Origin in Death (In Death 21)

"Beats the living crap out of me. I flunked biology, and barely got a skim through chemistry."

Eve sat, staring into space for so long Peabody finally snapped hr fingers. "You in there?"

"I've got it. Get ahold of Louise. See if she's interested in getting r-skin slathered or her hair fried, whatever's on tonight's menu. Push it.

"Sure. But what-"

"Just do it." She swiveled to her desk, engaged the 'link. Rather than go through channels and Roarke's admin, she used his private code a~ left a voice mail.

"Get back to me when you can. I have an underhanded assignment that's right up your alley. I'm heading home shortly, so if you're tied up awhile, I'll just fill you in when you get there."

Two blocks from home she spotted him in her rearview. It amused hr enough to have her use the dash 'link. "I can spot a tail, pal."

"I'm always delighted to see yours. Your message didn't sound urgent, but it did sound intriguing."

"I'll fill you in in a few. Just in case, you got a full dish tomorrow?”

"A bit of this, a bit of that. All portions in my endless feast of world domination and turkey hoarding."

"Kick free for a couple hours?"

"Will it involve sweaty and possibly illegal sex acts?"

"No."

"In that case, I'll just have to check my schedule."

"If the time you put in helps me close this case, you get the sweaty and illegal sex act of your choice."

"Well, fancy that. As luck would have it, I believe I have a couple hours free tomorrow."

She laughed, and led the way through the gates toward home.

"I don't think we've ever done this before," she said when they both stepped out of their vehicles. "Gotten home at the same time."

"Then let's do something we rarely do, and take a walk."

"It's getting dark."

"Plenty of light yet," he disagreed, and slung a friendly arm around her shoulders.

She fell into step with him. "What do you know about Unilab?"

"A multipronged organization, roots in the Urban Wars. Humani­tarian prong provides permanent and mobile laboratories for volunteer medical groups. UNICEF, DWB, Peace Corps, and so on. Its medical research prong, with its main base here in New York, is considered one of the top in the country. It also has clinics in urban and rural areas worldwide to provide care for the financially challenged. Your first vic­tim was one of the founders."

"And with him dead, his cofounder dead, his son dead, Unilab might be interested in an outside source with plenty of moolah."

"Most are interested in moolah, but why do you suppose the board of directors of Unilab would be interested in mine, particularly."

"Because it goes along with your brain, your contacts, your savvy. Seems to me if you made interested noises they'd agree to a meet, and a grand tour."

"More likely to get a warm welcome if there was the carrot of a sub­stantial donation or endowment."

"If you took that angle, would it look wrong for you to take along your medical expert?"

"No. It would look wrong if I didn't have an entourage." As they walked, soft lights winked on at ground level, triggered by motion. He wondered if he should plan any outdoor activities on the grounds for the children. Perhaps he should have some playground equipment installed.

Perhaps he was making himself crazy.