In Death 21 - Origin in Death

how do you know they're there?"
    He gave her a look caught between smug and pitying. "Because, Lieutenant, I happened to have a sensor with me."
    "How'd you get it through security?
    "Perhaps because this particular canny device looks like, and reads like, a simple memo book. In any case, every area we toured had them, and they were active during our visit. You're going to find, at the center, a substantial subsecurity and data sector."
    "Then there was the lab," Louise put in. "Architecturally interesting, elaborate, superbly equipped. And remarkably inefficient."
    "How?"
    Louise explained the setup while rain slapped the windscreen. "You might have different security levels," she continued. "You might have separate floors or tiers for specific areas of research and testing. You would certainly, on sensitive work, require high clearance. But this setup had no logical flow."
    "Separate clearance required for every ray," Eve repeated.
    "Exactly. And a separate chief, each completely isolated from the other lines."
    "Standard security cams in view," Roarke added. "An equal number hidden for area scans. And, most interesting, every station fed data into its hub. Not results, but every step, every byte of data."
    Eve thought of the police lab. The chief tech could access any sector, review and/or study any test in progress. But the place was like a hive, a maze of rooms, glass walls. While some sectors required high clearance, most areas connected with the busy bees buzzing not only in their own chambers but in others as well.
    "Keep each line focused on its work. Limit or eliminate fraternizing and shop talk. Deny access to all but the top level. Not inefficient if you want to keep dicey stuff wrapped."
    She rolled it around in her head, then peered through the rain. "There'd be room there to close off a sector from the rest. Room for ... what do you call the having-a-baby area of medicine."
    "Obstetrics," Louise answered.
    "The patient room I saw was like a high-end hotel suite. So maybe you keep your human incubators in-house, in style, segregated from the general population. Peabody, run a list. See what graduates got themselves medical degrees-highlight obstetrics and pediatrics."
    "Warrant's coming through." Reo had a small, bulky briefcase unit in her lap. As it started to hum, her face brightened. "We're good to go."
    "Need to practice, though," Eve mumbled. "Practice makes perfect. School's all about practice. Gotta have something going there."
    "Hopefully, we'll soon see." Roarke tapped controls. "Starting descent."
    She saw it shimmer out through the damp mists and splattering rain. Red brick and domes and sky walks. Stone walls and denuded trees. The dull blue of a swimming pool covered for the season, the bright green and white of tennis courts. Paths snaked through the gardens and grounds, for scooters, she thought, for walks or bikes or mini-shuttles. She saw horses, and to her shock what she recognized as cows in an outdoor enclosure.
    "Cows. Why are there cows?"
    "Animal husbandry, I imagine," Roarke commented.
    The term gave her a horror flash of humans marrying bovines. She shook it off.
    "Cops. We've got cops. Three units, and an ME van. Goddamn it."
    Not state, she decided, trying to get a bead on the vehicles and uniforms as Roarke angled toward the helipad. County, she decided. Probably county. She yanked out her PPC and did a quick search for the local police.
    "James Hyer, sheriff. Age fifty-three, born and bred this county. Did four years regular army, right out of school. Had the badge twenty years, current status the last twelve. Married eighteen years, one offspring, male-a Junior-age fifteen."
    She studied his ID image as well as his basic data to try to get a bead on him as well. Fleshy face, ruddy. Maybe liked the outdoors and the local brew. Military haircut, light brown. Eyes light blue, plenty of crow's-feet. So he didn't go in for the face treatments, looked his age and maybe a few extra.
    She was already yanking off her safety strap as Roarke touched down. She was out, striding toward the school before the two uniforms were able to reach the pad.
    "This is a secured area," one of them began. "You're going to need to-"
    "Lieutenant Dallas." Eve flipped up her badge. "NYPSD. I need to speak with Sheriff Hyer. Is he on-scene?"
    "This isn't New York." The second uniform stepped forward- leading, Eve thought dryly, with his balls. "The sheriff's busy."
    "That's funny, so am I. APA