Page 116 of Calculated in Death

“For what, exactly?”

“I’ll tell you while we set up.” As they went out, Eve dug for credits.

“Here, get me a tube of Pepsi, and get whatever you want.”

“You’re really back on a Vending boycott?”

“It’s safer for everybody. If we get leads on the hacker and the muscle, solid ones that lead us to them, this briefing will just be an exercise.” She took the tube Peabody handed her, cracked it as they walked to the conference room.

“Otherwise, Mira believes, and I agree, he’s going to try to take us out again—you and me.”

“Well, that’s not happy news.”

“It is because we can work that. Did you get me the theater layout?”

“Right here. I wasn’t sure if you wanted it on your unit or a hard copy.”

Eve took the disc. “This for now. Go ahead and set up a board, standard for the current investigation.”

As Eve loaded the disc, brought the layout on screen, and Peabody set up the board, Eve filled her in on the basics of her proposed operation.

“At the premiere?” Peabody interrupted. “Really?”

“Don’t whine about it.”

“I got a new dress. And shoes. I spent more for the shoes than the dress. And Trina’s got this idea for my hair, and this whole new eye pallet to...” Trailing off, Peabody cleared her throat and got very busy with the board.

“I know about Trina. You bitch.”

Shoulders hunched, Peabody carefully pinned up murder. “It’s a special night. You’ll look really good, and you won’t have to do it all yourself. We won’t want the NYPSD to fall short of the Hollywood crowd, right? Team pride!”

“Rah fucking rah.”

“Really, Dallas, it’ll be good, it’ll be chilly, and we’ll look abso-mag by the time...” She trailed off again, face lighting up. “We will look mag. And if we take down this killer at the premiere, with cams everywhere, it’ll be all over the screen like the flying baby. And we’ll look completely frosted.”

“It’s so good you’ve got your priorities in place, Detective.”

“Catching killers, that’s what we do. But if we get to do it at a big celeb event, there’s no downside to looking most totally excellent. That’s why you wanted Nadine and a camera. You wanted to push on this.”

“She’ll get me on screen, talking about looking forward to the premiere. Odds are it’ll give him a nudge to try for us there—which playing the odds he’d try to do anyway—if we haven’t taken him before. I need to set it up,” she continued as she studied the layout. “Who sets up the carpet crap, the route, that stuff?”

“They have their publicist work with the theater’s publicist.” Peabody left the board, picked up a laser pointer. “They’ll block off the street to vehicular traffic here, and here. They’ll have pedestrian barricades along here, and down through here. Those with media passes can—”

“How do you know this?” Eve interrupted.

“Oh, well, I asked if I could have a copy of the setup, the schedule, and so on. So I could sort of practice, sort of get the feel for it. It’s my first time,” she said defensively.

“If the information wasn’t so useful, I’d pity you. Run me through it.”

“Okay. They’ll let our limo through this block for the drop-off at the main entrance. People who want to catch a glimpse, try for autographs, take their own vids, they’ll be behind barricades in these areas. The publicist thinks high volume there because the lead actors are A-list, the story’s New York, we’re New York, and because K. T. Harris was murdered during the filming. The house will be filled—SRO—invite only, but they issued a lot of VIP tickets. There’ll be security for the producers, personal security, theater security, and an NYPSD presence.”

“More than they know,” Eve murmured.

“So, we get dropped here, and the red carpet goes right from the curb, down this way. At this point the media—those who obtained passes—can line up to take vids, stills, ask questions, try for quick interviews. And that goes all the way into the theater lobby.”

“It’s a big one,” Eve commented, studying the layout.

“Yeah. McNab and I went there a couple weeks ago to scope it out. It’s not one of your standard vid houses. It’s like a palace. It has two full bars, and a little café, and—”