In Death 07 - Holiday in Death

in his suit, packed up his tools, and went out. And he's planning on coming back."
    "So, we wait."
    She wanted to agree. More than she could stand to admit she wanted to be the one to take him down, to look in his face when she did. To know she'd beaten him, and that part of herself she faced in nightmares.
    "I'm calling it in. We'll have a few slobs who'd've drawn duty tonight. I'll need some men on the building, some inside. It'll take an hour or so to set it up. Then we'll go home."
    "You don't want to turn this over to someone else, Eve."
    "No, I don't. Maybe that's why I need to. And..." She turned back to him, thinking of Mira's words. "I'm entitled to the life I've started to carve out for myself. With you."
    "Then make the calls." He reached out to touch her cheek. "And let's go home."
    Peabody filed the last of her paperwork, let out a long, self-pitying sigh, then caught sight of McNab in the doorway. "What?"
    "Just passing by. I told you Dallas said you're off duty."
    "I'm off when my reports are finished and filed."
    He smiled blandly as her machine reported filing complete. "Then I guess you're off. Hot date with Mr. Slick?"
    "You're really ignorant, McNab." Peabody pushed away from the desk. "You don't spend Christmas Eve with a guy you've only dated once." Besides, she thought, Charles had already been booked for the evening.
    "Your family's not around here, are they?"
    "No." Stalling, willing him to leave, she fussed around the desk.
    "Couldn't get home for Christmas?"
    "Not this year."
    "Me either. This case has eaten away at my social life. I got no plans, either." He hooked his thumbs in his pockets. "What do you say, Peabody, want to call a truce, like a Christmas moratorium?"
    "I'm not at war with you." She turned to get her uniform coat from a hook.
    "You look a little down."
    "It's been a long day."
    "Well, if you're not going to spend Christmas Eve with Mr. Slick, why don't you spend it with a fellow cop? It's a bad night to be alone. I'll buy you a drink, some dinner."
    She kept her head lowered as she buttoned her coat. Christmas Eve alone, or a couple of hours with McNab. Neither were very appealing, but she decided alone was worse. "I don't like you well enough for you to buy me dinner." She looked up, shrugged. "We split the check."
    "Deal."
    She didn't expect to enjoy herself, but after a couple of St. Nick Specials, she decided she wasn't miserable. At least shoptalk was a way to kill a few hours.
    She picked at the chicken nibbles she knew were going to go straight to her ass. Her diet could just go to hell. "How can you eat like that?" she asked McNab, watching with hate and envy as he plowed through a double-crust pizza with the works. "Why aren't you pig fat?"
    "Metabolism," he said with his mouth full. "Mine's always on overdrive. Want some?"
    She knew better. Fighting off the chunkies was a constant personal battle. But she took half a slice and reveled in it.
    "You and Dallas straighten things out?"
    Peabody swallowed hard and glared. "She talk to you about it?"
    "Hey, I'm a detective. I notice shit."
    The two drinks had loosened her tongue just enough. "She's really pissed at me."
    "You screw up?"
    "I guess. So did she," Peabody said, brow furrowing. "But I screwed up bigger. I don't know if I can make it right again."
    "You got somebody who'd go to the wall for you and you screw it up, you fix it. In my family we yell, then we brood, then we apologize."
    "This isn't family."
    He laughed. "Hell it isn't." And he smiled at her. "You going to eat all those nibbles?"
    She felt something loosen around her heart. The man might be a pain in the ass, she thought, but when he was right, he was right. "I'll trade you six nibbles for another slice of pizza."
    Eve made an effort to put the surveillance operation out of her mind. She had good, experienced officers in place, electronic scans set up in a four-block radius. The minute Simon entered the perimeter, he'd be tagged.
    She couldn't wonder, couldn't question, couldn't think of where he was, what he was doing. If someone else would die. It was out of her control.
    Before the night was out, they'd have him. Her case was solid, and he'd go into a cage. Never come out. It had to be enough.
    "You said something about wine."
    "Yeah, I did." It was easier to smile than she'd expected. The simplest of matters to take the glass Roarke handed her.
    "And making love like animals."
    "I recall suggesting that."
    It was simpler yet to put the wine