“All right then.” Pleased, Adrian gave a decisive nod. “Would you say she’s traditional, edgy, artistic, flamboyant—”
“Classic.”
“Excellent. Now then.” Adrian tapped a finger to her lips as she strolled around the shop. “What does she do?”
“She’s a doctor.”
“Is this her first marriage?”
“Yes.”
“Is she madly in love?”
“I guess. Sure. Why else?”
“She may have bought something for her wedding night already. But . . . as her matron of honor, that’s where I’d advise you to aim. Classic. Romantic.” Adrian opened the door of a tall, narrow cupboard. “Like this.”
It was a long sheer robe open over a long shimmering gown. Not quite gray, Eve mused, not really silver. But the color of . . . moonlight, she decided. “That could work.”
“Silk, with satin accents at the bodice, the straps. And the back—” Adrian turned it to display the low back with its wisps of crisscrossing satin. “I love the back.”
“Yeah, that could work,” Eve repeated.
“I wish you had a picture of her. It’s an important gift. It should be perfect.”
“You want a picture?” Puzzled, but game, Eve pulled out her PPC. She ordered a standard run on Louise Dimatto, then turned the screen around to Adrian to display t
he photo ID. “That’s Louise.”
“Oh, that’s mag! Isn’t she pretty? Can you bring it over here? If I can just scan it—the photo?”
“Well—”
“You’ll like this,” Roarke said, and took Eve’s arm to lead her through the open doorway. As Adrian stationed herself at a computer, Roarke took Eve’s PPC, made some adjustment, and printed out Louise’s photo. “Use this.”
“Perfect. We’re the only intimate apparel shop in the city to have this system. Which we would never have been able to afford without Roarke’s backing. I scan her photo, and input the data you gave me on her height and weight. Now let’s add the Latecht boudoir ensemble—Moonlight Elegance. And have a look.”
The computer sent out a beam over the small table, and the beam sent out a swirl of light dots. The light dots shifted, connected.
“A miniholo,” Eve murmured.
“In a sense, yes. It takes the data and reconstructs. And . . . There. What do you think?”
Eve bent down for an eye-level study as the hologram of Louise circled inches off the table in the moonlight gown. “I’ve gotta say, that is seriously iced. It’s really close. Maybe she doesn’t have quite that much—” Eve wiggled her fingers in front of her own breasts.
“More delicate there?” Adrian made a slight adjustment.
“Okay, yeah. Very frosty. If I had one of these in my department . . . I’m not sure what I’d do with it, but I’d find a use. We can do holos, but not right off a comp station. They use them more in the lab, for forensics. Reconstructing a DB.”
“DB?”
“Dead body.”
“Oh.”
“Sorry.” Eve shook her head, straightened. “It’s bull’s-eye. Thanks.”
“I love when it works! The computer says size six, which is also my opinion from the data, but—”