Visions in Death (In Death 19)

“Yes, somebody hurt her.”

His face was already splotchy from weeping, but now it went white under the stain. “You said the park. Oh, my Jesus Christ. You said the park. Those other women. It was like those other women? Annalisa?”

“Tell me where you had your session, and who was there, and we’ll get that out of the way.”

“Tunes, on Prince. Um. Bird. God, God.” His hands were all over his face, into his hair, fingers trembling. “John Bird, and Katelee Poder and I can’t think straight. Her mother, have you told her mother?”

“We’ve just come from there.”

“They’re tight. Really tight. Gave me the once-over about five times. But she’s okay. We get along good. I gotta go over there.”

“Mr. Grande, do you know if anyone was bothering Annalisa? Someone you noticed, someone she mentioned.”

“No. She’ll mention

if her nose itches, so she’d say if there was. I’ve gotta go see her mom. I’ve gotta go be with her family. We need to go see Annalisa together. We need to do that together.”

She’d had a solid seven hours’ sleep, Eve thought, and had ended the previous day with a nice dinner with friends, and very satisfying sex. Despite all that, she carried a vicious headache with her into Mira’s section.

Mira’s admin informed her, with more amiability than usual, that the doctor was in session with Ms. Sanchez, but she would let them know Lieutenant Dallas had arrived.

“Let them finish,” Eve told her. “It’s better I’m not in there anyway. I’ve got some things I can take care of while I wait.”

She checked her messages first, and found one from Berenski in the lab, gleefully relating that he’d nailed her shoe from the imprint.

“My genius knows no borders or boundaries. Took your pathetic imprint on grass, worked my magic, and reconstructed the tread. Matched the tread. Big foot was in a size fifteen Mikon, style called Avalanche. It’s a modified hiking boot, and there’s not a lot of wear on this one. Retails at about three-seven-five. Eleven outlets in the city deal with that brand and carry it in that size. Got your list attached. You can come in and plant a big, wet one on me later.”

“Yeah, that’ll happen.”

But she appreciated the magic, and scanned the attachment. After highlighting the outlets inside or bordering her downtown parameter, she spent the rest of her wait time writing her preliminary report.

She glanced up when the door opened.

“Dallas.” Celina hurried out. Her eyes were swollen from a recent crying jag.

“Eve, why don’t you come in.” Mira gestured. “Celina, why don’t you both come back in for a moment.”

“I let you down.” Celina closed a hand over Eve’s arm as they walked toward Mira’s office. “I let myself down.”

“You didn’t.”

Eve sat, prepared to accept flowery tea, then sniffed like a hound when she smelled coffee.

“I knew you’d want it, and probably need it,” Mira said as she offered a cup. “It’s station house, but it’s coffee.”

“Thanks.”

“I didn’t check the media reports this morning. Thank you,” Celina said to Mira, and took the tea. “I wanted to hear it from you. I’ve cried all over Dr. Mira and gotten the worst of it out. I won’t break down again. But first, I want to tell you. I never even considered that he’d be out . . . that he’d hurt anyone last night. I was so damn tired, Dallas, and I wanted to get a good night’s sleep before my appointment this morning. I just wanted to close everything out, so I took a couple of tranqs.”

“That sort of thing block visions?”

“It can.” Celina glanced toward Mira, got a nod. “The drug suppresses. I might have seen something, but I’d have been under so deep I wouldn’t know. Hypnosis could bring it out. Just as it could lower the blocks on the others, so I would see in more detail. See what I hadn’t allowed myself to see.”

“Quite possibly,” Mira confirmed. “Just as it can take a witness to an event back to the event, and bring more details, focus them in, through the practitioner’s direction, to specifics. The things you see,” she continued, “that you don’t consciously recall.”

“I get that,” Eve said. “When can you do it?”

“We haven’t done the physical exam as yet. If I don’t find any problems, we could begin the sessions tomorrow.”