J. Robb - Survivor in Death

“Your ordinary, even better-than-average, B and E man isn't likely to have access to a palm-sized breaker in the range capable of reading that system, certainly not at that speed. As the system showed no signs of tampering, the men you're looking for probably didn't have the burglary skills to go manual.”

“Meaning they had to rely on equipment, not…” She lifted her hands, wiggled her fingers. And made him smile.

“Exactly. The equipment would also have to be tailored specifically for that system. The time frame means it was tailored prior to their arrival.”

“Confirming they knew the system, knew what they'd find, and had studied it either by duplicating or purchasing the same system, or spending time on site.”

“The only way they could have studied it on site thoroughly enough to have pulled this off means they had considerable time-hours- both inside the house and outside, with no one questioning them.”

Eve pursed her lips at Roarke. “Hours?”

“It's a solid system, Dallas,” Feeney commented. “They didn't get through by eyeballing it.”

“Then it's unlikely they ran suns with the Swisher's actual system. Peabody, you've done a search of purchases of that security system?”

“Yes, sir, and it's a whale of a list. I've started on it, dividing it into city, out of city, out of state, out of country, and off planet. I've then eliminated purchases made before the Swishers obtained their system. I've started runs on purchases in city, and have eliminated approximately another six percent.”

“By what process?”

“Well, by separating out single female purchasers and married with family, then checking those to determine if they had any maintenance and repair on the system since the purchase date. Profile indicates the killers are not family men, and the probability run gave me in the nineties that this process was the most efficient. At this time.”

“Have you run those systems purchased that were not installed by the company?”

Peabodyopened her mouth, then closed it long enough to clear her throat. “No, sir. I'll do so.”

“Split the list between all members of this team. Probability or not, do not-at this time-eliminate families or single females. Maybe one of them has a girlfriend, or a female accomplice. Maybe he's a licensed installer. Maybe he's just the handy neighbor who says, 'Hey, I'll take care of that for you and save you some dough.' These are home security systems, but there's no law saying a business couldn't purchase one. Let's get on this.”

She leaned back against her desk, remembered the coffee she'd poured before she'd begun. She picked it up, drank it lukewarm. “Baxter. Client lists.”

“Both the Swishers had a good thing going. Successful in their professions. Family law firm was busy, and Swisher had a good win rate. His caseload weighs heavy on protection of children's rights, custody suits, divorce, while his partner takes more of the straight abuse, palimony, cohab dissolutions, and competency stuff. But they both have a mix, and both have a good percentage of pro bono work.”

He cocked his ankle onto his knee, brushed the line of the pants of his well-cut suit smooth. “She was no slouch either. Lots of referrals. Liked to do families or couples, but didn't turn away the individual. She would also work on a sliding scale, ratio of fee to income. Not just fatties,” he added. “Dug into various eating disorders, health conditions. Consulted with her client's health care provider, and made house calls.”

“House calls?”

“She'd visit the client's home and workplace. Do a study on their lifestyle, recommend changes, not just in eating habits, but in exercise, entertainment, stress levels, the works. That kind of treatment didn't come cheap, but like I said, she had a lot of referrals. Satisfied customers. You got your dissatisfied, too, both sides.”

“Do a cross-check. See how many times their clients crossed. Do another, see which cases Swisher's firm worked on where Meredith Newman was listed as GPS rep. It could be interesting data. Trueheart.”

“Sir.” Long and lanky, and almost tenderly young in his uniform, he came to attention.

“You've been spending time with the witness.”

“She's a nice kid, Lieutenant.”

“Any further data from her?”

“Sir, she doesn't talk much about it. She's broken down a couple of times. Not hysterical, just sits down and cries. I'm trying to keep her busy. She seems comfortable with me, and with Summerset, though she asks about you.”

“Asks what?”

“When you're coming back, what you're doing. When you're going to take her to see her parents and her brother. If you've caught the bad guys yet. I don't know much about, well, I guess you'd say child psychology, but I'd say she's holding on to herself until you do. Catch them. To date, she hasn't said anything that would add to her previous statements.”

“All right. Moving on to Meredith Newman. GPS reps in cases like this are kept confidential. However, it's not that complicated to access the data. Anyone with serious interest and reasonable hacking capabilities could slither into the GPS files like a snake through grass. Feeney, I'll want your department to check the d and c's for any evidence of hacking. Maybe we'll get a bounce. The subject was abducted off the sidewalk on Avenue B, daylight grab, with witnesses. The speed and success of the grab indicates the suspects have some experience in daylight abductions. It also indicates there were three. It's unlikely these two would trust their vehicle to auto under the circumstances. We must assume Newman's connection to Nixie Swisher was the motive for the grab. We must assume that the perpetrators had experience in making grabs of this nature, in electronics and security, in stealth assassinations.”

“Military or para,” Feeney said. “Espionage or special forces. Average citizens, they're not.”

“If they were military, it's likely we'll find they washed out-or were promoted to fucking general because of their particular skills. One way or the other, these men have been in the field, and they've gotten wet. They're not rusty, either, so they've kept in the game.”

“Paramilitary seems more probable,” Roarke commented. “There's testing in standard military that would question the personality type or predilection of killing for personal gain or satisfaction-particularly children.”

“Mercenaries kill for personal gain, and are often attached to military ops.”

“True enough.” But he shook his head at Eve. “That's most usually monetary. Where is the monetary gain here?”

“We might not have found it yet, but let's say I agree. And I agree that it takes a certain kind of personality to slit a child's throat while she sleeps. That's terrorist tactics, and fringe at that. I think that's where this arrow's going to point.”

“More cross-checking then,” Baxter put in. “Known terrorists or members of fringe organizations.”

“Look for teams. Two or more who are known to work together, or known to have trained together. Then we need to put one of them, at least, inNew York during the last few years.”

“Could be hirelings,” Baxter pointed out. “Brought intoNew York to do the job.”

“Low odds. Hirelings would've been smoke an hour after the Swisher hit. But they're still inNew York, still here to grab up Newman. One or both of them targeted the Swishers, and for a reason. This means, at some point, one or more of them crossed paths with one or more of the Swishers. Security and wet work, and they're in shape. No desk jockeys or data crunchers. These are field operatives. Males, between thirty and sixty to start. White or light-skinned males. Either they or their organization has deep pockets. Look for the money.”