Fantasy in Death (In Death 30)

They watched in silence while Cill hovered between life and death.

19

When Eve stepped into the waiting area, both men jerked to their feet, then seemed to deflate back into their chairs. “We’re waiting for the doctor, for one of the medical team.” Var looked up at the clock. “It’s been a long time.”

“They said they’d update us. But nobody’s been in for more than an hour now.”

“I’ve been observing the surgery,” Eve began, and held up a hand when both men rose again and began talking at once. “Hold it. They’re working on her, hard. There was some trouble—Hold it!” she ordered again over the peppering questions. “I didn’t bring my medical degree, but I can tell you it appears they’re doing everything they can.”

“You got to watch, to see her? Where?” Benny demanded.

“We could go there, see her. It’s got to be better than just sitting here.”

“You’re not allowed to observe. Only medical personnel, police in a criminal matter, or family.”

“But we’re—”

“You’re not family,” Eve interrupted as Benny protested.

“Not legally,” Peabody said more gently. “I understand what you mean about family. I have friends who are family to me. But you’re not legally her family, so they might be sticky about the technicalities right now. It sounds like it’s going to be a while more,” she continued. “You should go get some air, some food, take a walk. It’ll make the time go faster,” she added.

“Something might happen while we’re not here.”

“I’ve got your ’link numbers,” Peabody told Benny. “If anything happens, anything changes, I’ll let you know right away.”

“Maybe we could get some air. And they probably have a chapel or meditation center. We could . . .” Var flushed a little, lifted his hands helplessly. “You know.”

“Yeah. That’s good. That’s a good thing to do. Just for a few minutes. If anything happens—”

“I promise.” Peabody watched them walk out together, nodded at Eve as she pulled out her communicator.

“Tell the shadows not too close,” Eve said. “I don’t want them to know we’ve got anyone on them yet.” She turned to Roarke. “Look, I know you’ve got an interest in this, but if you’re not going back to work to buy up the northern hemisphere, I think Feeney could really use you.”

“Distracting me?”

“That’s a side benefit. Either Peabody or I will be in here, keeping tabs on Cill, and watching the partners. I’m going to see if I can cop a room where I can set up shop and do some work while we switch off.”

“Let me be liaison there. I’ll see about getting you a work area, then I’ll see if Feeney wants me.”

“Good enough.”

“You said you had technical questions, before.”

“Yeah, and I do.” Wrong place, wrong time, Eve thought. “Let me line them up a little better first.”

“All right.” He curled the tips of his fingers in hers briefly. “Stay in touch, will you?”

“Yeah.” She turned back to Peabody. “Anything about the last ninety minutes I should know?”

“No. They’re acting and reacting as you’d expect given the circumstances. I swear, I don’t get any vibe off either of them.”

“If I’m gone before they get back, I want you to get them to agree to having officers go in their apartments to check their alibis. Just getting it off the slate so we can focus on Cill and how this happened to her. You know how to play it.”

“Can do.”

“Get their agreement on record. Then get EDD to send somebody to each place. I want somebody who knows how to look for details that aren’t on a comp. Just observe, note, report. We have the record from yesterday’s search. Let’s see what’s different today, if anything.”

“Yes, sir. How bad was it? Was she? When you were observing?”