Thankless in Death

case—not even when, as with this one, you knew who, you knew why, you knew how, you knew when, almost from the jump.
    “He’s having a run of luck,” she complained.
    EDD star Ian McNab gave her ass a light pat as they turned toward Lori Nuccio’s building. “Luck doesn’t last. Except ours, She-body.”

    He made her grin. It was one of his high points, on her scale. That and his own sweet and bony ass, his smart green eyes, his busy brain, and his exceptional energy and creativity between the sheets.
    “We have to take the stairs up,” she said.
    “We do?”
    “I can’t stop thinking about pie à la mode. Even thinking about it’s loading up my ass, and add the fact we’re going to stop at the market on the way home so I can buy what I need to make one, then—”
    “You’re going to make us a pie?”
    “My granny’s cherry-berry, if I can find what we need, and you split the cost.”
    “Hey, if you bake that sucker, I’ll pay for the stuff.” He put on a little strut. “My best girl’s baking me a pie.”
    With a smile on his narrow face, his long tail of blond hair bouncing, the garden of earrings on his left ear gleaming, he climbed the stairs beside her.
    He reached over, dancing his fingers against hers. “I like it when we get off shift together.”
    “Me, too. I’d like it better if we’d caught this jerk-off before end of shift.”
    “You’ll get him. You can walk me through it when we get home, and we’ll put our heads together. And maybe some other body parts.”
    She snorted out a laugh as they stopped on Lori’s floor.
    “She’s over here.” Peabody walked to the door, knocked sharply.
    “You said she had the day off, spent it with a girl pal? They’re probably making a day to night deal. Dinner, hit a club or two.”
    “Yeah. I just wish—” Peabody turned as the door across the hall opened.
    “Ms. Crabtree?”

    “That’s right.”
    Dutifully, Peabody held up her badge. “You spoke with my partner earlier today, Lieutenant Dallas. I’m Detective Peabody, with Detective McNab.”
    “Lori’s not home yet. I’m starting to worry.”
    “Is it unusual for her to be away this long?”
    “No, but it’s pretty damn unusual for her ex-boyfriend to murder his parents. I heard the media report when I got home about an hour ago. I wasn’t out long, just ran a few errands, and I left a note on Lori’s door in case she came home while I was out. It was still there. I’m keeping an eye out now.”
    “We appreciate that, and we’d appreciate it if Ms. Nuccio would contact us whenever she gets back.”
    “Hell of a day for her to get a new ’link and number. But if I can’t get hold of her, neither can that son of a bitch. I guess I’d just feel better if I knew she was tucked in for the night. I’ll keep an eye out for her,” Crabtree repeated.
    Peabody rolled her shoulders as they started back down. “Now she’s got me worried. We don’t know who she’s out with, so we can’t tag her friend and play relay.”
    “We could probably find that out. Get names from her work, spread from there. Girls are pack animals, so we ID the pack members, play process of elimination. It’d take some time, but it’s doable.”
    “Pack animals.”
    “Hey, don’t blame me. You’re the ones who can’t even pee solo.”
    “I’d smack you if that wasn’t true, and if it wasn’t a good idea. It’s probably overkill, but what the hell.”
    “So we’ll start putting a list together and buy pie stuff. You do the pie, I’ll run down the list.”

    She took his hand as they exited the building. “Then we’ll put our heads and other body parts together.”
    “Solid plan.”
    They missed Lori by twenty minutes.
    S he dragged herself home as the streetlamps flickered on. She’d planned to shimmy herself into the new dress she’d bought—along with Kasey—then hit the clubs. And just as they’d finished up a well-earned post-shopping/hair/nails eggplant pasta—splitting it to whittle down the calories and the cost—their friend Dru had tagged Kasey.
    She didn’t believe it. Didn’t want to believe it. But Dru had been so adamant, and then she and Kasey had both brought up the report on their new ’links.
    Jerry, the man she’d lived with, slept with, had loved at least for a little while, was wanted for questioning by the police. Was a suspect in the murder of his parents.
    God, Jerry’s parents were dead. She’d liked them so much, and now they were