“Plenty of tells. Look, if you don’t want to deal with her, you can leave with me and Peabody. We’ll get you home.”

“No, it’s chilly. A spread in Outré’s like my fantasy. And it’ll give a boost to my disc sales. Won’t hurt Leonardo’s biz either. It cooks for all of us. We did good, right?”

“We did good.”

“Night or day, day or night. Hey, what do you think about Vignette or Vidal?”

“What are they?”

“My baby. Vignette for a girl, Vidal for a boy. They’re French. We’re experimenting with French names, and I ditched Fifi. I mean, who names a kid Fifi?”

Eve didn’t know who might name a kid Vignette either, but made a noncommittal mouth noise.

“Somebody will call her Viggy,” Peabody said. “Which rhymes with piggy, so she’ll be Piggy Viggy in school.”

Mavis looked horrified. “You think? Deep-six Vignette.” She gave her belly a comforting rub. “Plenty of time to come up with something else. Catch you later.” She swung back into Julietta’s office.

“Impressions, Peabody?” Eve asked as they rode down.

“She looks great, and she’ll come up with something better than Vignette or Vidal.”

“About Julietta Gates, you moron.”

“I know, I just wanted to annoy you. Sir,” she added when Eve looked at her. “Used to running the show, and likes it. Dresses for power even more than style. Ambitious. She’d have to be to have gotten where she is at her age. Strikes me as a little cold-blooded. There’s no zing when she talks about her kid. That was a good catch with the extramarital. Blew right by me. Then when you said it, and I played it back, it was right there. The way her voice changed, the body language.”

“And from the way her face flushed up, I’d say the voice on the other end was letting her know a few games they’d be playing at their one-o’clock today. I’m going to want to confirm the dish on the side, in case we need to push on her later.”

“We going to surveil?”

“No, don’t want to risk her spotting either one of us this close to our little interview. I’ll see if Baxter can handle it. How much does a kid like hers talk?”

“At that age, they rarely shut up. Hardly anybody but immediate family can understand them, but it doesn’t stop them from talking.”

“She met her side piece on Sunday, you can take that to the vault. And she had the kid with her. Wouldn’t he tattle to daddy?”

“She probably told him it was a secret.”

“Huh.” This was foreign territory, so she took Peabody at her word. “Kids keep secrets?”

“No, but she doesn’t strike me as the type who knows her own kid very well. And the boy seems pretty tight with his dad. My best guess is he kept the secret until she was out of hearing, then blabbed. Daddy, me and Mommy and Uncle Side Dish played on the swings, but it’s a secret.”

Eve let it play in her head, and nodded. “And I doubt it’s the first time. Daddy knows what’s going on, and wouldn’t that irritate him? Wouldn’t he be a bit put out? Here he is, staying at home watching the kid, taking care of the house, while she’s running around town-and Europe-with some other guy. Playing with some other guy with his son in tow. Yeah, that’s a real pisser.”

“Mother and whore,” she said as they got back into the vehicle. “We keep coming back to that. No problem for him to get out of the house for either murder, and he might’ve picked up the writing paper-paying cash-on his spring trip toLondon. Hell, the paper could’ve been a gift from a fan for that matter. And he decided it fit the bill. He knows the prototype murders as well as the initial killers.”

“Means, motive, opportunity.”

“Yeah,ThomasA. just jumped to the top of our list.”

Chapter15

Evehad barely disconnected withBaxter when her communicator signaled.Whitney ’s face filled the screen.

“He’ll see you atten forty-five. Make it good.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you.”

PeabodystudiedEve ’s satisfied smile. “A person’s fifteen minutes late, one time, and she’s out of the loop?”

“Get me some data onSophiaDiCarlo, the Renquist’s au pair, and I’ll fill you in on the way to the U.N.”

“We’re going back to the U.N., to Renquist, and not risking federal imprisonment?”

“We’re going back to apologize, grovel, and eat massive portions of crow.”

“You don’t know how to do those things.”Peabody looked mournful. “We’re going to the pen.”

“Just get the data. If I don’t know how to apologize, grovel, and eat crow, it’s because it’s rarely appropriate for me to do so. You have to be wrong first.”

When there was silence,Eve glanced over. “No smart-ass comment?”

“My grandmother always says, if you can’t say something positive about someone, keep your trap shut.”

“Yeah, like you listen to her. Renquist is pissed, his wife is pissed, and they’re in the position to crimp the investigation. Nobody knows how to tie up red tape like a politician. And since my impression of them is that they are pompous assholes, I figured slathering on the ‘I’m just a public servant, ergo a bonehead’ line might get me in.”

“You said ergo.”

“It goes with pompous.”

“SophiaDiCarlo, twenty-six and single. Citizen ofItaly with green card and work permit. Parents and two sibs reside inRome. Aha, parents are domestics, employed byAngelaDysert. Bet it’s a relation toMrs.PompousAsshole.Sophia ’s been employed by the Renquists as domestic, child-care position, for the past six years. No criminal on record.”

“Okay, the girl-Renquist’s girl, she’s old enough for school, right? See what you can find on that.”

“It’s touchy getting data on minors,Dallas, especially foreign nationals, without more clearance.”

“Get what you can.”

Peabodywent to work whileEve drove across town. Overhead in the hazy sky, ad blimps and tourist trams moved sluggishly. Inside the relative cool,Eve practiced groveling in her head. Even telling herself it was for the greater good, it rankled.

“They’ve got the kid’s privacy blocked. That’s pretty standard,”Peabody told her. “Especially with more upscale family types. You don’t want kidnappers and unsavory types knowing stuff about your kids. You’re not going to get anything without clearance.”

“Can’t ask for clearance. I don’t want the Renquists to know I’m looking at them. Doesn’t matter. The au pair’s bound to take the kid out sometime, or better, go out on her own. Has to have a day off.”

Evetucked her thoughts away as they approached the U.N., and prepared to go through the multiple security checks.

It took twenty minutes to get through to Renquist’s outer office. It was his admin who greeted them, and invited them to wait.

Evefigured the extra twenty Renquist kept them cooling their heels was just his way to show who was in charge. Crow was already sticking in her throat when they were admitted.

“Please make it brief,” Renquist said immediately. “I’ve made time for you out of a very busy day only due to the direct request of your chief of police. You’ve already infringed on my time here, and my wife’s.”

“Yes, sir. I’m very sorry to have intruded on you, and onMrs.Renquist. In my zeal to further my investigation, I overstepped. I hope neither you norMrs.Renquist will take this offense personally, nor let it reflect on the department.”

He arched his brow, and the surprise-the satisfaction-was obvious in his eyes. “Being considered a suspect in a murder is hardly usual for me, and could hardly be anything but personally offensive.”

“I regret that I gave the impression you were a suspect. Investigative procedure demands that I pursue any and all possible connections. I…” She tried a little fumble, wished she could work up a flush. “I can only apologize again, sir, and tell you frankly that my own frustration in being unable to clear this case may have made my demeanor less than courteous to both you andMrs.Renquist. In actuality, I’m only seeking to remove your name from any list as applies to this investigation. My interview withMrs.Renquist, however ill-advised, did serve to confirm your whereabouts at the time of the murders.”