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Payback in Death

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“She considered the circumstances where she might actually drink iced cart coffee, and found none.” - Eve, Payback in Death[1]

Plot Summary[]

Lieutenant Eve Dallas is just home from a long overdue vacation when she responds to a call of an unattended death. The victim is Martin Greenleaf, retired Internal Affairs Captain. At first glance, the scene appears to be suicide, but the closer Eve examines the body, the more suspicious she becomes.

An unlocked open window, a loving wife and family, a too-perfect suicide note―Eve's gut says it's a homicide. After all, Greenleaf put a lot of dirty cops away during his forty-seven years in Internal Affairs. It could very well be payback―and she will not rest until the case is closed.

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

Timeline[]

Story Date: end of July/beginning of August, 2061[2]

Note: The bulk of the story takes place in August, but no actual dates are ever given, just the reference to it being August in New York during the investigation, and that Greenleaf was murdered on a Sunday (Chapter 5).

7 Days before Day 1[]

Chapter 1[]

  • Eve and Roarke are on their 3rd Anniversary trip. They’ve just finished off 2 weeks in Greece, then it’s off to see Roarke’s family in Ireland
  • The family has a feast ready and are all gathered to welcome them for a visit.
  • While visiting Roarke’s family, Eve gives him his anniversary gift: a painting done by Yancy of Eve and Roarke and all of the Ireland family on the farm including Roarke’s mother Siobhan, Summerset, and Galahad.
  • Eve tells Sean that when the family comes to New York during Thanksgiving, she will take him on a tour of Cop Central. He has been following her cases on the internet. Sean is determined to be a cop who loves to farm when he grows up.
  • Next morning, Eve and Sinead talk about Roarke. Eve assures Sinead that it’s okay that the family let baby Roarke go years ago, because they took him in again when he came back.
  • Sinead is appalled to find that Roarke is mucking out in the fields in boots that cost at least $5000.
  • A few days later, Eve finds Roarke milking a cow. He tells her it’s “Very satisfying.” She says: “Yeah, I bet. What man wouldn’t want to get his hands on a tit that big?”

Day 1 - Sunday[]

Chapter 2[]

  • After a week in Ireland, they arrive back in New York, and both of them are glad to be home. Roarke had Summerset hang his new painting in the front parlor. Summerset mentioned being honored to be included in the painting and Eve replied, “You’re his real father, so...”
  • As Eve and Roarke are getting ready to spend the last night of their vacation watching a vid and eating popcorn, Eve gets a call from Central.
  • “Dispatch, Dallas, Lieutenant Eve. Official request for your assistance from Webster, Lieutenant Donald. Unattended death, 14 Leonard Street, apartment 321. Will you respond as primary?”
  • As Eve and Roarke drive to the scene, Eve realizes that the address belongs to Captain Martin Greenleaf (retired), who is essentially Webster’s Feeney.
  • As they drive, they talk about Webster and how he has spent a lot of time off planet visiting Darcia Angelo.
  • When she and Roarke get to the scene, Webster tells her that it looks like suicide, but that Greenleaf would never do that. Eve can tell he is a mess and struggling with grief. She won’t let him talk to her until after she looks at the scene. After thoroughly going over the scene, Eve agrees. The scene is set to look like Greenleaf used a police stunner to kill himself.
  • She recognizes that the suicide note is impersonal. Also, when walking through the apartment, only one window is unlocked. It happens to be in the master bedroom leading to the fire escape. If the suicide was staged, the killer also didn’t know that Greenleaf was expecting Don Webster to drop in for a visit.
  • Webster tells Eve that Greenleaf was like a father to him, since his parents split up when he was young and his father didn’t have much interest in the role.
  • She lets the sweepers and morgue team in. Her initial call is that it is a suspicious death.
  • Webster asks Eve to let him tell the widow the news when she arrives home. Eve just tells him to do it fast.

