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Dark in Death

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“So you’re pursuing a case of lethal plagiarism.” – Roarke, Dark in Death[1]

Plot Summary[]

A case of death imitating art...

It was a stab in the dark.

On a chilly February night, during a screening of Psycho in midtown, someone sunk an ice pick into the back of Chanel Rylan’s neck, then disappeared quietly into the crowds of drunks and tourists in Times Square. To Chanel’s best friend, who had just slipped out of the theater for a moment to take a call, it felt as unreal as the ancient black-and-white movie up on the screen. But Chanel’s blood ran red, and her death was anything but fictional.

Then, as Eve Dallas puzzles over a homicide that seems carefully planned and yet oddly personal, she receives a tip from an unexpected source: an author of police thrillers who recognizes the crime ― from the pages of her own book. Dallas doesn’t think it’s coincidence, since a recent strangulation of a sex worker resembles a scene from her writing as well. Cops look for patterns of behavior: similar weapons, similar MOs. But this killer seems to find inspiration in someone else’s imagination, and if the theory holds, this may be only the second of a long-running series.

The good news is that Eve and her billionaire husband Roarke have an excuse to curl up in front of the fireplace with their cat, Galahad, reading mystery stories for research. The bad news is that time is running out before the next victim plays an unwitting role in a murderer’s deranged private drama ― and only Eve can put a stop to a creative impulse gone horribly, destructively wrong.

From the author of Echoes in Death, this is the latest of the edgy, phenomenally popular police procedurals that Publishers Weekly calls “inventive, entertaining, and clever.”

Spoiler warning!
This article contains plot details about an upcoming episode.

Timeline[]

Story Date: late February, 2061[2]

Timeline

Day 1[]

Chapters 1-2[]

  • Chanel Rylan is absorbed in watching Psycho with her friend Lola Kawaski, when Lola, a veterinarian. gets a 911 text from work (she's on call). She leaves the theater and just as the shower scene is in progress, the person behind Chanel stabs her in the back of her neck with an ice pick. When Lola returns to tell Chanel she was called into work for an emergency (dog hit by a car) and needs to leave, she discovers her friend is dead and begins screaming.
  • Lieutenant Eve Dallas stands over her body, which was dragged into the aisle in an attempt to revive her, regretting her lost evening relaxing in the Summerset-free house, waiting for Roarke to return. She interviews Lola and Mark Snyder, who sat in the same row; he noticed somebody sitting behind Chanel, who came in after the lights went down and was gone by the time Chanel’s death was discovered. Eve figures that person was the killer and left from another theater showing a kids’ movie with a large group of people, about 40% of them under twelve, lhat let out just after the killing.
  • The murder looks to be target specific, since the victim had a routine and the 911 vet call was looking bogus, but Eve can’t figure out why. Chanel was an actress who also worked at Broadway Babies, a restaurant where the waitstaff sings and performs. Eve sends McNab to review the security footage from the theater and get the info on the call to the vet.
  • Peabody thanks Eve for the trip to Mexico, which brought McNab’s bounce back. They talk to the owner of Broadway Babies, learning that Chanel was well-liked and nobody was stalking her to their knowledge, and they break for the rest of the night.
  • At home, Roarke is reading in her office, with the cat sprawled across his knees. Eve fills him in over spaghetti and meatballs, with the conclusion that there are far easier ways to kill somebody, so Eve needs to figure out why the drama. She has Roarke run background on Chanel’s ex, an actor in Canada, while she digs into Chanel.

Chapter 3[]

  • Nothing rings for Chanel, the ex comes up clean, as does the owner of Broadway Babies, but there was definitely routine and structure in Chanel’s activities, so it’s more confirmed that this was target-specific. “Murder usually makes sense, even if it turns out to be crazy, shit-house-rat sense.”
  • Still enjoying Summerset’s vacation, Eve leaves a trail of clothing for Roarke to follow, which he does, reminiscing to himself on the artwork and other knickknacks he’d legitimized since meeting Eve, e.g., arranging to have a stolen painting “found” and then buying it. He finds her in the ballroom: “I wasn’t wearing enough to cover the house. Next time I’ll have to gear up.” They dance in the middle of the room, which she hadn’t been in except for parties or prep for parties, and they slowly make love.

