In Death 25 - Creation in Death

edge of SoHo and Tribeca. An explosion, mostly civilian casualties. There was still firing in the sector, but she went in. She was wearing the red cross—the medic symbol. But she got hit by sniper fire when she tried to reach the wounded. She was only twenty. She was trying to help wounded civilians, and they killed her.”
    She sat back, knuckled away the tears. “I don’t know. It just rips me, I guess. You’ve got to have hope, right, to stop long enough to get married in the middle of all that. And then, you’re gone. Trying to help people, and you’re gone. She was only twenty.”
    McNab leaned down, pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Want me to take this for a while?”
    “No. We talked to that old man today. Well, not that old, really, but it seemed like he was older than Moses in that bed, with the breather on. And then I read this, and think how he’d been so young, and he’d loved this girl. Then…she’s too young.”
    “I know it’s tough, baby, but—”
    “No, no. I mean, yeah, it’s tough, but she’s too young to be the source of the pattern.” Tears—and some still clung to her lashes—were forgotten. “She was only twenty, and the youngest vic was twenty-eight. Twenty-eight to thirty-three, that’s been his span. So Therese Pella died too young, it most likely eliminates Pella as a suspect.”
    “You were seriously looking at this guy?”
    “He’s the right age, the basic type, connection with the Urbans, private home—and can you spell bitter? Got a tumor—or he says—Dallas is checking that. Lost his bride—bride and groom—who was a pretty brunette. But after that it doesn’t follow.”
    Peabody sat back, shaking her head at the data on screen. “Doesn’t follow pattern. She’s hit by sniper fire, not tortured. She’s eight years younger than his youngest vic when she was killed. Misses the profile. But there was something. A tingle, Dallas called it. There was a tingle when we talked to him.”
    “Maybe he knows something. Maybe he’s connected.”
    “Yeah, maybe. I need to get this to Dallas, then try for deeper data on Pella.”
    “I’ll give you a hand.” McNab gave her shoulders another rub, then toyed with the ends of her hair. “Okay now?”
    “Yeah. I guess it’s not enough sleep and too much on the brain.”
    “You need to take a break.”
    “Maybe I do.” She knuckled her eyes again, but this time to clear fatigue instead of tears. “If it wasn’t so cold out, I’d take a walk, get some air, some exercise.”
    “I don’t know about the air,” he said as she rose. “But I can help with the exercise.” Grinning, he laid a hand on her ass, gave it a squeeze.
    “Yeah?” Her eyes danced; her libido boogied. “You wanna?”
    “Let me answer that question by ripping your clothes off.”
    She let out a laughing squeal as they tumbled to the floor. “I thought, you know, you weren’t feeling the bloom and spark.”
    “Something’s blooming just fine,” he said as he dragged off her sweater.
    She tugged his pants down over his hips to check for herself. Looking down, she said, “I’ll say.”
    “And as for sparkage.” He crushed his mouth to hers in a kiss hot enough she envisioned smoke coming out of her ears. “Any more, and we’d torch the place.”
    She saw his eyes go dreamy when his hand cupped her breast, felt her stomach muscles tighten in response.
    “Mmmm, She-body, the most female of females. Let’s see what we can light up.”
     
    L ater, considerably later, Eve studied the data Peabody had sent to her office unit. “She’s right,” Eve mumbled. “Too young, wrong method. Dobbins hits me as just too sloppy, just too disinterested. Klok’s coming across as straight and narrow. But there’s something here. I just can’t see it yet.”
    “Maybe you would if you got a decent night’s sleep.”
    Instead, she walked around her boards again. “Opera. What about the opera-tickets angle?”
    “I’ve got the list for season ticket holders for the Met. Nothing on the first cross-check. I’ll try others.”
    “He jumps names, jumps names and ID data. Covert stuff. Smooth, under radar. Where’d he learn how? Torture methods. Covert operations have been known to employ torture methods.”
    “I can tell you my sources on the matter of torturers isn’t popping anyone of this generation still living and in business, or anyone who moonlights by targeting young brunettes.”
    “It was worth a shot,” Eve