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Plot Summary[]

At the start of bestseller Robb's megablast 28th novel to feature Lt. Eve Dallas (after Salvation in Death [and Ritual in Death]), Eve is dismayed to discover at a Manhattan crime scene that the victim is a friend, Det. Amaryllis Coltraine, who's been fatally zapped by her own stun gun. Dallas uncovers a connection to Coltraine's ex-boyfriend, Alex Ricker, whose father, a notorious criminal serving a life sentence at the Omega Penal Colony, blames Dallas and her husband, Roarke, for his imprisonment. Humorous touches, like the wild poolside wedding shower Dallas must abruptly leave after receiving word of a prime suspect found shot to death, provide relief from the intensity of the murder investigation. In a nice paranormal twist, Dallas uses dream visits with Coltraine to help expose a devious killer whose identity is a stunner. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) has a real gift for keeping this long-running thriller series fresh. (Feb.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 

--Product description from Amazon.com


Map[]

Please reference the Promises in Death Map for locations or approximate locations of sites listed here.

Timeline[]

Spoiler warning!
This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode.

Approximate Story Start Date: May, 2060[1]

Day 0 – Tuesday[]

Prologue[]

  • The woman gets a call to meet someone. She is excited and closes down her apartment as she leaves, including putting her droid kitten, Sachmo, in sleep mode. As was her habit, she runs down the stairs thinking of New York and her new lover. As she turns the corner down another flight of stairs, she is surprised to see someone she recognizes just before she is stunned. When she comes to in pain a while later, she looks into the eyes of her friend and asks, "Why?", She is given the answer before she is killed.

Day 1 – Wednesday[]

Chapter 1[]

  • Eve leaves the shower after some good water therapy. She'd had a good day the day before. She walks into the bedroom to see Roarke in the sitting area stroking the cat. She and Roarke decide to take a vacation in July for their anniversary. As she finishes getting dressed, she is tagged by dispatch to an apartment building with a possible female homicide.
  • Eve arrives at the crime scene the officer on the door fills her in on what they know. Eve looks down on the body. She sees the woman is not from the street with beautiful hair and nice clothes. As she circles the body, a feeling of dread kicks off. She lifts the hair up and realizes that the victim is a cop, Detective Amaryllis Coltraine. And then she remembers she is in a relationship with Morris.
  • Peabody comes down the steps and joins her. They are both saddened at her death and worry immediately about Morris. Dallas asks Peabody to work the scene and she works on the body. As she plans out how she is going to handle the crime, they realize that they have to tell Morris about her death before he hears it from someone else. She leaves Peabody to work the scene as she heads off to break the bad news to her friend. She thought of all the things she knew about him and she drove across town.
  • She stalled as long as she could until she rang his bell. He opened the door smiling at her. She knew it was only a few seconds until she broke his heart.

Chapter 2[]

  • Morris invites her in. He asks her who is dead and she has to tell him it is Detective Coltraine. She breaks the news to him and the grief starts to set in. He asks her to tell him what she knows. She has to push back at him when he thinks he will be doing her autopsy. He tells her to assign Ty Clipper to the case.
  • Morris tells her that he was falling in love with her. He tells Eve he needs to see her. Then he asks her to turn on her recorder and ask what she needs to ask. Coltraine was a good cop, but didn’t live the job the way Eve does, and they didn’t talk shop much. He lets her know she had just moved from Atlanta and that she had had a serious relationship in college. There was someone serious in Atlanta, but it ended before she moved to New York. Before she leaves he asks her to have Ty play Eric Clapton for her.
  • Dallas contacts Peabody and tells her she is coming back to the scene. In Coltraine's apartment they discuss what they have found so far. They go over the apartment searching for any clues they might find.
  • As they drive away, both Peabody and Dallas admit that they were both a bit resentful of the relationship between Morris and Coltraine.
  • At the morgue, ME Ty Clipper tells Eve it looks like the killer took her down in the stairwell with a police issue stunner, carried her to the basement, revived her with an adrenaline shot so the killer could tell her something, used her stunner to kill her, and took her link, badge, weapons, and jewelry.

