Reunion in Death

«I could say because you have enough to do, which is true. But let's be frank, darling Eve; you're a miserable packer and never take what you end up needing if left to yourself.»

«I bet he sniffs my underwear.»

Roarke's lips trembled. «Now that's quite the image you've put in my brain.» He crossed to her, cupped her face in his hands. «You made it up with Sam. I saw you out the window.»

«He was so busy beating himself up I had a hard time getting a shot in.»

«Softie.»

«Watch it, pal.»

He bent down and kissed her scowling mouth. «It'll be our little secret. Believe me, no one watching you in that interview with Nadine would suspect you've a soft center in there. You looked formidable, Lieutenant. Diamond bright and just as hard. But she still won't come after you.»

«I don't know what you mean.»

«Aye, you do.»

She shrugged, started to step back, but he simply tightened his grip. «It's worth a shot.»

«You won't stand in front of me on this, or anything else.»

«Don't tell me my job.»

«Fair enough. Don't tell me mine. I've one question to ask you, then we'll let this matter go for a bit. I want the truth, Eve, and I'll see the truth in your eyes whatever the words are.»

He would, she thought. He was better at sifting out lies than a Truth Tester. «Why don't you ask the damn question instead of putting me on the defensive and irritating me?»

«Are we going to Dallas tomorrow to get me out of Julianna's way?»

«No. That's not the reason, but it's a side benefit and buys me some time. It's not the reason. Ease back a little, will you?»

He let his hands stroke down her cheeks, her shoulders, her arms. Then he let her go.

«I could ask Feeney to go. He could handle the interview with Parker. I nearly did ask him. Either one of us could make the trip, and I started justifying asking him to do it by telling myself he might get more out of Parker. Man to man, that kind of thing. Which is bullshit, because when it's cop to witness gender better not have dick to do with it. You're the badge, and that's that. I was on the point of asking him to take it because I wanted to save myself.»

«There's no shame in that, Eve, if you're not ready.»

«When will I be ready?» It burst out of her, bitter and bright. «Tomorrow, a year from tomorrow? Never? If I let this interfere with standard investigative procedure, where does that leave me next time I ram into something that scares me on a personal level? I won't be a coward. So I'm going to do my job. That's number one. Number two, I get you out of the way for a day or two so I can think it through. The rest… I'll deal with it when I get there.»

She buried herself in work. Peabody had come through with a reasonably workable list of disbarred doctors who fit the basic criteria, and maintained a residence in New York.

«What are you looking for here to link one of these hundred and twenty disgraced physicians with Julianna?»

«A possible connection to her original source,» Eve told Roarke. «Personality type. I figure any doctor who'd supply Mad Munch with enough curare and cyanide to take out the entire Church of Hereafter wouldn't quibble about supplying a psychopathic man-killer with what she needed. Or would know someone who would.»

She studied the data as Roarke stood behind her office chair, rubbing her shoulders in that absent and perfect way he had that zeroed in on the exact spot that needed attention.

«If he's not her source, he might know her source. If I crap out on her connection, but ID Doctor Doom, I pass him to the Feds as my good deed for the decade.»

«Why don't they already have him?»

«They didn't punch the right button with Mook at the right time and he was the only one left. I always knew he had a little more in his gut, but they thought he'd spilled it all, and I didn't have any juice to push it back then. They roughed him up a little instead of threatening to take away his pain, and when he said he'd told them everything, they figured he had.»

«That case was ten years back, wasn't it?» Roarke asked.

«Yeah, I was still in uniform. So?»

«Born a cop,» he declared and kissed the top of her head.

«According to Mook the doctor didn't help himself to any lemonade that night. That tells me the religious angle didn't tickle his fancy. So maybe it was the self-termination as long as it wasn't his own that pulled him in. I've got three guys here who lost their licenses to practice because they helped patients along to Jesus without their consent.»

«Playing God's a weighty business.»

«Oscar Lovett, David P. Robinson and Eli Young, in alphabetical order. Those are my three best bets. I'll sic Feeney on them. They don't play out, we'll start working our way down.»

Her desk 'link beeped and as she was still frowning at the screen Roarke answered.

«Hello, Roarke.» Louise Dimatto smiled silkily. «I hope I'm not interrupting anything.»

«Always a pleasure to hear from you. How are you, Louise?»