“Don't make me slap you. It's so damn girlie.” - Eve to Peabody when she supports the killer ape-man monster theory, Chaos in Death[1]
Plot Summary[]
Eve Dallas is the tough lieutenant hot on his trail, but this is unlike any case she’s ever been assigned - or any killer she’s ever pursued. A police sketch based on eye-witness testimony reveals the killer has green skin, swollen red eyes, goblin ears, and a dislocated jaw-structure that defies the human form. Is it a mask? Is it make-up? Or is the explanation more sinister? Dallas faces off against multiple suspects - all of them students of medicine capable of precisely slicing the ears, noses, and eyes of the three victims. But who had the motive? More importantly, what kind of rogue science are these healers practicing?
| Spoiler warning! This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode. |
Timeline[]
Approximate Story Start Date: September, 2060[2]; a month before Arianna Whitwood and Dr. Justin Rosenthall's October 22 wedding.[3]
Day 1[]
Chapter 1[]
- Some strange creature is delighting in death. He feels he was born for death. As part of his joy he is dancing, laughing, and just enjoying life over three bodies laying on the floor. The madman had arranged them against the wall. With red eyes bulging in glee, he dips a finger into a pool of blood and leaves the following message on the wall: “To whom it may concern: Please take out the trash. Don't forget to recycle properly! Thank you for your attention to this matter. Dr. Chaos”
- Lieutenant Eve Dallas studies the crime scene. The room smells of blood, puke, and piss. Peabody struggles to not hurl at the scene in front of them.
- Eve records the scene. The victims are two males and a female. The first victim had his left ear removed. The second male had his left eye removed. The female was Jennifer Darnell, and she was missing her tongue. All victims were severely beaten and mutilated. They had been arranged as “hear no evil, see no evil, say no evil.”
- The building is owned by the Whitwood Group, and is pending rehab. The other victims are Coby Vix and Wilson Bickford. All three victims had chips (time completed awards) from Get Straight.
- Dallas and Peabody talk to the 911 caller, Katrina Chu. She sponsored Darnell and was worried when she didn't show up to work. Chu also works at the Canal Street Clinic (cue coincidence). She seems relieved that Dallas knows Louise Dimatto. She mentions that the three victims were squatting in the building for the last few weeks with authorization from a Dr. Rosenthall. She also mentions that Rosenthall and Arianna Whitwood are engaged. Chu was worried about her friends, who were working hard to get clean and came to see if perhaps they had backslid on sobriety.
Chapter 2[]
- Dallas has Peabody run Rosenthall, Whitwood, and the Canal Street Get Straight. The victims' 'links were missing so the killer must have thought they had mentioned him on them.
- A uniform steps in with a clear protective coat covered in blood that he found in the recycler out behind the building.
- Dr. Justin Rosenthall works at the Whitwood Center and specializes in chemical addictions. Arianna Whitwood is a therapist specializing in addictions. Her brother OD'd, leading to the creation of the Whitwood Center. Rosenthall had a sister who also died of an overdose.
- The dynamic duo draw up to the Whitwood Center. A woman at the front desk directs them to where Rosenthall works. In the reception area by his office the receptionist is not happy that Dallas won't tell her why they want to talk to Rosenthall, but gets his lab assistant, Pachai Gupta, to come and take them back to the lab. Several people are working to the sound of Mavis' music in the lab facility.
- Once Rosenthall finishes a lab procedure he was working on, he comes over to talk with Dallas and Peabody. Dallas asks him about the victims and informs him they were murdered that morning. Pach (Pachai) is distressed because they were his friends and he had seen them just the day before. All of the people in the lab sit in stunned silence after Eve tells them how they were each killed.
Chapter 3[]
- Eve starts questioning Rosenthall after he expresses his dismay. She asks why he had given them permission to squat in the building they were found in. He tells Eve that they had a policy to not lend money to anyone in the program but find other ways to help. When asked where he was at the time of the murders he said he was in the office working late and then slept in his office after two. Rosenthall is working on a serum to counteract addiction and substance abuse. Rosenthall goes off to tell Whitwood while Eve and Peabody talk to the interns, Marti Frank and Ken Dickerson.
- Marti Frank liked the three victims. She wasn't really close to them, but interacted with them. All the lab workers had family or friends who died from overdoses. She and Dickerson were both sad about the deaths and had contact with the victims but were alibied for the time of the attacks.
