In Death 30 - Fantasy in Death

play it. Come in when you finish up here. Then interrupt me, take me aside to give me some news. Keep it low, but I want them to hear you say EDD, breakthrough, recovered data .”
    “If they’re—or one of them is guilty, it’ll be bad news.”
    “Yeah. Sometimes you have to water the seeds.”
    “Huh?”
    “Nothing.” She left Peabody to go into the viewing room. Both men leapt to their feet and started talking at once.
    “Stop! Officer, if you’ll join your partner and keep the scene secured. Sweepers and EDD are being notified. No one else gets in.”
    She turned to the two men. “Sit.”
    “They wouldn’t let us go with her. They won’t even let us check with the hospital. Please. Please, Lieutenant.” Benny’s voice shook with the tears that swam in his eyes.
    She pulled out her ’link. “This is Lieutenant Dallas,” she began and gave her badge number. “I need to know the status of a patient, Cilla Allen, who was just brought in.” She held up a finger before either man could speak again, and walked to the other side of the room. She listened, murmured back, then slipped the ’link back in her pocket before going back across the room.
    “They’re working on her. They have a team on her, and they’re trying to stabilize her so they can move her to OR.”
    “Operate? She’s going to need surgery?” Var asked as Benny simply stared at her.
    “Her injuries are very severe, and they’re doing everything they can. She’s critical. You need to prepare yourselves.”
    “She’s not going to die. She’s not going to die. She’s not going to die.”
    As he said it again and again, Benny rocked in the chair until Var put an arm around his shoulders.
    “Come on, Benny. Come on, man. She’s tough. Cilly’s strong. We need to be there with her,” he said to Eve.
    “I need statements from both of you. I’ll make it as quick as I can, and I’ll have the officers who responded transport you to the hospital as soon as we’re done. I need to know what happened.”
    “We don’t know.” Benny shook his head. “How could we know? She was . . . she was lying there when we got here.”
    “What time did you get here?”
    Benny shook his head again, then dropped it into his hands.
    “It was about ten or just before. I don’t know exactly,” Var told her. “We got worried when Cill didn’t come in to work, and she didn’t answer her ’link, or her e-mail. We should’ve come before. We should’ve checked on her earlier, then maybe . . .”
    “I shouldn’t have let her go home alone last night.” Benny raked his fingers over his bold hair. “I should’ve made her stay at my place.”
    “What time did she go home?” she asked Benny.
    “It wasn’t late. Maybe nine or nine-thirty. We talked about going out and getting something to eat, or just getting blasted. But none of us much felt like either.”
    “Did she log out a game? Did she log out Fantastical?”
    “Yeah. Yeah. We found out this morning she’d logged it out. Why is this happening?” Benny demanded. “Somebody tried to kill her. Somebody killed Bart. Why is this happening?”
    “We’re doing our best to find that out.” Eve glanced over as Peabody came in, signaled her. “Give me a minute.”
    She crossed over, leaned in.
    “That was a mag-ass party last night,” Peabody whispered, modulating her voice to lift just enough on the key words. “My feet EDD are killing me today. But breakthrough totally worth it because all that dancing, recovered data probably took a solid pound off my ass.”
    “You do understand you’re obsessed with your own ass? Now, nod like I’ve just given you an order, then pull your communicator out as you step out. Wait a few minutes, come back in, give me a nod, and then stay in for the interview.”
    “Got it.” She nodded, added a “Yes, sir!” for good measure, and took out her communicator as she left the room.
    “Is that about Cill?” Benny demanded. “Is it something about Cill?”
    “No. So, you last saw Cill at about nine-thirty last night?” She glanced at Var for verification.
    “About that.”
    “And what was her state of mind?”
    “What do you think?” Anger leaked through as Benny fisted his hands on his knees. “She was wrecked. We all were. It was hard enough when she was putting the memorial together, editing the vid stream, thinking about the food. But at least that gave her, all of us, something solid to do, to work on. Now . . .”
    “We were