Chapter 3[]

  • The head sweeper (Frowicki) tells Eve that they only found Greenleaf’s prints on the weapon, but that the fact that the prints on the stunner were so clear and perfect is suspicious. Also, there are no prints on the bedroom window lock or on any of the windows in the bedroom.
  • Greenleaf’s wife, Beth, comes back home from girls’ night with friends. She has her upstairs neighbor, Elva Arnez, with her. Webster breaks the news to her. Beth breaks down and Webster picks her up to comfort her.
  • Eve briefly questions Arnez before letting her go home. Arnez tells Eve she was in the apartment and in the Greenleafs’ bedroom that evening before she and Beth left for the girls’ night.
  • Eve then questions Beth Greenleaf, who walks through the timeline and tells Eve that Greenleaf admired her. Webster tells Beth that he asked Eve to lead the investigation because she’s not just as good as everyone thinks, she’s probably better.
  • Beth tells Eve that every time she washes the windows, her husband would check and make sure they are all locked. Once they were locked they always stayed locked because that is how Greenleaf wanted it.
  • Eve has her pack a bag and Webster takes her to be with her family and tell them. She mentions that Greenleaf told her that Dallas was an exceptional police office, one of honor, of duty and integrity.
  • Once Beth Greenleaf and Webster leave the apartment, Eve walks through again with Roarke. She can’t rule out suicide, but she thinks it’s murder: 1. Because of the prints on the weapon; 2. Because of the impersonal suicide note; 3. Because of the unlocked window in the master bedroom.

Day 2 - Monday[]

Chapter 4[]

  • Eve woke up earlier than planned. While hoping to go back to sleep, she goes over what she knows about the case.
  • While enjoying her shower, she goes over her plans for the day. As she walks into the bedroom she is thrilled that Roarke announces waffles for breakfast.
  • Whitney calls before they can eat and she briefs him on the case. Whitney thinks Webster finding the body is a disadvantage. Eve thinks otherwise and points out that the killer didn’t expect anyone so his finding Greenleaf so soon gave them a jump on things. He asks her to keep him apprised and let him know when she has determined homicide.
  • As they eat, she and Roarke go over points of the case, like the unlocked window, having the game on, and planning on Webster coming over.
  • Eve walks into her closet and stresses because she is out of practice on picking an outfit. Roarke helps guide her through it.
  • They hear the clang of food domes. Roarke head off to chase Galahad. Eve comments, “I wonder what your business rivals would think if they knew you argue with your cat.”
  • They go to her office and set up the case board (not yet a murder board).
  • As Eve heads out, Roarke thinks of Elizabeth Greenleaf facing her first day alone and rubs the gray button in his pocket.
  • Eve arrives at the Greenleafs’ and checks out the fire escape. She brought a hook along to bring it down to street level. When she hit the second floor a woman stuck her head out of the window, wielding a large fork. Eve asks her if she saw anyone on the fire escape the night before and she says she didn’t.
  • Heading into the building, she does another walkthrough. She climbs out the window and does a count of how long it would take to get in and kill Greenleaf.
  • Letting Peabody in they chatter as they walk through the scene (or Peabody does). As Peabody looks in the closet, Eve asks her if she heard “that.” Eve unlocked the window and Peabody didn’t hear anything.

Chapter 5[]

  • Arnez and her boyfriend, Denzel Robards, lived two floors up, directly above the Greenleafs. Eve and Peabody ask to come in and talk to them.
  • Arnez talks about how in shock she is and how much she enjoyed Beth.
  • Robards said he was home the night before; he just watched a video and had popcorn and beer.
  • Eve tests them out by mentioning that they need to determine if his death was because of foul play or self-termination.
  • As they left, Dallas mentioned them having their windows open, just to put the open windows in their heads. Eve tells Peabody that their answers are almost like they were practiced.
  • Eve and Peabody went in different directions, with Eve heading to the morgue. Morris tells Eve there is nothing in Greenleaf's body that indicated anything unusual. They looked at the stunner marks and both commented that the stunner was jammed in hard and held a bit, something that Greenleaf would know is unnecessary.
  • Morris explains that if he held the stunner to his own throat, the marks would not be distinct and the body would have convulsed and he could not have held a weapon there for 5-6 seconds.
  • It is homicide.
  • Back at Cop Central, Eve walks into homicide and over to Jenkinson. She puts on sunshades and talks to all her detectives. In her office, a black balloon is floating with the saying “Bad guys beware! Dallas is back in town.”
  • She and Peabody go to the conference room where Webster is waiting. Eve informs him that the case is officially a homicide.
  • Eve surprises Peabody by telling Webster that Peabody will take his statement. They proceed through the interview.

