Page 45 of Random in Death

Jesus, how much did a sixteen-year-old face require to looked iced?

As she finished up, Charles rapped knuckles on the bedroom doorframe.

“Sorry to interrupt. Louise texted that they’re about to come home. I thought you’d want to know.”

“Yeah. I’m done here. Peabody?”

“Same.”

“Let’s get out. They don’t need us to be here when they get back. You could let them know, Charles, the room’s cleared. That we appreciate them allowing us into Jenna’s personal space.”

“I will.”

They started downstairs together.

“Can I give them a sense of what you found?”

“Take this, Peabody.”

“You can tell them we found Jenna to be a lovely young woman with an extraordinary talent. We’ll work very hard to find out who took her from them.”

“That’s perfect.” Charles wrapped around her. “It’s good to see you, Dee, even in these awful circumstances.”

“Come by the house again when you and Louise can. More progress since you saw it last.”

“We’ll make a point of it.”

“One last thing,” Eve said as she and Peabody stepped outside. “They’ll hold a memorial for her. We need to know when and where.”

“You think whoever did this might show up?”

“They often do.”

“I know they have family they asked to come in—not everyone lives in or around New York. They want to have the memorial date set. Louise and I are helping, so we can let you know when it is.”

“All right. Later.”

“I’m with Reed,” Charles called out. “When you find the bastard, hurt him.”

“After going through that room, it’s hard not to feel the same.”

“Not how it works,” Eve reminded Peabody.

“I know, but it’s hard not to hope maybe it’ll be necessary, under the law.”

In the car, Eve sat back a moment.

“I’m going to check in with EDD. Unless they hit something, there’s nothing left on this today. We need to set up with her school, and we can check other chem labs—other schools, colleges.

“I need thinking time.”

“My brain’s out of thoughts. And my stomach’s just as empty. Yours has to be, too.”

She hadn’t thought about food, but had to admit the fatigue had hit her brain.

“You contact EDD. Even if they hit, we can either work it from home, or we turn around and grab up whoever they found. I need to tag Roarke. He asked me to when we finished, and we’re finished.”

“We put in a good day, Dallas. We made progress.”

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