Chapter 3[]

  • Back at Central, Eve briefs her bullpen on Coltraine's death and lets them know it is all hands on deck to find out who killed her. She then fills Commander Whitney in and he flags the case as top priority.
  • Eve reaches out to Morris again to see if he and Coltraine were together the previous morning (they were - she stayed with him) and he worries that he can't remember the last thing he said to her. She lets him know that it was everything else they said to each other in the past that counts.
  • At Coltraine’s precinct, Eve & Peabody speak with the desk sergeant, then with Lieutenant Delong to get the cases and files she was working; everybody confirms that she was a good, solid cop – not flashy, but thorough and didn’t complain.
  • Eve & Peabody begin interviewing the other detectives in a conference room:
    • Cleo Grady, Coltraine’s usual partner is 32. Detective third grade, 8 years in NY, some commendations, some disciplinary slaps. She’s resentful that Eve/Central has the case rather than her squad. She says they were friends outside of work and that they worked well together. Grady indicated that Amaryllis had a couple of relationships in Atlanta that ended and that is why she wanted to move away.
    • Detective O’Brian, 23 years in, 12 in this squad, transferred out of Major Case division to make his second marriage work. He’s the touchstone, the team leader. He indicated Coltraine was a good, dependable cop. He also believed she was on the job when she died.

Chapter 4[]

  • Eve & Peabody finish interviewing the other detectives:
    • Detective Josh Newman, easygoing, competent, average - he provided no new insights on Coltraine.
    • Dak Clifton, youngest member at 29, cop for 8 years, detective for almost 4, hot shot, lots of attitude, many disciplinary slaps, several marks for using undue force – Eve decides he made a play for Coltraine and was turned down; Peabody confirms Clifton’s alibi, Sherri Loper, who is as much of an a-hole as he is. Dallas decides he need a second look as a potential killer.
  • Eve & Peabody visit Coltraine’s weasel, Stu Bollimer, who runs a pawnshop and is upset to learn that she was killed. They had developed a friendship because they were both from Georgia.
  • They stop at China Garden, where Coltraine bought her last takeout dinner; the owner, Mary Hon, said she was a regular and was sad about her death.
  • They retrace her steps from there to her apartment and then recreate the scene with Peabody carrying Eve down to the basement. Dallas determines the killer took time to say things to the victim before killing her.
  • Back at Central, Eve receives a box from the killer – Coltraine’s weapons, badge, ID, and a disc with a message in all caps, bold font: ‘I took these off the [c-word] cop, and killed her with her own weapon. She was easy. You can have them back. Maybe someday soon, I’ll be sending yours to someone else.’

Chapter 5[]

  • Eve comes to the conclusion that the package had been planned all along, just waiting to hear who got the case. But she is relieved that the weapons won't be used to harm anyone else.
  • Eve gets home (p. 64), realizes she missed dinner with Mavis and Leonardo, holds Bella until she spits up milk and passes her off. Mavis and Leonardo were sad to hear the victim was Coltraine. After they leave, she then fills Roarke in on the case. They discuss how, like Morris, he must worry every day about what might happen to her on the job.
  • Dallas sets up her board and studies it while Roarke reviews Coltraine’s cases from Atlanta. She also is looking at all of her cases in New York. Nothing she looked at seems to get her senses tingling. Roarke tells her he found something. Three years earlier she had worked a robbery of an antiques store owned by Alex Ricker, Max’s son.

Chapter 6[]

  • They discuss the history with Max Ricker and the connection with his son. They discuss that Coltraine had to know of the father-son relationship.
  • Coltraine had narrowed down the Atlanta robbery to three robbery suspects who were found floating in the Chattahoochee River, chained together, after being beaten and tortured (‘the Ricker touch,' according to Roarke). No progress was made in those murders but all of Alex Ricker’s property was recovered. He’s been in New York for the past week, so Roarke and Eve decide to visit him in the morning.
  • They move up to the unregistered computers and Roarke finds a great deal of information about Alex’s finances but nothing illegal. He is very careful to stay under the radar. They then switch over to financials for Amaryllis and find nothing out of the ordinary for Coltraine’s finances.
  • They shut down for the night and Roarke has Eve run through her thoughts about Coltraine. Which (shockingly) leads to them doing the thing.

