Page 56 of Obsession in Death

“Did you go over by his flop on patrol last night?”

“I was pretty tired after making the arrest and writing up the report, so I just came home. I can patrol that area for you after work—at the diner. I can do that.”

“That’s all right, the threat level is low now. How’d you spend the twenty-seventh? Two days after Christmas?”

“We had to go to work—the diner, not the real work. Mom works every day but Sundays, and I work Mondays and Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays. Sometimes Fridays. That day she had to work in the morning until the dinner shift, and I go in and work the lunch and the dinner shifts.”

He glanced at his mother for corroboration. “That’s right. You did the double.”

“Okay. Do you know Leanore Bastwick?”

“She’s dead. I read all the crime reports and watch them on screen. I knew who she was because she defended Jess Barrow, and he was one of your bad guys. I know all your bad guys. I keep a file. He has a right to an attorney, that’s the law.”

“Do you ever break the law, Mason?”

His gaze slid away on a little smile. “Maybe a little... dent.” And the little smile became a companionable grin. “You know how you have to do when you’re after bad guys. Justice is more important than a little dent. The good police know that. They gave you the Medal of Honor. I’d be good police. Not like my dad. But my mom says I’m all she’s got, and she worries.”

“Looking out for your mom’s as important as getting bad guys,” Peabody told him.

“I guess.” But he looked at Eve, doubtfully.

“Detective Peabody’s right on that. The thing is...” She thought she could make it work. “You’ve got a good perspective on the street from here,” Eve considered. “I’d like to give you an assignment.”

“For real?” His face flushed with color; eyes gleamed with delight. “Yes, sir, Lieutenant!”

“I’d like you to take position as observer. Here, and at the diner. Observer, Mason, and that means you don’t break cover, don’t interact with the bad guy. You observe and record. In the event a law is broken, you observe, record, and report. Understood?”

“Sure I do, but—”

“Having your eyes and ears will be of considerable help to the officers in this sector, and to me. I’d like to be able to count on you.”

“You can, Lieutenant. You can count on me.”

“Good. Meanwhile, I’d like a copy of all your files and reports.”

“I’ll get them right now.” He pushed up, hurried off.

“You think he might have something to do with these murders? I heard the crime channel, too. He’d never do something like that. Mason wouldn’t do that—because you wouldn’t.”

“I’m going to check out his alibi for December twenty-seventh, and I’m going to talk to the officers from last night. I can tell you I don’t believe, at this time, he had anything to do with what we’re investigating.”

“It was good of you to give him an assignment—one that makes him proud but keeps him off the street.”

“Any chance of steering him toward a different hobby or interest?”

“You think I haven’t tried? He’ll do what you told him—at least I think he will. Observe, record, report. That was a good one.”

“It seems like he’s got a knack for all three.”

“He does, honestly does. He never forgets a damn thing. Some things, like things his old man said to him, I wish he would.”

•••

Eve studied the file bag Mason had given her before stowing it in the trunk. “He’s organized, detail-oriented, delusional, and obsessed.”

“And earnest as a cocker spaniel, Dallas. You don’t really think—”

“No, I don’t. But we check, and we’re going to have the uniforms that patrol this sector keep an eye on him. His father was a cop, a wrong cop, but a cop. He wishes he were a cop. You can bet he’s done some studying. He’s not stupid, and he admitted to knowing or knowing of both vics. We follow it through.”