In Death 04 - Rapture in Death Read Online Free PDF Page B

for a reply, Eve switched off the unit and smiled to herself. She'd seen to it that Peabody had been transferred to the homicide division. Now she intended to take it a bit further. She engaged the 'link again.
    "Lieutenant Dallas. Is the commander free?"
    "Lieutenant." The commander's secretary beamed at her. "How was your honeymoon?"
    "It was very nice." She felt a quick flush of heat at the gleam in the woman's eye. Hubba-hubba had amused her. This dreamy look made her want to squirm. "Thank you."
    "You were a lovely bride, Lieutenant. I saw the pictures and there were several news runs on the event and the gossip channels were full of it. We saw clips of you in Paris, too. It looked so romantic."
    "Yeah." The price of fame, Eve thought. And Roarke. "It was... nice. Ah, the commander?"
    "Oh, of course. One moment please."
    As the unit buzzed, Eve rolled her eyes. She could accept being in the spotlight, but she was never going to enjoy it.
    "Dallas." Commander Whitney's grin was an acre wide, and he had an odd look on his hard, dark face. "You look... well."
    "Thank you, sir."
    "You enjoyed your honeymoon?"
    Christ, she thought, when was someone going to ask if she'd enjoyed being fucked around the world and into outer space? "Yes, sir. Thank you. I assume you've already read Officer Peabody's report on the closing of the Pandora case."
    "Yes, very complete. The PA is going for the maximum on Casto. You ran a close one there, Lieutenant."
    She was very well aware how close she'd come to not only missing her wedding day, but the rest of her life. "It stings when it's another cop," she said. "I was rushed, sir, and only had time to give you my recommendation for Peabody's transferral, permanently, to my unit. Her assistance, in this matter and others, has been invaluable."
    "She's a good cop," Whitney agreed.
    "I agree. I have a request, Commander."
    Five minutes later, when Peabody stepped into her crammed office, Eve was tipped back in her chair, scanning the data on her monitor. "I've got court in an hour," Eve said without preliminary. "On the Salvatori case. What do you know about that, Peabody?"
    "Vito Salvatori is being tried for multiple murder, with the added circumstance of torture. He is an alleged distributor of illegal substances and stands accused of the murder of three other known dealers of Zeus and TRL. The victims were burned alive in a small rooming house on the Lower East Side last winter -- after their eyes and tongues were cut out. You were primary."
    Peabody recited the data matter-of-factly while she stood at attention in her shipshape uniform.
    "Very good, Officer. Did you read my arrest report on the case?"
    "Yes, Lieutenant, I did."
    Eve nodded. An airbus boomed by the window, spewing noise and displacing air. "Then you know that before I restrained Salvatori, I broke his left arm at the elbow, his jaw, and relieved him of several teeth. His lawyers are going to try to fry me for excessive force."
    "They'll have a rough time of that, sir, as he was trying to burn down the building around you when you cornered him. If you hadn't restrained him in whatever manner was possible, he'd have been fried. So to speak."
    "Okay, Peabody. I've got this and several others to go over before the week's up. I need all the cases on my court schedule downloaded and condensed. You can meet me with the requested data in thirty minutes, east exit."
    "Sir. I'm on assignment. Detective Crouch has me chasing down vehicle registrations." Only the faintest sneer in her voice indicated Peabody's feeling about Crouch and the garbage assignment.
    "I'll handle Crouch. The commander's cleared my request. You're assigned to me. So pass off whatever grunt work that's been dumped on you and get your ass in gear."
    Peabody blinked. "Assigned to you, sir?"
    "Your hearing go bad while I was away?"
    "No, sir, but -- "
    "Have you got a thing for Crouch?" It delighted Eve to see Peabody's serious mouth drop open.
    "Are you kidding? He's