Page 111 of Fury In Death

“Jesus, Reo, what do you want? A vid of him setting the charges?”

“Would be nice.” On-screen, Reo held up a hand. “Blasting me won’t get you a warrant, either. And I agree with you, right down the line. But a judge is going to need more. You connected Cruz to Delgato, Delgato to Banner-Wyst, and very likely Delgato to your prime suspect. But you haven’t yet connected Cruz to Banner-Wyst, and that’s the sticking point.”

“If you lay it out the way I have—”

“I’m going to hear that I’m reaching and need more, and I don’t want to hear that because when I go back with more, the judge remembers the first time. Get me the more, I’ll go in with it, and I’ll get the warrants.”

Reo let out a sigh. “I may not know all the nit and grit of your job, and you may not know all the nit and grit of mine. But I know enough for me to understand why you had to give this a push, and you know enough to have expected my response.”

“Yeah, yeah. She was dirty, Reo. She died in Spain, but she’s mine now. So I’ve got four bodies. Redman may be the weapon, but the cause is inside Banner-Wyst.”

“I believe you, and I want them, all of them, just as much as I want Redman. What I can do is take this to the boss. Maybe there’s a trick or an angle I’m not seeing.”

Eve paced to her AC, got water, since those chips had been pretty damn salty. “If there were a trick or angle, you’d see it.”

“Thanks, but I’ll run it by anyway.”

“We’ll get the more, and I’ll get back to you with it. Later.”

She glugged water, paced some more. And started updating the board when she heard Peabody coming. Her usual clomp had a bit of a bounce in it.

“Thanks. I know that was really bad timing.”

“It’s okay. Their first time in New York?”

“Yeah. Mom and Dad came when I graduated the Academy, and the rest of the family watched the live feed. Mom and Dad have been here a few times, and Zeke that once. So the first for my sister and older brother.

“Did you talk to Reo?”

“Yeah, no joy. Need more.”

Peabody set her shoulders. “I’ll replace my shovel with a backhoe. A backhoe’s a—”

“I know what a backhoe is. Go start it up.”

Eve finished updating the board, the book, wrote her report. Process mattered, she reminded herself.

She wanted to go back to EDD, but accepted that hit dead on nagging, add interrupting any progressive flow in the insane river of tech.

Instead, she got coffee, sat at her desk. Put her boots up, studied the board.

Back to the primary.

She knew why Redman killed. She knew how he killed. The order of that changed with Delgato, but the pattern remained.

Colleagues first. And the first of them, the woman he knew or believed had put Cruz on the company’s radar.

Was he done with colleagues? He’d eliminated those with access to the restricted area. Then killed Cruz.

Logically, done with colleagues.

Who came next?

Her vote went to either O’Brian, Banner, or Wyst, but Cruz may have had help, may have worked with someone. Someone in his line of work, someone from Banner-Wyst.

O’Brian, she thought, knew things. His admin knew things. Would Redman consider him a colleague? More a superior, Eve thought. He wasn’t one of the names listed for the restricted area. But that didn’t mean he’d been blocked from what had gone on inside it.

He hadn’t come to the memorial, she remembered. Chu’s direct supervisor, but he hadn’t come to pay his respects.