Chapter 6[]

  • As they walk out of the conference room, Eve hears shouting in the bullpen. Two unknown cops are there, and one is getting into it with Jenkinson. Before Jenkinson takes a swing, Eve intervenes. Lansing from IAB starts yelling about them covering up Greenleaf’s death as a suicide. Lansing gives Eve a shove and she has to calm Jenkinson down. She tells Lansing her recorder has been on the entire time and she is reporting him for disciplinary action and suggests he leave.
  • Just as Lansing gets ready to punch Eve, Whitney storms in and tells him to stand down. As he storms off to wait at Whitney’s office, Dennison apologizes for not being able to control him.
  • Eve takes Whitney into her office to watch the recording instead of telling him what happened. After reviewing the video, Whitney tells her Lansing is done. There had been enough incidents before this and his career has ended.
  • Whitney asks Eve how she kept her own control. She said it was hard but if she had swung on him the entire bullpen would have also and they didn’t deserve that on their records.
  • Before he leaves, he tells Eve that Jenkinson passed his DS exam. They walk out together over to his desk. Jenkinson is still upset and mad he wasn’t able to take action. Eve tells him she appreciates the backup. “I appreciate the sentiment and the backup, Detective Sergeant Jenkinson.”
  • Congratulations go out all around. Eve gives them 5 minutes of lunacy before they have to go back to work.
  • Back in her office she writes up Lansing and then starts to dig into the Greenleafs' lives. After that, she starts to dig into Robards and Arnez. Robards stood out for loyalty and family. At first glance, there was no connection between either of them and the Greenleafs until they moved into the same building.
  • She wondered what Arnez had in common with the older women in their “friend” group, but then thought about her own friends’ eclecticism: Mavis, Louise, Charles, Nadine, Peabody, McNab, Reo, Mira, Mr. Mira, Morris, her bullpen, Roarke.
  • Webster texted her that the family was all together again and it was a good time to interview them. She gathers up her case items and she and Peabody head out.

Chapter 7[]

  • As they head over to the Greenleafs’ home, Peabody tells Eve that Lansing came at her before Jenkinson stepped in. Eve is annoyed she hadn’t told her, but Peabody points out there wasn’t time. Eve orders her to write it up when they are done.
  • Because Lansing had threatened to kick Peabody’s fat ass, Eve tells her, “And because I know this single point will stick in your craw, let me dispute it, factually. You don’t have a fat ass.”
  • Webster lets them into the Greenleafs’ townhouse and introduces them to everyone. As they chat amongst each other, the conversation slowly moves towards the case.
  • All the grown children mentioned a cop that had Greenleaf worried 17 years ago and cautioning them all. Adam Carson was arrested and given life in prison. He was killed in prison years ago.
  • They also told her that Serene Brenner, a former detective, was desperate and Greenleaf wanted his family to be careful.
  • One child said that it had to be a cop. Eve says she doesn’t believe it was. Eve points out that the person made mistakes a trained cop wouldn’t make.
  • As they leave, Eve tells them that she considered Captain Greenleaf to have died in the line of duty.

Chapter 8[]

  • Eve and Peabody head over to Open Doors to interview Serene Brenner. Serene knew right away they were there about Greenleaf. When Eve asked for her whereabouts, she lied about the TOD and Brenner admitted she didn’t have an alibi for that time. Brenner admitted she had screwed up when she was being taken down. She started at Open Doors once she got out of prison to try and avoid gambling. Eve gives her a break when she mentions looking at the security feed that it was a time she actually did have an alibi for.
  • They next went to interview another one of the women that had been out with Beth Greenleaf the night before. She was able to give them a history of the members of their “club.”
  • Eve agrees to drop Peabody off at home, which turns into her dropping her off at the house so she can get a bit of a tour.

Chapter 9[]

  • Eve contacts Roarke and they agree to meet at The Great House Project. Peabody excitedly bounces on her seat in the DLE and Eve tells her that “Joyful bouncing is forbidden on the job.”
  • Eve mentions that when she first saw Arnez, “She had a ... look.” It was just for a second when Webster opened the apartment door.
  • When they arrive at the house, Eve finds that the DLE is on the “Open Sesame” list. Eve is impressed on the outside with all the changes that have been done in a couple of months.
  • Mavis comes out to great them and then Bella zooms out to jump in Eve’s arms. She tells Eve she loves her. Mavis suggests they go to Peabody’s side since she didn’t see that during the Dorian interview.
  • Eve is amazed when she sees Peabody’s water feature. She tells Peabody what a great job she did.
  • Peabody shows off her kitchen and Eve is impressed with it too. Then she shows off the dining room. She tells Eve how they found an old table like the kind her dad made. When she checked, she found his name on the underside, so they had to buy it.
  • Next up is the living room, powder room, and office. As they leave, Roarke tells Eve he estimates they will be in the house by mid-September.

