J. Robb - Purity in Death

"I ended mine with it," Eve said and made Tibble roar with laughter.

"Job's never dull."

"How much am I cleared to tell my team?"

"Trust is a two-way street. I leave that to you." He rose. "If Peachtree's part of this, we'll take him down. You have my word on it." He held out a hand.

"We'll take them all down, sir. You've got mine on that."

After they'd left, Eve called Peabody into her office.

"Sit down," she ordered, then as Tibble had done, she took the position of command behind her desk. "New data has come to light that may have a direct bearing on this investigation. I'm not free to share all the details of this data with you at this time, but you'll be accompanying me today on what will be a number of sensitive interviews. Until I give you clearance, you're to say nothing of this to other team members."

"You're not bringing the team in?"

"Not at this time. This is Code Five. Any record I order you to make will be sealed."

Peabody choked back the dozen questions leaping to her tongue. "Yes, sir."

"Before we start on this new round of interviews, we'll do a followup with Dukes. He needs a push. And I figure to round off the day with Price and Dwier. Like, I don't know, bookends."

"Is what's between the bookends connected to the whole?"

"It's all connected. I'll fill you in, as much as I'm able, on the way to the Dukes."

"Blackmail," Peabody said at the first stoplight on route. "Greene sure had his fingers in a lot of nasty pies."

"Lucrative pies. Raked in over three million annually with this scam."

"You think Purity infected him because of the blackmail?"

"Yeah, I do. Look at the others. Those were child predators. Greene, he dealt some in the adolescent arena, but the bulk of his clientele and employees were adults."

"You said you thought Purity would start expanding their criteria."

"And they will. Not this soon. There are plenty more in Fitzhugh's ilk to keep them busy. Greene teeters on the line. I think someone, maybe more than one, had personal reasons for wanting Greene dead. Eliminating another scumbag was a factor, but ditching a blackmail payment, and the threat of exposure, makes a real nice bonus. But it was stupid. A mistake. Killing the blackmailer before you destroy the evidence that ties you to him."

"Can you tell me if Dukes was on the blackmail list?"

"No. But he knows how it's done. He knows who's been infected or scheduled for infection. He's part of the foundation, so we shake him. Or his wife. She's a weak point."

"You think she'll roll on him?"

"She might, if she's scared enough. She's not a player, but she knows Dukes-his schedule, his habits. How else could she tailor the household to suit him? And if he thinks we're pushing her, he might get pissed enough to slip up. He's got a hot button."

Eve hunted up a parking spot, then jaywalked diagonally across the street toward the Dukes's residence. The first thing she noticed were the wilted flowers by the door.

"They're gone."

Peabody followed the direction of Eve's cold stare. "Maybe she forgot to water them."

"No, she wouldn't forget. Probably has a daily duty list. Damn it. Damn it." She rang the buzzer anyway, waited, rang again.

"Curtains are still at the windows." Peabody craned her neck to see inside. "Furniture's still in there."

"They left it. Got out fast. They were probably packed and gone within twenty-four hours of our first visit."

She started working the street, knocking on doors until one opened for her. She offered her badge to a snowy-haired woman in a pink tracksuit.

"Is something wrong? Has there been an accident? My husband-"

"No, ma'am. Nothing's wrong. I'm sorry to alarm you. I'm looking for some of your neighbors. The Dukes. They don't answer their door."

"The Dukes." She patted her hair as if to stir her thoughts. "I'm not sure I… oh, of course. Of course. I saw the story on the media report. Oh dear, you're the policewoman they're going to sue."

"I don't believe any legal action has been taken as yet. Do you know where they are?"

"Goodness. I don't really know them. Pretty young woman. I'd see her walking to the market every Monday and Thursday. Nine-thirty. You could set your wrist unit by her. But now that you mention it, I don't know the last time… They lost their older son, didn't they? They only moved in two years ago. I never knew a thing about it. They didn't really talk to any of the neighbors. Some people never do. It's a terrible, terrible thing to lose a child."

"Yes, ma'am."

"I'd see him come and go now and then. Didn't look like a very kind sort of man. On Sundays they'd all go out together. Ten o'clock sharp. To church, I imagine from the way they were dressed. Back by twelve-thirty. You never saw the boy playing outside, with other children. I never saw another child go into that house."

She sighed, staring across the street now. "I suppose they kept him close, afraid something would happen to him, too. Hold on, there's Nita coming out. My jogging partner."

She waved wildly at the woman who came out of a building directly across the street. She, too, wore a track-suit. In powder blue.

"Nita doesn't miss a trick," the other woman said out of the corner of her mouth. "You ask her about them."

"Getting yourself arrested?" Nita said cheerfully when she joined them. "Better lock her up tight, Officer. Sal's a slippery one."

"We'll talk about slippery later," Sal told her. "They're asking about the Dukes. Two doors down from you."

"They went on a trip a couple days ago. Loaded up the car with suitcases. Wife wasn't too happy about it, if you ask me. She'd been crying. That would've been… let me think. Wednesday. Wednesday morning, bright and early. I was out front watering my pots when I saw them loading up."

"Did you notice anyone visiting them prior to that?"

"Saw you," Nita said with a grin. "The morning before. Got the commandant pretty stirred up from what I saw on-screen later."

"Nita."

"Oh, stop fussing, Sal. I didn't like the man and I'm not afraid to say so out loud."

She waved a hand and settled herself in as if for a nice, friendly chat. "I had an old cocker spaniel, old Frankie. Died last year. A few months before I was out walking him like I did every day, twice a day. Stopped in front of the Dukes place for a minute to talk to a neighbor who was out walking, too. And well, old Frankie did his business there on the edge of their property while I wasn't watching."

She sighed, one long expulsion of air. "Old Frankie. Now I'd've cleaned it up. I cleaned up behind that dog for sixteen years. But the commandant comes to the door and gives me what-for, says he's going to report me. Carries on so you'd think he'd never seen a little poop before. Well, I gave him what-for right back. I don't take that kind of thing from anybody."

She huffed out a breath, obviously still outraged. "He slams the door, I pick up the poop, finish walking old Frankie, and go home. Few minutes later, the beat cop's at my door. Young woman, looked mortified, told me Dukes had called in a complaint. Can you imagine that? Since I'd already flushed away the evidence, nothing came of it. The cop just wanted to let me know he was seeing red, said she'd cooled him off, but maybe it would be best all around if I made sure to keep the dog away from his property."

"Is that the only dealing you had with him?"

"Never spoke another word to the man, nor he to me."

"They lost a child," Sal reminded her. "It can sour a person."

"Some are born sour." Nita nodded to the house across the street. "I'd say that man was."

Eve conducted the first three interviews on Greene's list in the privacy of each subject's home or office. In each case there were varying degrees of denial, outrage, embarrassment, and pleading.