Day 2[]

Chapter 4[]

  • Galahad wakes Eve up at 5:33 a.m., which Eve figures out is because Summerset’s gone and he’s hungry. After breakfast, Eve heads to the morgue, asking Peabody to meet her at Central. Morris confirms COD as an ice pick into her brain stem.
  • At Central, Nadine comes in with Blaine DeLano, a famous novelist who has information for Eve about the investigation. McNab confirmed that the call to the vet was a recording from a drop ’link, most likely a timed auto-send. Eve listens to the recording and hears that it’s just one long message, with no pauses to interact with the vet assistant, with video of a blur of lights and pedestrians as if someone’s running.
  • She meets with DeLano, who tells her she may be responsible for Chanel Rylan’s murder.

Chapter 5[]

  • DeLano, who writes police procedurals, explains that the murder was similar to one in her book, Dark Days. The first victim in that book was a young actress with a similar background as Chanel, who was killed with an ice pick through the base of the neck during a Hitchcock film (Dial M for Murder). DeLano believes it’s the second such murder – the first one was about a month ago and modeled on the events of Dark Falls, the first in the Deann Dark series, which had a young street-level LC strangled with a white scarf in a flop.
  • The case DeLano is referring to is Rosie Kent’s murder, which was caught by Reineke and Jenkinson but not closed. In the third book in the series, Dark Deeds, the girlfriend of a trash rock musician is poisoned by a cyanide-infused pomtini (pomegranate flavored martini) in an edgy, popular club.

Chapter 6[]

  • Eve meets with Mira, who was wrapping up a call with Dennis in which he mentioned the similarity to Dark Days. Eve fills Mira in on the first murder since Reineke and Jenkinson consulted somebody else. Mira thinks the killer is an obsessed reader and frustrated writer, who plans to kill DeLano once he or she gets through all eight books in the Dark series. She thinks the killer is at least 30, lives alone, doesn’t think sex is important, and already has the next victim picked out.
  • Eve and Peabody head to Chanel’s apartment, learning that she was a bright, cheerful, happy person, and her room reflects that, further confirmation that the murder had nothing to do with who Rylan was, just that she matched the victim in Dark Days.
  • At Pet Care, they confirm that no dog came in injured the previous night, and Eve demonstrates her alpha-ness to a woman with a pony-sized puppy.

Chapter 7[]

  • They meet Jessilyn Brooke, an actor who also got a callback for the same part as Rylan, and got the part. She hadn’t known about Chanel’s murder, and is shocked and upset, and alibied.
  • Eve buys glide-cart soy dogs for Peabody and herself, and they retread Reineke and Jenkinson’s steps about the Rosie Kent murder, learning nothing new. Eve recreates the scene at the flop, determining that the john or jane must have brought the bottle and glasses since they can’t drink from the same bottle. She figures while Kent was freshening up in the bathroom, the killer doctored the wine. Eve figures the killer dressed like a woman to recreate the scene (Kent was certified for both), and dressed as a man for Chanel's killing, so probably not a big guy because that would attract attention as a large woman.
  • Reineke and Jenkinson go back to Kent’s murder and try to find out if anybody noticed the killer stalking her and Eve reviews the security footage from the vid palace. She finds the killer, who entered the theater twenty minutes before Rylan and Kawaski, solo, wearing sunshades. The stride, the boots, the long, bulky coat all read male, along with the chunky, mannish wrist unit. The killer checks the time, looks around as if looking for someone, and then marches across the lobby, head down and face averted into the corridor leading to the theaters.
  • The description: no hair shows with the thick, dark cap pulled low on the forehead, a scarf bundled around the neck, skimming over the chin, to block any look at the face, no bag but deep pockets in the coat, and gloves. Eve thinks Caucasian, between 30 and 50, 5 feet, 7 inches but the shoes may have lifts, medium build, 150 pounds, but no way to be sure with the coat. Eve sees the same person leaving, noting that the coat is reversible and the side showing on the exit has penguins all over it, and the cap is changed to an earflap with pom-poms on dangles at the sides, but the same boots and trousers. The killer is wearing pink-lensed wind goggles. Eve has Peabody look, and they agree it’s female because it’s easier to add height and weight than to remove it.

