Forgotten in Death(15)

He walked her to the door, stepped out with her.

“Terry, show Lieutenant Dallas to the small conference room, would you?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let me know if there’s anything else I can do. And I’d appreciate notification as soon as we’re cleared back on-site.”

“You’ll be the first.”

The small conference room wasn’t that small, Eve discovered.

It held a table that would easily fit eight on either side, a massive wall screen, a refreshment station, and a trio of mini data and communication units.

The stone-faced Zelda, on the point of leaving, paused to aim those weird eyes at Terry.

“You’re to coordinate, contact the names as Detective Peabody or Lieutenant Dallas submits them, and have them come here immediately.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Detective Peabody has your ’link code and will contact you. After this initial contact, you can continue to work from your desk.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

When she walked out, Eve studied the room. “Give us just a minute, Terry. And don’t ma’am either one of us.”

He opened his mouth, closed it, nodded, stepped outside the door.

“She’s creepy,” Peabody said immediately. “She talks like an authoritarian droid and she has eyes like a snake.”

“Yes!” Eve jabbed her finger into Peabody’s shoulder. “She has snake eyes. How many have we got?”

“We’ve got twenty-six who’d have access codes, but only five are in the building today.”

“Why? Where are the rest of them?”

“Working on other sites or in outside meetings. Three of those took the early shuttle this morning to a plant near Dayton, Ohio, to check out some man-made stone under consideration.”

“Okay, we’ll start with what we’ve got, then round up the others.” She checked the time. “I’m going to tag Jenkinson, see what’s what, let him know to handle things until I get there. You can send for the first of the six.”

“Five.”

Eve just gave Peabody a sad look. “Really? You think Snake Woman doesn’t have the access codes to one of her boss’s pet projects?”

“Well, now I do. The first is Danika Isler, head architect.”

“We start there. Do a quick run on her while I tag Jenkinson.”

They went through the architect, and Eve eliminated her from the older murder, as she’d have been four at the time, then put her bottom of the list on Alva’s because she had a solid alibi up to thirty minutes before TOD, as she and her husband had attended his sister’s birthday party in the Bronx, shared a cab on departure just after midnight with two other partygoers, and had arrived home to dismiss the babysitter at around twelve-thirty.

She eliminated the engineer, Bryce Babbott. He’d been sixteen at the estimated year of her unknown victim’s death—more than old enough to kill. But he’d lived in Sydney, Australia, until 2049, so unlikely.

“He still has the accent.” Peabody lifted and wiggled her shoulders after Eve dismissed him. “Sexy.”

“People with sexy accents murder people all the time. He’s got two dings for assault—bar fights, but he’s not averse to violent behavior. And his alibi for the time in question is that he was home asleep with his current cohab, with his ten-year-old son asleep in the next room. He stays on. We’ll take a closer look at him. Who’s up?”

“Snake Woman.”

“Good. This’ll be fun.”

“I think she’s going to be really pissed.”

“That’s part of the fun.”

Pissed hit the mark.

Zelda marched in, lips tight, jaw set.

“Is there something Terry couldn’t handle for you? He’s at your disposal.”

“Does Terry have access to the Hudson Yards project?”

“Of course not.”

“Then we don’t need him for this. Have a seat.”

“I’m very busy. Accommodating your inquiry has interfered with today’s schedule.”

“Well, that’s too bad. Somebody interfered with the rest of Alva Quirk’s life. Have a seat. Or we’ll arrange for you to take one in an interview room at Central.”

“What for?”

“Let me give you a heads-up. Lying to a police officer during an official investigation can land you in all sorts of … difficulties. So you’re going to want to be careful when you answer my first question because my partner and I are very good at what we do. It’ll be a snap for us to determine if you lie, and if you lie, difficulties. A lot of them.”

Eve looked straight into those reptilian eyes. “Do you have access codes to Singer’s Hudson Yards project?”

The way Zelda looked at her, Eve half expected to watch the woman’s tongue—forked, of course—lash out from between her lips.

“As his admin for the past seven years, I manage Mr. Singer’s codes, passwords, swipes—which are routinely changed every two weeks for security purposes.”

“That’s a yes. Have a seat, and start off by explaining why you didn’t put your name on the list of those who had access.”

“Because it didn’t apply.”