Day 2 – Thursday[]

Chapter 7[]

  • Eve and Roarke start the day with a visit to Alex Ricker. They are welcomed by his personal assistant, Rod Sandy. Ricker has been expecting them due to his relationship with Coltraine. They were lovers for two years and then amicably separated the past year. He indicated that while they were involved they kept their personal and professional lives separated. Coltraine had visited him the day before her murder to catch up with him. Since he owns a stunner Eve took it with her to test it.
  • They figure Coltraine was the one to end their relationship, but that Alex was unlikely to be the one who killed her despite his lame alibi.
  • Morris is waiting for Eve in her office at Central when she returns, and she asks if he knew about Coltraine’s relationship with Alex Ricker.

Chapter 8[]

  • Morris is shocked at the news. He knew she’d been involved with someone for two years, but not who it was with and that the breakup was the reason she decided to transfer. Morris wonders if he might have been responsible for her death. They agree to tell each other the truth, even if it hurts to hear it.
  • After he leaves, Peabody comes in to see if Dallas is ok. They discuss the case and she tells Peabody about Alex Ricker. Peabody is tasked with getting a warrant to search his penthouse.
  • Eve meets Webster at The Down and Dirty to ask if IAB was investigating Coltraine, which they were due to her involvement with Alex Ricker – somebody anonymously sent photos of them together to Atlanta IAB about 9 months before she transferred to NY. IAB didn’t find anything on her so they mostly tabled it. He indicated that the relationship started getting rocky after Max Ricker was taken down. He indicated NY IAB hadn't found anything on her.
  • Dallas next meets with Mira. Mira indicated that Coltraine was not a risk taker. Alex Ricker appeared to be her one exception. Mira indicated that Alex appeared to be very careful protecting himself about the risks of being his father's son.

Chapter 9[]

  • Warrants for Alex’s apartment are issued and executed. Eve had planned the search carefully knowing that they would be watched and listened to. She also knew that he had probably already moved anything incriminating out. She finds missing PPCs and other electronic equipment and has that noted. EDD takes the electronics they did find into Central to scan.
  • Eve heads home, spots a tail, and as she’s running the plate gets hit on the side by a van. Her car fills with safety gel as she crashes and gets hit again by the car behind her. The two people in the van are gone by the time Eve gets out of her vehicle, having jumped into the car that was tailing her. Her car is trashed, but Eve is mostly OK.
  • Roarke has heard she is ok but hasn't heard from Eve herself and heads to the crash. He first sees how destroyed her vehicle is and fear runs through him. But then he sees her. He drags her away from the scene to her disgust. The van and sedan were both stolen vehicles. She is furious with herself for falling for the plan.
  • Roarke takes her home, she takes a blocker, but not a soother, and soaks in the tub with a VR program. Roarke can finally relax because she is home and whole and safe.

Chapter 10[]

  • Sex, dinner, recap of the day, and the suspicions Eve has about Alex's missing equipment, including his unregistered. They discuss whether they dislike Alex because of his father or simply because of who he is.
  • Eve realizes that Coltraine could have left documentation or other data at Morris’s and that he may also be a target. They drive to his apartment, and fill Morris in. Morris had been sitting in the dark trying to come to terms with her death. Eve asks if he will see a counselor for his grief but he is not ready.
  • Morris tells her about his brother Jin, who drowned in a swimming accident when Li was 10 and Jin was 12. He never found out why Jin died so needs to find out why Coltraine did.
  • Eve & Roarke are unable to find anything incriminating in his apartment or on his comps and go home.

Chapter 11[]

  • Eve reviews Alex’s security discs to see when equipment was removed and finds that the cameras were shut down for a period of time, presumably when Alex was transporting equipment out – the process began after the death was reported, and Roarke thinks he would have started before the murder if he was responsible.
  • Eve dreams and has a discussion with Coltraine in her dreams. They talk about the similarities between Coltraine and her – they both hooked up with powerful business men, but since Alex wouldn’t change, Coltraine returned his gifts and broke it off, keeping the badge.
  • Coltraine provides the insight that Eve won't be ready to have a child until she can fully understand, accept, and forgive the child she was when she was abused.

Day 3 – Friday[]

  • In the morning, Eve talks to Roarke about his past and how he had already started giving it up before he met her.
  • Eve thinks when Max was put in prison, Alex had the chance to shed the shady, but didn’t, and that was when Coltraine realized he wouldn’t ever do so, and she wanted a different life. Eve also realizes that Alex didn’t love Coltraine enough to kill her, so she thinks it was either a competitor of Alex’s, trying to frame him, or a dirty cop, probably from Coltraine’s squad.
  • Eve is annoyed when she remembers she has no vehicle and thinks dire thoughts about the process of requisitioning a new one. Roarke takes her downstairs and gives her the infamous DLE Urban (DLE=Dallas, Lieutenant Eve), a one of a kind model - but not before she questions why he would give her a plain, junky looking vehicle - and life is very good again!
  • After she drives off, Summerset and Roarke discuss the first vehicle he stole. Then he lets him know Alex Ricker called, asking for him.

