Roarke reclined his back. "What's the meaning of this Eve? Am I a suspect?"

"I have to Mirandized you before I – "

"Answer my bloody question before I break that recorder of yours and shove it outside." he snapped coolly. "Now, am I a suspect?"

His whiplashed anger lanced her heart yet she couldn't blame him for that. Fisting her hand, she stared at him with her straight cop-like eyes. "Do I look like I have some choice here? I'm just following the procedures."

"Fuck your procedures, Eve."

The last time they had this tension was during DeBlass' case.

Back then, they barely knew each other, and unbeknownst to him, she was struggling her best to clear his name. He felt remorse how he hurt her afterward. And with their current state, despite the similarities, was a vital difference – and that was time.

For Roarke, no matter how time had passed, Eve will always be Eve.

So he relaxed on his chair with a resigned thought that this time, he would trust her.

Seeing her husband's cooperation, she activated her recorder and began to recite a Revised Miranda.

"Do you understand your rights and obligation?"

"Yes." was his prompt reply.

Eve successfully battled her emotions when he showed no resistance. "How well do you know Armir Howe?"

"A good associate, and as a US consul to Harmin, a good investor. Eve...", he trailed off upon his realization. "Did Lianna know?"

Eve gave a nod. This made Roarke cursed under his breath.

"When was the last time you talked to him?"

"Yesterday afternoon, around 1500, here in the office. The security will give you the surveillance discs later."

"Appreciate that. What did you talk about?"

"An investment of sorts. There were plans for developing the nation's international airport to accommodate more airline investors and have various direct flights instead of connecting across the borders. He wanted Roarke Airlines to be one of them, and since it was just a plan with no solid activities, I considered it as a bad move. But Armir kept pestering me for a year now, so I resigned and decided to accept his proposal."

So this was what Lianna meant of Roarke being conned, she thought. She never thought that there was someone who could bend Roarke to follow their rules. It was unfortunate that the person died.

"Did you two have scheduled appointments today?"

"No, and it should be tomorrow noon here, and another on Wednesday for the consulate party. From the looks of it, I believe I'm going to cancel them," he answered sadly.

"Did you make a reservation in Pearl Skyline yesterday around 1900 for a small conference today at 0400?"

His brows rose up. "Why would I schedule a conference room in a second-rate hotel if I can set it on my Palace, which is the best?"

Eve thought of that too. It was unusual for him but she wanted to hear him declare it by himself – that he was innocent enough and unaware of what happened. She wanted to clear his name before she indulged herself in the case more.

Roarke was no fool; he has been a cop's spouse for years and participated in several ops enough to read between the lines.

"You mentioned that you don't want Roarke Airlines to be invested, but you did. Why is that?" she asked.

"Well, Armir told me that there's a new discovery of amber mines in the place, and since he had heard my upcoming line of perfumery in the market, he proposed for a tie-up with Harmin. Not only that it could lead to more work opportunities for the citizens there, it would also grant me few legal paper immunities in case I wanted to indulge myself for another investment."

Her husband might have explained it with his cool, business-like tone, but only Eve could see the slight stumbles.

There was something in there, she thought.

"If you would like to know if I have a motive to kill him, my obvious answer is no. My perfume project was barely in its first phase and there are still legal discussions on my airline, so his loss could lead to some jeopardy on my end."

"But in the game of business, there will always be a replacement."

"I agree, but only I could hope that the next one would be as accommodating and wise as his predecessor. Oh, Eve, that's not what I meant.", he said then reached her hands when he saw how her emotions shifted drastically. "I am a businessman and I hate to lose my investment, especially my perfumery since I already released a lot of it."

"Why is that investment so important to you?"

He was stunned. By God, his hands started to get clammy. Roarke never gets scared but this was the only exception. Eve was the last person he wanted to know about it. But after seeing her fighting her emotions for his sake was very painful so much that he would do a suicide gamble.

"It will be a top of the line perfume, hypoallergenic with all-natural ingredients and medicinal benefits. The target for its launch will be next year, the same date as my wedding anniversary, as a gift for my wife." He made an audible gulp. "The brand name is Eve."

If eyeballs could pop, Eve's certainly did. She was beyond shock that her mind was uncharacteristically gone blank.

Roarke, on the other hand, dipped his hands into his pocket. He was blushing profusely he could almost feel his blood spilling on his ears.

The couple went to a dead silence for a minute.

And by God help him, his wife broke a fit of laughter.

"Oh Roarke, I really have no idea what to do to you, whether to punch you because of embarrassment or punch you because of anger. Either way, you deserved it and...and...Oh, shit." she stuttered then pressed the heels of her hands to her eyes.

Roarke immediately moved and cradled her.

"I'm so sorry." she croaked as tears began to leak on her lashes.

"Hush baby, I understand. You're just doing your job.", he said then kissed her brows as he wiped the wetness. "You know, your recorder is still on."

