“I’m kinda scooping on the skirt. Old-timey, sure, but it’s got some zing. It’s ninety-five percent cotton, with three percent spandex, two viscose. Little bit of stretch, see? The embroidery’s machine done, polyneon thread. That’s for the shine and color pop. Size small. I’m working on reconstituting the label. It’s mostly faded out, but I should be able to get you a brand.
“Top’s ninety-two rayon, eight spandex. Snug and stretchy. I took a quick gander, and back in the day, these would’ve been easy to come by without much of a sting.”
“Relatively inexpensive, easily accessible.”
“And recently laundered, same deal there. Size small. Label’s Looloo, which—another quick gander—was a store brand for AllMart. They’re still going strong—every fricking where in the ’burbs and such—but they killed the Looloo line in 2009.”
“That’s good data, Harvo, and fast work. Thanks.”
“That’s my rep. Gotta keep it. Do you need me to show you where to find Dawber and the Dezi?”
“No, we got it. Thanks again. Vintage shops,” Eve continued as they walked. “We keep pushing on those. It seems to me both outfits were in too good condition to have ended up in a down-market thrift store or flea market sort of thing.”
She paused at Dawber’s area, where he sat studiously working on a comp. Eve rapped her knuckles on the doorframe.
“Sorry to interrupt,” she began.
“Not at all. I’m just sending you the completed report from Victim Elder. There were so many products, you see, and shades.”
“Understood. Have you started on Anna Hobe?”
“Only just. I’ve been running some analyses while I complete this report. Just let me…”
He swiveled around, gave his chair a little push to send it to another work space. He swiped at the screen, entered some sort of code on the keyboard. Then made unintelligible noises as he studied the screen.
“All right, yes, there we are. The two-in-one tinted moisturizer. The same brand as Elder, and, yes, the same shade. It seems—ah—I see. We have a concealer—Toot Sweet brand again. Found under the victim’s eyes, and along the left cheek beside the nose. A scatter of broken blood vessels, you see, from the morgue photo Dr. Morris provided.”
“Used to cover them?”
“Yes, indeed, to cover minor flaws, and some dark circles under the eyes.”
“Stress, not sleeping well.”
“Ah, possibly, yes, but I couldn’t confirm something like that. I’ll analyze the other products.”
“I need you to give the nail priority.”
“The nail?”
“The fake fingernail sample. I need that at the front of the line.”
“Oh, all right.” He looked a little nonplussed. “I generally complete a category, but I can interrupt the facial enhancements.”
“Do that. I need everything you can tell me about that sample as soon as you can.” She throttled back on the tone. “You and Harvo make a good team.”
“Oh, she’s just brilliant, and so charming. You don’t always find those two qualities in one person.”
“Guess not. We appreciate your work, Dawber.”
“And I yours, of course.”
Eve backed out, aimed for the shoe guy’s area. And found Berenski, hands on hips, in the doorway.
His eyebrows beetled together over the beady eyes in his egg-shaped head. The mustache he’d decided to grow looked like a smooshed caterpillar over his tight, turned-down mouth.
“You’re doing end runs around me to nag at my people?”
At his station behind Berenski’s back, Dezi frowned ferociously and waved jazz hands.
Eve kept her face as stony as Dickhead’s. “You can call it an end run. I needed to talk hair and fiber, so went to the queen, where you’d have sent me. Saved us both time.”
“Then you’re on Dawber’s back, and Dezi’s.”
Dezi made pistols out of his fingers, shot them in all directions, then slumped as if struck with a ricochet.
“Harvo said Dawber and Dezi had the evidence samples.”
“I’m head of this lab.” He poked himself in the chest with his thumb.
“And I’m head of this investigation. Two dead, another very likely on deck.”
“You come to me, or you wait for the freaking reports.”
Dezi mimed strangling someone, then wrapping a noose around his own neck and hanging himself. And Eve was pretty sure he ended with committing hari-kari.