In Death 17 - Imitation in Death

saved her pennies and didn't squander them on sugar plums.' What is a sugarplum, anyway?"
     
     
He was thinking of Eve at ten, with bruises on her arms.
     
     
"I'll buy you some. You'll like them." "Odds are. I think we'll chat, and seewhat she has to say about Renquist's early childhood training. Let's see the annoying Mr. Smith."
     
     
"Come sit on my lap."
     
     
She tried a severe look, but couldn't come close to Roberta Gable's expression. "There'll be no hanky or panky during a work ' session. "
     
     
"As there was hanky on the kitchen floor followed by p ky in the shower, I think -we can shelve that activity. Come sit on my lap." He sent her a persuasive smile. "I'm lonely."
     
     
She did it, and tried not to soften too much when his lips brushed her hair.
     
     
"Carmichael Smith," he said, but he was still thinking of the child-she'd been, at the mercy of the system she now stood for. And wanted, more than anything, to lavish her with everything she'd done without. Especially love.
     
     
"Thirty-one, my ass. I bet he greased some palms to have that scat adjusted. Born in Savannah, but spent part of his childhood in England. No sibs, and his mother opted for professional parent status, right up until his eighteenth birthday. Sealed juvie record, here and abroad, which might be worth the hassle of breaking. Not rolling' in as much dough as he should be, considering. Must have himself some high expenses or habits.
     
     
"Parents divorced, father remarried and moved permanently, to Devon. England, right?"
     
     
"The last I checked, yes."
     
     
"No. adult. criminal, but I bet there's something. Something paid o f or expunged. Looks like he's done some time in a couple of snazzy rehab facilities. Let's have a closer look at the mother."
     
     
"Suzanne Smith. Age fifty-two. Young when he was born," Roarke commented. "And the marriage took place nearly two years later. Attractive woman."
     
     
"Yeah, he looks like her some. Well, lookie here. Mommy had -an LC license for a while. Street level. And she's got herself a sheet."
     
     
Intrigued, Eve started to rise, but Roarke clamped his arms around her waist. "If you can't see the screen from here, I can put the data on audio."
     
     
"Nothing wrong with my eyes. Looks like she did some grifting, and got caught with illegals, tried a little minor fraud. Pleaded them all down," she added. "Never served time. Rolled, on somebody, I bet. Held onto the license after she applied for PP status, but claimed no income. Just kept it off the books, that's all. She was still turning. Why pay the fee if you're not going to turn tricks? So, little Carmichael's sex education was likely early and hands on."
     
     
She considered, put herself in the scenario. "Let me see his medicals," she asked. "As far back as you can find."
     
     
"Am I smudging now?" ,
     
     
She hesitated, but, her instincts were humming. "Keep it to a minimum."
     
     
He gave her hip a little pat, signaling her up so he could work. While he did, she poured the last of the coffee.
     
     
"Standard exams and inoculations as an infant," Roarke said. "He appeared to become accident-prone at about two."
     
     
"Yeah, I see." She scanned die-various reports, from various doctors, different health centers. Stitches, minor fractures, one fairly serious burn. Dislocated-shoulder, a broken finger. "She knocked him around," Eve noted. "The abuse continued after the divorce, and right up until he hit the teen years and probably got too big for her to risk it. So it was the mother, the female, authority figure. She moved around enough to get away with it. Relocating here and there. in the States, doing some time in England. And look at her earned income, Roarke, as opposed to her assets."
     
     
`The first is all but nil, while the second was very comfortable."
     
     
"Yeah. I'd say she's still sucking on her little boy. Guy's bound to resent that sort of thing. Maybe enough to kill."
     
     
Chapter 13
     
     
Eve had very rational reasons for starting her shift in her home office. It was quiet. Of course anything compared to the division' at Central-including an Arena Ball match-was quiet.
     
     
She needed more thinking time. She wanted to set up a murder board here as well, so she could stare at it and study it whenever she was in the room.
     
     
And, the number-one reason for loitering there rather than heading, straight downtown was the expected arrival of Summerset. She