“Just that.”
She frowned, considered. “It sounds like something that ought to piss me off. But I can’t figure out exactly why. When I do, I might have to pop you one.”
“I’ll look forward to it. If you won’t sleep, eat. You need something in your stomach. And what are you grinning at?”
“You. You’re such a wife,” she said as she headed toward the shower.
He sat for a minute, stunned. “Now I’m pissed off.”
“See, now you know how it feels. Well, order me something to eat,” she called out. “Water on, one hundred and two degrees.”
“Bite me,” he muttered and ordered her some soup with a high-protein additive.
• • •
She ate every drop, as much to please him as to kill the hunger. Her mind clear again, she dressed, strapped on her weapon. “I have to go by the hospital, see what I can get out of Stiles.”
“Why? You’ve already figured it out.” When she just stared at him, he shrugged. “I know you, Lieutenant. You let it churn around while you were eating, settle into place. Now you’re revving up to finish it.”
“I haven’t filled all the gaps yet. I want to cover a few more bases, and I need to run something by Whitney. It sort of involves you.”
“And what might that be?”
She shook her head. “If he doesn’t clear it, it won’t matter. I’ll be able to reach you, right? If I need to talk to you before I get back.”
“I’ll be available. I thought I’d bake some cookies.”
The dry tone had her snorting as she picked up her jacket. “You do that, honey.” She turned to kiss him, then yelped when he twisted her earlobe. “Hey!”
“Don’t work too hard, darling.”
“Man.” Pouting, she rubbed her ear as she walked to the door. “If I did that every time you used the W word, you wouldn’t have a
ny ears left.”
She stopped at the door, looked back. “But you’re beautiful when you’re angry,” she said, and fled.
• • •
Peabody stood outside the hospital’s main doors, shoulders hunched against the brisk wind, nose red from it.
“Why the hell didn’t you wait inside?” Eve demanded. “It’s freezing out here.”
“I wanted to catch you before you went in. Can we take a minute?”
Eve studied Peabody’s set and serious face. Personal business, she decided, not official. Well, she deserved it. “All right. Let’s walk, keep the blood moving.” She headed away from the ramps and glides, as sirens announced another unlucky resident of New York was about to enjoy the building’s facilities.
“About before,” Peabody began.
“Look, I was out of line, and you were the closest target. I’m sorry about it.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. I figured it out. Took me a while,” she added. “What you did, telling her cold like that was because you had to see how she’d react. If she knew Draco was her father, well, it bumped up her motive. Either way, if she knew it before they…you know, or if she knew it after they got going, it went to her frame of mind.”
Eve watched a medi-van whip past. “She didn’t know.”
“I don’t think so either. If you’d eased her into it, it would’ve given her time to think, to figure out how best to react, what to say. I should’ve known that right off instead of working around to it an hour later.”
“I could have clued you in before we got there.” With a shake of her head, she turned around, started back. “I hadn’t settled myself into it yet.”