“Yeah. It’s not like him, I gotta say. He’s a nice guy. Good neighbor.” She beat on the door again. “Brian, for chrissake!”
“Okay, move aside.”
When Eve pulled out her master, the woman goggled. “Hold on, hold on a minute. You can’t just go breaking into somebody’s place. I’m calling the cops.”
“We are the cops.” Eve nodded at Peabody as she used the master, and Peabody pulled out her badge.
“Oh, wow, oh, shit. Is he in trouble? I don’t wanna get him in trouble.”
Eve pushed open the door, felt her eardrums vibrate at the force of the music. “Mr. Trosky, this is the police!” she shouted. “We’re coming in. Music, off,” she ordered, but the roar of it continued. “ Peabody, find the source of that noise and kill it. Trosky! This is the NYPSD!”
She drew her weapon, but kept it down at her side as she scanned the living area-trashed-then the bump-out of the kitchen. She moved to the open bedroom door.
He lay across the bed, tangled in the bloody sheets. She swept the room and the adjoining bath, though instinct told her Brian Trosky hadn’t been attacked, that the hammer that had caved his skull-to stop the pain?-had been wielded by his own hand.
Six
Same side, Roarke thought as he walked into Spirit Quest, different angles. Eve would always search for the logical, the rational. He was a bit more flexible. And so he’d come to talk to the witch.
The shop was pretty, even festive in its way with its crystals and stones, its bells and candles, its colorful bowls and thriving herbs. Its scent was spring meadow, he thought, with a hint of moonlight.
In the small space with the murmur of harps and flutes as background, people browsed. He watched a woman in a flowing white dress carry a ball of smoky crystal to the counter where the young, fresh-faced clerk instructed her solemnly on how to charge the ball by moonlight, how to cleanse it.
When the purchase had been made, wrapped and bagged, Roarke took a step toward the counter. He needn’t have bothered, as she stepped out of the back room with an awareness in her dark eyes that told him she’d sensed him-or in the more pedestrian method, had seen him on a security screen.
“Welcome back.”
“ Isis.” He took the hand she offered, held it-and yes, felt that frisson of something. Some connection.
“You’re not here to shop,” she said in her warm, throaty voice, “which is too bad considering the depths of your pockets. Come upstairs, we’ll be comfortable and you can tell me what you need to know.”
She led the way, through the back, up the stairs. She moved gracefully, athletically, an Amazon goddess of considerable height and generous curves. Her flaming hair fell in mad curls nearly to the waist of the snug white top she wore, just teasing the back of the first of the many layers of her skirt, a rainbow of hues. She turned at the door, smiled at him out of those onyx eyes. Her face was bold, broad featured with skin of a dull, dreamy gold.
“Once, in another life, we sought comfort together for more than talk.” Her smile faded. “But now it’s death, again it’s death that brings you here. And weighs on you. I’m sorry.”
She stepped into the living area of an apartment as exotic and appealing as her shop. “Your Eve is well?”
“Yes. Chas?”
She let out a laugh. “Snuck down to the deli for coffee,” she said, referring to her lover. “We pretend he’s having a walk. But you can’t live with and love another and not know at least some of their secrets.”
He stared into her dark eyes, so compelling-so eerily familiar. “Did I know yours, once upon a time?”
She gestured to a chair, took her own. “We knew each other, and loved very well. But I was not your love, your only. You found her then, as you’ve found her again. And always will. You knew when you first saw her. At the first scent, the first touch.”
“I did. It was…” He smiled a little, remembering his first contact with Eve. “Annoying.”
“Does she know you’ve come?”
“No. We don’t always follow the same lines, even though we usually end in the same place. I don’t know if you can help, or if I have a right to bring death to your door.”
“Not ordinary death.” Isis took a long, slow breath. “Has someone used the arts to cause harm?”
“I don’t know. They have, at least, used the illusion of them to kill an innocent woman. You haven’t heard of this?”
“We’ve only just opened this morning, and I don’t listen to the media reports.” Rings glittered and gleamed on her fingers as she laid her hands on the arms of her chair, settled back. “What would I have heard?”
He told her then, watched her lovely skin pale, her eyes go darker yet. “Do you know of them? The Asant Group?”
“No, and I would have.” Her fingers stroked the smooth blue stone of the pendant she wore, as if for comfort. “I hear both the dark and the light. Suite 606. Or 666 with such little change. You didn’t know this girl?”
“No.”
“You brought nothing of hers, nothing she owned, wore, touched?”
“I’m sorry, no.”
Still pale, Isis nodded. “Then to help you, you need to take me there. To where they sacrificed her.”
Eve shot over to the West Side Clinic. “They had to troll for the victim here. Scoop up the new doctor, connect with Mika. Somebody on staff, a patient, one of the goddamn cleaning crew.”
“Do you really think Pike or Mika might try to kill themselves like Trosky?”
“Mira’s notified. It won’t happen. It’s not even noon,” Eve replied.
“Sure could use lunch though.”
“Maybe he did slip out on them, or came to sooner than they figured. Walked into the party. Impromptu party, Maxia just planned it the day before. Couldn’t know he’d walk right in to another penthouse. Couldn’t know a cop and the owner of the hotel would be right there, that we’d find the body minutes later.”
“Without the party he might’ve wandered around the floor for hours, or… gotten down to a lower floor, even the lobby,” Peabody agreed. “Nobody would’ve zeroed right in on 606.”
“What you’d get is a lot of civilian screaming, running, security taking him down. Cops get called in. At some point, they’re going to check the discs, but they don’t know the exact time frame, so it’d take a while, and a while longer to pinpoint 606 and find her. If three of the key players kill themselves before we interview them thoroughly, before they’re examined by a professional, what’ve we got?”
“What looks like the new guy in town luring a pretty girl to her death, and being in league with the other two, being part of a cult.”
“Yeah, you could waste some time on that. They may not be ready for us.” Eve swung toward the curb, coldly double-parking. “Not quite ready.” She flipped on her On Duty sign, stepped out, and walked to the clinic.
Babies cried. Why, she wondered, did they always sound like invading aliens? People sat with the dead-eyed stare of the ill or the terminally bored. Eve crossed over to the check-in desk where a brunette looked at her with tear-ravaged eyes.
“I’m sorry, we’re not taking walk-ins today. I can refer you to-” She broke off when Eve laid her badge on the counter. “Oh. Oh. Ava.” Tears popped out, fat and fast. “It’s about Ava.”
“Who’s in charge here?”
“I-I-Ava really managed the clinic. She really handled everything. I don’t understand how-”
“Sarah.” Another woman in a smart suit stepped up, touched the receptionist’s shoulder. “Go on into the break-room for a little while. It’s all right.”
“I’m sorry, Leah. I just can’t stand it.” She rose, fled.
“I’m Leah Burke.” The older brunette held out a hand, gave Eve’s a firm shake. “One of the nurse practitioners. We only heard about Ava a couple of hours ago. We’re all just… Well, we’re reeling. Please, come back. I need to find someone to cover the desk. We can use Dr. Slone’s office, he’s with a patient. Left, then right, then the third door on the right. I’ll be right with you.”