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“I’m aware, and I’ll be there. Give me a jump.”
“I can’t do it. Can’t and won’t,” she added before Nadine could speak.
“You’ve got something. I know you, and you’ve got something.” Eyes narrowed, Nadine jabbed a finger toward Eve. “Do you have a suspect? How close are you to making an arrest?”
“And you know me well enough to know I’m not going to answer any of that.”
“Off the record.” Nadine held up her hands to signal no recorder. “I might be able to help.”
She had in the past, no question. But here, Eve thought, it couldn’t be done.
“You’re going to say no. Before you do let me tell you that when you’ve worked the crime beat the way I have, you get to see how cops work—the good, the bad, the indifferent. You see what it is to do the job you’re doing. Now this kid, this cop’s kid is murdered this way, and it comes practically on the heels of Detective Coltraine’s murder. It’s hard to stand back from that. I can be objective, Dallas, because that’s my job. But it matters.”
Eve contemplated her coffee. “Maybe you’d want to do a segment on your show on high-end security systems.”
“Isn’t that odd? I was just considering doing a segment on Now! on high-end home security systems.”
“Spooky.” Eve cocked her hip, slid a hand into her pocket as she drank. “A lot of experts feel the Interface Total Home 5500 is one of the best, if you can afford it. You know, as a cop, I have to wonder: Do people shell out for something like that because they want to be secure, or because they have something to hide?”
Nadine gave her slow, feline smile. “That’s an interesting angle.”
“Maybe. You know, thousands of people in New York bought that system, and pay for the regular updates and maintenance—Security Plus being a big and trusted service agent. Probably most of them are just careful law-abiding types. Then again, it only takes one.”
“It would be hard to find that one who bought it for reasons other than law-abiding ones.”
“A long, tedious process,” Eve agreed easily. “Even if you, say, decided to check out those customers with certain initials. Like D.P. or even V.P. That would narrow it down some, but odds are you’d have to wade through hundreds.”
“True, but reporters and their research staffs are hardwired to wade through the tedious.”
“Yeah. Cops wouldn’t know anything about that.” Eve smiled thinly. “Go away, Nadine. I have a meeting.”
“I’ll see you at noon.” Nadine rose, started for the door. “And I’m looking forward to the upcoming wedding festivities, including the slumber party.”
“Shut up.”
With a laugh, Nadine sauntered out, and finishing her coffee Eve thought at least she’d come up with a possible way to cut down on those possibles.
16
EVE WALKED INTO WHITNEY’S OFFICE TO find both men standing. Though MacMasters still looked pale, and there were lines dug deep around his eyes and mouth that hadn’t been there even at their last meeting, he seemed . . . straighter, she thought.
And the cold, hard look in his eyes told her he was ready.
“Detective Peabody is handling some assignments, and about to pursue a lead,” Eve began. “I thought it better for her to stay on top of that than to attend this meeting.”
“Jack told me you . . . The commander informs me you have a possible lead that connects to an old case of mine.”
“I do. We were able to identify an individual through image matching with the sketch Detective Yancy composited from the two witnesses. He’s identified as Darrin Pauley, with a residence listed in Alabama.”
“Alabama.”
“Captain, we believe this identification is falsified, and that this subject may be involved in fraud, cyber crime, and identity theft. I spoke with Vincent Pauley, who is listed as the subject’s father on this identification.”
She ran through it briefly, watched MacMasters struggle to pinpoint the names, the details, the case.
“Twenty years ago?”
