In Death 23 - Born in Death

scrambled eggs. Oh, oh, check it out!” She bounced again as she looked at the canopied chair. “It’s like a throne, right? I get to sit there.”
    “That’s your spot,” Eve confirmed.
    “Can I give you a hand, your majesty?” Roarke offered his.
    “This is TTF. Too Totally Frosty. You’re going to run away for the day with my sweetie, aren’t you?”
    “As soon as humanly possible,” he told her, and helped her into the chair.
    “Well, okay. I give you leave.”
    “Give her the stuff,” Peabody whispered.
    “She might start crying again.”
    “I get stuff? Already?” Since she was sitting, the best Mavis could do was bounce on her butt. “What? Where? Oh, God, I love stuff.”
    Uneasy about the results, Eve went to a cabinet, took out the scepter and tiara.
    “Oh, boy! Uptown squared.”
    Relieved because this time Mavis’s eyes glittered with laughter instead of tears, Eve passed the tiara to Leonardo.
    “You probably know how to get it on right.”
    “Crown me, moonpie,” Mavis told him. “And let the games begin.”
     
    W ithin the hour, the room was so full of estrogen Eve thought she could bottle it and sell it on the black market. Women nibbled, sipped, cooed over other women’s protruding bellies and chatted about the things she understood they chatted about when they got together as a species.
    Hair. That’s a great look for you, and what a mag color! Where do you go?
    Clothes. Absolutely fabulous shoes. Are they comfortable?
    Men. He just doesn’t listen to what I need to say.
    And due to the nature of the event, they talked of babies, babies, and more babies.
    The new fact she discovered was that women who’d already had children felt compelled to share their childbirth experiences with those about to head to the labor mines.
    Sixteen hours, and two and a half of that pushing. But it was worth it.
    Titania popped out as soon as my water broke. If I’d been ten minutes later getting to the birthing center, she’d have been born in the cab!
    I had to have a C. Wiley just wouldn’t turn.
    They were also full of advice.
    You have to get Magdelina’s Symphony For Giving Life ! I’d have been lost without it. So empowering.
    Water births are the only way to go. I had both of mine in a birthing lagoon. It’s a religious experience.
    Take the drugs.
    And that one, Eve thought, was the most sensible statement of the day.
    With a frosty bellini in her hand, Nadine Furst—ace reporter and soon-to-be host of her own crime-beat show—wandered over. “You give a good party, Dallas. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mavis look happier. She’s literally radiating.”
    “Wait, she could start bawling any minute.”
    “Hormones.” Nadine shrugged. She was wearing her streaky blonde hair sleek these days around her sharp face. “Wanted to talk to you.”
    “Hair looks great, fantastic shoes, and I’m sure whatever man you’re currently banging is handsome and wise. Does that cover it?”
    “No, but you got three out of three. We’re fine-tuning the format for my show, and the producers and I thought it would just top it off if we had a monthly segment with you. An intense hour every four weeks that not only focuses on whatever case you’re working, but gives a roundup of what you’ve handled through the month.”
    Nadine lifted her glass in a kind of toast before she sipped. “Adds a nice punch to the format, and it’s good exposure, good PR for the NYPSD.”
    “A monthly deal? Let me think about it a minute. No.”
    Nadine merely sipped her drink, cocked a brow. “Which is exactly what I told my team you’d say. So I have this alternative, which I think would suit us both. A monthly segment with Homicide. Someone in your division comes on every four weeks. All you have to do is assign the detective, give me the heads-up so I can prep. It’s good screen, Dallas. And it gives the viewing public a face.”
    “Maybe.” The reality was there had to be some give and take with the media, and the plus was Eve knew she could trust Nadine to give a balanced view. “Something like that I’d have to run by the brass.”
    “You’re still first up.” She tapped Eve’s shoulder. “The one you’re working now would have a kick. Two lovers—young, attractive, and seemingly ordinary—bound, tortured, and killed. How’s it going?”
    “That’s what I like about you, Nadine. You know how to make party conversation.”
    “Would you rather talk about childbirth and