Judgment in Death

CHAPTER NINE

Nadine Furst was precisely on time, and ready to roll live. Eve hadn't agreed to a live feed, but she didn't object. It was a minor point, but one that Nadine noted.

They were friends, which didn't surprise either of them as much as it once had. They settled into the one-on-one interview in Eve's office with the smooth rhythm of practice. There were no bombshells. Nadine was fully aware Eve Dallas dropped no ammunition unless she intended to use it for her own purposes.

Still, the early interview with the primary investigator and the precise and carefully edited data put her report and her ratings considerably higher than her competition.

"With the available information," Nadine concluded, "it would appear that Detective Kohli and Lieutenant Mills were killed in broadly different manners. Is it their attachment to the same precinct, the same squad, that leads you to believe their deaths are connected?"

Smart, Eve thought. She had no doubt Nadine had done a quick crash course on both victims and knew of their work on the Ricker bust. But she was clever enough not to bring up the man's name before Eve gave her the signal.

"That connection, and certain evidence the department is not able to make public, leads us to believe both Detective Kohli and Lieutenant Mills were killed by the same individual. In addition to their attachment to the One twenty-eighth, these officers had worked on some of the same cases. Those avenues are being pursued. The New York Police and Security Department will employ all available means to track down, identify, and bring to justice the killer of two of its own."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. This is Nadine Furst reporting live from Cop Central for Channel 75." She tossed the playback to her station, nodded at her camera operator, then sat back.

Much like, Eve thought, a cat preparing to feast on a fat canary.

"Now," she began.

"I'm running a little short on time here. I have to be in court."

Nadine popped out of the chair. "Dallas-"

"Why don't you walk me over?" Eve said casually, and gave the camera person a bland stare.

"Sure. It's a nice day for a walk. Lucy, go on back to base. I'll catch transpo."

"Whatever." Always affable, and perfectly aware something more was up, Lucy hauled her camera out.

"Talk to me," Nadine demanded when they were alone. "Ricker."

"Not here. Let's walk."

"Oh. You actually meant that." Nadine glanced down at her stylish but impractical heels. "Hell, how I suffer to give the public their right to know."

"You only wear those torture devices because they make your legs look hot."

"Damn right." Resigned, Nadine followed Eve out of the office. "So how are things on a personal front?"

Eve took the glide down, surprised at how nearly she skimmed toward telling Nadine about her problem with Roarke. Nadine was a woman, after all, and Eve had a feeling she needed to talk to a female about strategy or something.

Then it occurred to her that Nadine, for all her polished looks, sharp brains, and basic good humor, wasn't one of the top runners in the successful race of male-female relationships.

"Fine."

"Well, that certainly took some time. A little trouble in paradise?"

There was just enough sympathy in the tone to have Eve skirting a little closer to the edge. "I'm just distracted."

She stepped outside, opting to take the long way around. She wanted the air, she wanted the time. And she wanted the relative privacy of a crowded street.

"An anonymous police source, Nadine."

"I'll give you that, Dallas, but I have to tell you that coming so hard on the one-on-one, it's going to be fairly easy to pin you as that source."

"No kidding?"

Nadine studied her friend's face. "Excuse me for being one step behind. I'll just catch up now. You want certain parties to tag you, or at least suspect you, as the source of the information you're going to give me."

"I'm not going to give you information so much as supposition. You do what you like with it. You already know, or I'm wasting my time talking to you, that Kohli and Mills were on the task force that busted Max Ricker."

"Yeah, I've picked that up. But then again, there were more than a dozen cops and various official drones on that task force. Ricker's bad news, but it's a long stretch to think he'd scrape his knuckles having a whole group of cops taken out. And for what? The annoyance factor? He lost a big pile of money, but he got off."

"There's reason to believe he had a connection to at least one of the victims." Keep it vague, Eve thought. Let the reporter do the digging. "There are four men coming up for a hearing this morning who are allegedly employed by Max Ricker. They are charged with various crimes, including the unlawful vehicular pursuit of a police officer. Seems to me if Ricker's ballsy enough to send goons after a cop in broad daylight, he wouldn't stick at arranging for the murder of cops."

"He came after you? Dallas, as a reporter, that tip makes me incredibly hot and excited." But she laid a hand on Eve's arm. "As your friend, I'd like to advise you to take a vacation. Far, far away."

