Page 109 of Bonded in Death

“They’re all still up there,” she said darkly. “Spread out in my office.”

“I’ll deal with it.”

And he would, she thought. He had a way of dealing with annoyances and inconveniences. With people, who often amounted to the same thing.

Just as she imagined, they were all spread out in her office, in her space, with coffee, and cookies, and conversation.

How did people find so damn much to talk about?

To cut off questions, as all turned to her and Roarke, Eve took the lead.

“The situation’s handled. Roarke’s going to bring you up to date.”

“Why don’t we use my office so the lieutenant can write her report?” As he gestured, they rose as a unit, and Eve went straight to her command center.

She opened operations.

Summerset placed an oversized cup of black coffee and a plate of cookies at her elbow. “Caffeine and sugar. You appear to thrive on them.”

“They do the job.”

“So do you, Lieutenant.”

He followed the others into the adjoining office, then shut the door.

Eve took the first of her forty minutes to absorb the solitude, the quiet. Then got to work.

Thirty-nine minutes later, Roarke came in.

“What? Do you set an alarm?”

“Do I need to?” After a glance at her board, he nodded. “You’ve updated, and wouldn’t be standing here staring at your board if you hadn’t sent off your report.”

“Upper East for Rossi, Lower East for the bomb. He’s got a place on the West Side.”

“Because it’s more complicated.”

“Affirmative. He’s got his own vehicle. Public transpo wouldn’t cut it. He’s got a garage.”

“You’ve had at least some of those five minutes of thinking time. As well as coffee and some of Summerset’s exceptional shortbread biscuits.”

“Cookies on this side of the Atlantic, pal.”

“I’m an Irishman currently surrounded by Brits.”

“And where are they?”

“Gone to bed, as we’re about to.”

He took her hand to lead her away from the board, and out of the room.

Chapter Fifteen

“How’d they take it?”

“Like the professionals they are. And with considerable mining for details. They want to see the recording. And before you say no, which is your first instinct as it was mine, these are people who worked with the kind of device we deactivated.”

“You deactivated. I held the goddamn light. I’ll think about it. I’ll think about it because they did work with that type of device, and because—active or not, and who can be sure which—they are pros.”

---