Page 17 of Bonded in Death

“He asked her to trust him.”

Marriage Rules, and four-plus decades, required trust.

“She said he was happy to see his friend again, but worried. Conclusion? Either the friend lured him here to kill him—motive unknown. Or the friend’s in trouble, and someone took Rossi out before he could help.”

Eve pointed to the computer. “I started the face rec on the driver, no hits. Yet.”

“Did you do global?”

“There’s a reason I’m the LT, Peabody.”

“Sorry, it’s just… Going through his ’link? No contacts in New York in there. No communications, either, like I said. He tagged his wife when he landed. Just to let her know he arrived safe. His sign-off, translated? ‘I love you more, my own, every minute of every hour of every day.’ And hers? ‘And I’ll love you more tomorrow than today.’ It was so… sweet, romantic, true. It choked me up a little.”

Did it make it harder or softer, she wondered, that the widow had had that last sweetness?

Because she had to, Eve set the question aside.

“She’ll be in New York in a few hours. She’ll let me know when she gets here. When I finish the book, I’ll see if EDD can monitor the face rec if we don’t get a hit. You start a deep run on Rossi. He had a friend, or someone he thought was a friend, in New York. Let’s find him.

“When I’m done here, we’ll go see Morris.”

“I’ll get started.” Peabody glanced at the board. “He and his wife really had a bond. A tight, loving bond.”

When Eve finished the book, wrote up her report with still no hit, she pushed the face rec on EDD.

In the bullpen, the full complement of detectives manned their desks. And Jenkinson’s tie of the day struck her eyes like an atomic blast.

It might have represented one, she decided. Just a screaming mass of violent colors without pattern, without mercy.

She dug the sunshades she somehow hadn’t lost or broken out of her pocket.

“Peabody with me.”

“Half a sec,” she said, and took several before she popped up.

Eve bypassed the elevators for the glides.

“I think—don’t give me the pooh-pooh.”

Eve simply stared at her partner. “The what?”

“You know, the pooh-pooh.” Peabody waved her hand dismissively to demonstrate. “But I think, maybe, Rossi was a spy.”

“Please note, I’m not saying your incredibly silly word that’s not an actual word. Why do you think, maybe?”

“Well, it’s all so pat, so ordinary, and then, when you go way back, there’s the Urbans, and just a mention of him working with the Underground.”

“In New York?”

“In Europe. As a cyber tech. But they had spies in the Underground. And after? He’s listed as working for this Italian company, in IT, and in cybersecurity. Way ordinary. And for decades. Same job, same place, and same position. It just seems so pat.”

“People live ordinary lives, Peabody. And given his age and tech skills, it’s not a shock he was part of the Underground. We’re talking forty or fifty years ago, easy, right?”

“Things began going to shit in Europe in about 2016. Started earlier,lasted longer there, in some places, than here. Don’t you think his wife would know?”

“If so, we’ll find out in a few hours. Meanwhile, we’ll keep your spy-guy deal under consideration.”

“Maybe he didn’t actually retire. It’s just a smoke screen.”

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