Eve stopped at the steps of the courthouse. "Your police source can't tell you that Ricker is a suspect in the murder, or the conspiracy to murder, two NYPSD officers. But your source can tell you that the investigation is taking a cold, hard look at the activities, associations, and businesses of one Max Edward Ricker."

"You won't nail him, Dallas. He's like smoke, just keeps shifting and vanishing."

"Watch me," Eve invited, and strode up the steps.

"I'm going to," Nadine murmured. "And I'm going to worry, damn it."

– =O=-***-=O=-

Eve pushed through the doors and tried not to sigh over the line for the security scan. She chose the shortest for police and city officials, inched her way forward, and had just cleared when all hell broke loose.

She heard the shouts from the second level where Lewis's hearing was scheduled and, charging up the stairs, pushed her way through the crowd of lawyers and court groupies that had already gathered.

Lewis was on the floor, his face gray, his eyes rolled back.

"He just keeled over!" someone called out. "Just keeled right over. Somebody call the MTs. Get a doctor."

She was swearing as she charged forward, crouched down.

"Ma'am, you'll have to move back."

She looked up at the uniform. "Dallas, Lieutenant Eve. This one's mine."

"Sorry, Lieutenant. I've called for medical."

"He's not breathing." She straddled him, ripped open his shirt, and started CPR. "Get these people back. Lock down the area-"

"Lock down-"

"Lock it down," she ordered, and gave her breath to Lewis, knowing it was futile.

She worked on him until the medical techs arrived and pronounced him. Disgusted, she cornered his guard. "Report. I want to know everything that happened from the time you got him out of his cell."

"Standard, sir, right down the line." The uniform was ready to be resentful that anyone would point the finger at him because some hired hammer's heart went bad. "Due to the charges, the subject was cuffed, then transported here."

"Who was in the transport?"

"Myself and my partner. The orders were that he wasn't to come into contact with the other three suspects. We walked him through, walked him up to this level."

"You didn't use the secured elevator?"

"No, sir." He twitched very slightly at that. "It was jammed, Lieutenant. We brought him up the steps. He didn't give us any trouble. His lawyer was here and asked us to wait a moment until he'd finished up a consult with another client, via palm-link. We stood by, then the subject staggered and fell. He gasped for breath, and while my partner checked him over, I attempted to keep the crowd at a distance. Shortly thereafter, you arrived on the scene."

"What precinct are you with?" She skimmed a glance over his nameplate. "Officer Harmon."

"Sir, I'm assigned to Central, Security Division."

"Who approached or had contact with the subject?"

"No one, sir. My partner and I flanked him, per procedure."

"Are you telling me no one came close to this guy before he dropped?"

"No. That is, we went through security, as required. There were a number of people on line, and a number moving through the area. But no one spoke to the deceased or had physical contact with him. Someone stopped my partner and inquired about directions to the civil court area."

"The person who wanted directions-how close did he get to the subject?"

"She, sir. It was a female. She appeared to be in some distress and stopped as we were walking by each other."

"Get a good look at her, Harmon?"

"Yes, sir. Early twenties, blonde, blue eyes, fair complexion. She'd been crying, sir, was crying but trying not to, if you understand me. She was visibly distressed, and when she dropped her handbag some of the contents scattered."

"I bet you and your partner were very helpful picking up those items for her."

Her tone alerted him, and Harmon began to feel slightly ill. "Sir. It couldn't have taken more than ten seconds, and the suspect was restrained and never out of our sight."

"Let me show you something, Harmon, and you can tell your partner once he finishes jerking off." She signaled the MTs aside. "Come down here," she ordered, once again crouching by the body. "Do you see this faint red mark, the small circular mark over the deceased's heart?"

He had to look hard, but since he was now close to terrified, Harmon all but jammed his nose against Lewis's chest. "Yes, sir."

"Do you know what that is, Officer?"

"No, sir. No, sir, I don't."

"It's the mark left by a pressure syringe. Your weepy blonde assassinated your charge under your goddamn nose."

– =O=-***-=O=-

She had every corner of the building searched for a woman matching the description Harmon gave her, but she expected to find nothing. And found exactly that. She called in a crime scene unit to start the process of a homicide investigation and gave herself the pleasure of interrogating Canarde.