- As Peabody and Dallas walk to meet Whitwood in the Meditation Garden, Peabody sees butterflies and tells Dallas they make her happy. Eve gives her usual interesting opinions that they have buggy bodies, creepy little antennas and tiny, sharp little teeth.
- Whitwood introduces herself. She believes all three victims were on their way to overcoming their addictions. She mentions Jen had found "the quiet." Addictions don't allow for quiet so part of the recovery is finding it. Jen had come in voluntarily after losing several days to a drug binge and then started bringing her other friends in for treatment.
- As they are talking, another man calls out to Arianna Whitwood. He is introduced as Eton Billingsly. As he chides them for interrogating Whitwood, Eve turns the tables on him and asks him where he was between 1-4 that morning. They arrange for Whitwood to send them her case notes. As they walk away they agree he is an a-hole and wants Whitwood for himself. [See this link for complete list of descriptions.]
Chapter 4[]
- Eve and Dallas check out Get Straight, but don't get a lot of additional information.
- The first officer on scene, Officer Slovic, calls to tell them they found a witness who saw someone stuffing something into the recycler and dancing under a streetlight. She was up with a teething baby. She tells Slovic he was a monster or demon. Her description of the killer is a male with medium build, dark, wild and stringy hair. He has greenish skin, red, bulging eyes, contorted features, prominent teeth and was wearing a black cape and carrying a black satchel. Eve tells him to contact Yancy to work with her.
- Eve and Peabody split up with Peabody heading to Slice (pizza joint where Jen and Coby worked), a 24/7 they frequented (and where Wil worked), and a diner they hung out at, while Dallas heads for the triple header at the morgue.
- Eve thinks about the crime on her way to the morgue. She is cheered to see that Morris has a bit of color in his outfit as a sign he is healing some from Coltraine's death. He confirms that the victims were all on their way to being clean. No sexual activity. Morris walks Dallas through the CODs and timing of different attacks on each victim. He concludes that the attacks all took a lot of energy, strength, and endurance. They both conclude the killer thoroughly enjoyed himself and will kill again.
- Dallas heads to Central. As she enters the bullpen, she smells cookies and sees the remains of them on her detectives. No surprise, Nadine Furst is waiting in her office for her. As Eve stares balefully at Nadine and eats a cookie, she asks the reporter what she wants. The response is "a man of amazing sexual prowess, great sensitivity, stupendous abs, and the face of an angel. Toss in a wicked sense of humor and stupendous wealth, who adores the very ground I walk on, Oh wait, you already have him."
- Nadine asks Eve about the case. Eve asks Nadine about Billingsly, who is summed up as a dick. Nadine also asks Eve to come on Now to talk about Dallas. When Eve refuses, Nadine quickly backs down mentioning she had dug up some history on Eve. The reporter wants the story. The friend won't push. Dallas suggests Nadine reach out to the Jones twins about Dallas.
- Eve leaves a message for Louise, sets up her board, and starts on her report when Roarke lurks in her doorway and comments on how gruesome her board is. She asks his opinion on Whitwood and Rosenthall. His opinion on Billingsly is he is a git.
- Yancy contacts Dallas to come and see the sketch and Roarke follows along. Yancy introduces her to Cynthia Kopel and her daughter Lilian. When Yancy hands her the sketch it's the face of a monster.
Chapter 5[]
- The killer has a crooked jaw, twisted mouth, with long, sharp teeth, a thick nose, bulging and gleaming red eyes, pale green skin, oily hair and pointed ears. Kopel says he had a low, deep, maniacal laugh. He was wearing a cape and spinning around as he left. Eve points out that the killer knew the victims. Hence the ears, eyes, and mouth to silence them. Eve shows the picture to Peabody and has her start looking at theaters and costume outfits.
- Eve wheedles a meet with Mira after showing her admin the murder board.
- Louise calls Dallas back and expresses her sadness about the murders. She was Darnell's physician. Louise has another surgery so Roarke does an end run and sets up a meeting for drinks with her and Charles.
- As Dallas heads for her meet with Mira, she grabs the bakery box and gives it to the admin as a thank you.