Chapter 12[]

  • Eve tags Webster to find out if anybody in Coltraine’s squad is being investigated by IAB and he tells her he will get back to her.
  • Dallas has Peabody send out a divisional memo about Coltraine's viewing and for all to attend in dress blues if possible.
  • She finds out from Baxter that Max Ricker has had only one visit from Alex in the past eight months, and no communication listed to or from since he’s been in prison. She feels that Max not communicating with anyone is very suspicious. She and Feeney send Callendar and another EDD person, Sisto, to Omega to check on this.
  • Eve reports to Whitney to give him an update in his office. She concludes that Coltraine may have been killed because of Alex Ricker, but not by or for him.
  • Roarke and Alex meet at Coney Island, at Alex’s request. He tells Roarke he hates his dad, especially for killing his mother. He also tells Roarke that his father ordered the hits on the antique store robbers – Alex would never kill because it’s not practical, it’s not good business. He tries to bribe Roarke into helping find the murderer, but Roarke sets him straight, explaining that Eve will find the killer and doesn’t need more incentive.
  • As he drives away, Eve calls him to request his fastest off-planet transpo to Omega.
  • At Coltraine’s memorial, Eve notices that not all of Coltraine's squad chose the respectful dress blues, and she asks Peabody to speak with every one of them to get impressions.

Chapter 13[]

  • Eve speaks with O’Brian, who was wearing his dress blues, then does the hard and speaks to Morris and Amaryllis's brother, July Coltraine.
  • She speaks to Clifton, who remains a jerk, telling Eve she should be careful because the killer sent her Coltraine’s badge and weapon, then tried to take her out: ‘Smells like a cop killer who targets female officers.’
  • Eve then pisses Grady off and lets her know she is looking at everyone, including her squad.
  • Finally, Eve speaks with Delong, who is pissed at her for looking at his squad and tells her he will speak with her commander. Eve is, naturally, shaking in her boots as Whitney, who appears at that moment, goes upstairs to speak with Delong.
  • Clipper tells her everybody from that squad has been to the morgue, asking for information, and all of them are upset that the investigation is locked down: ‘We’ll say Detective Clifton suggested I make love to myself, and suggested I’d already done so with my mother, on several occasions,’ but luckily Clipper was holding a laser scalpel at the time.
  • Peabody has the same impressions of the squad, and reminds Eve that she and Nadine will be over at 2 the next day to decorate for Louise’s bridal shower. This causes Eve to panic because she didn’t buy a gift yet, but Roarke tells her he will take her to a lingerie shop to buy an nightgown, at Caro’s suggestion.
  • He gives her the recording of his conversation with Alex to listen to on the way, and she agrees with Roarke that Alex hates his father and Max probably set him up to take the fall for Coltraine.

Chapter 14[]

  • After Eve listens to the recording, they discuss the meeting. They both think Rod Sandy, Alex’s PA, is Max’s link.
  • Eve goes shopping for lingerie at Secrets, a shop that Roarke owns 20% of. She asks Roarke if this is where her underwear, robes and other mysterious stuff comes from. Eve is shown an "ensemble" that will work for Louise and checks out their mini holograph system and purchases it. She freaks a bit when her holograph is shown with lingerie. Roarke purchases some items for her then they go on a "date" for dinner.
  • At home, Dallas asks Roarke to call his "new best friend" and ask him and Sandy to stay in town and that she would like to talk to him tomorrow. This is to start putting pressure on Sandy.
  • Morris stops by. Eve worries about his and what she will say to him. He apologizes after stepping out of the autocart and it is obvious he is in terrible mental pain. She hugs him before bringing him in the house. (Too bad she is unfeeling. :) )

Chapter 15[]

