Royalty in Death - an In Death series fanfic (J.D. Robb)

Chapter 10

For a top-bitch cop like Eve, this was the worst case she ever handled. She preferred to be bloodied, stabbed, or be chased down by an army of psychos than to be pampered, stylized and dressed down by some random people.

"I don't want to live in this world anymore.", she only muttered as they returned to their vehicle.

"Geez Dallas, you're the only person I know who hates relaxation. Are you really a masochist?", Peabody commented as she stared at the weary-faced lieutenant who slumped in the driver's seat.

"Don't make me scrape your ass and have you eat it.", she groaned. "Who could ever live in such condition wherein you constantly wear long curtain-like dresses, don some gunks and be coddled 24/7?"

"Women.", Peabody only answered.

"Yeah, yeah, and I don't belong to that norm."

This was not the first time Eve imitated a person, and on one of her previous op she played as a blondie to capture the suspect while on a date. But in this case, she'll be doing it for several days.

"It's quite weird how those people immediately agreed on me without asking for some explanations. I mean, what would you guys do if somebody would impersonate me?"

"Oh, that's easy. We'll be having lunch breaks everyday, and then on our weekends we'll go on spa with Mavis and shopped all day."

When Eve revolted on her comment, Peabody laughed, "You can't blame us. In fact, everybody might get excited what to do with their 'all-famous LT' if that opportunity comes. Hell, maybe Roarke might have some interesting inputs.". She gave an apologetic pat on her mentor, "They knew about your credibility as an investigator, and if I'll put my feet on their shoes, I'll feel safe."

Then she told her about her interviews with Petun, removing the details of her whereabouts.

"Wow, it sounds so romantic. Will it be like the story in Rapunzel who met her prince in her tower?", Peabody said with sparking eyes.

"Oh, the one wherein she got herself pregnant without the father? She lived happy ever after."

When they reached Central, they were greeted by several smiling cops. Even those from Requisitions met Eve with a box of doughnuts, and offered her vehicle for maintenance. As they reached the bullpen, the scenery was the same.

"Are we at Central?", Eve asked Peabody as she looked stoically at the happy duo Jekinson and Reineke.

"Apparently, yes.", she replied. It was unknown to Eve that all desk-riding cops were planning to win her favour, believing that they would be relieved from the Record's wrath. Let them believe that.

Just as the two was about to enter Eve's office, Baxter marched to the bullpen with a furious face. Trueheart was behind him with a humorous smile.

"Baxter and Trueheart, my office!", Eve commanded. The two immediately followed.

Before Eve could ask him about the interview, Baxter barged in.

"I want to put Levinski be kicked in jail in person, LT. And I want him now!"

"Whoa, chill there, Baxter. You have a solid proof for him in murder?"

"Not yet, but I intended to look for one.", he fumed. "But after this, he'll be jailed right?"

"It's up to the Feds to judge that.", she answered, then looked at Trueheart who was bemused on the situation, "What bugged him off with Levinski?"

"Actually Lieutenant, he's – "

"Tell her about mine and I'll tell her about yours!", Baxter spitted which made Trueheart winced.

"Now that made me perked my interest. Give me the recorder then to check it out."

As they played the interview, Eve couldn't help but noticed some nasty remarks inserted by Levinski. He might be a well-bred elite with prestige education, but his manners showed otherwise. She even doubted if the database records were true.

After they have finished viewing the recorded conversation, Baxter kicked the visitor's chair.

"Hey, I could rip a suspension to you for damaging a property.", Eve said to him, who received a pitiful pat from Peabody, "There's a lot of foul words there – dumb, lazy...bald-headed?"

"See? How can an ugly faggot say I'm bald-headed when I have lots of hair strands than him! And look at his crooked teeth, and damn, he's reeking with bad breath!"

"C'mon Baxter, you're acting like a virgin in interrogations. You don't get affected when somebody gave a death threats to you, but being insulted by your hair? I can't believe you have such insecurities."

Eve's desk 'link turned off. It was the commander.

"Dallas, briefing for a press conference in my office. Now."

"Hey, Trueheart told me that Baxter's maternal uncle was bald in his forties. They were hereditary, by the way.", Peabody chatted as they went to the commander's office. Baxter and Trueheart remained on their assigned task to trace down Levinski's alibis and his operatives with the royalty.

"And here I was thinking that only girls have issues with their hair.", Eve mused as they reached the commander's office. Tibble and Feeney were already there.

She preferred to give her reports orally so she remained standing and told them her interviews with Petun and Afef, and then relayed about Levinski from Baxter's interviews.

"Good thing I was blessed with best hair genes.", Feeney commented as he raked his gingered hair with his hand.

"I heard stress can also cause hair fall.", Eve said, then reverted back to the topic. "I have Peabody here to assist EDD in the blueprints and coordination with the households. To add that up, here's the list of the plotted activities related to the upcoming marriage."

"That's quite a lot of media appearances there, Lieutenant.", Whitney said as the schedule was projected on the screen.

"I agree. But after coordinating with the chief butler Afef, we were able to squeeze some and highlighted the major public appearances. Two of it has the biggest exposure – the offertory dance and the wedding ceremony."

It was mind-blowing for Eve when she learned about the offertory, as this was a ceremony for a Harminian princess to compromise something to her future husband by presenting herself to the public. Since she vetoed no to singing, and she swore she couldn't even pluck a mere guitar, she'll settled in dancing.

"I brought Peabody here to be my proxy if I'll be dragged out in my undercover. My case and the upcoming marriage was a media magnet, so we need to maintain that Lt. Eve Dallas and Princess Petun existed at the same time. All the tricks will be finessed by the EDD."

"That's a huge bowl of responsibility, Dallas.", Feeney spoke while scratching his cheek. "But with your Expert Civilian Consultant, we'll be able to meet your standards. But anyways, for my report we have produced some developments – we found some matched images from the cartographic sketches you passed on us. They're not from US."

When Feeney flashed the profiles of the two people, Eve looked at him and said, "It matched Afef's description."

"It is, yes. We have our perpetrators now."

"Does that mean we can do some arrests?", Peabody asked. All four pair of eyes looked at her.

"We can't, as of the moment, issue a warrant for these two persons. They were Harminian, and if we conducted an investigation with them, we'll be passing several international laws. Even Levinski's dirt won't give us a pass.", Eve said, added "Unless, we'll laid some baits for them to be in New York and commit the said crime again."

There was a short rap in the door. When Whitney prompted to enter, Kyung appeared.

"The press has been assembled outside of Central. Shall we do some briefings then?"