Chapter 8[]

  • Eve and Peabody visit the DeLanos in Brooklyn. One of Blaine’s daughters, Piper, remembers seeing the suspect when the family was Christmas shopping two months ago – she recognizes the goggles, hat, and coat from the picture Eve had pulled from the security footage at Vid Galaxy. Piper saw her in three of the stores they visited that day.
  • Eve sends Peabody back to Central to have Yancy try for a better sketch, and she visits Blaine’s abusive and controlling ex-husband and his new family, including his treasure of a son, who lies to his father about Eve calling him a bad name and threatening to stun him. When she offers to replay the conversation, tapping her lapel recorder, he tries to kick her on his way upstairs, which she sidesteps, with Junior falling into his father’s steadying hand. Eve is sure she or another badge will be sitting across from him in the box eventually. It’s a dead end, as she thought it would be.

Chapter 9[]

  • Eve gets home to an empty house and curls up in the library to read the first three Dark books. Galahad is not pleased to sniff Sampson the pony dog on her, but gets over it after two minutes. Roarke comes home irritated but is quickly set to rights with an evening of reading with Eve, a nice dinner of shepherd’s pie in front of the fire, and discussion of the case. Roarke says Hightower (Dark’s former partner in the original series) reminds him of Eve - an excellent cop, with good instincts, although not as deep as Eve’s, and he never deviates from the goal of being a cop. He’s by the book but understands the book isn’t only the law and the rules, but people and justice. Eve thinks Dark is a little like Roarke - the book is a limitation and she becomes frustrated by procedure. She grew up rough, learning how to slip and slide early: “you’re the girl in this one.”

Chapter 10[]

  • One of the LCs Reineke and Jenkinson re-interview remembers a woman hanging around during Christmas week with a tragic lame penguin coat, and a bouncer at a sex club also remembered the “ugly, dumpy coat.”
  • Next up, Eve and Roarke dive into the fan mail, having ruled out the editor, editorial assistant, and proofers. Eve dumps a third of the letters on Peabody, a third on Roarke, and starts on the rest. Roarke comes in to tell Eve she now owns a small, ramshackle farm of just over sixteen acres in Nebraska thanks to their wager of buying a crap property and turning it to gold.
  • The fan mail runs the gamut from “some of them get a little pissy when the make-believe people don’t do just what they figure those make-believe people should do” to “a subset who seriously objects to the language. Like real people never say fuck you, especially real people who’re cops” to “if you do this/don’t do this, I’ll never read you again.” Audrey DeLano is very patient and diplomatic in her replies to fan mail, which probably bumps her up on the target list since she’s the one saying no.
  • Eve thinks the killer will have written multiple times, using different names, so she’ll run a comparison on language and syntax. Roarke finds A.E. Strongbow, who began writing March, 2058, progressing from complimentary and humble to stalker-ish the following year, including a manuscript of Hot Blood, Cold Mind, which Audrey returned unopened per policy. The next letter from “Strongbow” accuses the latest Dark book, Sudden Dark, of being a direct rip-off of her book; Roarke notes that the return address for the earlier letters was a post office box in Delaware, and then later in Brooklyn.
  • There are no more letters from Strongbow, but the next batch is from Chris Bundy, who is also not pleased with Sudden Dark, accusing DeLano of employing a ghost writer: “It read as though someone else had written it.” She demands to know the name of her ghostwriter, and isn’t it past time to employ some realism, to have Hightower and Dark fail and the villain to triumph? The letter ends with “You, Blaine, are a thief and a liar as well as a panderer to your undemanding and unsuspecting fans. Remember, sometimes the villain wins.”
  • Roarke finds another pen name, Jesse Oaks, and Eve gets the serial killer connection: Ted Bundy (20th century), Stan K. Oaks (21st century), with the writer choosing gender-neutral first names. As Oaks, the theme is DeLano doesn’t write solo, and Deann Dark is an extension of her own ego and thereby unrealistic. Roarke thinks she has some e-skills and used drop ‘links, but economized by cloning them and switching between them, swapping out components.
  • Roarke tells her the last thing he stole, which was a painting he stole twice – once for profit and then the following year to return it to the 11-year-old owner, who loved it and mourned the loss, as opposed to the collector, who merely coveted it. A few months after that, he was contemplating stealing jewels from a baroness, but: “I met a cop who interested me a great deal more than emeralds.”

