He'd left a trail, she thought. He wanted her to follow it, wanted her close. The son of a bitch.
It's you and me, isn't it, Dave? she thought as her mind started to drift. How fast can I be, and how clever? You figure it'll make it all the sweeter when you've got me in that cage. It's because you want that so bad that you're making mistakes. Little mistakes.
I'm going to hang you with them.
She slid into sleep while her computer hummed and woke only when she felt herself being lifted.
"What?" Reflexively she reached for the weapon she'd already unharnessed.
"You need to be in bed." Roarke held her close as he left the office.
"I was just resting my eyes. I've got data coming in. Don't carry me."
"You were dead out, the data will be there in the morning, and I'm already carrying you."
"I'm getting closer, but not close enough."
He'd seen the financial data on her screen. "I'll take a look through the accounts in the morning," he told her as he laid her on the bed.
"I've got it covered."
He unpinned her badge, set it aside. "Yes, Sheriff, but money is my business. Close it down a while."
"He'll be sleeping now." She let Roarke undress her. "In a big, soft bed with clean sheets. Dave likes to be clean and comfortable. He'll have a monitor in the bedroom so he can watch Neissan. He likes to watch before he goes to sleep. He told me."
"Don't think." Roarke slipped into bed beside her, gathered her close.
"He wants me."
"Yes, I know." Roarke pressed his lips to her hair as much to comfort himself as her. "But he can't have you."
Sleep helped. She'd dropped into it like a stone and had lain on the bottom of the dreaming pool for six hours. There'd been no call in the middle of the night to tell her Carl Neissan's body had been found.
Another day, she thought again and strode into her office. Roarke was at her desk, busily screening data.
"What are you doing?" She all but leapt to him. "That's classified."
"Don't pick nits, darling. You were going too broad last night. You'll be days compiling and rejecting all accounts under the name Palmer. You want one that shows considerable activity, large transfers, and connections to other accounts – which is, of course, the trickier part if you're dealing with someone who understands how to hide the coin."
"You can't just sit down and start going through data accumulated in an investigation."
"Of course I can. You need coffee." He looked up briefly. "Then you'll feel more yourself and I'll show you what I have."
"I feel exactly like myself." Which, she admitted, at the moment was annoyed and edgy. She stalked to the AutoChef in the kitchen, went for an oversized mug of hot and black. The rich and real caffeine Roarke could command zipped straight through her system.
"What have you got?" she demanded when she walked back in.
"Palmer was too simple, too obvious," Roarke began, and she narrowed her eyes.
"You didn't think so yesterday."
"I said check for relatives, same names. I should have suggested you try his mother's maiden name. Riley. And here we have the account of one Palmer Riley. It was opened six years ago, standard brokerage account, managed. Since there's been some activity over the last six months, I would assume your man found a way to access a 'link or computer from prison."
"He shouldn't have been near one. How can you be sure?"
"He understands how money works, and just how fluid it can be. You see here that six months ago he had a balance of just over $1.3 million. For the past three years previous, all action was automatic, straight managed with no input from the account holder. But here he begins to make transfers. Here's one to an account under Peter Nolan, which, by the way, is his aunt's husband's name on his father's side. Overseas accounts, off-planet accounts, local New York accounts – different names, different IDs. He's had this money for some time and he waited, sat on it until he found the way to use it."
"When I took him down before, we froze his accounts, accounts under David Palmer. We didn't look deeper. I didn't think of it."
"Why should you have? You stopped him, you put him away. He was meant to stay away."
"If I'd cleared it all, he wouldn't have had the backing to come back here."
"Eve, he'd have found a way." He waited until she looked at him. "You know that."
"Yeah." She let out a long breath. "Yeah, I know that. This tells me he's been planning, he's been shopping, he's been juggling funds, funneling into cover accounts. I need to freeze them. I don't think a judge is going to argue with me, not after what happened to one of their own."
"You'll piss him off."
"That's the plan. I need the names, numbers, locations of all the accounts you can connect to him." She blew out a breath. "Then I guess I owe you."
"Use your present, and we'll call it even."
"My present? Oh, yeah. Where and/or when do I want to go for a day. Let me mull that over a little bit. We get this wrapped, I'll use it for New Year's Eve."
"There's a deal."
A horrible thought snuck into her busy mind. "We don't have like a thing for New Year's, do we? No party or anything."
"No. I didn't want anything but you."
She looked back at him, narrowing her eyes even as the smile spread. "Do you practice saying stuff like that?"
"No." He rose, framed her face and kissed her, hard and deep. "I have all that stuff on disc."
"You're a slick guy, Roarke." She skimmed her fingers through her hair and simply lost herself for a moment in the look of him. Then, giving herself a shake, she stepped back. "I have to work."
"Wait." He grabbed her hand before she could turn away. "What was that?"
"I don't know. It just comes over me sometimes. You, I guess, come over me sometimes. I don't have time for it now."
"Darling Eve." He brushed his thumb over her knuckles. "Be sure to make time later."
"Yeah, I'll do that."
They worked together for an hour before Peabody arrived. She switched gears, leaving Roarke to do what he did best – manipulate data – while she focused on private residences purchased in the New York area, widening the timing to the six months since Palmer had activated his account.
Feeney called in to let her know he'd identified some of the equipment from the recording and was following up.
Eve gathered her printouts and rose. "We've got more than thirty houses to check. Have to do it door-to-door since I don't trust the names and data. He could have used anything. Peabody – "
"I'm with you, sir."
"Right. Roarke, I'll be in the field."
"I'll let you know when I have this wrapped."
She looked at him, working smoothly, thoroughly, methodically. And wondered who the hell was dealing with what she often thought of as his empire. "Look, I can call a man in for this. McNab – "
"McNab." Peabody winced at the name before she could stop herself. She had a temporary truce going with the EDD detective, but that didn't mean she wanted to share her case with him. Again. " Dallas, come on. It's been so nice and quiet around here."
"I've got this." Roarke shot her a glance, winked at Peabody. "I have an investment in it now."
"Whatever. Shoot me, and Feeney, the data when you have it all. I'm going to check out the rope, too. He likely picked up everything himself, but it would only take one delivery to pin down his hole."
After three hours of knocking on doors, questioning professional parents, housekeepers, or others who chose the work-at-home route, Eve took pity on Peabody and swung by a glide cart.
In this neighborhood the carts were clean, the awnings or umbrellas bright, the operators polite. And the prices obscene.
Peabody winced as she was forced to use a credit card for nothing but coffee, a kabob, and a small scoop of paper-thin oil chips.