“I haven’t even started.”
Stowe blew out a breath when Eve stalked out. “Well, didn’t that go well?”
“Local heat,” Jacoby said in disgust. “Who the hell does she think she is, dicking with us?”
“A good cop,” Stowe snapped back. Christ, she was tired of playing with Jacoby. But he was her ticket to the Yost investigation. “One who’ll protect her personal and professional territory.”
“Good cops don’t marry criminals.”
For one long moment Stowe just stared at him. “You really are an idiot. Ignoring that supercilious and ridiculous statement, whatever the suspicions are about Roarke’s former activities, nobody, nobody in any law enforcement agency on or off planet has any documentation, any proof, not even any
they could cook up out of steam, that links him to any crime. And the point here, Jacoby, is in this matter he’s a victim. He knows it, she knows it, and we know it. So cut the crap.”
He was annoyed enough to take another gulp of coffee before he remembered. “Whose side are you on?”
“I’m trying to remember. I’m pretty sure it was law and order. I don’t think that local heat has any trouble remembering that.”
“Like hell. She was holding out on us. She’s got more.”
“Well, gee, Jacoby, you think?” Sarcasm dripped, frigid as icicles. “Of course she was holding out on us. In her place we’d do exactly the same thing. But the point is, she told the truth. She gave us straight leads, as far as they went. And when she said she didn’t care who got the credit for taking Yost down, she meant it.”
She shoved her untouched coffee aside and got to her feet. “I wish I could say the same. I wish I knew I could say I didn’t care, and mean it.”
chapter ten
Eve’s intention was to go straight to her home office, run more data, gather whatever fresh information the rest of her team had shot over, then follow up on the nibble the feds had passed her way.
Plans changed the minute she was through the front door. She wasn’t surprised to see Summerset in the foyer. The fact was it no longer seemed her day was complete if she didn’t exchange a few pithy words with him every evening.
But even as she opened her mouth for the first serve, he was cutting her off.
“Roarke’s upstairs.”
“So? He lives here.”
“He’s disturbed.”
Her stomach sank. Neither of them noticed that when she started to strip off her jacket, Summerset not only helped her out of it, but laid it neatly over his arm.
“What about Mick?”
“He’s out for the evening.”
“Okay. No help with a distraction there then. How long has he been home?”
“Nearly half an hour. He’s made calls, but has yet to go into his office. He’s in the master bedroom.”
She nodded, started up the stairs. “I’ll take care of it.”
“I believe you will,” Summerset murmured.
She found him in the bedroom. He was taking a call on his headset rather than the ’link, and stood looking out one of the tall windows to the gardens that were wild with spring.
“If there’s anything I can do to help you with the arrangements, or anything at all . . .”
As he listened, he threw up the window, leaned out as if, Eve thought, desperate for air.
“We’ll all miss him, and very much, Mrs. Talbot. I hope it’s some comfort to you to know how much Jonah was liked and respected. No,” he said after a moment. “There are no answers to the why. That’s true, yes. Will you let me do that for you and your family?”