Chapter 11[]

  • Eve tries to figure out who the next victim will be, based on Dark Deeds: “ex-girlfriend of a trash rocker, edgy lifestyle, mid-twenties, lots of illegals, and easy sex.” Her search through gossip pages includes Nadine because of her connection to Jake Kincaid, but she doesn’t fit the victim demographic. She reads the book that Strongbow/Bundy/Oaks flipped out over, and has Roarke read the third Dark book to see if he can add to the victim or killer profile.
  • They decide the killer wants to flip the script on good overcoming evil, which is why her book makes the killer the star, and claims it to be innovative and brilliant, making her self-absorbed. She wants to rewrite the Dark books with herself as the star, which is probably because it’s the only way she can be in charge. She probably has a low-rung job and has been overlooked and, in her mind, undervalued. She has had little interaction with males, so it’s a female-centric profession, and she came from a female-centric background. The protagonist in her book is a male killing females because she’s never had any power as a woman. She likely lives alone in Brooklyn and works from home with limited contact to others. She’s ordinary, average, doesn’t stand out, has never been popular, and is invisible, allowing her to become whoever she wants to become. Her book was her chance to be visible and important, but DeLano stole it.
  • Eve and Roarke then check off the library from their list of rooms they’ve had sex in, continuing to enjoy Summerset’s vacation.

Day 3[]

Chapter 11 (continued)[]

  • Eve dreams about the actual murders on one side of the pages of a book, and the book murders on the other side. She dreams of Deann Dark, but realizes she’s (Eve) not in the books, so wonders how ‘Strongbow’ accounts for her presence, plus Roarke and the NYPSD officers working the case. She talks it over with Roarke at breakfast, trying to figure out how to move the killer’s focus to her. She decides to give Nadine a bad review of the murders as a slap to Strongbow's writing. Roarke chooses dangerous black clothing for her to wear for the interview, recommending that during the interview she slips her hand into her pocket in a way that shows the camera a hint of her weapon.

Chapter 12[]

  • Eve arrives at Central, where she learns that Santiago bet against the Knicks (“I grew up in Chicago”), and she schools him on loyalties: “The people of New York pay your freight, Santiago. That’s what counts. Mets, Knicks, Giants, Rollers, Rangers. Get on board or you may wear that hat permanently.”
  • Peabody has lined up a skank parade to look for the next victim, starting with Loxie Flash, née Marianna Beliski, who has a long list of criminal charges and is currently on parole and in court-ordered rehab. Eve suggests not calling it a skank parade, but Peabody requests that she reserve judgment until she’s met some of them. Eve thinks the killer made her reversible coat since she couldn’t find anywhere it retailed, and she puts Peabody on that detail.
  • Mira agrees with Eve’s take – Strongbow is likely the killer, and is rewriting DeLano’s books to give herself power she doesn’t feel she has, and that she’s currently living as the killer in Dark Deeds, i.e., a jealous, vengeful skank, trolling the clubs, plotting to kill the woman she feels is ruining the man she wants.
  • Blaine and Audrey DeLano come in so Eve can talk to them about the fan mail. They confirm that Sudden Dark was written well in advance of receiving the manuscript Strongbow sent.
  • Eve tried to convince Loxie Flash that someone wants her dead, but her fuckhead vibe overpowers her survival instinct.

Chapter 13[]

  • After a successful vending experience for Eve (bummer for Detective Clint Harcove), she interviews another possible victim, Shanna K, who also dismisses the warnings, despite seeing the pictures of the two previous victims.
  • Nadine arrives with brownies, a camera operator, and Quilla in tow. Quilla tells Eve she toured An Dídean, and is looking forward to moving there when it opens. Nadine requests a 30 second report on the Homicide bullpen from her when she finishes talking to Eve in her office: “I’ve either made a brilliant stroke or a terrible mistake” [taking Quilla on]. She tells Eve she and Jake are casual, but in the way that people do when they’re trying to convince themselves.
  • Eve allows Nadine to see her murder board, including the suspect, and explains that she’s going to write herself into the Dark books, giving the killer something to worry about. After the one-on-one with Nadine, she warns two more potential victims, and Peabody tells her she has a lead on the fabric.