- Mira looks at the sketch of the killer and questions how good the witness was. Mira analyzes the killer and concludes he is a loner and a sociopath. Mira also tells Eve that the jaw deformity would leave someone in constant pain, unable to eat and only speak in garbled words. Eve is surprised when Mira characterizes Billingsly as a pain in the ass. Before Eve leaves, Mira asks her how she is doing since Dallas. Eve says her shoulder is healing, she isn't having nightmares, and right now does not want to think of her mother.
Chapter 6[]
- Eve starts thinking over scenarios in her office at Central. She starts with Arianna and Rosenthall, but since everyone else "likes" (to hate) Billingsly, her thoughts turn that way. She also works her way through all the lab workers. After setting up her board, she decides to head back to the scene.
- Peabody is frustrated from her searches. Makeup and costume designers all tell her the eyes and jaw are impossible to create.
- Dallas reaches out to Mavis and asks her to show a sketch of the suspect to Trina. Mavis wigs out over the sketch but agrees to talk with Trina.
- Eve checks out the scene again, trying to do her usual woo woo of imaging the crime from the killers point of view. Suddenly the door opens and she almost stuns Roarke. Eve determines the killer had been there before the previous night. He knew the setup of the building and was able to avoid items and go straight to the victims.
Chapter 7[]
- Dallas and Roarke enter the bar where they are meeting Louise and Charles. While they wait, Roarke asks Eve to tell him what she found during her recreation. She says the woman, Jen, was the primary motive. He wanted her to see what he did and her death was face to face as he strangled her. She bumps the other women down her suspect list.
- Charles and Louise arrive. Eve shows them a sketch of the killer and they are as confused as everyone else. Louise agrees with Mira that the jaw is so extreme, he would have difficulty breathing, eating, and speaking. As the waitress serves drinks she mentions that she had seen him early that morning. She'd been up doing yoga and sometime after 3 a.m. heard a weird laughing and saw him skipping down the sidewalk and swinging on a street pole.
- Eve asks Louise about Rosenthall. She says he is in love with Arianna and is not the type to do this kind of thing. She also thinks poorly of Billingsly.
- As they leave the bar, Roarke compliments Eve on actually talking about non-work topics for 30 minutes after the interview. As they enter home, Eve and Summerset exchange their usual pleasantries. Roarke comments that "The two of you really have to stop this love affair. I'm a jealous man."
- They head upstairs and Roarke insists on working on her arm and hip that were injured by McQueen. Eve starts thinking about how worried Roarke was about her and and that they hadn't done the thing since she got hurt. She decides they need some fun as she seduces him. After they do the thing, she tells him he has to quit worrying about her.
Chapter 8[]
- Eve set up her murder board at home. She notices a message and hears Trina tell her that she could do everything but the eyes and the jaws. "I couldn't make anybody look like that, and I'm the best. You've got yourself a freakazoid, Dallas." And then reminds her she is coming on Saturday to give her the works. Roarke comments that she looks more horrified by that thought than by the image of the killer. She expresses her frustration that both medical and costume people say the image can't be real.
Day 2[]
- Just after midnight, Billingsly codes himself illegally into Rosenthall's lab. Billingsly, being a total idiot, wants the money Rosenthall has been using on a secret project. He figures he can prove to Arianna that he is the better man. After multiple password attempts he gained access to the main computer station. One folder called UNQUIET got his attention. Suddenly a crash behind him startled him.
- Behind him stands Dr. Chaos. Billingsly tries to contact security, but Chaos easily catches him. Using a knife and his teeth, chaos reigned.
- Eve is pulled out of a dream by the sound of her communicator. It is a message to go to Justin Rosenthall's lab for a possible homicide. She and Roarke speed to the building. The security guard at the entrance says he saw a bizarre figure boogying away. He had to check out the area and saw the new vic in the lab. The new message in blood on the counter tells her, “Nobody liked him anyway. You're welcome.” Eve recognizes the body as Billingsly because he had that suit on earlier in the day. The nose is missing as a symbol that he was nosy.
- Peabody arrives and is quizzed on what the missing nose means. She determines that he won't be sniffing around anymore. And then is sulky and insulted because Eve gives her an A minus. Eve asks her another question and Peabody determines he was there to poke his nose in on something. (This time she gets an A plus.)
Chapter 9[]
- Billingsly has some green flesh under his nails, so they hope between the flesh and bite marks they will get DNA.
- When Eve walks into the breakroom she sees lockers and an open ceiling vent. Of course, she has Roarke boost her up to look in the vent. As she explores the area and thinks what happened Roarke asks her if she plans to solve the case while he is holding her off the floor.
