Page 14 of Framed in Death (In Death #61)

“Before you go, how did the move-in go this weekend?”

“Move-in? Oh, oh, right, that. Great. It was really just the last push.” And she remembered. “We’re going over there for dinner tonight. To, you know, seal the deal.”

“A lovely way to do just that. Peabody and McNab met Mavis and Leonardo through you. They found the house through Roarke. The two of you are very much a part of the home they’re making.

“Enjoy the evening with friends.”

“Thanks.”

She made her way back to Homicide, and found McNab hanging out by Santiago’s desk.

Jenkinson stopped her first. “Paperwork’s christing done. I got a jump on the restoration types for your portrait killer.”

“Great. Good. Peabody, take off.”

“Take off what?” she asked, and made McNab snicker.

“Go home.”

“Really? I’ve still got some—”

“Go,” Eve repeated, “and take the e-geek with you. I’ve got some things to wrap up, and Roarke’s meeting me here. We’ll be there whenever we’re supposed to be.”

Which, as she went to her office, she hoped wasn’t for at least another hour. Maybe two.

She wrote up notes on her consult with Mira, then made herself set it aside.

Nothing, really nothing more she could do on that except think.

And thinking needed to wait.

Boosting herself with coffee, she started on her lion’s share of the paperwork.

She never heard him coming, but that was no surprise. The surprise came from carving a good-sized path through the forest of paperwork before Roarke walked in the door.

“Still at it then?”

She looked up with eyes bleary from numbers and words.

“If there’s a hell, it’s being chained to a desk doing paperwork. And the more you do, the more there is. It’s eternal torment.”

“Do you want more time in torment?”

“No, but I need another ten, then I can come in early tomorrow and wipe the rest out. For a minute.”

“Then I’ll go entertain myself.”

She took the ten. Maybe her brain hurt, but the rest of her felt righteous and more than ready to call it a day.

She went out to find Roarke at Peabody’s desk.

“Jenkinson and Reineke caught one five minutes ago. A dispute at happy hour that ended unhappily.”

Which meant, Eve thought, more paperwork, as it would involve overtime. She didn’t want to think about it.

She looked over at Santiago and his hat. “Why are you still here?”

“We closed it, so we did a coin toss for writing it up.” He ended with a shrug.

“First the Cubs, then the coin. Detective, you ought to buy a clue. Or at least rent one.”

“She’s on a streak, but streaks don’t last forever.”

Eve smiled. “Wanna bet? Glides,” she said to Roarke. “The elevators will be jammed.”

“I put the champagne in your car,” he told her as they walked out. “And now I’ll lay a wager of my own you could use some.”

“That’s a safe bet.”

“I’d say an evening with friends in their new, happy home will brighten things up as well.”

“Every time Peabody talks about it, she teeters between teary and delirium.” As they walked, Eve waved her hands. “It’s all teary delirium. Since Jenkinson and Reineke caught one, I can’t use them for grunt work on this tomorrow. Maybe I can tap Santiago and Carmichael, or Baxter and Trueheart.”

“They have a double date, Baxter and Trueheart.”

“What?” Her aching brain tried to process slick Baxter, earnest Trueheart, and date. “With women?”

“Since they’re both straight men, I so conclude. Baxter has a friend who has a friend, so they’re having dinner.”

“Baxter’s a hound dog, and Trueheart’s a teddy bear. Though bears will tear you up if you piss them off. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Trueheart really pissed off. Anyway, I can’t see how this can work.”

“I suppose they’ll find out. Oh, and before he left, Jenkinson suggested I have one of my subsidiaries design and produce novelty ties and socks, perhaps pocket squares as well. He believes I’d make a tidy profit.”

Eve gave Roarke one long and very sincere stare. “Are you actively trying to fry the rest of my brain?”

As they started down the metal steps, he stroked a hand down her back. “I do enjoy your bullpen, Lieutenant. I enjoy it very much. It’s never dull.”

He waited until they’d reached her car to turn her to him, kiss her. Despite the security cameras, she lingered there for an extra moment.

“Can you put the day behind you for a few hours?”

“If I do that, it’s breathing down my neck. Better to stuff in it a box, lock it up for a while.”

“Not easy for you, I know.” He flicked a finger along the shallow dent in her chin. “But you’ll tell me about it later, when you open the box again.”