Chapter 14[]

  • The killer bought five yards of “Playful Penguins” fabric on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) from the Sewing Basket. Eve and Peabody interview the clerk, who can’t give them anything else on the killer since it was such a busy day at the store. Peabody is, of course, in heaven and goes home with some alpaca yarn from the owner, who admired the scarves she and Eve were wearing. Eve thinks it would have been smarter of the killer to buy a less memorable pattern (or plain), but thinks under it all, she wants to be noticed.
  • The next potential victim, an artist named Yola Bloomfield, is now clean and sober, and remembers seeing the woman with the orange dragon tattoo at one of the clubs she frequents, but can’t remember which one. Eve warns her away and Yola assures her she “wouldn’t drink that shit [a pomtini] if I was still using and stoned stupid.”
  • At one of the clubs Yola mentioned, Screw U, a bartender also remembers the woman with the orange dragon. She has come in a few times, orders a virgin Moscow Mule that she nurses, and doesn’t interact with anyone. He agrees to work with Yancy on a sketch. Eve decides it’s more about the ex-boyfriend than about the potential victim, so she sends Peabody home to study the parts in Dark Deeds about the rocker and does the same.

Chapter 15[]

  • At home, Eve concentrates on finding the rocker ex, narrowing it down to four that fit the profile. Eve then shifts her mind from the obsessed skank to the next killer, a saintly, obedient son who’s really a greedy bastard who kills his wealthy mother and pins it on his screw-up sister.
  • Roarke gets home from a short trip to Chicago and they settle in by the fire. Over dinner she tells him about Nadine and Jake. Jake’s pretty settled, but he may know some of the rockers on Eve’s list. She, of course, ran Jake when Nadine started dating him, so she knows he had an arrest fifteen years ago for assault, disturbing the peace, and destruction of property, but all charges were dropped as numerous witness statements and three videos clearly showed the drunk asshole he eventually ass-kicked dogging him, taking a couple of swings at him, and jumping him from behind. Other than that he has a lot of speeding tickets and he bought his mother a house when Avenue A’s first recording hit big. He owns a converted warehouse downtown (on Avenue A), and outfitted it into a recording studio/apartment. Eve also tells Roarke about Nadine taking on Quilla as an intern, and Quilla’s take on An Dídean, especially the rooftop memorial.
  • Eve thinks that to the killer, all the skanks are interchangeable, especially since they all sleep with the same rockers, go to the same clubs, compete or hang out, etc., whereas in the book the victim was in a serious, if twisted and unhealthy, relationship. Since the killer isn’t part of that world, she can’t absorb the role as well as the others. Eve has Roarke take the male rockers, looking for who has shagged whom and rating their musical ability since the guy in the book has some charm and talent: “To clarify, I’m rating the wankers on their level of potential as musicians and human beings if and when they cease the smoking, swallowing, guzzling, popping, and chasing themselves into a dick?”
  • Eve tries to contact the potential victims again, starting with Loxie Flash, who gives her a bang-brag list, then lights up a joint of Zoner, pours a drink of vodka, and switches on the porn channel. She’s bemoaning the poor state of her finances, and wondering how she can get out of New York for the rest of the winter, when she receives a text telling her to come to Screw U, that G-man (her ex) just walked in. She thinks it’s from Janis, who supplies her with illegals, thinks about Eve’s warnings, and makes the wise decision… no, that’s not right. She heads for the club.
  • Yola, who also received a call from Eve, considers going out, receives the same text Loxie did, and also decides to head to Screw U for a couple of hours.
  • Eve is delighted to learn that of all the skanks, the least skanky and most sensible one is the one who was wearing cock and ball earrings at Central earlier that day. She has only been with three of the rockers on Eve’s list and went to her mother’s place in New Jersey to avoid being killed.
  • Roarke’s top pick is Adam Glazier, Loxie’s ex and lead singer and vocals for the Glaze, who record at Jake’s studio, East Side Sounds.
  • Eve gets a whispered call from Brad Smithers at Screw U letting her know “blue dreads” is there. She and Roarke head over.