"You knew he was going to roll, didn't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Lieutenant." Back at Central, idly examining his manicure, Canarde sat placidly in Interview Three. "I will remind you that I'm here voluntarily. I was nowhere near my unfortunate client this morning, and you have yet to determine whether his death was other than by natural causes."

"A healthy man, under fifty, keels over from a heart attack. Convenient, particularly since the PA's office was prepared to offer him immunity for turning evidence against another of your clients."

"If immunity was being offered, Lieutenant, I am unaware of it, as I was uninformed of such an offer. As the deceased's attorney of record, it would have been required that such an offer be made through me or in my presence."

He had small teeth, perfect little teeth. And he showed them when he stretched his lips in a smile. "I believe you've stepped over, or certainly around, a line of legal procedure. It doesn't appear to have worked out well for my client."

"You got that right. You can inform your client, Canarde, that all he's done here is piss me off. I work harder when I'm pissed off."

Canarde gave her another of his snakelike smiles. "My client, Lieutenant, is beyond caring. Now, if you'll excuse me, I must do my duty by the tragic Mr. Lewis. I believe he had an ex-wife and a brother. I'll offer them my condolences: And, if by some quirk of fate, you happen to be correct about Mr. Lewis being helped into the grave, I will advise his family to sue the NYPSD for negligence and wrongful death. It would be a great personal pleasure to represent them in the civil case."

"I bet he doesn't even have to pay you, Canarde. He just tosses you the fish, and you jump up, squeal, and dive into the muck to get it back."

The amusement faded from his eyes, though his mouth continued to smile. He got to his feet, nodded, then left the room.

– =O=-***-=O=-

"I should have anticipated it," Eve told her commander. "I should have figured Ricker had sources in the department and in the PA's office."

"You covered yourself." A low, burning anger simmered inside Whitney. He would use it like fuel. "Only necessary personnel were informed of the plans to grant immunity."

"Still, it leaked. And with Lewis taken out this way, I'll never turn any of the others on Ricker. I can't even assure myself they'll do the maximum time. I need a lever, Commander. I got under his skin once, and I can do it again. But I need something, no matter how minor, to justify bringing him in to Interview."

"That won't be easy. He's too well insulated. Mills," Whitney said. "You have no doubt he was taking."

"No, sir. I don't. But as to connecting the funds back to Ricker, I don't know. Feeney's on it, and I have several different angles I'm going to pursue."

"From this point on in this investigation, I want daily reports of every step you and your team makes. Every step, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir."

"I want the names of every cop you're looking at, the ones you've cleared to your satisfaction, and the ones you haven't."

"Yes, sir."

"If you believe the involvement in the department goes beyond Mills and Kohli, IAB will have to be informed."

They watched each other a moment, treading a line.

"Sir, I would hesitate to inform Internal Affairs until such time as I have evidence substantiating what, at this point in the investigation, is only a suspicion of further involvement."

"And how much time do you estimate your hesitation will encompass?"

"If I could have twenty-four hours, Commander."

"One day, Dallas," he said with a nod. "Neither of us can afford to dance around it longer than that."

– =O=-***-=O=-

She didn't waste time but tracked down Martinez, contacted her, and requested a meeting. Off police territory, Eve thought, would make it easier all around.

She met Martinez at a small coffee shop between both their bases. Far enough away from each location to insure it wasn't a cop hangout.

Martinez arrived a few minutes late, giving Eve the opportunity to observe, to judge. Going by body language, it was clear Martinez's defenses were up.

"I had to take personal time for this." Her shoulders as stiff as her voice, Martinez slid into the booth across from Eve. "And I don't have a lot of it."

"Fine. My clock's ticking, too. You want coffee?"

"I don't drink it."

"How do you live?"

Martinez gave a sour smile, signaled the serving droid, and ordered water. "And don't pour it from the tap," she warned. "I'll know and fry your circuits. Let's just cut through the crap," Martinez continued, turning back to Eve. "You're looking for me to hang something on Kohli and Mills, and it ain't gonna happen. You're looking to dig up dirt, doing scut work for IAB. That turns my stomach."

Eve picked up her coffee and watched Martinez placidly over the rim. "Well, that covers that. Now, just where do you get all this information?"