“Count on it. You know art, and unless Peabody and I, and Mira along with us, have it wrong, art’s at the center of this. So I’ll be tapping you on art.”

“Delighted to assist there.”

Knowing she could count on just that, Eve took a breath. “Now it’s in the box until.”

She glanced in the back as she got in the passenger’s side. “Where’s the champagne?”

“Tucked in the trunk with your field kit and umbrellas. Caught in the rain, were you?”

“For about five minutes. That was enough time for me to ruin a street thief’s day.”

“Well then, that’s a bright spot for you. Chase him down, did you?”

“I didn’t have to. I made him, he made me. Then he pulled a Galahad and sort of sauntered in the other direction. Twice. Yeah,” she realized. “A bright spot. Did you have any?”

“A few actually. Work on your Off Duty club is moving very well, as are the additions and improvements on the resort in Australia, and Caro’s daughter’s expecting.”

“Expecting what?”

“A child, darling. She’s been seeing someone for nearly a year now, and they decided they wanted a child. And so.”

“Considering her first husband was a son of a bitch, that’s either crazy or brave.”

“A bit of both. Caro’s thrilled. She likes the expectant father quite a lot.”

“Then he probably deserves it. Caro’s nobody’s fool.”

The short drive from Central took them to the gates of what had been the Great House Project. And was now, Eve thought, just a great house.

Those gates opened to a lush lawn with young trees and shrubs adding welcome. The house itself sprawled with its long porch and many windows. More welcome with the colorful chairs and tables, the burst of blooms in pots.

Two long chains of crystals hung from the eaves of the porch roof and caught the early evening light in quick flashes. And pots of lush and thriving flowers added more warmth.

Before they’d parked, all the residents came out on the porch, another welcome.

The minute Eve stepped out of the car, Bella—bright as those flashing crystals—raced down.

“Das, Ork! Yay! Come home!”

She took a running leap at Eve, a pint-sized rocket with her blond hair and the ribbons in it flying. She wore little pink kicks scattered with white stars that matched the frilly dress her designer father had no doubt made for her.

Eve found her arms full of wild excitement that babbled like a rushing brook and laughed like a lunatic.

Eve said, “Yeah, sure,” without any idea what she’d agreed to.

As Roarke took the champagne, tucked in ice sleeves, from the trunk, Bella squealed at him. “Ork!” She threw out her arms.

He traded champagne for the toddler.

“There’s that beauty.”

“Ork.” She gave him a coy look from under fluttering lashes before wiggling down. “Run!” she commanded, and did so.

If Bella’s joy hit the outer rings of Saturn, her mother’s wasn’t far behind. Heavy with Number Two, Mavis bounced in her own pink kicks while the flirty skirt of her baby-blue dress danced around her thighs.

She didn’t take the leap and run, but threw her arms around Eve. “We live here,” she said, and bounced again.

“I heard that. How’s it fit?”

“As perfect as one of my moonpie’s creations. Made for me. For all of us.”

When Mavis shifted to throw her arms around Roarke, Eve handed Leonardo the champagne. “So, welcome home.”

His face glowed as he wrapped an arm around her and kissed her cheek. “Thank you.”

His long shirt of green-and-pink stripes flowed as he turned to embrace Roarke. “Both of you.”

Peabody moved in next. “You’ve got to deal with it,” she said, and hugged Eve.

“It’s a moment.” McNab lifted his shoulders, grinned at Eve. And hugged her.

“Okay, that’s the moment. And now why is everyone wearing ribbons in their hair?”

“Bella’s rules.” Mavis pulled two more, one blue, one red, out of her pocket.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Just go with it.” Mavis handed the red one to Roarke, then, moving around Eve, tied a blue bow at the back of her head. Obviously going with it, Roarke pulled his hair back in what Eve thought of as his work mode, and secured it with the red ribbon.

Delighted, Bella clapped her hands. “Party!”

“I’m going to need a lot of champagne.”

With a laugh, Mavis squeezed her hand. “Welcome to the first official We Live Here house tour.”

And she opened the door with a flourish.

Eve had seen it along the way, from confusing wreck to construction zone to the inching toward a vision. She’d seen the colorful walls, the clever lights, and the old floors brought back to life.

But now, it held furniture, and the pieces of the family that lived there.

The sitting room on one side with its big let’s-take-a-nap sofa, with a trio of New York street scenes in pencil sketches behind it. The big living area on the other side, sofas covered in a bright and bold meadow of flowers, chairs picking up the variety of color in deep peach or soft greens.

