In Death 20 - Survivor in Death

her voice, it glided off the terrace and slid down one of the paths into the garden. “Wonder what it does with them once it sucks them up.”
    “I think it chops them into a kind of mulch, or compost. Dennis talks about getting something like it, then doesn’t. I think he secretly enjoys raking the leaves by hand.”
    Eve thought of Mira’s kind-eyed, absentminded husband. “Why?”
    “Mindless work that gets him outdoors. Of course, if we had grounds this extensive to deal with, it’d be a different story. It’s lovely out here, isn’t it, even so late in the year with so much of the gardens fading away toward winter.”
    Eve looked over the gardens, through the ornamental and shade trees, past arbors and fountains to the thick stone walls. “Lot of ways in, lot of ways out, but as secure as it gets.”
    “And still your home. That makes it difficult.”
    “I made the call. Look, it’s cooler out here than I thought. You okay for a minute?”
    “I’m fine.” Mira wore a jacket, and Eve was currently in shirtsleeves. “It must be inconvenient, having so many people in your home.”
    “Place is starting to smell like Central. Anyway, if they click on the idea Nixie’s here, they might see it as a challenge, get revved at the idea. The bigger the mission, the bigger the payoff.”
    “But you don’t think they know Nixie’s here.”
    “I think your average GPS rep would spill data out like a gushing pipe under torture. And I wouldn’t hold it against her. Best I can speculate, she doesn’t know the witness is here, but knows I took her and bypassed regs. They could put it together. I would.”
    “Taking a civilian witness into your personal residence isn’t usual, or even standard procedure. But yes, they might put it together. And you also assume that under extreme duress, I would also gush like a broken pipe.”
    “It’s not a reflection on your standards or your integrity.”
    “No.” Mira brushed back a wave of hair the breeze blew across her cheek. “And I don’t take it as such. I imagine you’re right. While I’d like to think I’d suffer torture and painful death to protect another, it’s much more likely I’d succumb. So you have me and my home under surveillance and security. Sensible of you, and I apologize for objecting.”
    “I had you under security before, and Palmer got to you.”
    Mira as psychologist and profiler and Eve as primary had helped put Palmer away. His revenge spree after his prison escape the previous winter had nearly cost Mira her life. Could have cost both of them, Eve remembered, when he’d abducted Mira and caged her in a basement to lure Eve to his sick New Year’s Eve celebration.
    “He didn’t serve you a tea party, either, and you stood up.”
    “He just wanted me to suffer and die. In this case ... where is Nixie?”
    “I’ve got Trueheart riding her. I didn’t know where you wanted to set up with her.”
    “Where do you think she’s most comfortable?”
    Eve stared, blank. “Ah, I don’t know. She did okay in the parlor last time.”
    “A stunning room, and certainly comfortable. But maybe a little intimidating for a child used to less opulence. Where does she spend most of her time?”
    “I don’t know that either, exactly. She hangs with Summerset a lot, but he’s all over the damn house. Like termites. She and Trueheart were hanging out in the game room before.”
    “Game room?”
    “Roarke’s got a damn room for everything. Fancy toys, you know, arcade stuff.” She gave a shrug, though she had to admit, privately, she got a charge out of the deal. “A lot of classic game stuff.”
    “Child friendly, then. That sounds very good.”
    “Okay.”
    When Eve didn’t turn back to the door, Mira asked, “How do you feel she’s coping?”
    “Had a nightmare last night. A real screamer. Thought they were coming for her, hiding in the closet, under the bed.”
    “Natural enough. I’d be more concerned if she wasn’t afraid. If she was repressing.”
    “Like I did.”
    “You coped in your own way.” And because they’d come quite a distance in the last two years, Mira touched a hand to Eve’s arm. “And still do. This child has a firm foundation, which has been broken out from under her. But that foundation will mean she’ll most likely have an easier time regaining her footing. With counseling, with care, and a return to normalcy.”
    Eve gathered herself. “There’s a thing. The situation she’s in, the one