In Death 21 - Origin in Death

That's part of human makeup, too, isn't it? Protecting and defending the innocent and the defenseless." "Not everyone will see it that way."
    "Enough will. I can give you my word I know how this story'll be broken, the tone that's going to be set. The odds of Deena going to prison for her crimes to date are slim to none. Those odds start climbing if she continues her mission now that we've taken steps to stop the project, to shut down the training area." "We'll tell her, as soon as we can."
    "What about the data removed from the private office upstairs?" "She has it. We gave it to her."
    "And the data she removed from Samuels's quarters?" Surprise flickered. "You're very good at your work." "That's right, I am. What was in the files she took from Samuels?" "We don't know. There wasn't time for her to share it with us." "You tell her if she gets me the data, the locations, I can slam the door on this. She doesn't have to do any more."
    "We will, when we can. We're grateful." She lifted a platter already loaded with cookies. "Would you like a cookie?" "Why not?" Eve said, and took one for the road.
    There were kids in the yard. It gave Eve a jolt, especially when one dropped out of a tree like a monkey. He seemed to be of the male variety, and let out war whoops as he raced her car to the house.
    "Afternoon!" he said, with an accent much broader and somehow greener than Roarke's. "We're in New York City."
    "Okay." He didn't appear to consider it godforsaken.
    "We've never been before, but we're having an American holiday. I'm Scan, and we've come to visit our cousin, Roarke. This is his grand house here. Me da said it's big enough to have its own postal code. If you're after seeing Roarke, he's inside. I can show you the way."
    "I know the way. I'm Dallas. I live here, too."
    The boy cocked his head. She was bad with ages when it came to the underaged, but she figured maybe eight. He had a lot of hair the color of the syrup she liked to drown pancakes in, and enormous green eyes. His face exploded with freckles.
    "I thought the lady who lived in the grand house with cousin Roarke was Eve. She's with the garda, and wears a weapon."
    "Dallas, Lieutenant Eve." She shoved back her coat so he could see her sidearm.
    "Oh, brilliant! Can I-"
    "No." She flapped the coat back before his reaching fingers made contact with her weapon.
    "Well, that's all right, then. Have you blasted many people with it?"
    "Only my share."
    He fell into step with her. "Were you in a fight, then?"
    "No. Not exactly."
    "It looks like someone planted a right one on you. Will you be going with us on the city tour?"
    Did the kid do anything but ask questions? "I don't know." Did she have to? "Probably not. I've got. .. things."
    "We're after going skating at the place, the outside place. Have you done that already?"
    "No." She glanced down, and with hopes of discouraging his inexplicable attachment to her, gave him her flat-eyed cop stare. "There was a murder there last year."
    Instead of shock and terror, his face registered delicious excitement. "A murder? Who was it? Who killed him? Did the body freeze onto the ice so it had to be scraped off? Was there blood? I bet that froze so it was like red ice."
    His questions slapped at her ears like gnats as she quickened her pace to, hopefully, escape into the house.
    She opened the door to voices, a great many voices.
    And there was a small, human creature of undetermined sex crawling over the foyer tiles. It moved like lightning, and it was heading her way.
    "Oh my God."
    "That's my cousin Cassie. Quick as a snake, she is. Best close the door."
    Eve not only closed it, but backed up against it as the crawling thin;: made a series of unintelligible noises, quickened the pace, and cornered her.
    "What does it want?"
    "Oh, just to say hello. You can pick her up. She's the sociable sort. Aren't you, Cassie darling?"
    It grinned, showing a couple of little white teeth, then to Eve's horror, got a grip on the bottom of her coat and hauled itself up on its chubby legs. It said: "Da!"
    "What does that mean?"
    "It means most anything."
    A man dashed out of the parlor. He was tall, beanpole thin, with a messy thatch of dense brown hair. He grinned and in other circumstances Eve might have found him charming.
    "There she is. I'm on watch, and I take my eyes off the monkey for a split second and she's off to the races. No need to mention this to your aunt Reenie," he said to Scan. Then to Eve's vast relief, scooped