Chapter 10[]

  • They arrive home and immediately head for Eve’s office. She managed to convince Roarke on spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. While they eat she asks him to dig into Arnez and Robards’ financials because they ring for her.
  • Eve meets with Whitney over holo to give him an update. Whitney warns her to watch her six because Lansing was immediately terminated and did not take it well.
  • Eve gets back to work after the update. She starts looking at cops that Greenleaf and IAB had put away.
  • Roarke indicates that the finances of Arnez and Robards show nothing out of the norm. Two hours later they stop for the night and head to bed. And, of course, they do the thing.

Day 3 - Tuesday[]

Chapter 11[]

  • Once again jet lag has Eve waking up early. She decides to hit the gym and selects a treadmill program called Flight or Fight. Eve ended up running through New York fighting off zombies.
  • Over breakfast Roarke tells her that he is having a meeting on “her building” that afternoon and that Stone was moving his club and living quarters to New Jersey.
  • Eve mentions that Peabody had gone gooey eyed over a lamp a metal artist they interviewed during Encore in Death had made, and that a garden sculpture Eliza Lane had commissioned from him would go well for Mavis. Roarke agrees to take a look at them for housewarming gifts.
  • They then shift to the case and Eve wonders if the murder is a “mirror.” Payback for someone who committed suicide.
  • Eve heads off to Central, running through different theories as she drives to work.
  • As she pulls into the garage she sees Lansing lying in wait for her. She mentions the garage cams are watching but he doesn’t care. As he starts for her, Baxter pulls up and starts to intervene but Eve tells him to stay back. Lansing backhands her (she lets him) and then the fight starts. Once he punches her intentionally in the breast she takes him down. As she reaches for her cuffs he pulls a stunner and misses her but hits Baxter.
  • Baxter indicates he has Thin Shield on but they are both in disbelief that Lansing pulled a weapon on them. She reads him his rights while Baxter parks and has Baxter take him in. Then she heads to Mira’s office.
  • Mira walks in right as Eve gets to her office. Both she and the admin exclaim over her being hurt. Mira takes her in her office and tends to her injuries. She tells Eve she will personally handle Lansing’s psych evaluation. [Seems like a conflict of interest, but...] They then shift the conversation to Greenleaf. Mira leans to the same conclusion that Eve has come to, that the murderer is responding to someone Greenleaf took down who committed suicide, that it is a vendetta.
  • Eve mentions that the neighbors don’t seem to have any family connection to a dead cop. Mira responded that “Family’s where you make it, isn’t it?”
  • As she walks into the bullpen Jenkinson leaps up and shows more of his expertise with the F word. Then they let her know Whitney is waiting in her office.
  • Peabody asks if she is okay. Eve responds, “I haven’t been in my office and I’ve been punched in the face, in the fucking tit. I’ve been wanded and cold-packed, and now I have to go over it all with the commander before I can do my damn job. I’ve been better.”
  • Whitney orders Eve to sit and gets them both coffee. He tells her he reviewed the garage cams. She indicated that Lansing has an issue with her and didn’t care about the repercussions. What mattered was paying her back.
  • As he leaves, Eve closes her eyes, wanting just one minute to relax, but hears Peabody’s clomp coming her way.

Chapter 12[]

