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“Looks real to me.” He puffed out his cheeks. “She’s buck ass naked, too. That’s all I know,” the guard claimed as the elevator shot upward. “Her assistant made the call. Frank Rabbit. You can get more out of him—if he’s conscious by now. Guy keeled right over when she went out on the ledge. That’s what I heard.”
“You call for psych?”
“Somebody did. We got the company shrink up there now, and a specialist in self-termination is on the way. Fire department, too, and air rescue. Everything’s backed up. Bad traffic jam on Fifth.”
“Tell me about it.”
The doors opened onto the roof, and Eve stepped out into a brisk, cooling wind that hadn’t been able to find its way through the towering walls of buildings to the valley of the streets. She took a quick scan.
Cerise’s office was built onto the roof, or more accurately, into it. Slanted walls of treated glass formed a peak and would afford the CEO a three hundred sixty degree view of the city and people she loved to dish up in her paper.
Through the glass, Eve could see the artwork, decor, and equipment designed for a top-flight office. And on the U-shaped lounging sofa, a man was stretched out with a compress on his forehead.
“If that’s Rabbit, tell him to pull himself together and get out here to fill me in. And get anyone who isn’t essential off this roof. Clear that crowd off the streets. If she goes off, we don’t need her squashing bystanders.”
“I just don’t have the man power,” the guard began.
“Get Rabbit out here,” she repeated and called Cop Central. “Peabody, I’ve got a situation.”
“I heard. What do you need?”
“Get down here, send a crowd dispersal unit to move those people off the street. Bring me all available data on Cerise Devane. See if Feeney can put a freeze on her ’links—home, personal, and portable—for the last twenty-four hours. Make it snappy.”
“Done,” Peabody responded and broke transmission.
She turned as the guard all but carried a young man across to her. Rabbit’s company tie was loose, his stylishly shaped hair was mussed and matted. His hands, neatly manicured, shook.
“Tell me exactly what happened,” she snapped. “Make it fast, and make it clear. You can fall apart when I’m finished with you.”
“She just—just walked out of the office.” His voice hitched and dipped and he sagged weakly against the supporting arm of the guard. “She looked so happy. She was almost dancing. She—she’d taken off her clothes. She’d taken them off.”
Eve cocked a brow. At the moment, Rabbit seemed more shocked by his boss’s sudden whim for exhibitionism than the possibility of her death. “What led up to it?”
“I don’t know. I swear, I have no idea. She’d wanted me to come in early, about eight. She was upset over one of the lawsuits. We’re always getting sued. She was smoking and gulping coffee and pacing. Then she sent me out to light a fire under Legal and said she was going to take a few minutes to relax and level out.”
He stopped, covered his face with his hands. “Fifteen minutes later she walked out, smiling and—and nude. I was so stunned, I just sat there. Just sat there.” His teeth began to chatter. “I’ve never even seen her without her shoes.”
“Being naked’s not her big problem now,” Eve pointed out. “Did she speak to you, say anything?”
“I, well, I was so stunned, you see. I said something, something like, ‘Ms. Devane, what are you doing? Is something wrong?’ And she just laughed. She said it was perfect. She had it all figured out now, and everything was wonderful. She was going to sit out on the ledge awhile before she jumped. I thought she was joking, and I was nervous so I laughed a little.”
His eyes were stricken. “I laughed, and then I saw her go to the edge of the roof. Jesus. She just popped over the side. I thought she’d jumped, and I ran out and over. There she was, sitting on the ledge, swinging her legs and humming. I asked her please to come back up before she lost her balance. She just laughed, spritzed a little of the spray at me, and told me she’d just found her balance and to go away like a good boy.”
“She get any calls, make any?”
“No.” He wiped his mouth. “Any transmissions would have gone through my unit. She’s going to jump, I tell you. She leaned over while I was watching, nearly went over then. And she said what a nice trip it was going to be. She’s going to jump.”
“We’ll see about that. Stay available.” Eve turned away. The company shrink was easy enough to spot. He was dressed in a knee-length white smock and black pipestem pants. His comforting gray hair was twisted into a neat queue, and he was leaning over the edge of the roof, his posture transmitting anxiety.
Even as Eve started toward him, she swore. She heard the whirl of flybys, then cursed the media again as she spotted the first air van. Channel 75, naturally, she mused. Nadine Furst was always first out of the gate.
The shrink straightened, smoothed down his smock for the cameras. Eve decided she was going to detest him. “Doctor?” She held up her badge and noticed the undisguised excitement in his eyes. All Eve could think was, a company the size and strength of Tattler could afford better.
“Lieutenant, I believe I’m making some progress with the subject.”
“She’s still on the ledge, isn’t she?” Eve pointed out and brushed past him to lean over. “Cerise?”
“More company?”
