"What happened?" "You're in the hospital. You're okay." "Hospital. Can't remember." "Doesn't matter now. You hurt anywhere?" "I… everywhere. God, what happened to me?" "It's okay. Mavis." "I'll get somebody." When she dashed out, McNab pressed his lips to Peabody's hand, "It's going to be okay now. I promise. Dee. Baby." "I was… coming home." "You'll get there. Soon." "Can I have drugs first?" He laughed, as tears rolled out of his eyes.
Eve caught herself leaning over Yancy's shoulder, and eased back.
"It's okay. Used to it. Let me tell you first, if everybody brought me witnesses like yours, my job would be a hell of a lot easier. Maybe a little boring." Then he glanced back at Roarke. "This is one of your programs." "So I see. It's one of the best image programs on the market though we're working on some upgrades. Still, it's only as efficient as its operator." "I like to think so." "Can you guys get back to your admiration session later?" "Well, take a look. Here's the sketch your wit brought in, and here's my revised image, after the session. See? We got a little more detail, subtle alterations, but they can boost time on an ID match." "Less Frankenstein," Roarke commented.
"Yeah. The behavior of the subject tends to influence the witness's memory of his physicality. They see this big guy pounding on a woman, and he takes on giant characteristics. Monster shit. But your wit had the basics, and he had them down. Square face, lots of forehead, shiny dome.
Knowing about the sealant lets me program that element.
The shades hamper the ID eyes are the best element for a match. But from here, we start building, using the program." He initiated, took the sketch through the building stages.
"Profile. Adding dimension, skull shape." Eve watched Yancy use a stylist to prompt the program, section by section, on the image.
"Ears, line of neck. Revolve to back view, other profile.
Full face. Shape of the mouth, nose, angle of bone. Get it to three dimensions, add skin tone. Okay, this is the best probability, given current data. To take it the last step, you have to go with a combo of your own judgment and the comp's. Remove shades." Eve stared at the eyeless face, felt a shudder run through her.
"Apt," Roarke stated.
"Yeah." "His eyes could be damaged, but for ID purposes, we're going to try the highest probabilities for the shape. Color's not an option, though I'd lean toward dark with this skin tone and the eyebrows. Highest percentage. Going that direction, this is what I get." Eve studied the finished image. The hard, square face, soft mouth, thick eyebrows over small, dark eyes. The nose was large, slightly hooked, the ears prominent against the bald skull.
"There he is," she said quietly.
"If it's not damn near close as a photograph, you can spank me," Yancy said. "I'll toss this to your office unit. Got you plenty of hard copies. I'll pass some out myself. You want me to run the ID match?" "Shoot it to Feeney in EDD. Nobody's faster." Then she glanced at Roarke, saw him smile. "Hardly. That's a hell of a job, Yancy. One hell of a job." "Your wits were gold." He handed her a stack of hard copies. "Tell Peabody we're pulling for her." "Bet your ass." She punched him lightly on the shoulder, a sign of affection as much as appreciation, and hurried out.
"Going to run for a match myself. Feeney'll probably beat me to it, but we'll get this started. And once we shit, shit, shit." She yanked out her beeping communicator. Seeing McNab's code on the readout, she stopped short. Instinctively, she reached for Roarke's hand as she answered. "Dallas." "She's awake." "On my way."
Eve all but sprinted down the hospital corridor, and when an ICU attendant held up a hand, she only snarled. "Don't try it." She surged through the door and straight into Peabody's room. And stopped short.
Peabody was propped up in bed, a vague smile on her battered face. The short counter under the single window had been transformed into a garden, with flowers jammed together in such abundance their scent overpowered even the hospital scent.
McNab stood beside her, holding her hand as if he'd been glued there. Louise was on the other side. And perched on a chair was Mavis, doing some blooming of her own in florid purple and green.
"Hey, Dallas." Peabody's voice was slightly slurred and absolutely cheerful. "Hello, Roarke. Jeez, he's just so gorgeous, what're ya gonna do? You gotta think about it."
Louise chuckled. "And who could blame you? You'll have to excuse her," she said to Eve. "They gave her something for the pain." "Something really, "specially good." Peabody grinned.
"Totally iced drugs." "How's she doing?" "Very well." Louise gave Peabody a light pat. "She's got more treatments in store. Tests, scans, therapy all that fussy medical business. And she'll need to be monitored carefully for a while yet. But they've bumped her all the way down to stable. She'll move to a standard room within a few hours if she stays stable. I expect her condition will be deemed good by the end of the day." "You see my face? I mean, whoa shit! Messed me up good.
They had to what was it reconstruct my cheekbone. I don't know why they couldn'ta done both while they were in there, and given me some. Cheekbones, you know? And he dislocated my jaw, so I'm talking funny. But it doesn't hurt a bit. I love drugs. Can I have more?" "Can you cut them back a little?" Eve asked.
"Aw." Peabody poked out her bottom lip.
"I need to talk to her, get her statement. I need her a little more coherent for that." "I'll check, see what I can do. But you'll need to keep it short." "She's in a lot of pain without them," McNab said when Louise stepped out.
"She'd want to do this." "I know." He sighed, smiled as Peabody examined the fingers of her free hand. "She's really wonked." "How come we don't have six fingers, you think? Six would be frosty. Hey, Mavis!" "Hey, Peabody." Mavis moved across the room, slid an arm around Eve's waist. "She says, "Hey, Mavis," about every five minutes," she whispered. "It's cute. I'm going to go out, sit with Leonardo and Charles while you do this part. Anybody you want us to tag to update them?" "We spread the word, but thanks. Thanks, Mavis." Louise and Mavis passed, going in and out. "I'm going to cut her IV down a little and give you ten minutes tops. She doesn't need to deal with pain right now." "Can I kiss Roarke first? Come on. Please, please, please!" Though Eve rolled her eyes, Roarke laughed and walked to the bed. "How about I kiss you, gorgeous?" "Not so pretty right now," she said. Coyly.
"You're beautiful to me. Absolutely beautiful." "Awwww, see? What're ya gonna do?" He leaned down, laid his lips softly on hers.
"Mmmm." She patted him on the cheek when he lifted his head. "Better'n drugs even." "Remember me?" McNab asked.
"Ah, yeah, skinny guy. Crazy about the skinny guy. He's just so cute. Got the cutest little butt. Oughta see it naked." "Louise, cut them back. Have mercy," Eve demanded.
"Takes a minute." "Stayed with me all night. Sweet boy. Love the sweet boy.
Heard you talking to me sometimes. You can kiss me, too.
Everybody can kiss me because… oh-oh." "Give me some room," Eve demanded. "Peabody." "Sir." "You get a look at him?" "Yes, sir." She drew a breath, shakily. "Jesus, Dallas, he messed me up. Came at me like a hell-god. I kept feeling stuff breaking and tearing inside me. Hell of a thing." Her fingers moved restlessly on the sheet, then dug in as she struggled with the pain. Eve covered it with hers, stilled it.
"I got to my weapon, though. I hit him. I know I did. Arm, shoulder maybe, but I nailed one in him."