Page 50 of Fury In Death

“Could I have his contact?”

“Why don’t I give him yours?”

“Yes, better. Thank you. If that’s all for now, I need to . . . I want to . . . I don’t want to tell Lila over the ’link. I need to go see her, and help her tell the rest of the family. Can I do that?”

“Yes, of course. We can arrange transportation.”

“That’s all right. I have a service.”

“Can I help you pack a few things?” Peabody asked her.

“Oh, I . . . What’s in my weekender isn’t appropriate. I hadn’t thought of that. I need to bring it up, change things out.”

“Why don’t I bring it up for you?”

And give the morgue team time, Eve thought, to remove the body.

“Do that, Peabody. Ms. Everly, before you leave, just to cover the ground, did you notice anything missing?”

“Everything was thrown around and broken, and the blood . . . but nothing else in the house looked disturbed at all. I’m a little messy, but Ezra—well, perfectionist. So I keep my messiness confined to my closet, and my office space. I haven’t looked around carefully, but nothing seemed touched or moved.

“He was wearing his ring, the ring I gave him for his birthday a couple years ago. He always wore it. It’s how I knew, for certain, it was Ezra, because he wore the ring I gave him.”

When Peabody brought up the luggage, Eve went down, and watched the morgue team take out the black bag that held the victim.

She talked to the head sweeper.

“Two in a row, Dallas. And yeah, before you ask, we’ll take samples from every blood area. It’ll take a while.”

“The victim’s cohab’s packing a few things. She’ll move out for now anyway.”

“Good. You know the saying about things happening in threes?”

Eve shook her head. “Things happen in whatever number they happen until you stop the son of a bitch.”

She hunted up Callendar, found her in a home office. A large workstation, boxy and clear, two wall screens, a cabinet, a sofa, two chairs, more weird art, and plenty of awards and plaques.

“How’s it going in here?”

“Got some stuff I think’s work-related. Seriously protected. We’ll need to take this in if you think it plays.”

“It could.”

“I’ll haul it back. Some personal stuff, legal stuff, easy enough to access. Bills paid right on time, whatever needed renewing, renewed right on time. Correspondence neatly categorized, memo book, contact lists, birthdays, anniversaries, and so on. But there are other files I can’t get into from here without risking corrupting.”

“I’m going to get you transpo to take whatever you need to take. Peabody and I are going back to Banner-Wyst.”

“Check it.”

“Thanks for the assist.”

“Double-check it. See you back at Central, or if not, at the party.”

The party, Eve thought. Coming right up. Why did people have parties she couldn’t get out of when she had dead bodies piling up?

As she started back, Peabody turned from the front door.

“She just left. Broke down a little in the bedroom. She’d bought him a T-shirt in Memphis, and broke down when she unpacked it. Otherwise, she’s holding on.”