“I will.”
“I’ll let you know when we’re ready for the lineup.”
She walked down to Observation and found her commander stepping out.
“Let’s use your office,” he said, and led the way. Inside, he gestured to her AC. “If I could.”
“Absolutely.” She programmed coffee.
“The operation in France rescued forty-two victims and arrested eight suspects. One officer is currently hospitalized and in serious condition. Other injuries, on all sides, are reported as minor.”
He drank coffee. “Devereaux is dead.”
“He was dead when we got to him, yes, sir. Amara Gharbi, age twenty, was abducted from Tunisia nearly eight years ago. She was collared, Commander, as were the other victims we rescued from that location. Gharbi was in severe distress, in fear for her life when she picked up the knife from the table. She—”
“You don’t need to sell me, Lieutenant.”
“We have the names of all the victims rescued from the Devereaux estate, none are minors, all state they were abducted at various ages and trained at either the Academy in New York or the facility in France before being sold and/or rented. Devereaux raped all of them upon their arrival at the estate, multiple times, and often held what he called parties where his guests could also rape and abuse them. At this point in time, all but Gharbi were designated as domestics, which their statements agree was his routine. He recently traded in another woman.”
“I see. Do we know her status or location?”
“Not yet. EDD is searching his records.”
“All right then. Some of these subjects will also face federal charges. I’ve spoken with Agent Teasdale. She’ll consult with you when you’re ready.”
“I appreciate the leeway, sir.”
“You took considerable,” he reminded her. “And your judgment was correct.”
“Thank you, sir.” She turned at the tap on her doorjamb. “Detective Yancy. Dorian?”
“In the bullpen, Lieutenant, with Ro and Ms. Vera, from CPS. She did great. If I could show you?”
She gestured him in, waited while he opened his sketchbook. “She dug on the hand sketches, so I went with that rather than comp generated.”
“That’s Iris Beaty. That’s damn good.”
“Did one full length.” He flipped a page, had Eve’s blood pumping. She wanted Beaty in the box.
“Really damn good,” Eve murmured.
“She hits details.” Yancy pushed at his curling mop of hair. “I’ve got three more suspects, and I think she could give us more, but you said it was time to bring her in.”
“We’re going to line them up for her. Show me the rest. That’s the night matron, the dead one. The doctor, and I don’t have a name on this one yet.”
“Cyril Gum,” Whitney supplied. “Santiago and Carmichael are interviewing him now, and he’s holding his line.”
“We’ll put him up for her, see how he holds it after that. Good work, Yancy. We’ll get copies for the file, get the originals to the PA.
“Sir, I need to review the interviews before I bring Beaty and her lawyer up. Reo tells me we’ve already flipped one.”
“Let me know when you’re ready, Dallas. And good work, as usual, Detective.”
“Buy me some time, Yancy, and take her through another. I want her occupied.”
“Glad to do it.”
When he left, Eve sat and began her review.
An hour into it, she paused when she heard Peabody’s clump.
“Please, coffee, please.”
Eve jerked a thumb at the AutoChef.
“Philamenia Horowitz,” Peabody said as she got her coffee. “Cleaning supervisor and Domestic instructor. She taught those trainees selected as Domestic Slaves. Three years in, and you know what? You know the fuck what? She has daughters of her own, teenage daughters, but she did this. Needed the job—boo-hoo—needed the money. Never hurt anyone, taught useful skills. Sniveling bitch.”
“Status?”
Peabody gulped coffee. “Cracked her like an egg. And I got to be bad cop. Willowby looks like a kid, so I got to come in hard. She flipped on Beaty among others, tried to claim she had no idea what was really going on, and we shoveled out that bullshit. Carlyse, one of the APAs, dealt her a hard twenty. See how she likes it.”
“Where’s Willowby?”
“She’s checking in with Feeney, something about the auction and the change of status there. We didn’t have time to talk about it. What’s the change?”