  • Morris keeps apologizing for coming and Eve thinks that there are always more victims than the dead. She lets him talk and asks him to tell her about Coltraine. She reminds him that if he can see her in his mind, she is not gone. He apologizes again and she tells him to stop, that they are family. Summerset brings him some soup and forces him to eat and Roarke asks him to make a room ready for Morris to spend the night.
  • In a side conversation, Summerset stuns Dallas when he says, "It will likely be a very long while before I ever repeat this, if that day should ever come. But I'll say now, at this precise moment, I'm proud of you."
  • Eve recommends he talk to Father Lopez [from Salvation in Death] when Morris is ready. He asks if she believes there is more after death and she says yes. That it would piss her off if we go through all this crap to have nothing after. He asks her to bring him in and give him something to do on the case. He needs to be involved and help solve it. She fills him in on the case (on the promise that Morris won’t go after the killer himself), and he stays the night after she tells him to think of any observations he can of Ammy that might help and write them down.

Day 4 – Saturday[]

  • Early in the morning, Roarke carries a dozing Eve to bed. She dreams again about Coltraine. Coltraine tells Eve she used to think you had to be cold to work murder, but now realizes it requires controlled heat.
  • Eve and Baxter head out to Alex's apartment and he complains about taking her latest hunk of junk. As soon as he settles in, she shows him what her hunk of junk is. They discuss the interview plans as they drive over.
  • Callendar notifies Eve that she and Sisto are on Omega and starting work.
  • Eve and Baxter visit Alex’s apartment to interview Rod Sandy and him, but to Alex's consternation Sandy is gone. Alex’s driver, Carmine Luca, admits to having told Sandy about Alex’s meeting with Roarke. Alex is stunned to realize Sandy may be working for his father.
  • Alex tells Eve that when he visited his father on Omega, he told him that he would never be back or communicate with him. His father promises to take him down.

Chapter 16[]

  • On their way back to the mansion, Baxter is frantically doing whatever searching he can do on Sandy after tearing apart his quarters earlier. Eve assumes Sandy ran, and is probably dead, based on no activity with his financials and having outlived his usefulness to Max.
  • At Eve's orders team convene at the mansion, where Roarke lets Eve know she only has them until 4 p.m., because that’s when they’re leaving for Charles’s bachelor party in Las Vegas.
  • Roarke heads to his lab to dig into Sandy's financials and tells her to send the e-geeks to him when they arrive. Eve is incredulous at Feeney's tacky lucky shirt when he arrives. She digs into Sandy's life as the group slowly arrives.
  • The group eats lunch in Eve's office and Feeney and Roarke tell her what they dug up on financials.
  • Peabody and Nadine arrive to begin setting up for the bridal shower; Eve is alarmed to learn that the festivities include makeovers with Trina. She is alarmed again to find out it is an overnight affair.
  • She begs Roarke to not take his group to Vegas and leave her alone with all those women. He tells her she can't come along unless she has a penis.

Chapter 17[]

  • Eve finds a room to work in, away from everybody.
  • Callendar calls from Omega to let Eve know she found the bribed prison guard, Cecil Rouche, who helped Max and suddenly has a lot of money.
  • Roarke pulls Eve out of hiding and tells her they have to have a life outside of work.
  • Party guests begin arriving, and Roarke takes all the guys to Vegas. Eve is left behind to deal with a whole lot of women.
  • Mira offers to dress Eve and falls in love with the contents of her closet. Eve runs the case by her while Mira searches for the perfect outfit. Mira confirms that Max Ricker probably set up the hit on Coltraine to get back at her.
  • The poolhouse is the scene of the bridal shower. It has been transformed by Nadine and Peabody's efforts. Eve starts drinking Bellinis at the thought of salon services. Louise tells her how happy she is about all of this. Within an hour the pool is full of naked, dancing women.
  • While talking with Nadine, Eve tells her the book about the clone case will be a hit and she did great writing it.
  • Finally the opening gifts part approaches and women start getting into pajamas. While opening gifts, conversations turn to weddings, men and sex.
  • After the gifts are all opened, Trina warns Dallas it is her turn for a treatment. Eve is saved from Trina when she is tagged by dispatch that Rod Sandy’s body was found; Peabody takes Sober-Up and goes to the location with Eve.