"Word gets around when one cop's hunting others. It's all over the One two-eight. We've got two dead cops. It seems to me you'd be more interested in finding out who did them than in turning up muck before they're even in the fucking ground."

That kind of temper, while Eve respected it, wasn't going to help Martinez work her way up the chain in rank. "Whatever you've heard, whatever you think, finding out who did them is my priority."

"Yeah, right. Your priority is covering your husband's ass."

"Excuse me?"

"He owns Purgatory. I figure maybe something was up there, and Kohli tuned into it. They didn't know he was a cop, so maybe they weren't careful. And when he got too close, they took him out."

"And Mills?"

Martinez shrugged. "You're the one saying they're connected."

"You know, Martinez, when I first met you and Mills, I figured he was the moron of the pair. Now, here you are, seriously damaging my self-esteem by showing me my character judgment stinks."

"You're not my commanding officer." Martinez had dark eyes. Now they fired like black suns. "I don't have to take crap from you."

"Then take some advice from someone who's been on the job longer. Learn when to jab and when to wait. You've been here under five minutes and told me more than I've asked."

"I haven't told you dick."

"You told me that someone's starting talk at your precinct. That word's already out-likely through that source-that there's reason to believe Kohli and Mills were taking. Ask yourself where that came from? Who'd want to put cops on their guard and looking sideways at me? Think, Detective."

To give her a minute to do so, Eve sipped at her coffee. "I don't have to cover for Roarke. He's been handling himself for a long time. Nobody but someone who'd have something to worry about has cause to suspect or know that part of my investigation is turning up dirt on the two victims."

"Word gets out," Martinez said, but her tone wasn't quite so confident. She reached for her water the minute it was on the table.

"Yeah, especially when someone wants it to. You think I arranged to put over three million dollars in Kohli's and Mills's accounts to cover my husband's ass? You think I've maybe been funneling it there for months to try to create a scandal involving fellow cops?"

"You're the one saying the money was there."

"That's right. I'm saying it."

Martinez said nothing for a moment, just staring back into Eve's eyes. Then she closed her own. "Hell. Oh, hell. I'm not turning on another cop. I'm fifth generation. There's been a cop in my family for over a hundred years. That means something to me. We have to stand up for each other."

"I'm not asking you to judge. I'm asking you to think. Not every one of us respects the badge. Two of the men on your task force are dead. Both of them had more money stashed away than most cops can save in a lifetime on the job. Now they're dead. Somebody got close enough to them to take them out before they could blink. Are you ready to be next?"

"Next? You see me as a target?" The fire came back into Martinez's eyes. "You think I've been taking."

"I haven't seen anything to make me think that. And I've looked."

"Goddamn bitch. I worked my ass off to make detective. Now you're going to toss me to IAB?"

"I'm not tossing you anywhere. But if you're not straight with me, you're going to hang yourself. One way or another. Who's at the core of this?" Eve demanded, leaning forward. "Be a detective, for Christ's sake, and figure it. Who connects Kohli and Mills and has the money to turn a cop into a weasel?"

"Ricker." Martinez's fingers curled on the table until her fist ran white across the knuckles. "Goddamn it."

"You had him, didn't you? You went into that bust knowing you had everything you needed for an arrest, an indictment, and a conviction. You were careful."

"It took me months to set it up. I lived with that case twenty-four/seven. I made sure I didn't miss anything. Didn't rush it. Then to have it all fall apart. I couldn't figure it. I kept telling myself the son of a bitch was just too slick, too well covered. But still… Part of me knew he had to have somebody inside. Had to. But I didn't want to look there. I still don't."

"But now you will."

Martinez lifted her glass, drank water as though her throat was scorched. "Why am I being tagged?"

"Spotted the surveillance, did you?"

"Yeah, I spotted it. I figured you were going after me next."

"If I find out you're in bed with Ricker, I will. Right now, the tag's for your protection."

"I want it off. If I'm going to throw in with you, I need to move without somebody breathing down my neck. I have a personal copy of all the data, all my notes, every step leading up to Ricker's bust. After the case fell apart, I looked over them, but my heart wasn't in it. It will be now."

"I'd like a copy."

"It's my work."

"And when we take him down, I'll see to it you get the collar."