  • Peabody walks in with another ice pack for Eve. She also cons Eve into taking a blocker by threatening to tag Roarke. She asks what Peabody is so pissed off about and Peabody goes on a rant about Lansing attacking their LT and Baxter. It takes a while, but Eve calms her down.
  • One of their next angles to investigate is the murder weapon. Getting a police issue is not supposed to be allowed.
  • Eve heads up to EDD to talk with Feeney. The word about Lansing’s attack had already spread to him. Eve is annoyed with everyone commenting on her being punched in the breast. Feeney agrees to help on the weapons search.
  • Just as she is getting back to work, Webster steps into her office. Once again Lansing is brought up. He mentions how he used to think he was crazy about Eve, but after Roarke kicked his butt, Beth and Martin told him he had crossed the line. “That’s family, they’ll mop you up and tell you the truth.”
  • He tells her that he went over to Greenleaf’s the other night to talk to him about something. What he wanted to talk about was that he turned in his papers. He wants to join Darcia Angelo on Olympus Resort. He wants to train cops on Olympus since it wouldn’t cut it to work for Angelo.
  • Just as he rises to leave, Chief Angelo steps into her doorway. She hugs Webster and tells him how worried she is about him since Martin Greenleaf’s murder.
  • After Webster leaves Angelo mentions she can tell Eve doesn’t approve of their decision. Eve tells her that she thinks what matters is she came, and her coming helped lift some of his stress and grief.
  • After a while, Eve heads out with Peabody to interview some more possibles. Peabody tells her that Lansing had a file he kept on Eve since Nadine Furst’s first book came out.
  • Their first stop is a PI named Lord. As they walk into his office he says he didn’t kill Greenleaf, but is not sorry he is dead.

Chapter 13[]

  • His daughter was a crooked cop who took her own life. He blamed all of her superiors for not standing up for her, even though she broke a child’s arm during an arrest. He was also a former cop and knew she did wrong, but thought others should have stepped up earlier to retrain her. He’d been surveilling a cheating wife the night of the murder.
  • Their final interview is with Steven Oglebee. [Note: He seems like a fine presidential candidate.] He spews a lot of filth and misogynistic crap. Near the end Peabody snaps and turns on him, spewing out a solid insult. They wonder how Oglebee can afford a lot of fancy top-of-the-line furnishings on his salary. Eve is about to reach out to Roarke to ask him to dig in but Peabody suggests she just text him so he won’t see her beat up until she gets home.
  • As they head back to the bullpen at Central, Eve starts thinking about the comment Peabody made about Lansing starting a file on her after Nadine’s first book. She reaches out to Nadine and it turns out Lansing hit on her pretty hard. He wouldn’t take no for an answer even though he was married. She finally told him to back off and he was pissed but did so.

Chapter 14[]

  • Eve updates her reports on the case back in her office and also sends Whitney and Mira an update on Lansing. Baxter offers his and Trueheart’s help on the digging.
  • As she heads out for the day, she talks over a possible with Trueheart. She tells him to go with Baxter to look into it. She does a few more interviews on her way home.
  • As she walks in the house, Summerset immediately comments on the injuries she had mostly forgotten about.
  • Roarke walks into the bedroom before she has a chance to do another wanding. She tells him about the surprise attack by Lansing. She calms Roarke down and while he tends to her she fills him in on Nadine’s non-relationship with Lansing.
  • While they eat pizza for dinner, Roarke lets her know what he already dug up on Oglebee. It appears he is poorly washing funds for clients, which brings in a nice side income. He also found that he is doing jobs for low level mobsters.
  • Baxter calls to update her on Trueheart’s possible. They were not involved in the murder but were involved in other criminal activity, so were arrested.
  • While Roarke tends to the injuries again before bed she tells him about Jenkinson getting upset and Peabody making her take a blocker but also not worry Roarke. He tells her that they are not just cops, that she has made a family.
  • They talk about Webster and Angelo making a life together.
  • As they go to bed, she asks him to make a pact that neither of them will want to leave planet Earth to live somewhere else. He agrees, with the stipulation that it won’t happen unless Earth gets uninhabitable.
  • In her dreams she talks to Greenleaf about all the cops he investigated during his career. He indicates they haunt him because they were wrong cops and that now they will haunt her. At that point the pictures on the walls become men and women in ghostly shapes who fall on Greenleaf like wolves.

Day 4 - Wednesday[]

  • Roarke and Galahad pull her out of the dream and she tells Roarke about it.

Chapter 15[]

  • As they eat breakfast, they discuss Greenleaf and the crooked cops more. She happily dresses in all black in case she can make Greenleaf’s memorial that day but doesn’t have time to get into uniform.
  • She heads out for the day, on the way to meet Peabody at the home of the daughter of Captain Louis Noy. He had taken his own life with his service weapon while under investigation for a career full of corruption. His family lost everything after his suicide and five months later his son hanged himself.
  • Peabody meets her at Noy’s apartment. Taylor is surprised to be a suspect. Her alibi is that she was covering a Mets home game during the TOD. She indicated that her dad was a great father, but she then learned that outside the home he was a liar, cheater, thief, manipulator, and more. She noticed that things changed at home and on the night a guy asked her out for her first date she went down to check with her father and found him dead.
  • She told them she didn’t blame Greenleaf; she blamed everything on her father.

