Page 84 of Passions in Death
“Because she rejected me? Or because she’s in my way?”
Mira smiled, rose. “That, I’m afraid, is for you, but whoever did this is very good at wearing a mask, and perhaps believing they don’t wear one at all. They did what needed doing, no more, no less. The wedding—that insult—will now be a memorial. Which they’ll no doubt attend. They may even grieve a little, but with no guilt.”
“Masks slip.”
“They do,” Mira agreed. “You’ll watch for that, and I believe you’ll recognize what you see beneath it when it does. I have to go.”
“Thanks for the time.”
“If you want to talk any more of it through, just let me know.”
Trust and sex, Eve thought as Mira’s heels clicked down the hall. She got more coffee, took her desk chair, and studied the board.
Hot and cold blood running together to do what needed doing.
That, she found, was an interesting thought.
She heard Peabody coming, didn’t bother to look around. “His alibi held.”
“Yeah, no way Carver could’ve done it.”
“No.” Not enough cold blood there. “He’s not in it. Let’s see if we can talk to the two best friends again—DiNuzio for Hunnicut, Decker for Albright. But separately. Let’s see if we can get them to come in—separately.”
“Divide and conquer?”
Eyes on the board, Eve nodded. “Something like that. Makes it easier to get them to dish some dirt. Give me twenty, then let me know. We’ll go to them if necessary, but I’d rather pull them in.”
“Lounge or box?”
“Box. Let’s keep it official, maybe a little intimidating.”
“Got it.”
Eve rose to rearrange her board.
Everybody wore a mask sometime, she thought. Even if for politeness, to spare hurt feelings. But put them in the box, push the right buttons, and that mask usually slipped.
You never knew what you might see or hear when it did.
Sitting again, she studied the new configuration of her board, one that put Lopez and Barney at the top, the victim in the center, and Shauna Hunnicut beside her.
Both victims—one with her life taken, one who would live her life with that loss inside her.
From there, other friends radiated with their connections highlighted. A lot of crisscrosses, she noted. Yes, a lot of intersects.
But some of those intersects had only started a year and change before, and others went deeper, longer.
The deepest and longest to Hunnicut: Barney and DiNuzio—as were their links to each other. Add Stillwater, but he was out of it, as was Rierdon.
The deepest and longest to Albright: Frost, Fleschner, Decker, Lopez.
Sitting back, boots up, she closed her eyes and let her mind circle.
Take DiNuzio and Decker first and see what, if anything, came out of it.
Another hit at Stillwater. Longtime booty buddy, and people said things in bed after sex they might not say otherwise.
Then Fleschner—devoted friend, absolute trust, first pick for helping with the surprise. Painting together, sharing that bond. What else might Albright have shared with her, or tossed off as an aside, an observation?
