"Robb, J D - In Death 08 - Midnight In Death" - читать интересную книгу автора (Robb J D)

"Yes, sir, he was." She noted that Whitney was wearing a robe -- a thick,
rich burgundy that she imagined had been a gift from his wife. Roarke was always
giving her fancy presents. She wondered if Whitney was as baffled by them as she
usually was. "His body's being transferred to the morgue. I have the evidence
sealed and am en route to my home office now."
"I would have preferred another primary on this, Lieutenant." He saw her
tired eyes flash, the golden brown darkening. Still, her face, with its sharp
angles, the firm chin with its shallow dent, the full, unsmiling mouth, stayed
cool and controlled.
"Do you intend to remove me from the case?"
"You've just come off a difficult and demanding investigation. Your aide
was attacked."

"I'm not calling Peabody in," Eve said quickly. "She's had enough."
"And you haven't?"
She opened her mouth, closed it again. Tricky ground, she acknowledged.
"Commander, my name's on the list."
"Exactly. One more reason for you to take a pass here."
Part of her wanted to -- the part that wanted, badly, to put it all aside
for the day, to go home and have the kind of normal Christmas she'd never
experienced. But she thought of Wainger, stripped of all life and all dignity.
"I tracked David Palmer, and I broke him. He was my collar, and no one
knows the inside of his mind the way I do."
"Palmer?" Whitney's wide brow furrowed. "Palmer's in prison."
"Not anymore. He escaped on the nineteenth. And he's back, Commander. You
could say I recognized his signature. The names on the list," she continued,
pressing her point. "They're all connected to him. Wainger was the judge during
his trial. Stephanie Ring was APA. Cicely Towers prosecuted the case, but she's
dead. Ring assisted. Carl Neissan was his court-appointed attorney when Palmer
refused to hire his own counsel, Justine Polinksy served as jury foreman. Dr.
Mira tested him and testified against him at trial. I brought him in."
"The names on the list need to be notified."
"Already done, sir, and bodyguards assigned. I can pull the data from the
files into my home unit to refresh my memory, but it's fairly fresh as it is.
You don't forget someone like David Palmer. Another primary will have to start
at the beginning, taking time that we don't have. I know this man, how he works,
how he thinks. What he wants."
"What he wants, Lieutenant?"
"What he always wanted. Acknowledgment for his genius."
"It's your case, Dallas," Whitney said after a long silence. "Close it."
"Yes, sir."
She broke transmission as she drove through the gates of the staggering
estate that Roarke had made his home.
Ice from the previous night's storm glinted like silver silk on naked
branches. Ornamental shrubs and evergreens glistened with it. Beyond them, the
house rose and spread, an elegant fortress, a testament to an earlier century
with its beautiful stone, its acres of glass.
In the gloomy half-light of morning, gorgeously decorated trees shimmered
in several windows. Roarke, she thought with a little smile, had gotten heavily
into the Christmas spirit.