Chapter 16[]

  • After interviewing Taylor Noy, Eve and Peabody interview a couple more, including Onkar Jain, whose daughter, Divya, was part of Lou Noy’s syndicate. Onkar was angry at Greenleaf, but Eve and Peabody don’t think he had anything to do with Greenleaf’s murder.
  • The next likely is Cela Spaceck, who was engaged to an Ansel Hobbs, who had taken bribes, planted evidence, doctored it, and altered reports for money.
  • Eve tells Peabody that she knew Hobbs and that she and Hobbs had sex once. Then later, after she had made Detective, she saw him at the Blue Line and “got an itch,” meaning, she felt something was off. So, when it came out that IAB was investigating him, she wasn’t surprised. Just to keep things within the lines, Eve has Peabody do the interview.
  • Spaceck tells them that when Hobbs found out he was being investigated, he wanted to run and take her with him. She left him instead and he ended up committing suicide. After questioning Spaceck, they don’t think she’s involved.
  • Back at Central, the elevator had a puddle of pee in it. Peabody calls her new friend in maintenance, Hazel.
  • When they get to the bullpen, they see Webster in his dress blues sitting on a bench. He follows her to her office. She tells him what her current theory is, but cautions him not to share the info with the family.
  • After Webster leaves, Feeney enters the bullpen. Eve thinks: He looked more hangdog than usual. Peabody must have seen it, too, as she simply stepped back and left them alone.

Chapter 17[]

  • Feeney comes to Eve’s office with two more possible suspects. But really, he is just very sad about all of the bad cops that they’re having to look at. Eve decides to pretend to be Roarke and make Feeney eat. They share a hamburger and french fries at her desk. Feeney laughs when Eve pulls a combat knife out of her desk to cut the burger.
  • Eve and Peabody change into their dress blues and go to Greenleaf’s memorial. It was held outdoors. They watch the crowd to see reactions and who came.
  • When they get back later after more interviews, Roarke is sitting on Jenkinson’s desk. Eve tells him about Feeney.
  • They talk about the weapon that was used, and how they’re unable to trace it. Then Eve realizes that the age of the weapon could be another clue.
  • She held up a finger. “Wait. Another possible filter there. Shit, I missed that. Shit. Who was on the job on the list during the period that model was issued? I’ve accounted for the model—and the logs checked. But logs can be doctored, and not a stretch if you’re dirty anyway. Take care of the ID number, and you’ve got a drop piece. “I missed it.” “Seems as though you’ve caught it,” Roarke corrected.
  • Baxter comes in and thanks Roarke for the Thin Shield.
  • Roarke’s about to leave when Eve gets a tag on her phone: Male victim, Greenleaf, Benjamin, found hanging by the neck on premises, currently unconscious, transported to Saint Anne’s Hospital. Called in by Webster, Detective Donald, (YANNI) with request for your immediate dispatch.
  • Eve, Peabody and Roarke head for Eve’s car. Eve is more convinced than ever that the Noy family is the key to the case.

Chapter 18[]

  • Eve, Peabody and Roarke head to the Greenleafs'.
  • YANNI: The officer on the door says: “Lieutenant. Sir, Detective Webster is inside, and the scene is secure. I have the door. My counterpart has the rear. Two uniform officers are assisting the detective.”
  • Another Officer is at the upstairs door, and there’s another YANNI: “Sir. The nine-one-one came in at sixteen-forty-eight, for the MTs and a police response. My partner and I arrived along with the MTs at sixteen-forty-two.” (YANNI Note - Detective Webster is repeated at least two more times).
  • Webster and Darcia describe what happened with Ben. Eve notices blood on the floor. Webster tells her Ben was hit on the back of the head before he was hanged. Eve finds a Little League trophy with blood on it. He and Darcia had been careful to not compromise the scene any more than needed. Between Webster and Eve they are sure it took two people, one to haul him up, another to put the noose on him.
  • Eve walks around the second floor and finds the killer(s) walked out a door in the main bedroom and onto a small terrace before leaving.
  • Roarke checks the security system and finds it was shut down an hour before the incident. The room with the security equipment is in the basement where all the kids were gathered. Arnaz and Robards left about 30-45 minutes before the attack.
  • At the hospital, Webster meets Eve and tells her Ben is going to make it.
  • Eve and Peabody question a few of the kids and finds that Robards had been down to the basement just prior to the security system being shut down.
  • The doctor comes in and announces that Ben is awake and responsive. Mina and Dory are allowed 5 minutes to go back to talk to him. Eve tells the doctor it is important she talks with him ASAP.

