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“Eve.” Mira barely blinked, and gave Eve no chance to speak at all. “Edward’s dead.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, please. Tell me where you are, what happened.”
“In the house on Spring, and I’m sorry about that, too. I can’t officially determine COD. Morris will—”
“Eve.”
Hell, Eve thought. “His face and genitals were severely beaten. He was sodomized.”
“Ah, dear God.”
“Ligature marks on his wrists are consistent, to my eye, with him being restrained vertically—arms over his head. I believe he was likely still alive before he was hanged from the ceiling light in the entrance foyer. He had a comp-generated sign around his neck reading ‘Justice Is Served.’”
“All right.” With her eyes closed, Mira rubbed her fingers over the middle of her forehead. “It’s very personal, sexual—”
“I’m not asking for a profile, Dr. Mira, not right now. Take a minute. I’m not sure what you want to tell Mr. Mira.”
Mira opened her eyes. “I’ll tell him what you tell me. Of course.”
“Okay. I’m going to need to talk to him again. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” There was a snap in the words. Mira held up a hand, visibly regouped. “Don’t apologize,” she said again, calmly now. “Both Dennis and I want you to do everything you have to do, everything you can do to find who did this. Do you want him to come to Central?”
“No, don’t do that. I’ll go to him. I have to inform next of kin, then I’ll go by and talk to him before I go in. Officially, I’m not going to be able to consult with you on this.”
“Of course not, the conflict of interest. I’m not thinking straight yet.”
“But unofficially I’m going to want your help with the profile. Later,” she added. “Go home. You’re going to want to be with him when I interview him. I’m going to contact Whitney, go by the victim’s residence and speak to his wife. That’ll give you time to go home, to tell Mr. Mira before I get there.”
“Yes, you’re right. I’ll leave here in a few minutes.”
“One last thing. I’m going to leak this to Nadine Furst.”
“Oh,” Mira said, on a kind of sigh.
“The media’s going to know about this fast. I’m going to leak it to her so she can get out in front of it. You’re going to want to screen any incomings, because once this hits, the media’s going to try to talk to you and Mr. Mira. You need a statement.”
“I know what to do. I’ll take care of that end. Please do what you have to do.”
“I’ll speak to you within ninety minutes.”
Eve turned, saw Peabody in the doorway.
“Sweepers are here, uniforms are canvassing. The morgue wagon’s on its way. I flagged him for Morris.”
“That covers it. The sweepers will go through the house, but there’s nothing relevant that’s not in the entranceway. For now, we’re finished here. Let’s go break it to the vic’s wife.”
“I hate that part.”
“We all do. You’re probably going to hate this time more than usual.”
She contacted Whitney before she left the crime scene.
“Tibble was right about the media, particularly given the sexual implications of the murder.”
“Yes, sir. I’m going to contact Nadine Furst. I’d rather have someone I know and trust, someone who knows the Miras, take the media lead on this. Whatever comes after, what goes out first will be fair.”
