In Death 06 - Vengeance in Death

work.
    Luxury Arms
    Sterling Luxury
    Luxury Place
    Luxury Towers
    Eve pounced. "Access visual of Luxury Towers, on screen."
    Working...
    The image popped, a towering spear of silver with a glint of sunlight off the steel and shimmering on the Hudson at its base. On the far west wide, a stylish waterfall tumbled down a complex arrangement of tubes and channels.
    "Gotcha."
    "Can't be that easy," Peabody objected.
    "He wanted it easy." Because, Eve thought, someone was already dead. "He wants to play and he wants to preen. Can't do either until we're in it. Computer, access name of residents on the top floor of the Luxury Towers."
    Working... Penthouse is owned by The Brennen Group and is New York base for Thomas X. Brennen of Dublin, Ireland, age forty-two, married, three children, president and CEO of The Brennen Group, an entertainment and communications agency.
    "Let's check it out, Peabody. We'll notify Dispatch on the way."
    "Request backup?"
    "We'll get the lay of the land first." Eve adjusted the strap on her weapon harness and shrugged into her jacket.
    The traffic was just as bad as she'd suspected, bumping and grinding over wet streets, buzzing overhead like disoriented bees. Glide-carts huddled under wide umbrellas and did no business she could see. Steam rolled up out of their grills, obscuring vision and stinking up the air.
    "Get the operator to access Brennen's home number, Peabody. If it's a hoax and he's alive, it'd be nice to keep it that way."
    "On it," Peabody said and pulled out her 'link.
    Annoyed with the traffic delays, Eve sounded her siren. She'd have had the same response if she'd leaned out the window and shouted. Cars remained packed together like lovers, giving not an inch.
    "No answer," Peabody told her. "Voice-mail announcement says he's away for two weeks beginning today."
    "Let's hope he's bellied up to a pub in Dublin." She scanned the traffic again, gauged her options. "I have to do it."
    "Ah, Lieutenant, not in this vehicle."
    Then Peabody, the stalwart cop, gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut in terror as Eve stabbed the vertical lift. The car shuddered, creaked, and lifted six inches off the ground. Hit it again with a bone-shuddering thud.
    "Goddamn piece of dog shit." Eve used her fist this time, punching the control hard enough to bruise her knuckles. They did a shaky lift, wobbled, then streamed forward as Eve jabbed the accelerator. She nipped the edge of an umbrella, causing the glide-cart hawker to squeal in fury and hotfoot in pursuit for a half a block.
    "The damn hawker nearly caught the bumper." More amazed than angry now, Eve shook her head. "A guy in air boots nearly outran a cop ride. What's the world coming to, Peabody?"
    Eyes stubbornly shut, Peabody didn't move a muscle. "I'm sorry, sir, you're interrupting my praying."
    Eve kept the sirens on, delivering them to the front entrance of the Luxury Towers. The descent was rough enough to click her teeth together, but she missed the glossy fender of an XRII airstream convertible by at least an inch.
    The doorman was across the sidewalk like a silver bullet, his face a combination of insult and horror as he wrenched open the door of her industrial beige city clunker.
    "Madam, you cannot park this... thing here."
    Eve flicked off the siren, flipped out her badge. "Oh yeah, I can."
    His mouth only stiffened further as he scanned her ID. "If you would please pull into the garage."
    Maybe it was because he reminded her of Summerset, the butler who had Roarke's affection and loyalty and her disdain, but she pushed her face into his, eyes glittering. "It stays where I put it, pal. And unless you want me to tell my aide to write you up for obstructing an officer, you'll buzz me inside and up to Thomas Brennen's penthouse."
    He sucked air through his nose. "That is quite impossible. Mr. Brennen is away."
    "Peabody, get this... citizen's name and ID number and arrange to have him transported to Cop Central for booking."
    "Yes, sir."
    "You can't arrest me." His shiny black boots did a quick dance on the sidewalk. "I'm doing my job."
    "You're interfering with mine, and guess whose job the judge is going to think is more important?"
    Eve watched the way his mouth worked before it settled in a thin, disapproving line. Oh yeah, she thought, he was Summerset to a tee, even though he was twenty pounds heavier and three inches shorter than the bane of her existence.
    "Very well, but you can be sure I will contact the chief of