Chapter 19[]

  • Eve is finally allowed to go talk to Ben Greenleaf. He tells her he went upstairs because he got a text from his daughter Dory saying: “Please, Daddy, don’t say anything. Come up to the Kid Zone—we call it Kid Zone. Can’t remember … Too many people. Sad. Please. Don’t tell Mom.”
  • The door to the room was closed. He opened it and it was dark inside. He doesn’t remember anything after that. He asks Eve to tell him what happened, and she tells him.
  • Eve goes back to the waiting room. She asks Dory to give her the 'link. Dory says she can’t find it. Eve asks for the numbers for Ben’s and Dory’s 'links, then gives the numbers to Roarke to track.
  • Eve tries to get in touch with the Noys to ask if they know Arnez, but isn’t able to reach them. She gives Roarke those numbers to track as well. He tells her that the Noys are in Vegas at a wedding chapel.
  • They drop Peabody off at Central and head home. They get stuck in a traffic jam. Eve asks: “Why haven’t you come up with something that just poofs us from here to there?” Once Roarke points out that people, clothes, machinery might get mixed up, she gives up on that idea.

Chapter 20[]

  • Eve and Roarke get home to see Summerset in the hallway: “Together and unbloodied. A good day.” “Not for everybody,” Eve said as the cat padded over to ribbon between her legs. “I want to check in with the sweepers,” she added and headed for the stairs.
  • They both work for an hour, then take a break to have dinner and discuss the case. Eve’s annoyed that Taylor Noy hasn’t answered her back yet.
  • After dinner, Eve decides to message Noy again and then she and Roarke take a walk.
  • “I know how it sounds, but there was a look. When Arnez and Elizabeth Greenleaf got back to the apartment on the night of the murder. When Webster opened the door, Arnez had a look.” “What sort of look?” “Excitement. Just for an instant when the door opened. Just a…” Eve snapped her fingers. “But it was there, in her eyes. I saw it. Then came confusion, then calculation. Boom, boom, boom,” she said, snapping her fingers again. “I saw it, and I thought: She’s in this.” “I didn’t see it, but I was looking more at the wife. Why weren’t you?” “She wasn’t going to be in it. Webster. He’s not stupid, not naïve. Everything he said about her, about their marriage, the family. She wasn’t going to be in it. But she’s got somebody with her. Who the hell is this? And why is she excited?” “If you saw it, it was there.” “Excitement, confusion, calculation. All there and gone in the time it takes to breathe in and out again. And.” “And, and, and. When we talked to them the next morning, everything was so damn pat. He’s all about how she had a terrible night, was so upset. He’s a little nervous, but covers it well.” He knew his cop, so played to that. “People are often nervous after the murder of someone they knew, and with cops at the door. It’s more than that.” “Yeah, more. She comes out, and her eyes are wet, but they’re not red, not swollen. She doesn’t strike me as somebody who’s in emotional upheaval—but she plays it that way. He’s protective, solicitous. It’s all about her for him.”
  • Roarke lets her get all her thoughts about the case out, then he convinces her to do the thing outside by the pond.

Day 5 - Thursday[]

Chapter 21[]

  • A drunk Taylor Noy calls Eve back at 4:00am and they set up a meet at her mom's house for that afternoon.
  • On her way to Central, she stops to interview Professor Elaine Gleason, who taught Brice Noy.
  • Back at Central, Eve briefs Peabody, Baxter, and Trueheart. Then Eve and Peabody work on eliminating some more suspects before heading back to Central.
  • At Central Eve meets with Mira and lays out all the evidence she has so far.
  • Then Eve and Peabody head out for the meet with Taylor Noy and her mother. The Noys describe what happened years ago when Lou and Brice Noy committed suicide.

