Page 106 of Fury In Death

“He’s a coward,” Eve added as they walked back down the hall to the stairs. “But he’s a greedy one, a self-important one. He doesn’t want to give up what he’s got. The fortune, the power, the shine.”

“He needs to protect that,” Peabody agreed, “and figures bodyguards, security, and the NYPSD he just sneered at will take care of the rest.”

“Whatever we think of him, we want him alive. That goes for Banner, too. He didn’t show here. I think it’s time we go to him.”

Whatever luck she’d found on the drive to Central earlier deserted her on the trip to Long Island.

“Shit, shit. We could shuttle to Europe by the time we get across this bridge.”

“Could’ve taken a copter. Roarke would provide. How about some coffee? Maybe a snack?”

“I’m not hitting Roarke up for a copter every time I have to get to freaking Long Island for an interview with an asshole. Check in with EDD, see if they’re getting anywhere.”

Or she might tag Roarke for that one.

Peabody programmed coffee, added some chips before she tagged McNab.

Since Eve didn’t, Peabody opened her partner’s bag of chips. “These are good. Yours are the extra salty ones. McNab says they think they’re making some headway. Cruz’s code mixes up English, Spanish, and they think Hungarian.”

“What the fuck?”

“His maternal grandmother’s Hungarian. The problem is, he just—Cruz just—tossed it all around like confetti. Still, they’ve nailed down two other jobs. If he wasn’t dead, we’d have him. They haven’t found the Banner-Wyst connection yet, but he said—or he said Feeney said—they’re plowing the fucked-up road.”

“Okay, progress. Okay.” Eve dug into the chips.

They were good. And extra salty.

Frustrated, she hit vertical so abruptly Peabody nearly bobbled her coffee. But she made some progress herself.

Her in-dash signaled Nadine.

“Nadine, I’m mired in fucking traffic, so—”

“Then it sounds like you have time to hear this, and you’ll want to. I’ve made a couple of contacts.”

“Who?”

“Anonymous sources, Dallas, my word or they wouldn’t talk to me. Neither still work for Banner-Wyst, both left of their own volition. One three years ago, one last year.”

“Where are they?”

“Dallas, push that aside for now. Both left for similar reasons. They didn’t like the company’s policies, or what they were seeing, hearing.”

“Which was?”

“I think you’ll be most interested in this one. A high-security section in the New York labs, restricted. Wyst, Banner—on the rare occasions he came in—Chu, Dent, and a Lucia Delgato. Project chief, transferred in from their labs in Spain about fourteen years ago.”

“Tell me this much. How long did each of your sources work for the company?”

“One for four years, the other three. It didn’t suit them.”

Well after Redman, Eve thought.

“We interviewed everyone in Chu’s lab, and more. That name—Delgato—doesn’t ring.”

“Because she doesn’t work for the company anymore, since she died in the Pyrenees three months ago. Prior to that? She actually ran whatever went on in the restricted section, according to my sources.”

“Run her background, Peabody. How did she die?”