Random in Death (In Death, #58)

by J.D. Robb

How Avenue A started

The contents, other than cherry fizzy, soy fries, gummy candy, included a junkie’s dream stash. The heroin both she and Morris had suspected, along with ketamine, a trace of potassium chloride—something she knew had once been used in lethal injections before the outlawing of capital punishment. And the surprising addition of Rohypnol. Why add in a date-rape drug when death was the goal? The heroin, confirming Morris’s take, wasn’t Junk, not street-level, but high-octane, and not cut with any of the usual cheap agents. Death was the goal.

What Jenna died from

What she saw when they walked toward the police barricade were Jamie Lingstrom and Quilla Magnum.

Jaime and Quilla!!!!!

Then she stood in that bright light in the buzzing hallway of her state school. She could smell it: sweat, cheap cologne that couldn’t cover the sweat, hints of—forbidden—gum and candy. Whiffs of the even-more-forbidden Zoner wafting from the bathrooms along with the faint aroma of piss. Other kids brushed past her. Some sneered, some snickered, some ignored her as beneath notice. She preferred being ignored. She wore the ugly blue uniform—the pants too short because her legs kept growing, the top baggy because her frame stayed too thin. She’d tried to cut her hair, and made a mess of it, so even pulled back it looked ragged and uneven. She just wanted to get to class. Get through the next class, and the next. Get through the day, get through the night. And mark another off. One day closer to freedom. Freedom came in twenty-two months, one week, and three days. She’d take the money she’d saved from the stingy monthly stipend—the money most of the others blew on snacks or smuggled-in Zoner—and she’d go to New York. Into the Academy. She’d be a cop, and when she was a cop, she’d be somebody. She could get through twenty-two months, one week, and three days more, as long as at the end of it she climbed on a bus headed for New York.

Eve dreams, remembering what it was like at her state school

Big Bitch Brenda

“Huh. I was told shortly ago that all cops are assholes.” “Sometimes you need an asshole to pursue justice.” “That’s a good one,” Eve decided, and went to hunt up her e-geeks.

Assholes pursue justice

“We’ve been together for a while now.” “A nice while.” “We’re careful what we say to each other, sophisticated urbanites that we are.” It made him smile. “Urbanites hits it. I think sophisticated misses me.” “Nope. Here we are, a pair of sophisticated—and I’ll add experienced—urbanites. So we’ve been careful in this nice while. I’m going to toss that away right now and tell you I love you. I love who you are. I’m completely and deeply in love with you. And don’t care that that gives you an advantage.” He stared at her for what seemed like forever. “Okay. Well, it’s a weird sort of time and place for this.” “And yet, here we are.” “Here we are. But I don’t see my advantage, since I love you. I’m completely and deeply in love with you. I think it’s a draw. There’s just one thing.” “What would that be?” “I don’t want to kiss you the way I really need to in here. It feels disrespectful. So let’s go outside.” “Outside, it is. But you’d better make it good.” Outside, as Peabody strapped into the passenger seat, she watched Jake pull Nadine into a kiss. “Aw, look at that. Sweet. And there’s Mac still leaking some, but they’re all applauding. And … ooooh! Look, look! He’s doing the ‘lift you right off your feet, turn you around’ lip-lock. I love those! Don’t you love those? It makes me all gooey.” “Jesus, Peabody, give them some privacy.” “If they want privacy, they should get a room.” “Yeah, you’ve got a point.” As Eve merged with traffic, Peabody craned her head to watch.

Jake and Nadine declare their love for each other