Echoes in Death (In Death 44)

“Tube’s fine.”

He brought two over, dropped into the facing chair in the sitting area, cracked both. “I get you’re doing your job.” He handed her one of the tubes.

“I get you’re protective of your partner and his wife. I take it you go back.”

“All the way back. Neville and I are cousins. Our mothers are sisters.”

“Is that right?”

“Yeah. His mom did the exchange-student thing, fell for London, and up and moved there when she was like eighteen. Went to college—well, university, got married. Neville’s dad lost his first wife—car wreck. Anyway, we’d go over and visit them, they’d come here. I spent some summers there. Nev and I, we loved the vids. His dad’s a director so we’d get to go on set. Anyway, we started planning when we were kids how we’d start up our own producti

on company, our own studio.”

“And now you have.”

“We made it happen.” Kyle leaned forward. “I’m saying this, laying it out so you’ll understand. Nev’s not just my partner, he’s my family. My best friend. What happened to him and Rosa…”

He sat back again, gulped from his tube, stared hard at the wall. “If I caught the bastard who did this—”

“That’s my job.”

“Yeah?” His eyes locked on hers. “It’s been seven months. I haven’t seen you getting the job done.”

“You will,” she said simply. “Your cousin suggested I ask you about a couple of vendors you’ve used professionally. Jacko’s Catering, Lone Star Rentals.”

“You having a party? Sorry,” he said quickly, and rubbed his temple. “Seriously, I’m sorry. I’m just pissed off. Rosie looks so damn fragile.”

“You’re close to Rosa, too?”

“She’s family. Hell, I was with Nev the first time he laid eyes on her. I told him then and there to make a move, but she was with somebody else, and Nev’s no poacher. Worked out, though. Anyway.” He shook his head. “We’ve used Jacko’s—office parties, a couple of private screenings. Same with Loan Star. What’s that have to do with what happened to my family?”

“Dotting i’s. Have you used either personally?”

“Rented from Loan Star once … maybe twice? I used Jacko’s once. Basically, I don’t do a lot of entertaining at home. I’m more the wine-and-dine guy—pick a restaurant or club that fits the guest, pull out the stops.”

“I’m sure it’s in the file, but could you tell me where you were when your cousin and his wife were attacked?”

“Yeah, the other cops checked it out so I don’t have to look it up.” His jaw tightened, then he visibly relaxed it. “I know you have to ask, but it’s still insulting. I had a dinner meeting—a director we wanted to pull onto a project, his wife, the female lead we’d signed, the male lead and his date. It went from about seven-thirty until about ten. Got the director,” he added with a smile. “I went home, settled in with a stack of potential project reports.”

“Did you see or speak to anyone?”

“Nobody but the house droid. I had it bring me warm cookies and a vanilla shake about midnight. It’s a weakness. I’d already gone to bed when I got the tag from Detective Olsen. It was about three A.M. I went straight to the hospital.”

He pushed up, walked to his windows, circled the room. “Sorry, it still gets me right in the gut. Seeing them that way. Nothing like that, nothing has ever happened to somebody I love. We make vids with some nasty shit, but that’s make-believe. It’s not real. All the director says is ‘Cut,’ and it’s done. I don’t know if this will ever be.

“This monster took their lives—their everyday lives, their normalcy. How do they ever get that back?”

“Knowing the person who did this is locked in a cage can be a good step toward that.”

Kyle came back, dropped into the chair again. “Whatever I can do to help put him there, consider it done.”

“You make a lot of the vids here?”

“In New York? Yeah, we have our own studio. Neville and I built the company on the idea of starting small, being self-sufficient. We’ve got the studio right here, and now another soundstage in Brooklyn. Our team of scouts, production teams, our own writers for original productions and series.”

“Makeup, costumes.”

“Sure. Our girl copped an Emmy, two years running now, for makeup in an original series. Planet Plague. Christ, don’t cops watch screen?”