Missing in Death Read Online Free PDF

pretty big clue one had been committed.”
    Eve walked toward the stern, trying to reconstruct a scene that made no sense. “I’m looking forward to asking him. I don’t think it’s just his good luck she can’t remember. Let’s see what the medical exam concludes after she’s done there. But the bigger question is, yeah, why bother to suppress her memory? And why would the killer have something on him that could?”
    “Hypnosis?”
    “I’m not ruling it out.” She leaned back against the rail, looked up at the twin smokestacks. “They’re not real. They’re show. Just to keep the ferry looking old-timey. Big. Way big enough for somebody to hide a body and an unconscious woman.”
    “Sure, if he had sparkly fairy wings and an invisibility shield.”
    Eve had to laugh. “Point. Regardless, let’s make sure they get checked out.” She turned when Jake walked toward them.
    “We let the last of the passengers through the ticker. Two short. We’ve accounted for everyone, passengers, crew, concession. Two people who got on didn’t get off.”
    “They just got off before we made port,” Eve corrected. “This ferry is out of service until further notice. It’s sealed by order of the NYPSD. Guards on twenty-f our/ seven. Crime Scene hasn’t finished, and will continue until they’ve covered every inch, including those,” she added, pointing at the smokestacks.
    Jake lifted his gaze to follow the gesture. “Well. That should be fun.”
    “Something this size, with this layout? There are places to hide, to conceal. He had to know the boat, the layout, at least to some extent.”
    “Having a place to hide doesn’t explain getting out of that bathroom without anyone seeing him. Unless he has the cloak of invisibility.”
    Jake’s remark got a quick laugh from Peabody and a cool stare from Eve.
    “We work the wit and the evidence. We’ll be in touch, Inspector.”
    “You’re leaving?”
    “We’ll be following up with the security discs, Carolee Grogan, and the lab. The sooner we identify the victim, if a victim there is, the sooner we can move on the killer. You may want some of your men backing up mine on guard duty. I don’t want anyone on that ferry without authorization.”
    “All right.”
    “Let’s move, Peabody.”
    “Ah, Detective? Should your situation change . . .”
    Peabody felt the heat rise to her cheeks again. “It isn’t likely to, but thanks.” She scrambled to keep up with Eve’s long strides. “He hit on me again.”
    “I’ll mark it down, first chance.”
    “It’s markable,” Peabody mumbled. “Really.” She risked a look over her shoulder before they boarded the turbo. “I figured we’d be staying, going over the boat again.”
    “We have enough people on that.” Eve braced herself as the turbo shot across the water. “Here’s a question—or a few. Why kill in a public restroom on a ferry in the middle of the water? No easy way off. Why not leave the body? Why, if interrupted by a bystander, spare that bystander’s life? And go to the trouble, apparently, to secret her away for an hour?”
    “Okay, but even if we find the answer to any of the whys, we don’t answer the hows.”
    “Next column. How was the victim selected? How was the method of killing selected? How was Carolee Grogan moved from the crime scene to another location? And straddling columns, why doesn’t she remember? How was the body—if there was one—removed? All of it comes back to one question. Who was the victim? That’s the center. The rest rays out from there.”
    “The victim’s probably female. Or the killer. One of them, at least, is probably female. It makes more sense, given the location of the murder.”
    “Agreed, and the computer agrees. I ran probability. Mid-eighties for female vic or killer.” She pulled out her ’link when it signaled, saw Roarke’s personal code on the readout. “Hey.”
    “Hey back.” His face—that fallen-angel beauty—filled the screen