Page 83 of Calculated in Death

“It was a really sweet catch, and too damn bad none of the people doing the vid got a decent capture of the suspect we were chasing.”

“We’ll have EDD see if they can finesse anything there. Meanwhile the two auditors in Vegas are being transported back, and straight to Stuben Health and Wellness. Meet me at the ambulance bay, eight hundred.”

“I’ll be there. Maybe you can get checked out while we’re there.”

“I’m fine, Peabody.” And to dispense with any more fussing, she cut her partner off.

She wandered over to see what Roarke had set on the table.

Some sort of stir-fry, she noted. Some sort of healthy deal, his dinner version of oatmeal.

It wasn’t gruel, but...

“That’s a lot of vegetables.”

“It is, yes, and if you eat them like a good girl...” He lifted the silver lid on another plate, revealed a small pizza, with pepperoni arranged into a smiley face.

She tried to give him a stony stare, but the laugh won out. “You think you’re cute, don’t you, pal?”

“Adorable.”

“In this case, you can have adorable. Ow!” She managed the stony stare when he slapped her hand away from the pizza.

“Vegetables first.”

Now the stony stare came naturally. “I’ve pummeled men for less.”

“Want to give it a go?” he offered, and forked up a bite of his stir-fry.

“I might, except the smiley pizza earns points.” She tried the stir-fry, discovered it wasn’t half bad. In fact, not bad at all with whatever sauce he’d programmed. It actually had a nice little bite to it. “So greed,” she began, “and envy, and in a sense gluttony. Maybe lust, too, and for some of them, definitely sloth. What’s left?”

“Of the seven deadly sins? I believe wrath and pride.”

“Okay, they can squeeze in there, too. The biggest that show in this group are the greed and envy. They’re deadly sins because they lead to others, right? They’re roots.”

“That would be one way of looking at it.”

“You’ve got some of them—well, everybody does—but they work for you. Not sloth. You’re not lazy, and to acquire, because acquisitions feels like another root here, you work. Physically, mentally. You think, plan, put time in. More than a lot of people who could easily coast put in. That’s the lust part.”

“I thought we had the lust part in the tub.”

“Lust for business.” She pointed her fork at him. “I get that lust from Whitestone, too. A lust for what he does, a desire to get up in the morning and do it again. It’s what builds success.”

“Well, that and a talent for doing what you do. You can want it, be driven to do it, but if you’re not skilled, all the lust in the world won’t bring you success.”

“Good point. In the case of my four top suspects, the lust doesn’t seem to me to root from what they do, but from the results and benefits of what others have done before, or are doing.”

“Lust for gain, which toggles back to greed.”

“Yeah. What is this, exactly?”

Roarke glanced at the bok choy on her fork. “Tasty.”

Because it wasn’t not tasty, she couldn’t formulate a reasonable argument. “Anyway, if you’re doing what you’re doing for the result, for the benefits, with no real lust or skill or basic appreciation for what generates the benefits, you’re going to look for ways to do less of what generates while pumping up the benefits.”

“Passing the work off to others, and/or cheating.”

“Others built something, figured it out, had to be good at it, and you’re plopped into the big leather chair and expected to keep it all going, and add to it. Maybe that’s privilege, sure, but that’s also pressure.”