In Death 22 - Memory in Death

off. It was still playing when we got up this morning. And we … made love when we got back last night, and again this morning.”
    His color came up as he spoke. “The fact is, I was annoyed with her, with my mother. She pushed to come here, and she wouldn’t contact you by ‘link before we came, no matter how much I talked to her about it. Then she started holing up in her roomsulking, I figured, because you weren’t playing the role she wanted you to play, I guess. I didn’t want Zana’s trip spoiled because of that.”
    “Oh, honey.”
    “My feelings were, ‘Fine, she wants to pout in there, she can stay in until we leave on Monday. I’m going to do the town with my wife.’ Oh hell. Oh hell,” he repeated and wrapped his arm around Zana. “I don’t know why somebody’d hurt her like that. I don’t understand it. Did they … was she”
    Eve knew the tone, knew the look in the survivor’s eye. “She wasn’t raped. Did she have anything of value with her?”
    “She didn’t bring much of her good jewelry.” Zana sniffled. “Said it was asking for trouble, though she loved wearing it.”
    “I see you’ve got your window closed and locked.”
    Bobby glanced over. “It’s noisy,” he said absently. “And there’s that emergency escape out there, so it’s best to … Is that how they got in? Through her window? I told her to keep that window shut, keep it locked. I told her.”
    “We haven’t determined that yet. I’m going to take care of this, Bobby. I’m going to do everything I can. If you need to talk to me, either of you, you can contact me at Central.”
    “What do we do now? What do we do?”
    “Wait, and let me do my job. I’m going to need you to stay in New York, at least for the next few days.”
    “Yeah, okay. I… I’ll get in touch with my partner, tell himtell him what happened.”
    “What do you do?”
    “Real estate. I sell real estate. Eve? Should I go with her? Should I go with Mama now?”
    He was no good to anyone now, Eve thought. He and his baffled grief would only be in the way. “Why don’t you give that some time? There’s nothing you can do. Other people are taking care of her now. I’ll let you know when there’s something more.”
    He got to his feet. “Could I have done something? If I’d made the manager open the door last night, or this morning, could I have done something?”
    And here, she thought, she could do the one thing, the single thing, that soothed. “It wouldn’t have mattered.”
    When Eve and Peabody walked out, she drew a clear breath. “Take?”
    “Comes off a decent guy. Shocky right now. So’s she. One holds up ‘til the other goes down. Want me
    to run them?”
    “Yeah.” Eve rubbed her hands over her face. “By the book.” She watched as the morgue unit rolled out the body bag. Morris came out behind them.
    “One-twenty-eight a.m. on time of death,” he said. “On-scene examination indicates the fatal blow was a head wound inflicted with our old favoritethe blunt object. Nothing in the room, at my scan, matches. The other bodily injuries are older. Twenty-four hours or more. I’ll get you more exact once I’ve got her in my house.” His eyes stayed level on hers. “Is that what you wanted to hear?”
    “Yeah, it is.”
    “I’ll let you know what I know when I know it.”
    “Thanks.” Eve walked back into the crime scene, signalled one of the sweepers. “I’m looking,
    particularly, for a pocket or hand ‘link, her personal communication device.”
    “Haven’t got one yet.”
    “Let me know when and if.” She moved straight to the window, glanced back at Peabody. “We’ll go down this way.”
    “Oh, man.”
    Eve ducked through and out the window, dropped lightly on the narrow evac platform. She hated heights, freaking hated them, and had to wait a moment for her stomach to stop rolling. To give her system time to adjust, she concentrated on the platform itself.
    “Got blood.” She hunkered down. “Nice little dribble of a trail. Over the platform.” She hit the release, watched the steps jut out. “And down.”
    “Logical route out and away,” Peabody commented. “Sweepers will get samples, and we’ll know if it’s
    the vic’s.”
    “Yeah.” Eve straightened, studied the access to other rooms on the floor.
    Tricky, she decided, with the gaps, but not impossible if you were athletic or ballsy enough. A good strong jump would do it, which she’d have preferred over the tiptoe