Chapter 22[]

  • Eve asks the Noys if Brice had any girlfriends. They mention “Ellie.” Eve shows them a photo of Arnez, and they identify her as Ellie. They indicate she was outraged at Captain Greenleaf for Noy's death.
  • Eve contacts Baxter and Truehart, and tells them to keep an eye on Robards until they’re ready to pick him up. She then contacts Reo for a warrant. Eve then contacts Nadine to let her know that they’re about to break the Greenleaf case.
  • When the arrest warrants come through, Eve tells Baxter and Trueheart to pick up Robards and she and Peabody take Arnez down in her clothing store.
  • Eve and Peabody search Arnez and Robards’ apartment and find a ton of evidence, including the cell phones they took from the Greenleafs, rope, and an old cell phone that Arnez kept that still had texts on it between her and Brice Noy. Arnez has a memory box filled with pictures and things of Brice and family.
  • In her office, Eve goes over the evidence with Reo.

Chapter 23[]

  • Eve tells Peabody to take Robards. Peabody goes at him hard, showing him all the evidence they have. He denies it at first, then finally says it was all him and Elva didn’t know anything about it.
  • Between interviews, Eve goes back to her office. When Webster tags her she lets him know they have them.
  • They question Elva, and Eve takes the lead, immediately bringing up Elva’s connection to the Noy family and the similarities between the deaths in that family and the murder/attempted murder in the Greenleaf case.
  • Eve then shows Elva everything they found in her apartment. Elva complains about her privacy being violated.
  • Elva says that Denzel will vouch for her, then pivots to Denzel did it all himself. Then, pivots again to: “Denzel can’t plan his way out of a grease-soaked job in someone else’s garage. I gave my father and the man I love justice.” Her lawyer then quits. Eve manages to get a full confession out of Arnez.
  • As she walked to the door, Eve glanced back. Yeah, she thought. She could be petty. “I bet Brice Noy never banged you. Not even a pity bang.” Arnez looked at her with dead eyes. “I’ll kill you one day.” “You go right ahead and believe that. Maybe it’ll get you through the decades after the first few.”

Epilogue[]

  • Eve steps out of interview and to Observation. Whitney and Reo tell her she did a damned good job.
  • Webster asks for a few minutes in her office in private. He says that he will tell the family and then will be heading to Olympus. She wishes he and Darcia good luck. He gives her a hug and says Thanks.
  • Webster leaves and Roarke comes in. Eve suggests that they take her bullpen to Roarke’s Irish pub for dinner. “…I think I’d like a couple hours and a couple beers with good cops and the people who work with them. I think I could really use that.” “It’s a wonder to me that I find I’d enjoy a couple hours with good cops as well. I’ll arrange it.”
  • Roarke says “Good work, Lieutenant.” “I didn’t do it alone,” she said as he left. She’d had good cops and the people who work with them.

Character List[]

List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Recurring Characters Appearing in this Book[]

List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book[]

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

Memorable Quotations[]

YANNIs[]

  • Steven Oglebee’s age: he was either 32 (Chapter 13) or 33 (Chapter 12).
  • Webster’s rank - should be Lieutenant:
    • Affirmative, Male victim, Greenleaf, Benjamin, found hanging by the neck on premises, currently unconscious, transported to Saint Anne’s Hospital. Called in by Webster, Detective Donald, with request for your immediate dispatch. (Chapter 17)
    • The officer on the door says: “Lieutenant. Sir, Detective Webster is inside, and the scene is secure. I have the door. My counterpart has the rear. Two uniform officers are assisting the detective.” (Chapter 18)
  • Time discrepancy:
    • An officer at the upstairs door at the Metcalf home to Eve: “Sir. The nine-one-one came in at sixteen-forty-eight, for the MTs and a police response. My partner and I arrived along with the MTs at sixteen-forty-two.” (Chapter 18)

Footnotes[]

  1. ↑ Payback in Death, Chapter 15
  2. ↑ Payback in Death begins during the last part of Eve and Roarke’s three week anniversary trip, in Ireland (Chapter 1); their anniversary is in July. The rest of the book takes place in New York in the summer, with Roarke telling Eve, “It’s still August” (Chapter 21) and Eve wondering why people would shop for sweaters in August (Chapter 22).
  3. ↑ Payback in Death, Chapter 8
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