Faithless in Death (In Death #52) - J.D. Robb Page 0,104
over again for sex, sell me. We break them, then the downtime.”
“Then eat something.”
“I will. You, too. I have to finish with Yancy. Nadine’s on her way.”
“I’ll have what you need.”
You are what I need, she thought as he left the room.
“Okay, Yancy, you know most of it, but let me catch you up.”
When she finished and sent him to the bullpen, Reo walked in.
“Took awhile. I had to go back to the office, have a sit-down with my boss. First thing, you’ve got warrants—all but the one you want on the HQ.”
She held up a hand before Eve could speak.
“And we’re working on it. You and I need to nail this down, hard down, so we can move on that.”
“I’ve got the hammer: docs coming in proving Natural Order, Wilkey, his daughter—who I’m also going to charge with Ariel Byrd’s murder—have engaged for a couple decades or more in human trafficking, rape with the intent to impregnate, slavery, torture at their HQ, on their godforsaken island, and very likely other locations.”
“That’s one hell of a hammer, Dallas.” Sitting on the edge of the conference table, Reo took a moment. “You have documentation, statements, wits?”
“Documentation, including a statement from Paula Huffman’s OB nurse—now deceased, self-termination—who not only witnessed, but participated. The Huffmans are going down, too. Both doctors are in this, and Oliver Huffman has been identified entering the Piper residence on the night of her murder.”
She paused, tapped a finger on Yancy’s sketch, then Huffman’s official ID.
“Okay.” Reo took out her notebook. “Okay. Don’t stop now.”
“We have Marcia Piper’s blood and gray matter on that charge. I’ll be charging her husband with her murder, and I have solid probable cause he’s hiding inside HQ.”
“That’s a big-ass hammer and a whole lot of nails. Let’s put it together so I can get warrants. I’m going to hit Vending first. All I’ve managed to eat today is half a bagel and I’m starving.”
Eve considered Vending. “Don’t go there. There’s a way to transfer the menu on my AC to the one here. Peabody can do it, and I want her in this anyway. We’ve got more, Reo. We have a whole bunch more nails. I’ll get the search and seizures started. Hold here.”
She hustled back to the bullpen. “Heads up. We have warrants on the Wilkey New York residence, on the Huffmans’ residence, and their clinic. Get them, get the residence searches started. We hold on the clinic. Timing. We have warrants for Jane Po’s residence—her office will, again, wait. So will the halfway house.
“Move on the rest. Peabody, transfer my AC menu to the conference room, and get there yourself, with whatever data you have so far.”
Even as she turned, Nadine stepped in.
“Good,” Eve said. “Out here.”
She walked out to the hallway.
Nadine wore a pale green shirt, untucked, yoga-type black pants with high-top green sneaks and a black leather jacket.
Not camera ready, Eve decided.
“Reo’s in the conference room, and needs to be updated with what you have, and some of what we’ve dug up since I saw her this morning. I have a board up, a very full, complex board loaded with data. It has to be said, nothing you see or hear in that room leaves that room until I give you the go.”
“It shouldn’t have to be said between us.”
“It has to be said,” Eve corrected. “Listen, I slapped back an FBI agent for questioning your integrity about an hour ago. I should get some points for that.”
“You do. And okay, I get it has to be said. Just as I have to say, out loud, all of this is off the record until you say it’s back on. It’s been a really long twenty-four or so for me.”
As she studied Eve’s face, Nadine pursed her lips. “For you, too, I’d say.”
“The next twenty-four are going to be a lot longer, a lot harder for a lot of sons of bitches. So are the multiple, consecutive lifetimes in cages going to be long and hard.”
“Let me help you put them there.”
“Let’s get started.”
With a sigh, Nadine paused at Vending. “I need a boost, even something from here. I’ve been too busy to grab more than a bagel.”
“Bagels seem to be the choice of the day. I’m having food sent in.”
“Great. You know,” Nadine continued as they walked, “a couple of days ago, walking through that big, crazy house with Mavis, I felt so damn up. Just knowing, seeing, good things happen to people I care about. And now?”