Thankless in Death

traumatized for life by my murder board. I’ve got Peabody coming in within an hour, and McNab will be in as soon as he clears Asshole Joe’s office equipment. I told him to come straight to you.”
    “I’ll be happy to have him.”
    “Roarke, as soon as you have anything I can use on new tenants, anything on that damn code—”
    “You’ll be the first to know it. I’m close,” he told her again. “If I’mreading this right it won’t take more than an hour or two. If that. Give me some space now, and some precious quiet.”
    “Yeah.” She took the rest of her coffee with her.
    She dug in for a while, trying to retrace Joe’s steps—hitting holiday disinterest from cab companies until fear of her wrath won out.
    If he’d taken a cab, he hadn’t caught one in front of his workplace, or within a block either way.
    She put the Transit Authorities on it, requesting they search their recordings on the chance he’d taken a subway. Spotting him could narrow the area.
    Then she tagged Mira. Rather than her usual stylish do, Mira wore her hair in a short little ponytail. The style, or lack of it, made her look younger to Eve’s eye.
    “I’m sorry. I know it’s early.”
    “It’s fine. I’ve been up nearly an hour. I have a lot of cooking to do.”
    “You’re cooking?”
    “Dennis and I are cooking, and my daughters threatened—that is, promised,” she amended with a smile, “to be here by eight to pitch in. What can I do for you?”
    “He’s got another. Joe Klein. I’m trying to pare down the possible locations. I think he’s got his own place by now, in or very near his old neighborhood. He’d go for swank. We’re working on getting lists of new tenants, but there are a lot of possibilities.”
    “An apartment or condo,” Mira said immediately. “Not a detached or semi-attached home.”
    “Why?”
    “He’s sociable, and wants to show off. He’s not a loner. Under it all, he wants a hive. He just wants to be important in that hive.”
    “Okay.”
    “Look first at newer buildings—shinier, if you understand me. His parents valued tradition, the old, the histories. He’ll want the opposite. And the most exclusive first.”
    “I leaned that way for the same reasons, but factoring in the cost—”
    “He won’t concern himself,” Mira interrupted, and firmly. “He has more money than he’d ever imagined, and he’s certain he’ll continue to bring in more. A place near clubs, arcades, bars, good shops, or that provides them. Status. He’s always wanted it, but lacked the ambition or the ethics to attain it. He believes he’s found it now.”
    “Okay, yeah, I see that. It helps. Appreciate it.”
    “I hope you find him, Eve. I’m going to say Happy Thanksgiving, because I believe you will.”
    “Thanks. Same to you.”
    She jumped on the map, shadowed out the detached and semis, any building more than a decade old unless it had been completely rehabbed in modern style.
    “That’s better,” she murmured, studying the results.
    She started to cross-reference with the tenant lists Roarke trickled to her.
    Cursed when her desk ’link signaled. “Dallas,” she snapped just as Peabody hustled in.
    “Lieutenant Dallas, this is Officer Stanski outta Fraud and Financial Crimes?”
    “What do you want, Stanski?” she demanded, and seeing Peabody’s puppy dog plea, jabbed a thumb toward the kitchen and the AutoChef.
    “We got an auto-alert came in about midnight, and it just got passed through. Not a lot of people working due to the holidays and all.”
    “Move it along, Stanski, for God’s sake.”
    “Well, sure. What I’m saying is we just got the notification, and it don’t make much sense altogether. It’s on an Anton Trevor, with this code we don’t get—not one of the standards—and it says to notify you asap. So I’m notifying you asap.”
    “I’m Homicide, Stanski, not Fraud.”
    “I got that, LT, sure.” Stanski’s round face transmitted utter earnestness just as her voice transmitted Queens.
    “But it says you, Lieutenant Eve Dallas, Homicide, clear on it. You want us to go ahead and shut down this Anton Trevor’s card, go through the process, or what?”
    “I don’t … Hold on.” Something tingled at the base of her neck as she did a quick run.
    “Computer, search and display ID for Anton Trevor, New York, New York. Age between twenty-three and twenty-eight.” That should cover it.
    Acknowledged. Working … Results displayed on screen