Read In Death 03 - Immortal in Death for Free Online Page B

only have one trainer."
    "Boomer liked to diversify. Let's hit the streets. We'll scope a few of his usual joints, see what we turn up. We've only got a couple of days on this, Peabody. If you've got anyone warming the home fires for you, let him know you'll be busy."
    "I'm unattached, sir. I don't have a problem with putting in extra time."
    "Good." Eve rose. "Then saddle up. And Peabody, we've been naked together. Drop all the 'sirs,' will you? Make it Dallas."
    "Yes, sir, Lieutenant."
    It was after three A. M. when she stumbled through the front door, tripped over the cat who had decided to guard the entrance hall, swore, and turned blindly for the stairs.
    In her mind were dozens of impressions: dim bars, strip clubs, the steamy streets where low-level licensed companions plied their trade. All of them ebbed and flowed together in the unappetizing stew that had been Boomer Johannsen's life.
    No one knew anything, of course. No one had seen anything. The single corroborative statement she'd gleaned from her crawl through the seamier side of the city was that no one had heard from or laid eyes on Boomer in over a week, possibly longer.
    But someone had laid a great deal more than eyes on him. Her time was running low to find out who and why.
    The bedroom lights were on dim. She'd already stripped off her shirt and tossed it aside when she noted the bed was empty. There was an instant flare of disappointment, a faint uncomfortable tug of panic.
    He'd had to leave, she thought. He was right now heading toward any possible spot in the colonized universe. He could be gone for days.
    Staring miserably at the bed, she toed off her shoes and tugged off her slacks. Groping in a drawer, she pulled out a cotton undershirt and yanked it over her head.
    God, she was pitiful, mooning because Roarke had to take care of business. Because he wasn't mere for her to snuggle up against. Because he wasn't there to ward off the nightmares that seemed to plague her with more intensity and frequency as her memories of the past grew to crowd her.
    She was too tired to dream, she told herself. Too busy to brood. And strong enough not to remember anything she didn't care to remember.
    She turned, intending to go to her upstairs office to sleep when the door slid open. Relief flushed through her like shame.
    "I thought you'd had to leave."
    "I was working." Roarke crossed to her. In the dim light his black shirt was a stark contrast to the white of hers. He tipped up her chin and looked into her eyes. "Lieutenant, why do you always run until you fall down?"
    "I have a deadline on this one." Perhaps she was overtired, or perhaps love was beginning to be easier, but she lifted both hands to his face. "I'm awfully glad you're here." When he lifted her up and carried her toward the bed, she smiled. "That's not what I meant."
    "I'm tucking you in, and you're going to sleep."
    It was hard to argue when her eyes were already closing. "Did you get my message?"
    "The elaborate one that said, 'I'll be late'? Yes." He kissed her forehead. "Turn yourself off."
    "In a minute." She fought back the edges of sleep. "I only had a couple minutes to contact Mavis. She wants to stay where she is for a couple days. She isn't going in to the Blue Squirrel either. She called in and found out Leonardo's been by there a half a dozen times looking for her."
    "The course of true love."
    "Mmm. I'm going to try to take an hour personal time tomorrow and swing by to see her, but I may not make it until the day after."
    "She'll be all right. I can go by, if you like."
    "Thanks, but she wouldn't talk to you about it. I'll take care of it as soon as I figure out what Boomer was up to. I know damn well he couldn't read that disc."
    "Of course not," Roarke soothed, hoping to lull her to sleep.
    "Not that he wasn't good with figures. Money figures. But scientific formulas -- " She bolted straight up, nearly bashing Roarke's nose with her head. "Your unit'll do it."
    "It will?"
    "I got