In Death 11 - Judgment in Death

change.
    In a kind of test, she tried to click her mind off her case files. Traffic was ugly enough to keep her mind occupied, and the current blast of the billboards were hyping everything from spring fashions to the latest hot sports car.
    When she caught a familiar face burst across one of the animated screens, she nearly side-swiped a glide-cart.
    Mavis Freestone, her hair a riot of flame-colored spikes, whirled over the street at Thirty-fourth. She jiggled, spun, in a few sassy and amusingly placed scraps of electric blue. With each revolution, her hair changed from red to gold to blinding green.
    It was, Eve thought with a foolish grin on her face, just like her.
    "Jesus, Mavis. Would you just look at that? What a kick in the ass."
    A long way. Her oldest friend had come a long way from the street grifter Eve had once busted, to performance artist in third-rate clubs, and now to bona fide musical star.
    Musical, Eve thought, in the broadest sense of the word.
    She reached for her car-link, intending to call Mavis and tell her what she was looking at, when her personal palm-link beeped.
    "Yeah." She couldn't take her eyes off the billboard, even when several impatient drivers honked rudely. "Dallas."
    "Hey, Dallas."
    "Webster." Instantly, Eve's shoulders tensed. She might have known Don Webster on a personal level, but no cop liked receiving a transmission from Internal Affairs. "Why are you calling on my personal 'link? IAB's required to use official channels."
    "I was hoping to talk to you. Got a few minutes?"
    "You are talking to me."
    "Face-to-face."
    "Why?"
    "Come on, Dallas. Ten minutes."
    "I'm on my way home. Tag me tomorrow."
    "Ten minutes," he repeated. "I'll meet you at the park right across from your place."
    "Is this Internal Affairs business?"
    "Let's talk." He gave her a winning smile that only increased her level of suspicion. "I'll meet you there. I'm right behind you."
    She narrowed her eyes, checked her rearview, and saw he meant it literally. Saying nothing, she broke transmission.
    She didn't stop across from the gates of her home but drove another block and a half, on principle -- then made certain she found the only convenient parking spot before she pulled in.
    It didn't surprise her when Webster simply double-parked and, ignoring the snooty glares from an elegant couple and their three equally stylish Afghan hounds, flipped on his On Duty light and joined her on the curb.
    His smile had always been a handy weapon, and he used it now, keeping his light blue eyes friendly. His face was thin, sharp-angled, and would probably be termed scholarly as he aged. His dark brown hair waved a little and was cut to flatter.
    "You've come up in the world, Dallas. This is some neighborhood."
    "Yeah, we have monthly block parties and get crazy. What do you want, Webster?"
    "How's it going?" He said it casually and started strolling toward the lush green and the trees still tender with spring.
    Sucking in temper, she jammed her hands in her pockets and matched her steps with his. "It's going fine. How about you?"
    "Can't complain. Nice evening. You gotta love spring in New York."
    "And how about those Yankees? Now, that should conclude our period of small talk. What do you want?"
    "You never were much on chat." He remembered very well the one and only time he'd managed to get her into bed; they hadn't done any talking. "Why don't we find a bench? Like I said, it's a nice evening."
    "I don't want to find a bench. I don't want a soy dog, and I don't want to talk about the weather. I want to go home. So if you don't have anything interesting to say, that's what I'm going to do."
    She turned, took three steps.
    "You pulled the Kohli homicide."
    "That's right." She turned back, and her inner alarm system flashed to red light. "What does that have to do with IAB?"
    "I didn't say it had anything to do with IAB, other than the usual run we do when a cop goes down."
    "The usual run doesn't mean a private meet, off duty, with the primary."
    "We go back a ways." He lifted a hand. "Hell, all the way back to the Academy. It seemed friendlier this way."
    She kept her eyes on his as she walked to him, stood toe to toe. "Don't insult me, Webster. Where does IAB come into my investigation?"
    "Look, I've seen the prelim. This is a rough one. Rough on the department, his squad, his family."
    Something started clicking in her brain. "Did you know Kohli?"
    "Not really." Webster gave a thin smile, just a little bitter at the