Candles on the mantel of the restored fireplace, photos and mementos on shelves, splashes of more color in paintings.

“God, it’s you all over, all three of you.”

“It’s everything we wanted. We want one more picture,” Mavis added. “One of all of us. We’ll take it when we go out back. It’s going on the mantel.”

“Let’s work our way to the kitchen,” Leonardo suggested. “I’ll open the champagne for the tour of the second floor. Sparkle juice for you, Bellamina.”

“’Parkle joo! Yay!”

“And for me and Number Two.” Mavis patted her baby mound and led the way.

A home office not at all businesslike, which included a Bella-sized desk and chair, a first-floor playroom as happy as the girl who would rule it.

“It’s a kind of library, or a do-nothing room,” Mavis said at the next.

“We’ve got Nadine’s books, some storybooks.

And see, there’s a friggie and AC built into the cabinet right here.

So you could sit and read—and have the sweetest little electric fireplace in the winter.

Or just plop down and do nothing. What hits mag extreme more than a do-nothing room? ”

They moved into the kitchen with its multicolored cabinets, its spacious lounge, and the wall of glass doors that opened it to the back—the patio, the garden, the play area.

When Leonardo popped the champagne and poured, Eve looked at Roarke. “You’ve got words. You always do.”

“I do indeed. To all who dwell here, may today’s joy be a drop in a cup that runs full.”

“I love you.” Mavis swiped a tear away. “I can’t say any more or I’ll flood, but I love you mega extreme. Just so you know.”

They went up to the second floor, the guest rooms, guest baths, another play area, another sitting area. Then, clearly unable to wait any longer, Bella gripped Eve’s hand and tugged.

The room, pink, white, frilly, and girly, suited Bella from top to bottom.

“Mine,” Bella said with obvious delight. “Bella’s!”

“It’s pretty great.”

The canopy bed fit for a princess held fluffy pillows and a herd of the stuffed animals kids went for.

But Bella walked to the chair Eve had given Mavis as a shower gift, and stroked a hand over its rainbow arm. “Das, Ork for Bella.” Then to the toy box Peabody had made, another rainbow with Bella’s name in bright, candy pink. “Peadobby, Nab, for Bella.”

She sighed, and looked so like Mavis for a minute, Eve blinked.

“Love. Mag. Love.”

Then she took Eve’s hand again. “Baby now.”

So Bella led the way to the nursery and its fairy-tale forest theme.

Mavis, blue eyes damp, rubbed one hand on her belly, laid the other on her heart.

“You know what it means to me, the chair. It grabs every feel I have and adds more. We rocked Bella in hers—still do—and we’ll rock Number Two in this one. And the toy box? Peabody, you’re the serious ult to think of it.”

They toured the main bedroom where—on Mavis’s gauge—she’d gone subtle, nearly restful. If you didn’t count the enormous closet with the ceiling wallpapered with big, bold blooming flowers and the wild colors of the clothes and accessories that filled it.

She’d had the wall behind the big bed painted with jewel-toned flowers and birds in flight.

And it worked, Eve thought. She couldn’t say how or why, but it worked.

From there, they went up to Leonardo’s design studio, and among the workstations, the reams of fabric, Eve noted a section separated for Bella.

As there was down in Mavis’s recording studio.

“I’ve already worked here a few times, and I still can’t believe it’s mine. I can come down here and record, I can practice, and—no chuckles—I’m starting to write songs.”

“Why would I chuckle?”

With a shake of her head, Mavis slid an arm around Eve’s waist. “A big, long way from the Blue Squirrel. An even longer way from scouting for marks on the street.”

She gestured to where Bella demonstrated the toy piano in her play area.

“She’ll never have to wonder where her next meal comes from, or if it’s gonna.

She won’t have to worry the person supposed to take care of her will hurt her instead.

Maybe, in some weird-ass way, because we did, we ended up right here.

But she won’t have to go through that. It’s our job to teach her, to show her how to appreciate that and share that, and just be freaking kind. ”

“She already is kind. You’re damn good parents, Mavis.”

“In the whole universe, hell, the multiverse, that’s what I want to be most.”

“Mission accomplished.”

Laughing, Mavis shook her head. “I’m pretty sure it’s never really done. And I’m okay with that.”

She beamed out a smile. “Peabody, McNab. You’re up!”