Apprentice in Death by J.D. Robb Read Free Book Online

relative. The screening’s pretty thorough, but that doesn’t mean your average violent offender doesn’t slip through.”
    â€œA problem in all areas of life.” Bypassing the coffee, Roarke opted for two fingers of whiskey. “I’ve got your buildings.”
    â€œAlready?”
    â€œThe longest part of the process was designing a program that met the criteria. After that?” He shrugged, sipped.
    â€œYou designed a program?” About half the time, she thought, she could barely operate a program without getting pissed off.
    â€œI did. An interesting experiment.”
    â€œE-geeks are handy. You have the list of potential buildings?”
    â€œI am, and I do. But I thought you’d like a visual. When your office is redone, we’ll be able to do this via hologram, but for now . . .” He set down his whiskey and gestured for her to stand, took her place, tapped some keys.
    A slice of Manhattan flashed on screen.
    â€œThese are the boundaries you gave me, from the crime scene back to the river, with the north and south streets. And here . . .” He tapped another set of keys, and buildings began to fade away.
    â€œOkay, okay, I get it. High-security buildings eliminated. Excellent.”
    â€œAnd buildings under four stories.”
    â€œRight. So these building remaining are potential nests. I need—”
    â€œThere’s more.” Because he was quick, and she was focused on the screen, he had her pulled into his lap before she could object.
    â€œWorking, ace.”
    â€œSo am I. What you see are buildings with a reasonably clear sight line to the targets. But—” Keeping an arm around her waist, he keyed in some more. Several other buildings faded off. “I eliminated those with mid- to high-level security. You might need to factor those in at some point, as there are always ways around security, but for now, those remaining are zero to low-level. Apartments, mid-range hotels, SROs, and flops, your occasional studio for dance or art classes or what have you, a couple of office spaces.”
    â€œWith low-level available, why risk high? But yeah, better to have them on tap if nothing else pans out. If I could—”
    â€œStill more.”
    With another tap, thin blue and red lines flashed on.
    â€œThe blue is your possible—windows or rooftop of these buildings.Red is high probability, again factoring in your theory with Lowenbaum, from the east, low-security building.”
    She started to rise to her feet to get a closer look, but got pulled back down. And considering all, relaxed into it.
    â€œThe program contains an algorithm, utilizes your crime scene footage, with calculations built in for the wind speed, temperature, probable velocity and angle, and . . . more math and calculations than you want to hear about.”
    â€œYou built a program that factors the variables with the known, and gives visual probabilities.”
    â€œIn simple terms, more or less.”
    â€œYou’re not just handy. This is e-genius level.”
    â€œModesty doesn’t prevent me from agreeing. Actually, it was an interesting bit of work.”
    A lot of buildings—a hell of a lot, she considered. But also a hell of a lot less than she’d had to consider a couple hours before.
    So she hooked an arm around his neck, shifted enough to look at him. “I bet it’s not free.”
    â€œDarling, your appreciation is all the payment I need.”
    â€œAnd sex.”
    â€œI thought they were one in the same.” Smiling, he kissed her.
    â€œThis probably rates appreciation sex.” But for now, she shifted again, studied the screen. “How about the buildings with high probability that also have privacy screens—standard.”
    â€œAh, clever girl. You’d hardly want some passerby or gawking tourist with a camera catching you poised with a weapon in a