Chapter 16[]

  • Loxie pops a tab of Buzz and walks into the club. She spots Glaze in a VIP booth with his bass player, his manager, and a woman she doesn’t recognize. She comes onto him and belatedly realizes he’s not drinking alcohol. She heads to her friends’ table, disappointed that Glaze isn’t watching her. To counter that she grabs a random drink off the table, drinks it, and doesn’t notice the killer sitting at the end of the bar. She has another tab of Buzz and pulls a guy up to grind/dance with her. This time Glaze is looking at her with pity, so she ups her performance. She sees Glaze signal for the check and she grabs up the martini glass filled with deep red, draining it.
  • The band plays one of Glaze’s hits, and she sees the killer out of the corner of her eye, which reminds her that she wasn’t supposed to drink the pomtini. She tries to scream, grabs her dance partner, who thinks she’s requesting that he dry hump her. When she goes limp, the guy hauls her over to her booth, where she rolls onto the floor, seizes, and dies. The killer turns to leave and sees the bartender staring straight at her with a ’link in his hand. She grabs somebody’s coat and sprints through the kitchen, out the back. Once she’s out of sight of the club she removes her dreads and shoves them into a recycler.
  • Eve walks into the club but knows it’s too late. Brad was on a break when a very inexperienced bartender got busy and forgot she wasn’t supposed to mix a pomtini for a lady with red hair and blue dreads. As soon as Brad got back he saw the killer and called Eve, but the killer saw him do that and escaped out the back.
  • Eve interviews the group with Loxie: Janis Dorsey, who said the texts couldn’t have been from her because she always signs her texts Jadar, Bennie, the guy who was dry-humping Loxie while she was dying, Dodo, ’nuff said, and Sylvio, who remembered seeing the killer deliver the fatal drink because she had small tits, and was able to describe the bad hair because he’s the hair designer to those who rock.

Chapter 17[]

  • Eve studies the security feed, seeing the killer enter wearing her hat and goggles, a dark knee-length coat with glittery braiding, and a large shoulder bag. At the exit, she still has the purse but is now carrying the coat she swiped from Janis. Eve has Roarke contact cab companies for pickups within a ten block radius, McNab get feed from the Transit Authority, and Peabody look for the coat the killer left behind.
  • The coat is very well made, so they know she has a professional machine and serious skills.
  • Eve interviews Adam Glazier, who was there with his girlfriend and some bandmates. Coming to Screw U was a test for him to see if he could be in a club, hear music, be around people drinking and popping, without relapsing. When he heard Janis laughing maniacally, he looked over and saw Loxie on the floor. He yelled for his bass player to call 9-1-1 and he went over to her, but couldn’t find a pulse.
  • After Eve describes the killer, Glaze realizes he saw her outside Jake's studio a couple of times, including that afternoon. He had figured she was stalking Jake. Eve assures Glaze that the killer is done with the scenario, and has moved on. McNab finds the train the killer took home, and Peabody sends the coat to Harvo for analysis. Eve orders a search on recyclers between the club and the train station. They watch the killer reach for her subway card, but then put cash in the machine for a new one-trip swipe.
  • Eve recreates the scene at the club, realizing that the killer wanted to be seen this time, and likely was, meaning she will want to be seen during her next kill also. Eve is frustrated: “She had to do one fucking thing to stay alive. Stay out of the club. I told her the drink to avoid. She drinks it anyway. She’s a goddamn accessory to her own murder. And now she’s mine.”

Day 3[]

Chapter 18[]

  • Eve woke up from a dream where Loxie Flash was bitching about being dead, everybody’s fault but hers. Eve and Roarke have shower sex. Over breakfast, she asks him to look for rich old ladies with a greedy, murderous son who plays the biddable and a daughter who can be framed. Morris can’t give her much more than she already knew on Loxie, and when she and Peabody get to Central, a flying dwarf slams into Peabody, with Eve taking a couple of blows before restraining him.
  • Nadine has brought Jake into Central to meet with Eve. Glaze has turned his life around, and Loxie was a big pothole in that road, but he went around it. Loxie was “one prime bitch – selfish, mean as a rattler, with no sense of loyalty” who wanted Glaze more after he no longer wanted her. She also made moves on Avenue A’s married drummer, Rocky, but he didn’t move back, and on him, ditto. He ran into her a few days ago and they had hard words – he saw her on security at the studio, coming to see Glaze, and he went to the door and told her to leave, declining her offer of a blow job: “I thought too much of my dick to have her mouth on it.” He told Loxie if she came back he’d twist her up. He also saw the killer a couple of times. Eve gives Nadine a tip on the hair and the stolen mink hoodie: “no sense letting her enjoy it” and brings Jake to Yancy.

