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It just served to remind her how much she hated being off her own turf.
“Peabody, update.”
Peabody had to jerk herself out of the image of the good angel on her shoulder, sitting with her hands properly folded, and the bad angel, who was stuffing another cream bun in her greedy mouth. “Ah, sir. Autopsy was completed last night. They let Morris assist. Cause of death multiple trauma, most specifically the skull fracture. A lot of the injuries were postmortem. He’s booked on a panel this morning, and has some sort of dead doctors’ seminar later today, but Morris will finesse copies of the reports for you. Early word is the tox screen was clear.”
“Sweepers?” Eve demanded.
“Sweepers’ reports weren’t complete as of oh-six-hundred. However, what I dug up confirmed your beliefs. Seal-It traces on the bat, no blood or bodily fluid but the victim’s found on scene. No uniform missing an epaulet star has been found to date. Angelo’s team’s doing the run on recylers, valets, outside cleaning companies. My information is the uniforms are coded with the individual’s ID number. When we find the uniform, we’ll be able to trace the owner.”
“I want that uniform,” Eve stated, and when she turned to Feeney, the bad angel won. Peabody took another pastry.
“Had to be an inside job on the security cameras,” he said. “Nobody gets access to Control without retina and palm scans and code clearance. The bypass was complicated, and it was done slick. Twelve people were in the control sector during the prime period last night. I’m running them.”
“All right. We look for any connection to Skinner, any work-related reprimands, any sudden financial increase. Look twice if any of them were on the job before going into private security.” She took a disk off the table, passed it to Feeney. “Run them with the names on here.”
“No problem, but I work better when I know why I’m working.”
“Those are the names of cops who went down in the line of duty in Atlanta twenty-three years ago. It was Skinner’s operation.” She took a deep breath. “Roarke’s father was his weasel, and he turned a double cross.”
When Feeney only nodded, Eve let out a breath. “One of the names on there is Thomas Weeks, father to Reginald Weeks, our victim. My guess is if Skinner had one of his slain officer’s kids on his payroll, he’s got others.”
“Follows if one was used to build a frame around Roarke, another would be,” Feeney added.
She checked her wrist unit when the door buzzer sounded. “That’ll be Angelo. I want you running those names, Feeney, so I’m not giving them to her. Yet. But I’m going to tell her, and you, the rest of it.”
While Eve was opening the door for Darcia, Skinner opened his to Roarke.
“A moment of your time, Commander.”
“I have little to spare.”
“Then we won’t waste it.” Roarke stepped inside, lifted a brow at Hayes. The man stood just behind and to the right of Skinner, and had his hand inside his suit jacket. “If you thought I was a threat, you should’ve had your man answer the door.”
“You’re no threat to me.”
“Then why don’t we have that moment in private?”
“Anything you say to me can be said in front of my personal assistant.”
“Very well. It would’ve been tidier, and certainly more efficient, if you’d come after me directly instead of using Lieutenant Dallas and sacrificing one of your own men.”
“So you admit you had him killed.”
“I don’t order death. We’re alone, Skinner, and I’m sure you’ve had these rooms secured against recording devices and surveillance cameras. You want to take me on, then do it. But have the balls to leave my family out of it.”
Skinner’s lips peeled back over his teeth. “Your father was a dickless coward and a pathetic drunk.”
“Duly noted.” Roarke walked to a chair, sat. “There, you see. We already have a point of agreement on that particular matter. First let me clarify that by ‘family,’ I meant my wife. Second, I must tell you you’re being too kind regarding Patrick Roarke. He was a vicious, small-minded bully and a petty criminal with delusions of grandeur. I hated him with every breath I took. So you see, I resent, quite strongly resent, being expected to pay for his many sins. I’ve plenty of my own, so if you want to try to put my head on a platter, just pick one. We’ll work from there.”
“Do you think because you wear a ten-thousand-dollar suit I can’t smell the gutter on you?” Color began to flood Skinner’s face, but when Hayes stepped forward, Skinner gestured him back with one sharp cut of the hand. “You’re the same as he was. Worse, because he didn’t pretend to be anything other than the useless piece of garbage he was. Blood tells.”
“It may have once.”
“You’ve made a joke out of the law, and now you hide behind a woman and a badge she’s shamed.”
Slowly now, Roarke got to his feet. “You know nothing of her. She’s a miracle that I can’t, and wouldn’t, explain to the likes of you. But I can promise you, I hide behind nothing. You stand there, with fresh blood on your hands, behind your shield of blind righteousness and your memories of old glory. Your mistake, Skinner, was in trusting a man like my father to hold a bargain. And mine, it seems, was thinking you’d deal with me. So here’s a warning for you.”
He broke off as Hayes shifted. Fast as a rattler, Roarke drew a hand laser out of his pocket. “Take your bloody hand out of your coat while you still have one.”
