Dark in Death (In Death 46)

And there, she thought. There you are.

Still studying, she hit her interoffice comm, snapped, “Peabody!”

Changed the coat, she thought. It’s reversible—that’s thinking of the details. Pale gray now with weird little penguins all over it. And the cap, changed to an earflap with pom-poms on dangles at the sides.

Same boots, same trousers—can’t change everything.

Playing it up, Eve observed. You know where the cameras are, so you keep your face angled just enough. And you’re laughing, like you’re with the people around you, while you pull on those stupid pink-lensed wind goggles.

“Sir!” Peabody rushed in.

“What do you see?” Eve tapped her screen.

“Ah, female, Caucasian, probably. About, um, five-six. Maybe five-seven, on the heavy side at like, a buck-sixty. Long winter coat, gray with black-and-white penguins. Winter cap, earflaps, long ties with pom-poms. Dark scarf, wind goggles with pink lenses.”

Eve ordered the feed to cue to the first stop point.

“What do you see?” she repeated.

“Okay, male, Caucasian. Like, ah, five-seven, five-eight? Medium build. Long, dark winter coat, dark cap and scarf, sunshades, dark lenses.”

“Split screen,” Eve ordered. “Now?”

“Well, they …” Peabody jerked back, then leaned in. “The same damn boots. The same pants. There’s a height difference, maybe. I don’t think that’s cam angle, but … The cut of the coat, that’s the same, too. Reversible. Take a minute, turn it inside out, retie the scarf. The cap, it could be the same one, too, turn it inside out, pull down the flaps and ties. Yank out the lifts. Switch the shades for the goggles.”

“What do you conclude?”

&n

bsp; “I conclude I’m looking at the killer, and the killer’s female. You can get more height with lifts, but you can’t shrink—without removing lifts. The coat adds bulk, and she could easily add more under it, so she may not be as heavy as she looks here. No hair showing, no eye color, and we can only get a partial on the face. Hell, we can’t get a clear view of the ears or eyebrows, but I see a woman.”

Eve pushed up, gestured. “Get me hard copies, full body, close-up on the faces.”

She stalked over to her window, scowled out. “Send them to Reineke and Jenkinson. They can show them around. She didn’t look like that for the Kent murder, but you’ve got to try. I looked at the feed last night. I didn’t catch it.”

“You weren’t looking for the transformation. McNab and I looked at it, too.”

“I didn’t go back far enough. She came in a solid twenty minutes before the victim. Came in, settled in while they were still having a pre-vid drink. Then she just had to shift her seat when they came in, sit down behind Rylan. Sit in the back until, that’s what I’d do. Sit, wait, watch. Maybe slip in behind Rylan after the movie starts.”

She turned back. “Why bother to change the look to leave? Is it, what, a flourish? For fun?”

“Plot twist? It’s a story for her. Her story, but a story. So, come in as a man, kill the character as a man, leave as a woman. Plot twist.”

“Plot twist.” Eve grabbed her coat. “Let’s go see the writer.”

Blaine DeLano lived with her family in a settled Brooklyn neighborhood with rejuvenated old houses, heavy on the brick. A place of sidewalks, financial security, good schools and restaurants.

DeLano’s corner-lot three story had a narrow garden area in the front and a covered portico over the front entrance, with a small, attached garage on the side-street end.

Window boxes holding some sort of purplish cabbagey-looking plants added a female sensibility.

Top-flight security, Eve noticed, which showed the females inside had sense as well.

Eve pressed the buzzer expecting the security comp to quiz her. But the door opened in seconds.

DeLano’s mother, Eve concluded, as the resemblance, despite the age difference, was strong. The mother might have gone boldly red with a short, sculpted cap of hair, but the eyes, the shape of the mouth, the line of the chin, she’d passed down to her daughter.

“Lieutenant Dallas, Detective Peabody.” Brooklyn rang in her cheerful voice. “I recognized you.” She grabbed Eve’s hand to shake, used it to pull her inside while she gestured Peabody in. “I’ve seen the Icove vid three times. I’m really rooting for it next month.”