Calculated in Death (In Death 36)

“Bet I could,” she said, then left him to it.

Eve boosted up the heat in her vehicle so the warm blasted when Peabody got in.

“Oh, oh God! This feels good. I was seriously freezing my tits off.”

“You did good, Dolly Darling.”

“I made up a little background so I’d be more believable.”

“As a licensed companion/stripper with a cheating boyfriend named Mickey.”

“Yeah. A guy’s going to figure his chances of getting laid are increased when it’s an LC. I mean, it’s my job to screw people. And the stripper deal? I figure guys are always fantasizing about women taking their clothes off, so it was a double tap. Oh, and Dolly Darling’s my stage name. I’d have gotten to that if he needed more. Do I get a bonus for letting him grab my boob?”

“Your boob, like the rest of you, belongs to the NYPSD. Besides, McNab’s going to ride you like a racehorse first chance. That’s your bonus.”

“You brought up sex and McNab!”

“This once, also your bonus.”

“I’ve got this outfit at home Dolly would wear. I’m going to put it on tonight and—”

“You didn’t earn that big a bonus. He’s going to lawyer up. We surprised him, confused him, so he didn’t start off yelling for one. But he’ll go that route.”

“We’ll have enough on him, and plenty to work a deal.”

“Yeah. I’d like to stall that for a bit. Why don’t you let the PA know we’ve got him in custody, and we’re going to start sweating him. I want that face match. We won’t have to deal if we can ID the muscle.”

“We’re running short on time before we have to notify the feds.”

“Tomorrow night, one way or the other. By tomorrow night we wrap it—or we bring them in.”

• • •

And she wanted to wrap it, Eve thought as she headed for Milo and Interview B. She really wanted to wrap it in a goddamn bow.

She stepped inside with Peabody—back in her jacket, her shirt primly buttoned. “Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, and Peabody, Officer Delia, entering Interview with Easton, Milo. How’s it going, Milo?”

“I’ve got nothing to say.”

“Does that mean you’ve been read your rights and understand same?”

“I know my fricking rights. I want a lawyer. I don’t say a word without a lawyer.”

“That’s fine, no problem. Just some free advice. Word’s out that your . . . client, we’ll call him, is still cleaning house. You’re due to be swept up, Milo, so you’re going to want to be careful which lawyer you call in. Any connection to that client, it could mean we wasted our time saving your bony ass today.”

“Saving my ass? You think I’m stupid?”

“I’m told you’re really smart, e-wise. I don’t know how smart you are people-wise. You’re the last thread he needs to snip. You might think about hiding in that electronic fortress of yours, but sooner or later, he’ll get to you. We did, and it didn’t take much.”

Milo sat back, sneered. “Lawyer.”

“All right. Peabody, contact the PA, let him know Milo’s engaged his right to an attorney so there’s no need to craft that deal. And let’s get Milo his ’link call, then put him in protective lockdown, the full twenty-four/seven. We don’t want anybody saying we didn’t do everything we could to keep him alive while we have him.”

Eve swore she could see the wheels turning—or in his case, the motherboard firing—as she got to her feet. “You can pull in a fleet of lawyers, Milo, but you won’t walk out of this. We’ll have enough to tuck you away—without electronic access—for a couple decades. And that’s just with what we get out of your house. Add in the fraud charges, the tax evasion, the money laundering, book cooking, embezzlement, and you’ll be a broken old man before you see daylight.”

“You’ve got squat. You won’t find anything on my equipment, and the fraud? All that shit? Bogus.”

“Maybe you aren’t as smart as they said. Won’t find anything. Jesus, Milo, we found you, didn’t we? And I’m betting half of the parts and equipment—more than—you’ve got in your geek haven was designed, made, and sold by Roarke Industries. And the man himself is even now taking all your toys apart.”