“The other’s got a big residential on Park, does some designer hunting. It doesn’t strike – not much skill from my background check, but he could have downplayed that. But added to it, he lives with wife number three, has a live-in nanny for the kid with wife number three, and a teenage son from wife number two lives with him half the time. Full-time housekeeper – not a droid. Still, I bet he has a private space in his digs, so we’ll check.”
She dropped her feet, pushed back. “No criminal to speak of on either. And no connection I could find to the rink or the victims.”
Rising, she approached her board. “If this wasn’t his mission, just this, he’ll hit again and soon. Three strikes, three down. It’s too successful not to hit again. Not the rink, that’s done – unless it is the rink.”
“You think, and I agree, if it were the rink, there would be more than three on your board.”
“Yeah, that’s what I think. Another public place, another multiple strike. If that’s the plan, he’s already got it selected, scoped, and has his nest. Anyone, anywhere, anytime. He’s holding the cards now.”
“You’ve plenty of your own.”
“But I can’t add more to them tonight, not with what’s here. Morris, Berenski, they might add more tomorrow. Peabody and McNab are working their end. I’ll get a profile from Mira, see if that refines things. It’s not a pro.”
She narrowed those cop’s eyes at the board again. “A pro doesn’t take out three unrelated targets, and they’re not connected. Correction, a working pro doesn’t. We could have a pro who’s gone loony, but this wasn’t murder for hire – or unlikely. Client could have paid to have three hits, with two as cover. Can’t disregard even that.”
“Lieutenant, you’re circling.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” She took one long last look at the girl in red. As Roarke said, she haunted. “Okay. Let’s have another look at the design stuff.”
“You don’t have to do that tonight.”
“It’ll bug me until I clear it. How hard can it be to just pick something?”
“You’re a rare woman, darling, as you not only actually believe that, but make it true.”
He called the first design on screen.
“I don’t much like this one. The colors are kind of girlie, and the stuff’s sort of… I don’t know, sharp and… slick. So plain it’s fancy. I don’t know the word, but that’s how it hits. I mean, the setup’s okay – where she’s got things – but the things are going to make me feel like I’m in somebody else’s place.”
“Then we move on. Number two.”
She shifted her feet as she studied it. Felt stupid and ungrateful. “The stuff here’s okay. It doesn’t have that I’m-new-and-cutting-edge-and-really-important deal going on. I could work here without feeling like somebody whose name begins with Summerset would give me the fish eye if I messed it up or spilled something.”
“But?”
“Well, the colors are strong. Strong colors are good, I guess, but it’s a little in-your-face. Distracting, I guess.”
“How about these?” He brought up the third option.
She didn’t know what fancy name the colors went by in some designer speak. Bullshit names like Contented Fawn and Zen Retreat and Chocolate Drizzle.
To her it was browns and sort of greens and whites that weren’t bright and shiny.
“Yeah, see, the colors are good, and they’re quiet but not girlie. They’re not saying, Hey look at me. It’s more like they’ve been there awhile. And the command center looks, well, commanding. No bullshit. But, I guess, most of the other stuff doesn’t look like anybody lives with it.”
“Try this.” He stepped over to her computer, keyed in a code. The second design slid on – with the color scheme from the third.
“Huh. You can just… Okay, yeah, this is…”
“If you’re not sure, not pleased, we wait. I’ll give her your input and she’ll incorporate what you like and take away what you don’t.”
“It’s just that… I like it. I really like it, and I didn’t expect to. The stuff doesn’t look as, I don’t know, fussy in these colors like it does in the in-your-face ones. It looks more… real, I guess. I like it. I figured I’d live with the one I could live with, and that would be okay. But I like it. It’s efficient, it’s not fussy or weird.” Sincerely baffled, she turned to him. “I like it. Jesus, the appreciation sex is going to get out of hand.”
“My fondest wish.” Hip-to-hip with her, he studied her choice, and found himself pleased he liked it, very much, as well. Still.
“Do you want to take a few days, think it over, make any changes that might occur to you?”
“No. Really no. It would make me crazy. Let’s just go for it. But I can’t have this place torn up or people running around in there when I’m working an investigation.”
“Leave that to me.” He turned to her, took her shoulders, dropped a kiss on her forehead. “This will be good for both of us.”
“I know that, too. I won’t miss it. I remember how I felt when you first brought me in here, when I saw what you’d made for me. That doesn’t change.”
“The reason I made it for you doesn’t change, either.” He slid an arm around her waist, led her out. “Hopefully you remember how you felt the first time I took you into the bedroom.”