In Death 21 - Origin in Death

fumbled for her weapon. And saw the pot and cups on the table, with the menu slot still closing.
    For a moment, she put her head in her hands, just to get her breath back. It was okay, she'd pulled out. She'd keep pulling out.
    She wondered what dreams bit at Avril's mind when they were too tired to beat them off.
    When the door opened, she was pouring coffee.
    "Thanks, Crack."
    "Anytime, sugar tits." He winked, shut the door.
    "Lock it," Eve ordered. "Engage privacy mode."
    "This better be good." Nadine complied, then dropped into the second chair. "It's past three in the morning."
    "And yet you look lovely, and apparently your tits are sugar."
    "Give me some of that poison."
    "Empty your bag on the bed," Eve said as she poured a second cup.
    "Up yours, Dallas."
    "I mean it. Empty the bag, then I'm going to scan you for electronics. This is the majors, Nadine."
    "You should be able to trust me."
    "You wouldn't be here if I didn't. But I've got to go the route."
    With obvious ill humor, Nadine opened her enormous handbag, stomped to the bed, and upended it.
    Eve rose, passed her a cup of coffee, and began going through the contents. Wallet, ID, credits and debits, two herbal cigarettes in a protective case, two notepads-paper-six pencils, sharpened. One electronic notepad-disengaged-two 'links, one PPC-also disengaged. Two small mirrors, three packs of breath fresheners, a little silver box holding blockers, four tubes of lip dye, brushes-face and hair-and eleven other tubes, pots, sticks, and cakes of facial enhancers.
    "Jesus. You carry all this gunk and put it on your face? Is it worth it?"
    "I'll point out that it's three in the morning, and I look lovely. You, on the other hand, have shadows under your eyes a pack of psychotic killers could hide in."
    "NYPSD. We never sleep."
    "Neither do the defenders of the Fourth Estate, apparently. Did you catch my interview with Avril Icove today?"
    "No, heard about it."
    "Exclusive."
    "What did you think of her?"
    "Quiet, dignified elegance. Lovely in grief. A devoted mother. I liked her. Couldn't get much going on her personally as she insisted this interview deal with her father-in-law and husband, out of respect. But I'll dig down the next layers. I've got a three-part deal."
    The last two of which she would never collect, Eve thought. But there would be compensation. Big-time.
    She ran a scanner over Nadine. "Believe it or not, I did all that to protect you as much as me. I'm about to break Code Blue."
    "Icove."
    "You're going to want to sit while I outline my conditions- nonnegotiable. First, we never had this conversation. You're going to go home and get rid of the 'link you used to take my transmission. You never received the transmission."
    "I know how to protect myself and a source."
    "Just listen. You've already done extensive research on the Icoves- and connected them, independently, to Jonah Wilson and Eva Hannson Samuels, and from there to Brookhollow. Your police sources would not confirm or deny any of your research. You're going to make a trip to Brookhollow. You'll need that on your logs. You're going to connect the murder of Evelyn Samuels to those of the Icoves."
    Nadine started scribbling. "That's the Academy's president. When was she murdered?"
    "Find out. You're going to be curious and smart enough to run ID checks on the students and cross them with same on former students. In fact, you've already done that." Eve drew a sealed disc out of her pocket. "Get this in your log. Get your prints, only your prints on the disc."
    "What's on it?"
    "More than fifty student IDs that match-exactly match-former students' IDs. Falsified data. Make another copy, put it wherever you put data you want to protect from confiscation."
    "What were the Icoves doing that required falsifying data on students?"
    "Cloning them."
    Nadine broke the tip of her pencil as her head snapped up. "You're serious."
    "Since the Urban Wars."
    "Sweet little Baby Jesus. Tell me you have proof."
    "I not only have proof, I have three clones known as Avril Icove under house restriction."
    Nadine goggled. "Well, fuck me sideways."
    "I've had a long day, I'm too tired for sex games. Start writing, Nadine. When we're finished you go home, you make an electronic trail that'll verify you found this information. You burn those notes and make new ones. Get to Brookhollow and dig. You can contact me, and probably should, demanding confirmation or denial. I'll give you neither, and that's on record.