In Death Collection: Books 16-20 Read Free

looked over to where the MTs examined Summerset. “Then I’m on my way.”
    She clicked off, jammed the ’link back in her pocket. She walked back to Roarke, and couldn’t think of anything to do but pat his arm while he watched the medicals. “I’ve got a thing I’ve got to check out.”
    “I can’t remember how old he is. I can’t quite remember.”
    “Hey.” This time she gave his arm a squeeze. “He’s too mean to be down for long. Look, I’ll ditch this thing if you want me to stay around.”
    “No, you go on.” He shook himself. “Tripped over the goddamn cat. Could’ve killed himself.” He turned, pressed his lips to her forehead. “Life’s full of nasty surprises. Take care, Lieutenant, I’d as soon not have another one today.”
     
    Traffic was mean, but that suited the ruination of her mood. A maxibus breakdown on Lex had everything snarled from 75th, as far south as she could see. Horns blasted. Above, traffic copters clipped and hummed among the air traffic to keep the rubberneckers from jamming the sky as well.
    Tired of sitting in the sea of commuters, she flipped hersiren, then punched into a quick vertical. She cut east, then headed south again when she found some clear road.
    She’d called Dispatch and informed them she was taking an hour personal. No point in reporting in that she was following the crooked finger of an on-air reporter, without authorization or any clear reason.
    But she trusted Nadine’s instincts—the woman’s nose for a story was like a beagle’s for a rabbit—and had tagged Peabody, her aide, with orders to detour to Delancey.
    There was plenty of business being done on the street. The area was a hive of delis, coffee shops, and specialty stores that crowded along on sidewalk level and served the inhabitants of the apartments above them. The bakery sold to the guy who ran the fix-it shop next door, and he’d diddle with the AutoChef for the woman who ran the clothes store on the other side, while she ran across the street to buy fruit from the stand.
    It was a tidy system, Eve imagined. Old and established, and though it still bore some scars from the Urban Wars, it had rebuilt itself.
    It wasn’t a sector where you’d want to take a stroll late at night, and a couple of blocks south or west you’d find the not-so-tidy communities of sidewalk sleepers and chemiheads, but on a sweltering summer morning, this slice of Delancey was all business.
    She pulled up behind a double-parked delivery truck, flipped up her On Duty light.
    With some reluctance, she left the cool cocoon of her vehicle and stepped into the hot, wet wall of summer. The smells hit her first—brine and coffee and sweat. The more appealing hint of melon from the fruit vendor was overpowered by the rush of steam gushing out of a glide-cart. It carried the distinct odor of egg substitute and onions.
    She did her best not to breathe it in—who ate that shit—as she stood on the corner scanning.
    She didn’t spot Nadine, or Peabody, but she did see a trio of what she took to be shopkeepers and a City Maintenance drone having an argument in front of a green recycle bin.
    She kept an eye on them while she considered callingRoarke to check on Summerset. Maybe there’d been a miracle and the medical techs had glued his bone back together and he was, even now, on his way to transport. As a result of the morning trauma, he wasn’t taking three weeks vacation. But four.
    And while he was gone, he’d fall madly in love with a licensed companion—who would have sex with that freak unless she was paid for it—and decide to settle down with her in Europe.
    No, not Europe. It wasn’t far away enough. They’d relocate in the Alpha Colony on Taurus I, and never again return to this planet called Earth.
    As long as she didn’t call, she could hold on to the silver threads of that little fantasy.
    But she remembered the pain in Summerset’s eyes and the way Roarke had held his hand.
    With a mighty