In Death 18 - Divided in Death

brown-nose the resident cadaver, do it on your own time.”
    “I wasn’t brown-nosing.” But the comment had Peabody’s nose twitching. “I was merely inquiring about my quarters during this operation. Besides, I don’t have to brown-nose Summerset. He likes me.”
    “That ascribes to him the capacity for human emotions.” She swung into Roarke’s office, and frowned when she saw him serving coffee to both Reva and Caro. “You might’ve told me you were bringing them here,” she complained, “before I fought my way to the Upper East Side.”
    “Sorry for the inconvenience, but here is where we need to be.”
    “This is my case, my investigation, my op. I decide where we need to be.”
    “This isn’t about authority, Lieutenant. And when your knowledge of electronics meets or exceeds mine, we’ll re-evaluate.” His tone was entirely too pleasant. “In the meantime . . . coffee?”
    “I don’t have time for coffee.”
    “Help yourself, Peabody,” he invited, then took Eve’s arm. “If I could have a moment, Lieutenant.”
    She let him lead her into her office. She didn’t like it, but she allowed it. Then she blasted him when he’d closed the door. “We need to set some parameters. You’re working in conjunction with EDD. You do not have the authority to transport my suspect, and her mother, whenever and wherever you choose. Your personal feelings for them take a backseat, and if they can’t, you’re out.”
    “It was necessary. You’re irritable and annoyed,” he snapped as she started to steam. “Well, so am I. So we can stand here and piss on each other for the next ten minutes, or get on with it.”
    She had to take a breath, then two, before she managed to control her temper. He looked ready to brawl. Not that she minded that so much, but she was more interested in why.
    “Okay, you are irritable and annoyed. What set you off?”
    “If you’d give me a few minutes without crawling up my ass, I’ll show you.”
    “I don’t like what I see, ace, I’m crawling right back.”
    He stepped back to the door, then turned to her again. “I realize that I have, on occasion, acted in a way that failed to show the proper respect for your authority and your position. That was wrong. Not that it might not happen again, but it was wrong. This isn’t one of those times.”
    “It feels like it.”
    “That can’t be helped. On the other side, those two women are my employees. Spanking me in front of them demeans my authority and position, Eve.”
    “That can’t be helped either. They know you’ve got balls.” She offered a razor-thin smile. “Now they know I’ve got them, too.”
    “This isn’t about—” He cut himself off, offered a prayer for patience. “Christ, there’s no point to this. We’ll have a go at each other later.”
    “Count on it.” She reached around him and opened the door herself.
    Thinking of authority and position, she made sure that she strode through the door first. “You’ve got five minutes,” she told him.
    “It shouldn’t take longer. Computer, lock down this room only, for silent running.”
    Acknowledged. Commencing silent running.
    “What the hell is—” Eve whirled, hand on her weapon, as titanium shields lowered on the windows behind her. Others slid into place over the doors. The lights took on a red cast, and every machine in the room sent out a series of beeps and hums.
    “Totally Bond,” Peabody murmured with a big, dazzled grin on her face.
    Lockdown complete. Silent running fully engaged.
    “In your home office.” Reva got to her feet, walked over to examine the window shields. “A little paranoid, but excellent. Have you equipped the whole house with SR capability? I’d really like to see the—”
    “You kids can play with the toys later,” Eve interrupted. “Now I’d like to know why we need them.”
    “I ran some tests at Securecomp. Very detailed and exacting tests. They showed traces of a mobile bug.”
    “Mobile?” Reva shook her head. “Someone got through security, all the scanners, with a device on their person? That shouldn’t be possible. In fact, it isn’t possible.”
    “So I believed, but the device is also very sophisticated. It wasn’t on someone’s person, Reva, but in yours.”
    “In? Internal? That’s out of the question. Completely bogus.”
    “Then you won’t object to a body scan?”
    Her face went hard, her stance combative. “I submit to one every time I go in or out of the