“She’s a pro, somebody who has a calling—that’s my take of her. Eloise is hers, Darla’s not. Can you take a look at the gate security without getting in cam range?”

Roarke merely cocked an eyebrow and strolled toward the gate.

Baxter got out, leaned against the car, and watched.

“I need McNab and the van, and I need that damn warrant. Trueheart.” She signaled to him to get out. “McNab will use the EDD magic, get us the locations of people and droids inside the house. We get that, get the warrant, we go in fast and quiet. Roarke’s going to bypass gate security.”

“I bet he is,” Baxter commented. “It’s top-of-the-line from what I can see, but I bet he is.”

“When we’re in, you, Trueheart, McNab go around to the back—there’ll be side exits on a place that size, so spread out, keep connected, and enter on my go. Any droids, shut them down. They’re also top-of-the-line, so you may need McNab for that.”

“We take the front?” Peabody asked.

“You, me, Roarke. We’ll need him to get us in quiet, and potentially to deal with any droids.”

She paused when Roarke strolled back.

“I can get us in.”

“How much time will you need?”

“It’s a very fine system. Ten to fifteen.”

Baxter let out a laugh. “If only we’d met in my misspent youth.”

Roarke returned the grin. “If youth isn’t misspent now and then, it’s not youth. Would you like me to get started, Lieutenant?”

“Yes, but no. Have to wait for the warrant. There’s the van.”

It shouldn’t have surprised her to see Feeney hop out. Her old partner and current EDD captain wore one of his shit-brown suit jackets with a wrinkled beige shirt and dirt-brown tie. His silver-threaded ginger hair sprang out around a droopy, hangdog face.

“I didn’t expect to get the brass.”

“You think I’d miss a chance to get inside Eloise Callahan’s? I grew up on her vids, kid. She was—probably still is—my old man’s hall pass. He’s going to be pretty down if I help arrest her.”

“He’s safe. I don’t see her in this except as a dupe. McNab, I want people, droids, locations, movement.”

EDD Callendar hopped out of the van. “You got it, LT.”

“She was right there,” Feeney said. “We’ll get it done faster with the pair of them.”

“Just as well. Once Roarke gets us through the gates, we need to surround the house, EDD man on each team to get through the doors if the master’s no good, to deactivate superior droids. Vic and suspect are going to be in the lower level. I haven’t been through the house, so I don’t know, as yet, how to access.”

With her hands on her hips, Eve looked back at the gates. “She has to keep an eye on the grandmother. She probably has house monitors.”

Feeney rubbed his chin. “We can shut them down, but she’ll likely notice when her monitors go blank.”

“Can’t be helped. Better that than her spotting a bunch of cops swarming the house.” She checked the time, strained against impatience. “We get in, we find the basement access. The house has elevators. Must have one that goes down. Lock that down, that’s what she’d do, right?”

Feeney nodded. “Wouldn’t want an unexpected visitor while she’s slicing off some poor bastard’s balls.”

“Yeah, well, we unlock. One team goes down that way, another by the steps. If there’s outside access, we cover that, too. She’ll be armed—she’s never used a stunner on a victim, but she’ll have an electronic prod. Christ knows she’s dangerous. And I hate to say it, I fucking hate to say it, but she’s insane. Not just garden-variety. She’s going to hit the legal bar there.”

“That’s a goddamn shame,” Feeney commented.

“Tell me.”

When her ’link signaled, she had it in her hand in a finger snap. “Tell me what I want to hear, Reo.”

Tags: J.D. Robb In Death Mystery
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