She cut him off in turn, pulled out her ’link when it signaled. And her communicator beeped in her hand. She saw Roarke on the readout of the ’link, answered with a, “Hold it a damn minute,” then switched to the comm.
“Hey, Lieutenant! We are back on Planet Earth.”
“Get your ass in here, Callendar. Turn over your prisoners. Go home.”
“Affirmative to one and two. Negativo on three. Come on, Dallas, I want to see it through.”
“Your choice. Peabody will let you know which interview rooms. Nice work, Detective.”
“Fucking A.”
Eve ended the transmission, switched to ’link. “Yeah?”
“Busy girl.”
“Yeah, and I’ve been trying to fit in a manicure all day.”
“I had a meeting cancel, and have a bit of time on my hands. To echo Callendar, I’d like to see this through.”
“There’s going to be plenty to see here. If you really want to come down, maybe you could hang with Morris. Feeney’s on the electronics. Unless he decides he needs super-geek, I’d like Morris to have a friend nearby.”
“I can do that.”
Yes, he could, she thought. “Then get your ass in here.”
“Fucking A.”
She shoved her ’link back in her pocket, dragged her communicator out again to tag Feeney. “Any hit?”
“No attempt to contact the Ricker ’link.”
“I’ll give her more time to try to talk to Daddy.” Like a boxer before the big match, she rolled her shoulders. Then walked back into the conference room.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
THE TRICK, EVE THOUGHT, WOULD BE TO PIT all the players against each other and take them all down. Timing would be essential. Too much time and Grady would get suspicious.
“You’re going to take Sisto and work Zeban. You’re in charge.”
“I love the ‘in charge’ part.” Peabody grinned happily. “What about Grady?”
“I’m going to handle her in a minute. Meanwhile, we need to give her time and space, enough for her to use if she wants to call her daddy for kudos or instructions. But . . . little brainstorm.” Eve contacted Feeney again.
“Don’t give me grief, kid. I can’t make the woman use the damn ’link. And as for the unit, McNab’s on it.”
“Here’s the thing. The civilian consultant’s coming in because he wants to play. But I want you to give him another assignment, in case she doesn’t use the ’link. You’ll need to clear it with Whitney, and Omega, but here’s what I have in mind.”
“I like it,” Feeney said when she’d run it through. “I like it just fine.”
“Can you make it work?”
“Kid, up here’s where the magic sits. We’ll work it.”
“Within the hour?”
“That’s pushing, but with the civilian we can shove it through.”
“Then, I’m going to set up down here. Beep me when you’ve got it.”
“It’s devious,” Peabody commented when Eve clicked off. “But how can you be sure they won’t, well, band together instead of turning on one another?”
“Because it’s who they are. Let’s go give Grady some busywork, and get this rolling.”
She walked back into the conference room, letting a little frustration show. “Sorry. I’m getting a lot of pressure to make an arrest on Coltraine. I’m going to work Ricker again, but he’s a hard nut. Listen, if I clear it with your lieutenant, can you hang with this? I’ve got some files I’d like you to look through, to see if you can add anything, or if something in them pops for you. I’ve got plenty of dots, but I need to connect them to hang this bastard.”
“I’ll clear it. My boss wants this wrapped up as much as the rest of us.”
“Great. Do you want to work with someone else from your squad? I can—”
“No, not yet anyway. I’ll take a look at the files. We’ll go from there.”
“Your call.” Eve pulled out discs. “If you want more eyes, just let me know. I appreciate this, Detective, appreciate you not holding back because I had to come at you and the rest of the squad in the first pass.”
“It’s the job.” She held out her hand for the discs. “Anything that takes that fucker down works for me.”
“Does this space suit you?”
“Coffee in the AC?”
“Sure.”
“Then I’m solid.”
“I’ll check back in with you as soon as I can. Peabody, with me.”
“What did you give her?” Peabody wanted to know when they headed down the corridor.
“Bullshit. Busywork. Enough to keep her occupied, enough to have her coming up with other little lies. Set up for Sisto and Zeban.” She spotted Reo heading in her direction. “Flip him, Peabody. Fast and hard.”
“This is the best day. Hey, Reo.”
Eve waited while Reo caught up. “Ricker’s daughter and my prime suspect is in the conference room. She thinks she’s helping me hang Alex. I’m going to put a couple uniforms on the door, just in case, but the room’s wired.”
“You wired the room? You—”
“I asked her, straight off, if she minded being recorded. She said no—on record. It’s slippery, but it’ll hold. Alex is in one of the visitor areas. I could spring him, he’s got nothing else to give me at this point. But I think he should stay for the finale. He’s a criminal, but he cared about Coltraine. His father, his sister, and his best friend tried to frame him—however casually—for her murder. I figure he’s entitled to the payoff.”
With her shorter legs and snappy heels, Reo hustled to keep up with Eve’s long, booted strides. “Which is?”
“Peabody’s going to flip Zeban on Rouche. I’m flipping Rouche on Ricker, which should include Sandy and possibly Grady. Then I’m going to get a confession out of Grady for Coltraine and Sandy, and flip her on her father.”
“Is that all?”
“They’re all connected. It’s going to fall like a house of dominoes.”
“I think that’s house of cards, maybe rows of dominoes.”
“Whichever, it’s coming down.” She paused by Vending, pulled out credits. “Get me a tube of Pepsi. I don’t want to interact with the damn machine. I’m on a roll here, and I’m not jinxing it.”
“You’ve got some strange habits, Dallas.”
Eve studied Reo’s high, elegant shoes while the APA ordered up the Pepsi. “I’m not the one wearing stilts. This show’s going to require a lot of hiking from one room to another. Your feet are going to cry like babies before it’s done.”
Eve drank, explained the setup. “I want Morris to observe—anything he wants to observe. Mira wants to observe when I interview Grady.”
“I can take care of that. If your men find anything in the bank box, and I’m betting they will, you won’t need all the bells and whistles.”
“It’s not enough. Sure, that ring’s going to be in there and probably more to take Grady down, and that’s enough for the arrest. But it’s not enough payback, not on my scale. I promised Morris justice for Coltraine.” And, Eve supposed, she’d promised the same to a dead cop. “I’m going to get him every ounce of it.”
“If you pull this off, you’ll have made my job very easy.”
“I’m counting on you to do it.”
“Yo.” A very hollow-eyed Callendar bounced up. “Swig of that?” she said and snatched the tube out of Eve’s hand. Glugged some down. “Thanks.”
“Keep it.”
“Double thanks. Sisto hooked with the Peamiester. I’ve got your asshole in interview A as ordered.” She glugged down more Pepsi. “This shot ought to get me through observation while you fry his ass.”
“You’re not in observation. You’re taking him with me.”
“In interview?” Callendar’s tired eyes popped wide. “Hot shit, this is uptown and over the bridge.”