Chapter 19[]

  • Yancy is working with Brad the bartender, and Jake joins in, refining the sketch, calling the killer a fader. Eve reassures Brad that he’s helping stop her before she kills another person, and that he did exactly right by tagging her as soon as he saw her. Nadine requests the sketch, Eve declines and goes back to work after a few minutes of back and forth and Jake asking: “Do you ever go at each other like that when you’re more casually attired?”
  • Eve thinks Strongbow has established herself as a seamstress, and her next target is one of the rich women she sews for. She visits Feeney, who is hurt and pissed that she let Jake leave the house without meeting him. She calls Nadine to fix this. Santiago is extra sulky because not only didn’t he get to meet DeLano, but he didn’t get to meet Jake either, so after a quick rally, she sends Carmichael and Santiago to Brooklyn to see if the DeLanos or any neighborhood shops recognize the killer from the sketch.
  • Leonardo comes in with Mavis and Bella, and they head to Eve’s office, where Bella learns some new words (shit and bitch) and Leonardo practically passes out upon seeing the murder board. He explains that most tailors do side work, getting off-the-books clients from people you do alterations for in the shop you work at, being careful not to be fired for poaching. The facial recognition hits and they have the bitch: “Ann Elizabeth Smith. Average name, average face.”

Chapter 20[]

  • Smith is 42 and worked at her seamstress mother’s shop in Delaware. Her mother remarried and moved, leaving her as manager but not owner, and then closed the shop when Smith moved to Brooklyn two years ago. Eve tags Feeney to request an e-geek. He’s frosty until she gives him the address for Jake’s recording studio, telling him Jake didn’t have time to come back to Central but is expecting Feeney during his afternoon recording session. He tells her, “You didn’t fix it. You killed it!”
  • Officer Shelby has a friend who works at Dobb’s, where Smith is listed as working, but it turns out Smith quit that job almost a year ago. Jill says she was good at her job and fast, but weird and she wouldn’t be surprised if Smith had done something whacked.
  • They plan a takedown of her at her apartment in Brooklyn, but instead scare a woman half to death because Smith hasn’t lived there in almost a year. She found out about the apartment being available from the woman who lived directly under it: “If anybody knows anything about anybody, it’s Mrs. Waterstone.”
  • Mrs. Waterstone said Smith was a little mouse who wouldn’t say boo to a goose, whatever the hell that means, was sneaky, unfriendly, and unhappy and never once brought anybody home or had a visitor. She summed her up as furtive. She recalled Smith coming in one day carrying a package and mad crying (as opposed to heartbroken crying). She asked her what was wrong, like you do, and Smith yelled at her - told her to mind her own damn business, and she could hear her slamming around, stomping around for a good hour afterward. She warns Eve and Peabody to be careful of Smith: “There’s a bad temper inside the little mouse. She carried a cloud with her. And sooner or later, clouds break into a storm.”

Chapter 21[]

  • Callendar finds some writing web sites where Smith had posted in the past, but no surprise, she didn’t take criticism well and pulled her work. Eve tags Roarke to run Smith’s financials.
  • At Dobb’s, Eve talks to the staff in alterations. The consensus is Smith kept to herself, didn’t participate in activities, and was writing a book (one seamstress walked in on Smith typing on her tablet).
  • Another of the seamstresses saw her a couple of months ago and waved hello to her, but Smith walked away, hurting her feelings. At the time, which was the first Saturday in December, Smith was wearing her bulky penguin coat and had changed her hair to short and bright red.
  • Peabody and Callendar agree that Smith used a temp home dye that washed out after a few times to economize, and will now change her hair to dark brown, curly, past the jawline to be the fourth killer, and adds that to the list of people the canvassers are asking about. Back at Central Eve has Yancy change Smith’s sketch to a 35-year-old male with dark, curly hair and dark blue eyes.
  • Roarke is in Eve’s office, having traced Smith’s monetary journey. She’s now living off the grid, i.e., only taking cash jobs and paying cash for rent and expenses. Eve gets a list of Smith’s off-the-books customers from her former supervisor at Dobb’s, and matches Natalia Durban Berkle to her list of possible victims for the fourth murder. Roarke knows her a little, so they head there.