Day 5 – Sunday[]

Chapter 18[]

  • Sandy was killed in a vacant building, stripped and stabbed with a stiletto, reported by two funky junkies. Peabody confirms TOD 1:15 a.m. (p. 256). Eve figures he was lured there and the killer was counting on nobody finding or reporting the body for a while, and then assuming scavengers took his clothing and possessions.
  • The building was just outside the 18th precinct (Coltraine’s area), so it would have been known to the killer.
  • Eve and Peabody head into Central to write up the death.
  • Callendar reports that they found a match in unregistered links on Omega and in New York. Sisto spoke with Rouche’s drinking buddy, Art Zeban, who spilled after Sisto leaned on him and admitted he was bribed to keep the transmissions off the log. Eve told Callendar to keep Rouche and Ricker in the dark about the investigation and then bring Rouche and Zeban back with them.
  • As they get to the garage, Peabody expresses her confusion that Eve's personal vehicle is so ugly. Eve reluctantly heads home when Peabody reminds her the partiers are all still there and going to have a delicious buffet.
  • As she enters the house she almost draws her weapon at a horrible screaming. Bella is teething and Mavis is trying to calm her down. Mira puts a binky in her mouth and gets the baby to calm down.
  • After briefing Mira, Eve heads upstairs and tells Mira to wake up Reo. Eve updates her board and Mira assesses it while Peabody orders breakfast. ‘The smart girls’ (Eve, Peabody, Mavis, Reo, Nadine, and Louise) gather in the office and begin assessing the case.

Chapter 19[]

  • Eve thinks its a little ridiculous to be working with a bunch of women in pajamas - most of who are not cops - but they review the murders and rule out everybody on Coltraine’s squad except Grady:
    • Delong – too by-the-book, doesn’t go into the field much, and likes to keep things low-key
    • O’Brian – too experienced, and the note to Eve wouldn’t have included the c-word. Most trusted member of the squad.
    • Clifton – too hotheaded for the murders or for Ricker to have used him
    • Newman – light touch, takes it easy, keeps his head down and does the job
  • Mavis decides it's the woman. Eve thinks it’s Grady because she’s cool-headed, a loner, Ricker likes using women, and the killer kept Coltraine’s ring. Sandy wouldn’t be afraid of her, Coltraine would have been more likely to confide in her.
  • Eve wants to have Ricker charged for both murders because he orchestrated them, even though he’s already serving multiple life sentences off-planet. She and Reo agree that Rouche will flip on Ricker to deal down to accessory before and after, plus accepting and exchanging bribes, falsifying documents, and laundering money – he’ll still get cage time, but maybe 10 years instead of life.
  • Since Reo can’t push for warrants without proof, Nadine will look for anywhere that Ricker’s path crossed Grady's, Peabody will look for a connection between Grady and Sandy, and Eve calls Webster to tell him she ‘strongly suspects Detective Cleo Grady of colluding with Max Ricker, on being on his payroll, and of the murders of Detective Amaryllis Coltraine and Rod Sandy’ since it doesn’t require evidence to have IAB open an investigation, just suspicion. Eve believes the connection with Ricker is not a recent one.
  • Callendar calls with another update. She found a text to do the hit on Coltraine. And a responding text that the "disposal" was complete.
  • The party’s breaking up and Eve goes to sleep. Once again she dreams of Coltraine. During the dream she was woken up by Galahad and Roarke at 4 p.m. Eve brings Roarke up to date on the case.

Chapter 20[]

  • They discuss the case and Eve actually gets a bottle of wine and a cheese and fruit plate ready while this happens. They talk about when Ricker might have recruited Grady and determine that is why she keeps it quiet on the force, so she doesn't stand out. Before getting back to work she has to finish "groveling" to Roarke, which involves doing the thing again.
  • Roarke thinks back to the time he spent with Ricker in the past and the type of women he was interested in and then he suggests looking at Grady’s mother, and they suspect that Grady is Ricker’s daughter.
  • Eve is wishing she had Grady's DNA on file and then sends out an update and considers how to legally get that DNA sample.
  • Roarke finds a football game where Alex and Sandy’s university played the school Grady went to. They think Grady wanted to please her father, and screw over her brother at the same time.

Day 6 – Monday[]

  • Eve sets up a briefing at Central in the morning, pushing Reo for warrants. Morris has an assignment to do while Eve and Peabody will work on Alex Ricker so Grady thinks she accomplished getting him suspected.
  • Eve sends Morris off to meet with Grady, but is worried she might get suspicious and turn on him.
  • Dallas tells Mira that Ricker paid for Grady’s education through a scholarship he funded, with her being the only recipient. She also admits that she wants to take Grady down - that it is now personal for her.

