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“Even more curious then. Why our stalwart homicide lieutenant is picking at the threads of an assault.” She took a tiny sip o
f coffee, rubbed her lips together. “I say we’ve got one killer employing a variety of methods. And this occurred to me when I got wind of the last—”
“Cox was attacked about two-thirty this morning. Shouldn’t you have been asleep, or banging your flavor of the month?”
“I was asleep, and was awakened from my virginal bed—”
“Pig’s eye.”
“With an anonymous tip,” Nadine finished with a little cat’s smile. “I started wondering, then I started working, and I started asking myself what these three women had in common, besides you. I decided, the killer. The first was, obviously, an imitation of the infamous Ripper. What if the others were also imitations of previous crimes?”
“I’m not going to comment on this, Nadine.”
“Albert DeSalvo and Theodore Bundy.”
“No comment.”
“I don’t need you to comment.” She leaned forward. “I can put enough together to go on the air with a story, with supposition.”
“Then what’re you doing here?”
“Giving you a chance to confirm or deny, or to ask me to hold the story I’m putting together. I’ll hold it if you ask me, because you won’t unless you need to.”
“You’re also thinking I won’t ask unless you’re right, and then you’ll have a big, sexy story with big, sexy ratings.”
“That plays, too. But I’ll still hold it, if you need me to. And by holding it, I’m giving competitors the chance to come to the same conclusions I have.”
Eve contemplated her doughnut. “I need to think a minute, so just be quiet.”
There were pros and cons here, and Eve ran through them all while Nadine sat silently, eating her muffin crumb by crumb.
“I’m not going to give you data. I’m not even going to give you hints. Because when I’m asked, and I will be, I want to be able to say honestly that I didn’t. That I wasn’t your source. I’m not going to confirm or deny your supposition, which is what you’ll have to say if and when you break this story. Lieutenant Dallas would neither confirm nor deny. I will, however, make a personal comment, between us girls. Besides having those pretty tits, you’ve got a sharp brain.”
“Why, thank you. I’ve also got great legs.”
“Now if I were doing this story, which I’m not, I’d wonder why this particular bag of nuts has so little personality, power, and imagination. He has to pretend he’s somebody else to do the job. And the last time out, he flubs it up so bad, a girl about half his size hurts him and he has to run away.”
Eve picked a sprinkle of colored sugar from the doughnut, laid it on her tongue. “Word is the primary investigating officer has a good idea just who he is, and is, at this time, compiling the evidence so that she can make an arrest, and ensure conviction.”
“Are you?”
“I will neither confirm nor deny.”
“You’re bluffing.”
“No comment.”
“Big bluff, Dallas. I go out with this, and you don’t make that arrest quickly, you’re going to look like an asshole.”
“The story’s your business. Now that I’ve finished my doughnut, I’ve got to get back to my business.”
“I break this, and it goes down this way, I’m going to deserve an exclusive one-on-one.”
“I’ll see about that, as soon as I consult my crystal ball.”
Nadine rose. “Good luck. Serious good luck.”
“Yeah,” Eve murmured when she was alone. “I’m about due for some.”