Chapter 22[]

  • Although Berkle fits the profile of the fourth victim, her son has already left for their Kauai estate for two and a half weeks, with Berkle, her daughter, and her daughter’s family to follow the next day. They move their plans up a day just in case, but realize that the true victim will be Berkle’s oldest friend, Felicity Lomare, whom she recommended Smith to, was widowed six years ago, and has a son and daughter. The fearless crew head over to prevent the fourth murder.
  • Santiago has found Smith’s hole, a flop in Brownsville a few blocks from Yolanda’s sighting, fourth floor unit. A neighbor reported that she left about a half hour before, carrying her big sewing kit and dressed as a male with curly brown hair. Eve has them get a warrant for entry, search, and seizure and leave a watch on the street in case she comes back.
  • Eve startles Lomare’s housekeeper, who tells them Smith is on the second floor with Felicity, fitting clothes for her. When she goes upstairs, Smith and Felicity both see her in the mirror, holding her stunner. Smith holds scissors to Felicity’s throat, saying, “I’ll slice her throat. Drop the weapon, or the bitch dies.” Eve tells her, “That’s bad dialogue, Ann. Clichéd.” Eve tells her if she’s Calvin Underwood to show her dick, otherwise she’s under arrest. She tells Eve, “Fuck you,” and Felicity rams her with her elbow, knocking her down and breaking a triple mirror (21 years’ bad luck), adding that it takes her back to when she was counterintelligence during the Urbans.
  • Peabody contacts Berkle to let her know Felicity is safe and they go downstairs to explain everything. Eve lets Santiago know Smith is secure and he gives her a sneak peak of Smith’s apartment, with pics of her selected victims, past and future, including alternates (Berkle was the alternate to Felicity), drawings of her outfits as the killer in each case, DeLano’s picture after the eight targets, followed by Eve’s as the final chapter where Smith, as Officer Lucy Borgia, kills her, and some souvenirs from her kills.

Chapter 23[]

  • Eve tells Peabody she can go home, but she has decided the end of the story should be called “Dark Justice: The Final Chapter” and sticks. Smith whines about her mother not encouraging her dreams and how she made DeLano’s cardboard characters real.
  • Eve thinks Smith will get maximum security but probably in a ward for mental defectives. Peabody, McNab, and Callendar go out for libations and chow, while Eve and Roarke have pizza and Pepsi in her office as she writes up the report. She decides murderers should be punished by never getting to eat pizza again and they close the book on the case (Nora’s pun, not mine).

Character List[]

List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Recurring Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]

List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Peripheral Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]

Memorable Quotations[]

The homicide bullpen, after Santiago starts sulking for not getting to meet one of his favorite authors (Blaine DeLano) or Jake Kincaid:[3]

“We’re cops,” Eve groaned.
“Murder cops!” Baxter called out.
“Protecting and serving,” Jenkinson added.
“Because you could get dead,” Carmichael finished.
Trueheart grinned. “Go, team.”

YANNIs[]

  • Vid Galaxy screens:
    • The book opens with “On the mega screen, bloody murder played out in classic black and white...” but Peabody specifically tells Eve the two mega screens are upstairs, and that the classic vids play in one of the smaller theaters[4]
  • Piper DeLano:
    • In the book, her sweatshirt proclaims: GIRLS R+ RULE, which makes no sense, but in the audio version, it’s GIRLS ROCK + RULE[5]
    • In the audio version, Susan Ericksen calls her “Pepper” once[5]
  • Eve’s conversation with Santiago:
    • In the audio version, Susan Ericksen reads out Eve’s line as “‘Roarke owns the Celtics,’ she created” instead of “‘Roarke owns the Celtics,’ she corrected”[6]
  • Smith’s lodging:
    • When they are trying to locate Smith’s new address, Eve suggests looking for private homes that take in borders, but presumably that was a typo since it should be boarders[7]

Footnotes[]

  1. ↑ Dark in Death, Chapter 9
  2. ↑ In Chapter 1, Eve had come home on time, “out of the claw swipe of late February winds.”
  3. ↑ Dark in Death, Chapter 19
  4. ↑ Dark in Death, Chapter 1
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Dark in Death, Chapter 8
  6. ↑ Dark in Death, Chapter 12
  7. ↑ Dark in Death, Chapter 21
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