Chapter 21[]

  • Eve has Peabody bring Alex to Central to find out if he knew about his half-sister and also to make Grady feel like she’s gotten away with the murders. They interview Alex, who came in with three lawyers. She pushes on him that he wasn't intelligent enough to realize his best friend and father were manipulating him. He didn’t know Sandy was dead. After Eve springs it on him that he has a half-sister, he abruptly dismisses his lawyers.
  • Meanwhile Morris asks Grady to come to Coltraine’s apartment with him to help pack up her apartment so her family doesn’t have to come back. As Grady is getting coffee, Morris activates the droid kitten; she pets it when she comes back to the living room, scratching herself on the newly sharpened (by a clever Morris) rhinestone collar. Morris sends her to the bathroom to wash her hand and bags the collar and a handkerchief he used to wipe up her blood. He sends her away and packs up the droid kitten and its belongings to take home with him.
  • Back at Central, Alex recognizes a picture of Grady from college, and remembers that she was a friend of Sandy’s before he and Sandy were friends rather than just classmates.
  • Outside of interview Peabody tells Eve that Morris pulled off the DNA collection. Grady was heading back to work, which was good because her home was being searched.
  • Peabody gets the idea to bring Grady in to help with putting Alex away for the two murders. They play Grady after she comes in pretending to implicate Alex. She tells Eve and Peabody that Coltraine complained about how annoying it was that Alex and Sandy were joined at the hip (but without saying who they actually were) and Sandy called her a c-word cop.
  • Morris calls to confirm that she is Ricker’s daughter and Callendar is back on planet, so all systems go. Eve pulls various cops and Roarke in to finish things up.

Chapter 22[]

  • Eve thinks hard about how to pit everyone against each other and take them all down. She gives Grady busywork to keep her at Central – files to review that will supposedly help put Alex away. The conference room where she’s working is wired. Eve and Reo head off to start the interview process rolling.
  • Peabody and Sisto interview Zeban, who flips on Rouche.
  • Eve and Callendar interview Rouche, who flips on Max.
  • Baxter calls to tell her he found cash, IDs, bank accounts, and other things. The biggest thing he found is Coltraine's ring. She verifies that Roarke and Feeney are set up for the next phase.
  • Dallas goes back into the conference room where Grady was working. Eve arrests Grady for the murders of Coltraine and Sandy. She stuns her after Grady draws her weapon on Eve. She taunts Grady about her father and the murders.
  • While Grady watches, Eve speaks with Max Ricker via holo. She mirandizes him and lets him know he will be charged with Coltraine's murder. He is pissed to hear Sandy is dead. He’s cruel about his daughter and son. He says that Grady wanted to kill Coltraine. And that she is now nothing to him.
  • Having watched that, Grady tries for a deal. Dallas refuses to deal with her. After Grady begs, she gives her one chance to flip on Max Ricker and she takes it. She admitted that Ricker coordinated the whole thing and had Grady tell her before she died that Alex was the one responsible for killing her.

Epilogue[]

  • Peabody does the paperwork so Eve can go home with Roarke.
  • Before they leave, Morris joins her to thank her for solving the murder. He is heading to Atlanta for her funeral. She asks if he is coming back and he says he is. Then he gives her a glass butterfly that Coltraine had purchased.
  • Roarke joins her later and she talks through why she pushed so hard - for Coltraine and Morris. Then they head home.

Memorable Quotes[]

She had told him not to marry her, she remembered. Thank God he hadn't listened.

I have to go shopping! Staring at her, Roarke pressed his fingertips to his temple. "I'm sorry, I believe I must have had a small stroke. What did you say?"

Character List[]

List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Recurring Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Peripheral Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]

Trivia[]

We learn more about M.E. Morris:

  • his first name is Li
  • he had an older brother Jin, who drowned when they were just boys.

Eve hosts a wedding shower for Louise.

First appearance of the DLE Urban.

Other Covers[]

Additional covers here

UK edition cover German 1st edition cover German Book Club edition cover Hungarian edition cover Audio Book Cover
UK edition cover German 1st edition cover German Book Club edition cover Hungarian edition cover Audio Book Cover

Footnotes[]

  1. Pg. 208. "...and enjoy sitting at a sidewalk table on a balmy May evening in the city...".

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