Page 36 of Random in Death

Didn’t he want to see her face? He wasn’t going to watch her die, but to not even see her face?

Even if just an experiment, that had to be part of the data, didn’t it? Action/reaction.

“She fucking saw him.” Eve pushed up, paced. “Even if he was turning to get gone, she had to see him.

“Why am I stuck on that?” Annoyed with herself, she scrubbed her hands over her face.

Peabody came back. “McNab’s on it, but nothing yet. Feeney’s taking the rest of the band at their studio. They’re not suspects, so he’s taking them all at once, to see if one maybe sparks a memory with the others.”

Exactly why she wanted to take both the friends together.

“And the victim’s friends, their mothers, are on the way up.”

“Have you ever given anybody a shot?”

“Jeez, no.” Peabody shuddered at the thought. “Sometimes you have to give animals meds or whatever. I didn’t like doing that, usually found a way to get out of it.”

Free-Ager, Eve thought. Farm animals.

Close enough.

“You’ve got a syringe in your pocket, and I’m the target. You come up behind me, on the left while I’m all freaking giddy and distracted.”

Eve turned away. “Jab me. With your finger.”

“Okay, but since it’s a needle, I have to take off the tip—you know, the little protective tip so I don’t jab myself. Then tap it so there’s no air bubbles, and—”

“He doesn’t give a shit about air bubbles. Jab it, shove the plunger down—fast. Get it back in your pocket and get away.”

Peabody obeyed.

“Ow.” Eve jerked back, looked down at her arm, slapped a hand on it. “Somebody jabbed me.” Turned.

Peabody just started to turn to move away.

“You’re barely a foot away.”

“Well, I was pretending I’m on a crowded dance floor.”

“Exactly. She saw him. Even if just that glimpse. He’s a planner, and you bet your ass he rehearsed this, in a variety of ways. He had to know she’d catch that glimpse.”

“He had to know she’d be dead in minutes, so he didn’t care.”

“But she could’ve said, ‘That butthead John Smith jabbed me.’ She didn’t just collapse and die right then and there. She’s with two friends. ‘Somebody jabbed me,’ turn, see, and say, ‘That asshole John Smith.’ No way, at this point, to know if he knew her, but she caught that glimpse, at least a glimpse, and didn’t know him.”

“You’re worried he didn’t know her, either, because if he didn’t, she was random.”

“If she was random, if she was just a type, just a girl, and he reached the goal, he’s going to want to reach it again. Let’s go take the friends. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

“Leelee’s mom’s Maddie Spencer. Chelsea’s is Audrey Fine.”

“Got it.”

They walked into the bullpen just as the four entered.

“Ms. Spencer, Ms. Fine. Lieutenant Dallas, Detective Peabody.” Eve extended a hand to both. “We appreciate you coming in so quickly.”

“We want to do everything we can to help,” Maddie said. “Jenna was like part of our families.”

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