"Interview end. Record off.", she recited then emptied her feelings on his warm embrace.

She left his office after she recovered her bearings without telling Roarke about the case. If during DeBlass' case she was able to spill some to Roarke, this time will be different. She was not the same Eve back then.

When she marched through her bullpen and headed to her commander's office, all cops on her division, including Peabody, darted her some beady looks.

It was obvious that the news about the only two cops in Central that received Paper Epidemic immunity was spreading around.

Feeney was already in Commander Whitney's office, as well as Chief Tibble accompanied by a dark-suited man.

"Dallas, this is Mr. Balam Peters, acting secretary for Harminian consular affairs." Tibble introduced.

Mr. Peters was a small man, almost frail-looking with his puffy red eyes. She was baffled when the secretary moved and hugged her after they shook hands.

"I am so thankful that Armir was under Roarke's cop. I will personally request you if ever the police handed it to somebody else."

"I am everybody's cop, same as all cops in New York, but thank you for the confidence."

When everyone has settled on their seats, Eve remained standing to report her progress.

"Armir Howe, a hotel attendant named Mathilde Kenwood, and an anonymous person have been assaulted between 0430 to 0510 which led to their murder. Before that timeframe, the suspect slipped a heavy dosage of tranquilizers to Lewis Remington, a security personnel assigned in the surveillance room, stole all discs and disabled all sprinkler system, then locked the room from the outside. The Harminian butler named Afef who knows about Howe's agenda went to the said floor and witnessed the aftermath. He called the hotel manager Alice Dwight who then took an action to call the security. When they discovered Remington, they immediately rushed him to the hospital. All bodies were tagged for autopsies to Morris and the crime evidence to Dickie that will be flagged as a top priority."

She took a deep breath then continued.

"Howe has a mid-morning conference with the third victim on the Skyline's conference that was booked under Roarke's name. I have conducted an interview with Roarke today, and he said that he knew the victim personally but he was innocent about the reservations. He has a tight alibi during the assault, Sir."

"How did he take it?" Whitney asked.

"Roarke understood and followed the rules of the law."

When Eve was finished, Feeney stood up to report his findings. All of it was reflected on her timeframe, and with the investigations of the booking, it was revealed that there was no external tapping but internal. The unit was now forwarded to the crime lab for fingerprint scans.

"Thank you for the progress. Both of you are the best under my command, that's why I entrusted you two with this mess. The reason why I called you both is because, in a few hours time, this mess will be sniffed. I want you to prepare yourselves for the worst."

"Feds, spooks or red tape?" Feeney bemused.

"Probably a combination of those three now that the royalty is concerned," Tibble explained. "In seven days, a wedding between the 35th Harminian princess Petun and the magnate Stefanos Levinski will take place here in New York, and with the murder of a Harminian consul in the hotel where the royalty resides, we'll be dealing not only the international media frenzy but also the diplomatic ones."

"Permission to speak, Sir," Dallas asked Whitney

"Permission granted, Dallas."

"The hell with them.", she scoffed indignantly. "Just because we're city cops these people have the right to steal this case. I don't care if I have to butt heads with the President or a King, I will stand as a Primary on this and nobody will ever take it away from me. Armir Howe is mine. Mathilde Kenwood is mine. And the third victim, whoever he or she is, is mine."

"Amen to that." Feeney placed a hand on Eve's shoulder.

Whitney looked at his two subordinates with pride then glanced at Tibble and Peters who happened to share the same impression.

"In behalf of the consulate affairs, you have my whole cooperation. All I want is a full disclosure, and if possible, I want to avoid some troubles on the upcoming celebration." Peters said then looked at Eve. "I'll be replacing Armir's place in introducing the royalty, and I believe Roarke got the invitation."

"Yes, and he's quite excited.", she confessed. She wasn't sure if Roarke's enthusiasm didn't dwindle down after the event.

Whitney folded his hands. "It's a favor on our side, Dallas."

"I have some request, Commander."

"Proceed."

"I want to form a task force for this." she went on. "With its sensitivity, we have to cover several bases. We also have a missing person, still undetermined whether alive or dead. This person might be the answer to our motive."

"What if there's no third victim here?" Tibble asked.

"It would conflict with our crime scene, Chief. Two victims showed no struggles, and I believe the autopsy will favor my DOS theory."

"It will be granted.", the commander said as he began to brainstorm some briberies that he could use to the Records Division. If he was able to pull the root out, then why not the branches?

"Thank you, Commander. My partner, Detective Peabody will be on this sir, same with Detective Baxter and his partner Detective Trueheart. Feeney might need some aid as well such as Detective McNab and our Expert, Civilian Consultant. I'll be tagging Dr. Mira as well for profiling our perpetrator once I got the result."

"So be it. Now that our meeting has adjourned, both of you are dismissed."