Read In Death 04 - Rapture in Death for Free Online Page B

what was that?"
    "My new number. It's going to knock them unconscious."
    "I believe it."
    "You're back." Mavis gave Eve two smacking and unavoidable kisses. "Let's sit down. Let's have a drink. Tell me every detail. Leave nothing out. Hey, Peabody. Man, aren't you steaming in that uniform?"
    She dragged Eve to a sticky table, punched up the menu. "What do you want? It's on me. Crack pays me pretty solid for the couple gigs a week I do here. He's going to be dredged that he missed you. Oh, I'm so glad to see you. You look terrific. You look happy. Doesn't she look terrific, Peabody? Sex is so, like, therapeutic, right?"
    Eve laughed again, knowing she'd come just for this. Mindless entertainment. "Just a couple of fizz waters, Mavis. We're on duty."
    "Oh, like somebody in here's going to report you. Unbutton that uniform some, Peabody. I'm getting hot just looking at you. How was Paris? How was the island? How was the resort? Did he fuck your brains out everywhere?"
    "Beautiful, wonderful, interesting, and yeah, he did. How's Leonardo?"
    Mavis's eyes went dreamy. She smiled and poked a silver-tipped nail onto the menu board. "He's terrific. Cohabitating's better than I thought it would be. He designed this costume for me."
    Eve studied the thin silver straps that almost covered Mavis's tidy apple breasts. "Is that what you call it?"
    "I've got this new number, see. Oh, I've got so much to tell you." She snagged the fizz water when it plopped through the slot. "I don't know where to start. There's this guy, this music engineer. I'm working with him. We're doing a disc, Eve -- full treatment. He's sure he can peddle it. He's great, Jess Barrow. He was blazing a couple years back with his own stuff. Maybe you heard of him."
    "No." Eve knew that, for a woman who'd lived on the streets a large portion of her life, Mavis remained stunningly naive about certain matters. "How much are you paying him?"
    "It's not like that." Mavis's lips moved into a pout. "I've got to dish up the recording fee, sure. That's the way it works; and if we hit, he takes sixty percent for the first three years. After that we renegotiate."
    "I've heard of him," Peabody commented. She'd unfastened her collar button -- a tribute to her fondness for Mavis. "He had a couple of major hits a couple years ago, and he was hooked up with Cassandra." At Eve's arched brow, she shrugged. "The singer, you know."
    "You a music lover, Peabody? You never fail to amaze me."
    "I like to listen to tunes," Peabody muttered into her bubbly water. "Like anyone."
    "Well, the Cassandra connection's dumped," Mavis said cheerfully. "He's been looking for a new vocalist. And that's me."
    Eve wondered what else he might be looking for. "What does Leonardo think?"
    "He thinks it's mag. You've got to come to the studio, Eve, catch us in action. Jess is a certified genius."
    She intended to catch them in action. The list of people Eve loved was very short. And Mavis was on it.
    She waited until she was back in the car with Peabody, heading to Cop Central. "Run a make on Jess Barrow, Peabody."
    Without surprise, Peabody took out her diary, plugged in the order. "Mavis isn't going to like that."
    "She doesn't have to know, does she."
    Eve veered around a glide-cart offering frozen fruit on a stick, then swung onto Tenth where automated jackhammers were tearing up the street again. Overhead, an ad blimp hawked a shoppers' special at Bloomingdale's. Pre-season sale on winter coats in the men's, women's, and unisex department, twenty percent off. Such a deal.
    She spotted the man in the trench coat shambling toward a trio of girls and sighed.
    "Shit. There's Clevis."
    "Clevis?"
    "This is his turf," Eve said simply as she pulled into a loading zone. "I used to do this drag when I was in uniform. He's been around for years. Come on, Peabody, let's spare the little children."
    She stepped onto the sidewalk, skirting a pair of men arguing over baseball. From the smell of them, she judged they'd