already banging somebody else. And he was up to something at work. Don’t know what, but something. McNab’s on his electronics. Peabody’s on the financials. I’m going to write up the report, open the book, then go talk to the ex before his last ex.”
“Busy, busy. What did he do at Buff Bodies?”
“Personal training and massage work.”
“Hmm. The sort of intimacy that leads people to talk about personal business. Blackmail?”
“My first pick.” She could appreciate he’d lean there first, too. “I’ve got to figure whatever he was into, it was a new enterprise. He made noises about starting his own place in the tropics.”
“It would take more than under two hundred K to start up a tropical fitness business.”
“Yeah, but he was an asshole.”
“Perhaps one who planned to add to that windfall. I’ll let you get back to it. I can fit a quick bit of shopping in before my next meeting.”
“Don’t say shopping.”
He grinned at her. “Haven’t finished yet, have you?”
“There’s time. Plenty of time.”
“Mmm. Barely started then.” He kissed her between the eyebrows. “Best of luck there. I’ll see you at home.”
“I started,” she called out, heard him chuckle as he walked away. “Sort of.”
Frowning, she picked up the memo cube he’d left on her desk. Activated.
I was in the neighborhood, so I stopped in. Charming holiday decor in your bullpen, Lieutenant. As I didn’t give you your daily reminder this morning, consider this that. You’ve two days until our holiday party. Meanwhile, take care of my cop.
“Two days? How did it get to be two days?”
She dropped down at her desk. Okay, she admitted, shopping had now bumped up to the urgent area on her to-do list.
But first things first.
She began setting up her murder board.
Blackmail, she thought. Extortion. A scam.
No way she’d buy Ziegler came into more than a hundred fifty large by legal means.
So who had he blackmailed, extorted, scammed?
Whoever it was would top her list of suspects. She just had to get there.
RED SHOES, she wrote on her notes, then grabbed her coat, headed out.
“Peabody, with me.”
“Nothing hinky in his financials I can find,” Peabody said, scurrying to keep up. “He lived close, but not because he spent a lot on food and lodging. It’s all clothes, skin care, body and hair services, that sort of thing. He spent on himself, his appearance. No major deposits or withdrawals. A lot of charges, but in the areas I said. He ends up with a lot of late fees, but he eventually pays.”
“So, it’s all show and self-indulgence. And sex.”
“Sort of like a licensed companion without the license.”
“Not bad, Peabody.”
Eve risked the elevator, wondered who had had the bright idea to pump in holiday music in a cop shop. And how she could punish them.
“He could’ve started charging for sex on the side, but I don’t care how good he was, nobody’s worth that kind of scratch inside a few weeks. A client could get a good, experienced, safe LC for a reasonable rate. But blackmail’s another thing. Threaten to tell a spouse, maybe.”
“Shortsighted,” Peabody commented as they reached garage level. “You’d for sure lose the client if you blackmailed her, then you lose the commission and any chance for more.”
“Some people only see the right now, and end up killing the golden duck.”
“Goose. The golden goose.”
“Duck, goose, what’s the difference? They’re both weird-looking birds.”
“Did you ever play Duck, Duck, Goose?”
Eve pulled out of the garage, into traffic. “Did I ever play with ducks and goose—geese? Why the hell would I?”
“No, the kids’ game, where you sit around in a circle, then one kid walks around, tapping the other kids on the head. She says, ‘Duck, duck,’ until she taps one and says, ‘Goose.’ Then that one, the goose, chases her around the circle, tries to catch her before she gets to where the goose one was sitting. If she doesn’t catch her, she goes around the circle.”
Eve stared out the windshield. “That has to be the dumbest-ass game of all dumb-ass games.”
“It’s kind of fun when you’re six. We had roast goose when we went to Scotland to visit McNab’s family over Christmas,” Peabody continued, obviously caught in a theme. “It was really good. We’re doing the quick in and out shuttle this year to see my family. It’ll be soy and tofu and lots of veg, which doesn’t compare. But my granny will bake, a lot—and that makes up for everything. She makes the most incredible mincemeat pie.”
“I thought your guys didn’t eat meat.”
“Mostly