After stepping out, Eve walked down to Observation. Whitney came out first.
“Good work, Lieutenant.” “Thank you, sir.”
“Damn good work,” he said as he walked away.
Reo just shook her head. “You sure made it easy for me.” “She made it easy for both of us. She’s got some ego.”
“Malignant narcissists usually do,” Mira commented. “‘He didn’t love you.’ You turned the key in that lock, and she couldn’t let those words stand.”
Darcia stepped up, offered a hand. “Thank you.” “It’s the job. You know that as well as I do.”
“I do, and thank you anyway.”
“Can I have a minute?” Webster asked Eve, then looked at Roarke. “Can I have a minute, private, in her office?”
“That would be up to the lieutenant.” “Sure.”
“I don’t know how Martin missed it,” he began as they walked. “How he missed what was inside Arnez. Except—I didn’t see it when I met her. I didn’t see it in Observation, not until you were well into it. But you did.”
“Her guard was down when you opened the door that night. I saw something. I’m getting coffee. You want?”
“No, I’m not going to keep you. I’d like to tell the family, if that’s good for you.”
“No problem. Webster, if you hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have been there. I wouldn’t have seen. If you hadn’t been there, Ben would be dead.
Remember that.”
“Yeah. Well. I’m going to go tell the family. And I wanted to … I wanted to tell you goodbye. With this done, I’m going to go back to Olympus with Darcia next week. Start my life with her.”
“I’m going to say good luck. And not in a snotty way. I mean it.”
“I know it. Don’t kick my ass for this,” he said, and hugged her. “Thanks,” he murmured, then pulled away. “And I mean that. New York’s in good hands, Lieutenant.”
When he walked out, she went to her window, took a long breath. And turned when Roarke came in.
“Webster and Angelo are going to go for it on Olympus, starting next week.”
“Darcia told me. I think they’ll be very happy together.” “Looks that way.”
He brushed a hand over her hair. “And you?”
“I went into Interview pissed, had a headache starting to bang from the pissed. But in there? I could see how to … turn the key in the lock, like Mira said. And I stopped being pissed, and just did the job.”
She glanced back at the board. “Almost done now. Just have to deal with the paperwork. That’s the job, too.”
“I’ll wait while you write this up. Then we’ll go home, have some wine.
Shake this week off.”
Shake it off, she thought. That’d been her plan. “You know what I think?”
“I’m always interested.”
“I’m thinking, and I’m wondering about that pub you’ve got—the one with the snug thing we all went to during the Dawber case, with the burgers. Feeney’s all about their fish and chips.”
“I remember, yes.”
“I’m wondering if we could do that, go there, in the snug part like we did. Whoever’s up for it in the bullpen, Feeney, McNab, Reo maybe—I think I still owe her some drinks. The Miras if they wanted. Maybe tag up Morris. I think I’d like a couple hours and a couple beers with good cops and the people who work with them. I think I could really use that.”
“It’s a wonder to me that I find I’d enjoy a couple hours with good cops as well. I’ll arrange it.”
“Thanks.” She slid her arms around him, rested her head on his shoulder. “I know what love is,” she murmured, then drew back to cup his face. “And it’s not what drove her to kill. This is love,” she said, and kissed him.
“It is. Yesterday, today, tomorrow. It is.”
“I’m going to write this up, close it down, put it away. Maybe you could round up whoever wants in on burgers, beer, and whatever.”
“I’ll do that. And echo your commander. Good work, Lieutenant.”
“I didn’t do it alone,” she said as he left. She’d had good cops and the people who work with them.
Now she sat to finish the job, and put it away.
