Page 114 of Bonded in Death

“Sir.”

“My office, as soon as you get to Central.”

“I’m on my way in now, Commander.”

“Good. So am I.”

When he clicked off, she winced.

Just over a minute later, it was Mira.

“Dr. Mira.”

“I’d like to meet with you this morning regarding your investigation.”

“I’m on my way in, and meeting with the commander. I can come to your office after that.”

“I’ll come to you. I’d like to see your board.”

So much, Eve thought when she ended the call, for getting an early start on the op. After some calculations, she sent a group text to her bullpen.

If it’s not hot, drop it. Operation briefing zero-eight-thirty. Peabody, send last night’s report to all and book a conference room.

She sent a request for Lowenbaum to attend, then considering her time crunch, shot off more to Berenski, DeWinter, and the boomer citing the urgency on receiving their findings on prints, DNA, and bomb analysis.

And driving through the rain, avoiding idiots who lost all ability to drive at the first drop, she planned her op.

When she arrived at Central, she rode the elevator straight up to Whitney’s office. As others got on, got off, she shared space with a street LC who looked like she’d had a nasty scuffle with a colleague or client, a pair of uniforms arguing baseball, and an undercover cop sporting a black eye and chowing down on a breakfast taco.

Whitney’s admin had yet to arrive, but the commander’s doors stood open. He said, “Come.”

Eve knew tired and annoyed when she looked at it, as she often felt the same way.

“Sit.” When she hesitated, he pointed to a chair. “Sit.”

She sat.

“Make this clear, Lieutenant. You suspected an explosive device had been planted somewhere on the premises of a restaurant on the Lower East Side, and rather than alerting the bomb squad, obtained a warrant to enter and search.”

“Yes, sir. I—”

He cut her off with a look. “You and the civilian consultant entered the building with the civilian’s explosive scanner, located the device. Upon doing so, you did not move to a safe distance and contact the division manned and equipped to secure and deactivate incendiary devices, but allowed the civilian to risk his life and yours by attempting to do so.”

“Yes, sir, with one qualification.”

“Qualification. What did I miss, Lieutenant?”

“The civilian identified the device as Urban Wars era, and assured me he could and would deactivate the device. While the civilian might have risked his own life, he would never have risked mine. He would not risk mine.”

Whitney drew breath in and out his nose. “As simple as that?”

“As certain as that. If Potter had been watching the target, we risked alerting him by calling in an explosives team. The probability he was, was low, sir, but not zero.”

“I’ll remind you you’ve yet to conclusively establish that Potter is the suspect, that he is still alive.”

“I messaged Dr. DeWinter this morning expressing the urgency of that confirmation. There’s a high probability his prints will be on the device. I’ve also messaged Chief Berenski on the urgency of that confirmation.”

“Pierce is in custody. Has he made a statement?”

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