Delusion in Death (In Death 35)

Couldn’t get past her, Eve calculated, and into the conference room where even Nadine didn’t have the balls to intrude.

Eve moved forward, recognizing by those clicking heels and the swinging box Nadine was steamed.

“Getting an early start today,” Eve commented on Nadine’s return trip.

Those cat-green eyes fired. “You don’t return my half dozen contacts, and Jenkinson—Jenkinson, for God’s sake—turns down three dozen handmade pastries and tells me I have to wait out here or in the lounge. I get nothing but spin and double-speak from the media liaison. I deserve better than this, Dallas. Goddamn it.”

“I haven’t returned your contacts or any from the media. We’re Code Blue until the media conference later today.” Eve shot up a hand before Nadine could snarl a response. “My men, including Jenkinson, have more on their minds than pastries. Whatever you think you deserve, Nadine, there are times you just have to wait.”

“If you don’t trust me after all this—”

“It’s not a matter of trust. It’s about time and priorities. I can give you five minutes, and that’s all.” She turned into the bullpen, held out her hand for the bakery box. Jaw tight, Nadine shoved it at her. “Go on into my office. I’ll be right there.”

Leaving Nadine to go or stay, she crossed to Jenkinson’s desk.

“Sorry, LT. I couldn’t order her out of the building, but—”

“No problem.” She dropped her bag on his desk. “The minute Peabody gets in, give that to her, tell her to start setting up in the conference room. She’ll figure it out.”

“You got it.”

Eve plopped the big pink box beside the bag. “Fuel up. It’s going to be a long one.”

His tired face brightened. “Yes, sir!”

She heard, as she started toward her office, the stampede as detectives and uniforms surged Jenkinson.

Rather than taking the undeniably uncomfortable visitor’s chair, Nadine stood at Eve’s skinny window, arms folded.

“What group is responsible for the attack on the bar? Has Homeland or any government anti-terrorist organization joined this investigation? How many individuals infiltrated the bar, and do you have any in custody? Will you confirm a biological agent was used in this attack? There are sources that claim some of the victims were induced to injure or even kill others. Can you confirm?”

While Nadine rolled out questions, Eve rested her hip on the corner of her desk, waited.

“You just wasted a chunk of your five. You can be quiet, listen to what I can and will tell you, or you can keep wasting your time.”

“This is bullshit, Dallas.”

“No, it’s not bullshit, not when over eighty people are dead. Not when families, friends, neighbors are reeling from the shock of that loss. Not when the handful of survivors is struggling with intense physical and emotional trauma.”

“I spent time with some of those families and friends yesterday. I know what they’re dealing with. You’re not giving them any answers.”

“I can’t. Not yet. The reason you’re in this office, and I’m talking to you isn’t because we’re friends. We’ve both got jobs to do, and we’re both damn good at our jobs. You’re in here because you’re the best I know, and because I know whatever I tell you to hold, you’ll hold. I don’t doubt that, and I don’t have to ask for your word. That’s not friendship either, it’s knowing what you do isn’t just a job to you, any more than mine is to me. So be quiet, and listen, or let me get back to what I have to do.”

Nadine took a long breath, rolled her shoulders, shook back her streaky blond hair. Then she moved to the visitor’s chair, sat.

“Okay. I’m listening.”

“I don’t know what Whitney plans to say in the media conference. I haven’t had time to connect with the liaison. Whatever I tell you that isn’t part of that statement, part of what the NYPSD released to the public, has to hold.”

“All right. I want to record—”

“You can’t. Take notes if you need to in that weird code of yours. Your eyes only.”

“You’re starting to spook me,” Nadine said as she dug out a notebook.

“I haven’t even started. We’ve identified a chemical substance that was released in the bar. Hallucinogenic base that causes paranoid delusions and violent behavior. It acts quickly, only lasts a short amount of time, but long enough. It’s airborne, and as far as we know, these effects are also limited in area.”

“Like the bar, with the doors and windows closed, the air circulation helping disperse it.”