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“That’s sick, Officer.”
“Just wondering.”
“We’re adding to his cage time,” Eve continued, “but we’re not pinning him on the big one. And Mira’s profile is going to work against us.”
“Lieutenant.” Peabody sucked in her breath and took the chance. “Have you considered that she’s right? That’s he’s not responsible?”
“Yeah, I have. And that scares the hell out of me. If she’s right, there’s someone else out there with a brain toy, and we’re not even close. So we all better hope we’ve got our man safely locked away.”
“Speaking of our man,” Feeney broke in. “You better know he’s lawyered himself.”
“I figured he would. Anybody we know?”
“Leanore Bastwick.”
“Well, hell. Small world.”
“She wants to make points off of you, Dallas.” Feeney took out his bag of nuts, offered them to Peabody. “She’s raring to go. Wants to set up a media conference. Word is she took him on pro bono, just for the shot at you, and the media coverage this will get once it hits.”
“She can take her shot. We can block the press conference for twenty-four hours. We’d better solidify before then.”
“I pulled a thread loose,” Peabody told her. “It might unravel more with some tugging. Mathias did indeed attend MIT for two semesters. Unfortunately, his term there was three years after Jess did his at-home degree, but Jess used his alumni status to access data from their files. He also taught an E-class elective on musicology, which the university uploaded into their library curriculum. Mathias took the course during his last semester.”
Eve felt a quick power surge. “That’s something to tug on. Good work. It connects, finally. And maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong place. Pearly was the first known victim. What if he’s the one who was connected with the others? It could be as simple as their common interest in electronic games.”
“We looked there already.”
“So look again,” she told Peabody. “And look deeper. Not all the clubs and loops are above ground. If Mathias was used to help develop the system, he might have bragged about it. Those hobby hackers use all kinds of compu-names. Can you find his?”
“Eventually,” Feeney agreed.
“You can contact Jack Carter. He was his roommate on Olympus. Maybe he can give you a boost on them. Peabody, contact Devane’s son, see what you can shake out of him on this angle. I’ll work on the Fitzhugh angle.” She glanced at her watch. “I’ll make a stop first. Maybe I can cut through some of the layers.”
* * *
She felt she was back to square one, looking for the connection. There had to be one, and she was going to have to involve Roarke to find it. She called him from her car ’link.
“Well, hello, Lieutenant. How was your nap?”
“Too short and too long ago. How long are you going to be in midtown?”
“Another few hours at any rate. Why?”
“I’m coming by. Now. Can you squeeze me in?”
He smiled. “Always.”
“It’s business,” she said, and cut him off before she could smile back. Daring her auto-drive, she programmed destination, then used her ’link again. “Nadine.”
Nadine angled her head, shot Eve a cold look. “Lieutenant.”
“Nine A.M., my office.”
“Should I bring a lawyer?”
“Bring your recorder. I’ll give you a jump on tomorrow’s press conference re Jess Barrow.”
“What press conference?” The image and voice quality sharpened as Nadine went immediately to private, dragging headphones over her hair. “There’s nothing on schedule.”
