Eve took a step closer to his desk, well aware the focus of the room had narrowed on them. “You want a pissing contest with me, Bix? Then get on your feet for it. On your feet, Detective,” she ordered when he didn’t move.
He started to rise, slowly. His face never changed—cold eyes, hard jaw. She wondered what it would take to goad him into taking a shot at her. Just one shot, she thought, and she’d have his badge, threaten Renee with a full disciplinary review, and send her squad into chaos.
The door behind her burst open—and told her one of the things she wanted to know. Renee had the squad room monitored from her office.
“Dallas. I don’t appreciate you coming into my squad and harassing my men.”
“Is that what I’m doing?” Eve kept her eyes on Bix as she spoke. “Do you consider it harassment to expect and demand respect due rank? Your men are a disgrace.”
“In my office!”
Now Eve turned, and her tone brought winter into the room. “I don’t take orders from you, Oberman. You’re on the edge of having me file a formal complaint against you, against this detective, and requesting a full review of your command.”
Angry color slashed across Renee’s cheekbones. “I would prefer to discuss your grievances in the privacy of my office.”
“Sure,” Eve said, and strolled inside. She had to fight a satisfied smile when the door slammed.
And it was just plain fun to see, even with the heels Renee wore, that she retained the advantage of height. She tried a Summerset-style look down her nose.
“Who the hell do you think you are? Coming into my squad, threatening me, abusing my men? Do you think because you’re Central’s golden girl you can come here, aim and fire at me? Today of all days. You bitch, I lost a man last night—and you want to talk to me about respect? Where the hell is yours?”
“Are you finished?” Eve said smoothly. “Or do you have more?”
“I don’t like you.”
“Ouch.”
“I don’t like your attitude, your interference, or your habit of muscling in on my command. You’re not the only one who can file a formal complaint.”
“Be my guest. I think we both know, especially since Dad’s no longer in the chair, who’d come out on top on that one. Speaking of your father ...” Eve glanced at the portrait. “It was a pleasure meeting him earlier.”
“Fuck you.”
This time she didn’t bother to control it, and just laughed. “Wow! That really stings. Now, do you want to keep shooting your spitballs, or do you want to get down to it?”
“I’ve already wasted more than enough time on you.”
“Oh boy, I have to say right back at you. However, I actually make it a policy to do my job, even when it’s annoying. I’m here regarding Garnet. I see you’ve been informed of his death as you’re decked out in mourning black. Nice suit, by the way.”
Renee’s withering stare only gladdened Eve’s heart. “I’ll be documenting your sarcasm and disrespect toward a fallen officer.”
“Document your ass off. It has yet to be determined if he went down in the line, and in fact is leaning hard otherwise. And that’s not considering he was on suspension at the time of his death. It’s further not considering he’d have certainly lost his badge and faced criminal charges had he lived.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Well, gee, I’d say I guess you didn’t get the memo, except we both know otherwise.” Eve pulled a disc out of her pocket, tossed it on Renee’s desk. “That’s a recording from my home security that clearly shows Garnet ambushing me at the gates to my home, threatening me, striking me, and drawing his weapon on me with clear intent.
“Your man was rabid and rogue, Renee, a fact I have no doubt you and your father discussed quite recently. No wonder you’re in such a bad mood.”
“What my father and I discuss is none of your business.”
“On the contrary, you’ve made it mine. You went crying to Daddy about mean old Lieutenant Dallas, and it backfired on you. Instead of disciplining your detective for his behavior, you took steps to attempt to sweep it under the rug. And that detective, fully aware you would not and did not discipline him, escalated into drawing down on a fellow officer—with an unregistered weapon. He’d been using when he did it, and it will very likely be determined he’d been using when he died.”
“I—”
“I’m not done,” Eve snapped. “If you don’t immediately request and recommend a random test for your squad for illegals, I will—with cause.”
“What do you know about Illegals work?” Renee demanded. “Garnet had been under a great deal of pressure the last weeks. He’d been working on a lead on the Giraldi case, and it fizzled on him. He’d been working to revive it when you showed up here, pushing your weight around.”
“I fail to follow how my coming to you over your dead weasel somehow incited Garnet to abuse illegals, threaten me, and end up dead.”
“He was on the edge. I was fully aware of his problems and had discussed them with him. I wanted him to take some time off, get some counseling—and he asked for more time, asked to have a couple more weeks on Giraldi. I gave it to him, and I believe he was making progress on it, and on his personal problems, until you insisted on the suspension.”
“It’s amazing,” Eve said in sincere wonder. “Really, it is. You can justify the outrageous, even criminal behavior of your detective, and consider my actions in response not only as unfair but as a contributing factor. Your man was a fuckup, a dangerous fuckup. Now he’s a dead fuckup. You bear some weight there, and how you deal with that’s on you.
“One thing I know,” Eve continued, “is in a couple of days you’ve lost a weasel and a detective. Since I do know how Homicide works, I’ll be actively pursuing that connection.”
“It’s obvious Bill was using Keener,” Renee said wearily. “I don’t know why he didn’t tell me. I know he wanted to prove himself to me since I’d made my concerns known, and he was on notice. Whatever he’d been able to tap out of Keener, or whoever Keener had tried to tap, got Keener killed. Bill followed that up, searching Keener’s flop, then—it certainly seems apparent—arranging a meet at the location where Keener had gone to ground, had died. And that cost Bill his life.”
“That’d be nice and tidy. Except for the fact that you had a detective out there pursuing leads, taking actions that don’t show up in his reports or case files—or in those of the detective working with him on the case. Or in yours.”
“You said it yourself. He’d gone rogue.”
Easy to toss him in front of the runaway train, Eve thought, since he was already dead. But she had another, a live one. “I’ll need to interview Bix.”
“Damn it, you’ve just said there’s nothing in Bix’s notes or reports. Garnet went lone wolf on this—it’s clear. Bix never met with Keener.”
“How would you know?” Eve pumped derision into the question, watched Renee’s jaw clench. “If you had one detective writing his own score, you could have two.” She glanced at her wrist unit. “I’ve got time now.”
“I’m not going to allow you—”
“You don’t allow me,” Eve interrupted. “I’m primary on an active homicide, and consulting on a second, believed connected homicide, which involved a police officer. Bix is entitled to his rep or a lawyer, but I will have him in Interview.”
Eve pulled her com out of her pocket. “This is Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, Homicide, requesting an interview room—”
“You can interview him here, in my office,” Renee objected. “There’s no need to take him into a formal.”
“The pissier you get, the pissier I get,” Eve responded. “Interview B,” she confirmed, and closed the com. “Have him report within fifteen minutes. My division, Interview B.”
“I’m coming in with him.”
“You’re welcome to watch from Observation.” She started for the door, paused. “You know, it’s weird. I would think you, Bix, everyone on the squad would not only be willing but anxious to cooperate on every level with an investigation that may lead to the identification, apprehension, and arrest of the individual responsible for Garnet’s murder.