. «You sniffing at me?»

«The coat. I was sniffing at the coat.»

«Cut it out.» She released him. «Sick bastard.»

«Jenkinson is Sick Bastard.»

«Yo,» Jenkinson called from across the room.

«If you can't keep your squad straight, Dallas, I worry about your command abilities.»

She angled her head at Baxter's winning smile. «You ever had face or body work, Baxter?»

«My intense good looks are a product of exceptional genes. Why? Something wrong with my face and body?»

«I want you to go through the Wilfred B. Icove Center. Soft clothes. You want a consult with their top face guy.»

«What's wrong with my face? Women melt when I use the power of my smile upon them.»

«The top face guy,» Eve repeated. «I want to know exactly what process you go through for the consult. I want the fee schedule, the vibe. I want to know what kind of shape they're in with both Icoves in the morgue.»

«Happy to help, Dallas, but let's consider this. Who'd believe I want something done to this face.» He turned his head, lifted his chin. «Check the profile, if you dare. It's a killer.»

«Use it to snuggle up to some of the female staff. Get me the what. You want a tour of the place before you put your face in their hands, and like that. Got it?»

«Sure. What about my boy?»

Eve looked over where Officer Troy Trueheart, Baxter's aide, sat in his cube doing paperwork. He was still as fresh as spring grass, but Baxter was fertilizing. «How's his lying coming along?»

«Better.»

Maybe, but he was young, built, and pretty. Better to send in a sea­soned cop—self-described killer profile or not. «Give him a pass on this. It should only take you a couple hours.»

She tagged Feeney, offered to buy him what passed for lunch at Cen­tral's eatery.

They squeezed into a booth and both ordered fake pastrami on mar­ginally fresh rye. Eve disguised hers by drowning it in mustard the unfortunate color of infected urine.

«First Icove,» Feeney began, slopping a soy fry through a puddle of anemic ketchup. «No transmissions in or out the night before the murder on his desk 'link, home office. Got copies of transmissions in and out on his office 'link, his pocket. Nothing to, from, or pertaining to the suspect.»

He chewed, swallowed, tried the stringy substance masquerading as pastrami. «Took a look at Dr. Will's 'links. Wife tagged him from her personal from the Hamptons about fifteen hundred the day of.»

«She didn't mention that.»

«Quick check-in. Kids're fine, had ice cream, friends coming over for drinks later. Wanted to know if he'd eaten anything, if he was get­ting any rest. Domestic stuff.»

«I bet he told her he was going home, locking down.»

«Yeah.» Feeney drowned another fry. «Told her he was going to try to get some work done, then close it down. He was tired, had a head­ache, and he'd had another round with you. Nothing on there anybody could call wonky.»

«But she knew his plans for the rest of the day. What else you get on Senior?»

«Patient records and charts are pretty extensive. I've got one of my boys with some med training weeding through those. But here's the thing.» He washed down the sandwich with truly horrible fake coffee. «Got a memo book, separate from the appointment calendar his admin turned over. Personal reminder stuff—grandkid's playdate, flowers for daughter-in-law, consult with one of the doctors on his staff, board meeting. He had the appointment with her in there. Just her first ini­tial, just D, the time, the date. Every other, if he was meeting another doctor, talking to a patient, he used first and last name, the time, the date, and a little buzzword pertaining to the purpose. Every single time, except for this one. And there's another thing.»

«What?»

«Memo book holds a year. We're in November, so that's eleven months. For eleven months, except when he's out of town on business or pleasure, he's got Monday and Thursday evenings and Wednesday afternoons clear. Not one booking. No dates, no appointment, nothing.»

«I saw that in his other book, but it didn't go back the full year. Yeah, that was a ping, all right. Regular activity he doesn't note down.»

«Regular like you never miss your daily portion of fiber.» Feeney wagged a soy chip. «Maybe you're into something, and you're orga­nized, you manage to keep a night open regular. But two nights and an afternoon, every week for eleven months? That's pretty damned focused.»

«I'm going to need you to spread it out, go back further. Do the same on Icove Two. See if they took any of the same nights off. And I'm in­terested in any mention of Brookhollow Academy and/or College. Any mention of Jonah D. Wilson or Eva Hannson Samuels.»

Feeney took out his own memo book to key in the names. «Going to tell me why?»

She filled him in while they worked their way through lunch.

«How bad could the pie be?» he wondered, and punched a selection into the table menu, along with requests for two more coffees.

«Okay, Dr. Will,» he said. «Anybody tampered with locks or secu­rity, they had invisible hands. Nothing shows.»

«They had to pass the voice print. Can you pull out the voice?»

«Can't.» He shook his head. «System doesn't hold it. Security. Doesn't leave room for somebody to pull it out, record it, clone it. I gotta say who­ever came in was let in or was authorized, or is a freaking genius.»

«She's smart, but not a genius. Smart enough not to make it look like a break-in. More confusing,» she said when Feeney raised his brows. «The wife's solid in the Hamptons. According to her, to the do­mestics, nobody outside the household had the codes or was author­ized. So that leaves us with a ghost. We gotta look at the wife. Look again, but she's got several independent witnesses who put her miles away while her husband was getting his heart cut open. We're looking for an accomplice, for a connect between her and Dolores. And so far, there's zip.»

«Except there's this project.»

«And the school.»

Eve nodded. «Yeah. I think I'm going to have to take a trip to New Hampshire. What do people do in New Hampshire?»

«Beats the hell out of me.» Feeney frowned at the plate that slid out of the order slot. On it was a mushy triangle on the brown side of orange.

«Is that supposed to be pumpkin pie?» Eve asked. «It looks more like a slice of—«

«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 professional 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 fucking 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 very 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.