Reunion in Death

«By now, if she wasn't already aware of it, she'll know I'll be attending a public event where there'll be a great deal of people, a great deal of food and drink, and a large staff serving them. She'll know my wife will be attending with me. It's a tailor-made opportunity for her. She'll take it. Odds are, she'd already planned to do so.»

«We can't be certain of that,» Eve corrected. Though she'd already thought of it, had been planning on finding a way to wiggle out of the event. «If she's just learning of it, it's a narrow window of time for her to confidently blend herself into the staff or guests, and for us,» Eve added, «to confidentially assess and adjust security to ensure the protection of civilians. You won't be the only rich bastard there. This proposal puts others at risk.»

He brushed off her concerns, her objections, with an elegant shrug. One he knew would madden her. «The function takes place whether or not I attend. If she's targeted someone else ahead of me, they're already at risk. And if she has targeted someone else, the temptation to shift to me while you're there would be very great. It's you she wants to hurt, Lieutenant. I'm just her weapon against you. Do you think I'll be used for that? For anything?»

«In your opinion,» Whitney said into the thrumming silence, «does the suspect have any reason to believe you're aware of her intention to hit Roarke?»

«I can't know what she's-«

«Lieutenant.» Whitney's tone bit. «Your opinion.»

Training warred with temper, and won. «No, sir. This subject doesn't fit her pattern, and she specifically informed me of the type she'd targeted. She would have no reason to suspect or believe that I would have concern in this area, that I would look outside the box. She respects me, but is confident I'm running behind her chasing only the trail she's left me.»

«Run the play, Dallas.» Whitney got to his feet again. «Work the angles, plug the holes, close the box. Whatever equipment and manpower you need, you'll get. We'll discuss this further tomorrow. Tomorrow,» he repeated, anticipating her protest. «When tempers aren't so close to the surface. I respect your temper, Lieutenant, as I do your rank and your abilities. Dismissed.»

Not trusting herself to speak, Eve gave him a curt nod and walked out.

When Peabody trotted out after her Eve's snarl was enough to hold her off.

«Keep out of the line of fire.» Roarke laid a hand on Peabody's shoulder. «It's me she wants to blast into small, bleeding pieces, but you could get caught in the stream and you've had a good day till now.»

«From where I'm standing you deserve a blast. Don't you think she took enough of a pounding yesterday?»

To Roarke's considerable surprise, Peabody turned on her heel and marched in the opposite direction. With his temper notching up from slow burn to fast simmer, he strode after his wife. He caught up with her just as she stalked into her office and managed to slap a hand on the door an instant before it slammed in his face.

«Get out. Get the hell out.» She grabbed discs, shoved them into a file. «This is still my area.»

«We'll discuss this.»

«I've got nothing to discuss with you.» She slung the file bag over her shoulder, then shoved him when he blocked her path to the door.

«You want to fight then? Well, isn't it handy I'm in just the mood for it. But we'll take this to neutral territory.»

«Neutral territory, my ass. There is no neutral territory with you. You own the goddamn city.»

«We'll take this out of here, Lieutenant, unless you want to have a bloody, shouting fight with your husband for a couple dozen cops to hear. Doesn't matter a damn to me, but you'll be sorry for it when you've come to your senses.»

«I've got all my senses.» And because she did, she managed to keep her voice low. «Let's take it outside, pal.»

«Outside it is.»

They didn't speak again, but the volume of their silence had several cops easing back when they pushed into the elevator. She stalked onto the garage level ahead of him, then knocked his hand away when he reached for the driver's side door.

«I'm driving,» he told her, «as you've too much blood in your eye to do the job.»

Deciding to pick her battles, Eve strode around the car and dropped into the passenger's seat.

He didn't tear out of the garage, though he wanted to. She'd just try to have him arrested for some traffic violation, he thought nastily. He, too, was picking his battles. Still he wove through traffic with a kind of controlled violence that had other vehicles giving way. Another time, she would have admired it, but at the moment his skill simply reinforced her resentment.

He pulled over at the west edge of Central Park, slammed out of the car while she did the same on the opposite side.

«I don't own this.»

«I bet that sticks in your craw.»

«What I own, don't own, acquire, don't acquire, is irrelevant.»

«You don't own my badge.»

«I don't want your goddamn badge.» He crossed the sidewalk and kept walking across the green summer grass.