In Death 15 - Purity in Death

and casual insults.
    She wasn't quite sure what to make of it when it applied to herself, but she could see what it might do to that pattern when something or someone damaged a part of the whole.
    It would fall apart. Temporarily for those who were strong enough to glue it all back into pattern or make another. Permanently for those who couldn't. Or wouldn't.
    She glanced at McNab. Even here, with all the chatter, there was a smear of worry over it all. If that one part of them stayed broken, the rest would tumble down like tiles. They'd form a new pattern - that was the job - but they'd never forget the way it had been.
    She pushed back from the table. "I've got some stuff I need to do."
    "The Walking Dead said there was chocolate cake."
    "Jamie," Roarke said mildly.
    "Sorry," Jamie said reluctantly. "Mister Walking Dead, also known as Summerset, said there was chocolate cake."
    "And if you eat it all, I'll kill you in your sleep. Then you can join The Walking Dead. Roarke, I need to talk to you."
    As they started out, she heard Jamie ask: "Think they're gonna go do it?" And heard the quick slap of Feeney's hand on the teenaged skull.
    "Are we going to go do it?" Roarke grabbed her hand.
    "Want me to have Feeney knock you, too?"
    "I'm a bit quicker than Jamie yet. But I take that to mean we're not going back upstairs for a fast tumble."
    "How many times a day do you think about sex?"
    He gave her a considering look. "Would that be actively thinking of it, or just having the concept of it lurking there, like Jamie's invisible document?"
    "Never mind. Did you see Mira before?"
    "I didn't, no. I was in the lab. Sorry I missed her. Peabody said Mavis stopped by as well, and needed a private word with you. Is she all right?"
    "She's knocked . . ." She didn't have time for that little routine again. "She's pregnant."
    "What?" He stopped in his tracks.
    It was always a treat, a rare one, to see him stupefied. "Totally pregs, as she puts it. On purpose, too."
    "Mavis? Our Mavis?"
    "One and the same. She came in jumping and spinning and dancing. I don't know if she should be bouncing around like that now. Seems like you could, I don't know, dislodge the thing in there. She's really hyped."
    "Well, this is . . . lovely," he decided. "Is she well?"
    "I guess. Looks great anyway. Said she was puking in the mornings, but she liked it. I don't get that."
    "No, I can't say I do either. We'll take them out to dinner as soon as we're able. I should check on her performance and recording schedule." He knew every bit as much about the care and feeding of expectant mothers as Eve did. Which was nothing. "I don't suppose she should be overdoing."
    "If this afternoon was any gauge, she's got enough energy for both of them, and then some."
    When they stepped into her office, she shut the door. The action made him lift a brow. "As you've vetoed sex, I assume you want privacy for a less pleasurable reason."
    "They're blocking my warrant, and when you've got two bureaucracies duking it out in court, you can die from natural causes before there's a ruling. I had a brief consult with Mira. I've still got to read her profile, but she gave me the gist in the oral. I got Baxter's take."
    "Eve, what is it you want me to do that you'd prefer not wanting me to do?"
    "People are dying, right now. They don't know it, but they're infected, and for some it's already too late. It's going to keep spreading. A good cop is dead. Another . . . another who's a friend of mine - and Jesus, I can't believe I'm friends with such an idiot - may not walk again under his own power. Some of the answers to who's doing this are in those sealed files."
    "Then we'll break the seal."
    She stared at him, then cursing, spun away. "And what makes me any different from them? I'm willing to slide around the law because I think I'm right."
    "Because they're killing people."
    "I can tell myself that. But it's just a matter of degrees."
    "The hell it is. You'll always have a conscience, and you'll always question the right and wrong of it. Worry it to death, and yourself with it. You know how far to push the line before it breaks, Eve. You'll never break it. You can't."
    She closed her eyes. "I said something similar to Baxter. They're using the law to slow me down. I can't let them."
    "It would be best if we used the unregistered."
    She nodded. "Let's get it done."
    ***
    The room was accessible only by voice and palmprints. Only three people were cleared for entry.
    There was a