- Peabody lets Dallas know that Cher Reo is working on a warrant. She asks Roarke for a bribe for the DNA work to get Dickhead moving on it.
- In the security office, Eve studies the recordings. She is still stumped about how the killer can cope with that "mask." Her warrant comes in, so they head back to the lockers. She and Roarke are disagreeing on the killer. He thinks he is real. She thinks it is somehow a trick of some kind with drugs adding to it. In Pachai Gupta's locker they find a weighted pipe with blood on it. They quickly decide it is a frame-up. She heads off to the cop lab and Roarke heads into his office.
- Berenski changes the terms of the bribe to include a bottle of single malt scotch for game one of the World Series as they walk in. Turns out Harpo (Harvo) had spent the night analyzing hair from the first murders. Harvo is frustrated because she can't ID the hair and she is the goddess of hair and fiber. All she can say is it's not synthetic and not exactly human or animal, but a bit of both.
- To add to that, Berenski tells them that the skin is actually green. There was also some blood from the killer, but it is not human.
- When they get back to the car, Peabody bravely tries to tell Eve that the killer is not human. When Peabody says the monster is wreaking havoc on the city, Eve threatens to slap her - and that is so girlie. Eve decides they need to go grill Rosenthall on his project. But also states that she thinks Ken Dickerson is the guilty party because of jealousy.
Chapter 10[]
- As Dallas walks towards Homicide, Arianna rushes up to her asking what is happening. The police had brought her and Rosenthall into Central and separated them. She had asked her fiancée to not spend the night in the lab so they went home late together.
- Eve enters interview to talk with Rosenthall. She reads him his rights and takes a DNA sample from him. As they finally get around to talking about the project, Peabody joins them. He explains that they were doing testing on rats of an addictive substance. When Eve tells him the serum case was open and empty he is extremely shocked.
- Peabody splits off to interview Gupta. Eve decides to take on Dickerson alone. He looks a little wrung out. When she asks him for a DNA sample, he balks. She starts pushing him on Jen Darnell. She is pushing him about Gupta getting pushed up in priority over him. He is nervously scratching his skin. Eve keeps pushing at him and he starts sweating. Peabody joins them with a drink. Dallas is still trying to get him to claim he took the serum. They take a break and leave the interview room. They comment that he looks like an addict ready for a fix.
- When Dallas walks back into interview, Dickerson is standing in a corner facing away from her. He tells her to call him Dr. Chaos and turns around. As she watches his face shifts and his teeth and eyes change. She pulls her weapon as he jumps at her. She thinks she stuns him but he is incredibly fast. She kicks him, then stuns him again. He jokes that it tickles. She keeps firing at him and he keeps coming. Roarke, Peabody, and a slew of cops swarm the room. Roarke punches him and he finally goes down. They snap on restraints and call for shackles and a cage.
Epilogue[]
- Roarke is waiting in Eve's office when she comes back later. Eve says that Dickerson is dying. Multiple organ failure and a brain tumor. It turns out he had modified the serum before he started taking it. She states that the monster he had become was as addicted to killing as Dickerson was addicted to the serum.
- Dickerson had asked Jen Darnell to the lab to show her the results of the serum. She told him he had to stop because she could tell he was addicted.
- Roarke and Eve agree to see each other at home and take care of their injuries.
- After he leaves, Dallas stares out her window at and looks at the city she loves, safe from another monster who hunted in it.
Character List[]
List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book[]
List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book[]
- David Baxter
- Mavis Freestone
- Nadine Furst
- Galahad
- Jenkinson
- Leonardo
- Ian McNab
- Charlotte Mira
- Morris
- Delia Peabody
- Reineke
- Lawrence Summerset
List of Recurring Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]
List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book[]
- Eton Billingsly
- Katrina Chu
- Ken Dickerson
- Marti Frank
- Pachai Gupta
- Cynthia Kopel
- Dr. Justin Rosenthall
- Officer Slovic
- Security Officer Tweed
- Arianna Whitwood
List of Peripheral Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]
- Wilson Bickford
- Jennifer Darnell
- Bree Jones
- Melinda Jones
- Lilian
- Isaac McQueen
- Reed
- Stella
- Coby Vix
- Chase Whitwood
Other Covers[]
Additional covers here