Memory in Death (In Death 22)

“Okay. Thanks.”

Eve strode out. “Goddamn if somebody lolls around drinking wine and eating pie when her husband’s racked up in the hospital. Would you?”

r /> “No. And neither would you. But eating pie isn’t a crime, and I can’t tell you it’s out of the normal scope of reactions.”

“How come she didn’t contact Bobby’s pal and partner to tell him Bobby was hurt?”

“She might very well have done so, on her personal ‘link.”

“Yeah, we’ll check that. I’m betting she didn’t. Didn’t get in touch because she didn’t want him heading out here, or keeping her tied up talking out the details, buzzing her back for updates. She wanted a little alone time with her fucking pie.”

Mira laughed out loud before she could cough it away, and earned a scowl. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not funny, it was just such an image. You want a profile, I’ll give you one.”

She got back in the car, strapped in. “The subject is a young, inexperienced woman, who appears used to—and amenable to—being told what she should do. She looks to her husband to make decisions, while she deals with the more domestic areas. This is her comfort zone. She enjoys attention while having a tendency to be skittish and shy. She has an orderly, tidy, and, I would say, submissive nature.”

“Or she’s slipped that persona on like a skin-suit.”

“Yes, or, if you’re right, Eve, this is a very clever, very calculating woman. One who would be willing to subvert her own nature for a considerable length of time in order to reach her goal. She’s been married to this man for several months, which brings them into a very intimate relationship every day. She knew and worked for him before that, was courted by him. Maintaining a pose contrary to her nature would be a very impressive feat.”

“I’m prepared to be impressed. I’m not pushing aside other possibilities, other suspects,” she added. “I’m just adding her in.”

And keeping her at the top of my list, Eve thought.

* * *

Chapter 18

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BOBBY WAS SITTING UP IN BED WHEN EVE stepped into his room. His eyes were closed, and the entertainment unit was set, she assumed, for a book on disc. In any case, there were voices spilling out of it in what seemed to be an intense and passionate argument.

If he was sleeping, he didn’t need to hear it. If he wasn’t, she needed his attention. So she stepped closer to the unit. “Pause program,” she ordered.

In the sudden silence Bobby stirred, opened his eyes.

“Zana? Oh, Eve. I must’ve nodded off. Sort of listening to a book. Crappy book,” he added with an attempt at a smile. “The nurse told me Zana was coming in soon.”

“I just left her a little while ago. I’m having a couple of uniforms drive her to and from. It’s nasty outside.”

“Yeah.” He looked out the window, his expression brooding.

“So. How’re you feeling?”

“I don’t know. Clumsy, stupid, annoyed to be here. Sorry for myself.”

“You’re entitled.”

“Yeah, that’s what myself s telling me. The flowers, the tree. It’s nice.”

He gestured toward the little fake pine decorated with miniature Santas. To Eve’s mind, it looked like the jolly old elf had been hanged, multiple times, in effigy.

“Zana told me you helped pick them out.”

“Not really. I was just there.”

“She thinks of stuff like that. Little things like that. This is a really, really shitty Christmas for her.”

“For you, too. It sucks out loud, Bobby, and I’m going to add to it by asking you if you’ve thought of anything else, remembered anything. About what happened to your mother, about what happened to you.”