"It means something to me. The job means something to me. This case… the captain said I'd lost my objectivity. She was right," Martinez added with a twist of her lips. "I did. I ate that case for breakfast every morning and I slept with it every night. If I'd kept the right distance, I might have seen all this coming. I might have seen how Mills insinuated himself into it until he was calling shots. I just took it as his usual macho bullshit."

"We're supposed to stand for each other. You had no reason to look his way."

"Kohli's memorial's scheduled for day after tomorrow. It comes to me, without doubt, that he was looped with Ricker, I'll spit on his grave. My grandfather went down in the line of duty during the Urban Wars. He saved two kids. They're somewhat older than I am, and they write my grandmother every year at Christmas, and again on the anniversary of the day it happened. They never forget. It's not just about the collar, Dallas. It's about being a cop."

Eve nodded, and after a moment's hesitation, leaned in again. "Martinez, I worked on one of Ricker's spine crackers, had him ready to roll. The deal was going through the PA's office for immunity. He had a hearing this morning. Walking down the hall in the courtyard, between two cops, he got hit. He's dead. Just like that. There are leaks, and I don't know where to begin to plug them. I want you to know before you start on this that I may not be able to keep a lid on it. I may not be able to keep your name out of the mix. And that could put you in the crosshairs."

Martinez pushed her empty glass aside. "Like I said. It's about being a cop."

– =O=-***-=O=-

Eve spent the rest of the day backtracking, reading data until her eyes stung. She went back to Patsy Kohli under the pretext of a follow-up. After twenty minutes, she was convinced the grieving widow had known nothing.

That's what her gut told her, Eve thought as she got into her car again. She just wasn't sure she could trust her gut anymore.

She had a new list working in her brain, the one McNab was shooting her every few hours. A line of cops he'd cleared, another line of those who remained suspect.

Because Central was closer, she slipped back to her office there and ran a series of probabilities using the new data and the new list of names.

No matter how she juggled it, she found nothing conclusive. And would find nothing, she thought, until she dug deeper. They would have to pick the lives of these cops apart, like crows on fleshy bones. Every time they cleared one, it would put more weight on the rest.

She knew what it was to undergo an internal investigation, to have the hounds of IAB sniffing at her heels. Being clean didn't make it less nasty. Being clean didn't wash the vile aftertaste out of your throat.

She couldn't go deeper without sending up flags. Unless she made use of Roarke's unregistered and illegal equipment. She couldn't make use of it without his help. She didn't have the skill to peel those layers away on her own.

And she couldn't ask him for help when she'd made such a big damn deal about wanting him uninvolved.

She put her head in her hands, unsurprised, in fact almost pleased that it was throbbing. A good, solid headache would give her something else to be unhappy about.

She decided to head home. And on the way passed Mavis's billboard. Before she could think about it, she'd engaged her 'link and tried Mavis at home, without any real hope of catching her there.

"Hello. Hey! Hey, Dallas!"

"Guess what I'm looking at?"

"A naked, one-armed pygmy."

"Damn. Okay, you're too good at this. Talk to you later."

"Wait, wait." Giggling, Mavis shifted in front of her own 'link as if that would somehow give her the angle of Eve's view. "What is it really?"

"You. About a million times bigger than life over Times fucking Square."

"Oh! Is that iced, or what? Is that beyond Arctic? I keep finding excuses to go down and look at it. I want to give your husband a big, wet, sloppy kiss. Leonardo says it's all right with him, under the circumstances, but I thought I should clear it with you."

"I don't tell Roarke who he can kiss."

Mavis's eyebrows, currently a neon magenta, rose straight up into her blueberry-colored hair. "Oh oh. Are you having a fight?"

"No. Yes. No. I don't know what the hell we're having. He's barely speaking to me. Are you-never mind."

"Am I what?" She put a hand over her screen, made Eve roll her eyes while she had a whispered conversation with someone else in the room. "Sorry. Leonardo's trying out a new stage costume. Hey, why don't you come by?"

"No. You're busy."

"Uh-uh. Come on, Dallas, you never come by the old place. If you're in Times Square, you can be here in a heartbeat. I was just thinking I was going to make a big batch of screamers. So I'll see you in a few."

"No-I-" She hissed a breath at the blank screen, nearly called back and made excuses. Then she shrugged, felt her back go up when she remembered that coolly distant tone Roarke had used on her that morning. "What the hell," she muttered. "Just for a few minutes."