As Eve strode inside her bullpen, she saw her partner Peabody chatting with Santiago and Charmichael about the rubber chicken.

“Peabody!”, she called her, “My office.”

When Peabody followed her behind, she said, “Lock the door.”

“Do we have a hot case?”

Eve sat at her swivelling chair. “Where’s my hot coffee?”

Peabody rolled her eyes as she fetched two mugs. “There was some trending news last night, a hot-pursuit incident about a mafia clan chasing a high-powered vehicle in Italy. It’s like one-versus-all according to the news reporter in one channel, comparing it to a James Bond movie. Carmichael downloaded the video footage, and it looks like one! Too bad the images were blurry. Do you think those couple were Feds or spies or something…”

“My father might be alive.”

A crash of ceramic mugs sounded as the coffee spilled on the floor.

“What the fuck did you – ”, Eve voiced out but stopped when she saw Peabody’s paled expression, with tears started to form in her eyes. She quivered.

Before Eve could stand, Peabody launched herself and hugged her. “Dallas, I…”

“Oh quit it, Peabody. I’m just speculating, okay?”, she said while rolling her eyes.

Then she relayed everything.

Peabody was dumbfounded as she listened to the events. “What did Roarke do?”

“Well, I convinced him I’m fine, and Mira supported me. I’m not supposed to act that way, but it gets into me, and it’s annoying how weakling I was.”

“You’re not weakling, Dallas. In fact, you’re the toughest person I have ever known. And I adore you for that.”

“That’s why I’m a bitch cop, remember?”

It made Peabody chuckled, and then wiped her tears. “We’re going to re-open McQueen’s case.”

“I would like to request that you do it personally, though I may sound so averse.”, Eve explained. “It’ll look like there’s an ulterior motive if I did it, especially if someone make a review on the case and see my connection to the Unsub.”

“I understand. You don’t want to be bias in our system, and at the same time, you wanted to prepare yourself on the impact of what we’re going to discover. I’m happy that you told me about your childhood, and also for letting me handle this case. You trusted me.”

“We’re partners, that’s why.”

When Peabody puckered again, Eve groaned. “Oh for the love of God, don’t make me slug you this time, and I swear I’m going to stun you if you jump on me again!”

“I love you, Dallas.”

Before Eve could reply, her communicator beeped:

Dispatch, Dallas, Lieutenant Eve. Unattended homicide at Hundred-Six East Side Street.

“Peabody, Detective Delia is tagged for assistance. Dallas out.”

When Eve slipped her communicator in her pocket, Peabody shrugged. “Geez, our day always starts with death.”

“If we don’t have dead people, we will lose our job. So be thankful.”, she commented, then stopped half-way. “Could you fix yourself first? You look horrible. If you go out in this office everybody might assume I slapped you.”

“Meaney.”

Eve and Peabody arrived at the scene a minute before the sweepers came. Two officers were already guarding the alley against the bystanders.

“What’s the status here Officer…Chandler?”, Eve asked as she showed her badge tucked at her jacket.

“Sir. My partner here, Officer Ryne, and I were the ones who first discovered the body around 0814. This is our patrol area and we normally check alleyways like this for illegal users and pushers. There’s no dumpster at this location, Lieutenant, that’s why when we saw one here, it perked our curiosity. We didn’t expect to see a corpse inside.”, the officer explained.

“Did you touch the body?”

“No, sir, as it would contaminate the scene. We secured the scene first then tagged Dispatch. We believe that’s the correct protocol.”

“Damn right, Officer.”, she said.

Peabody already sealed up and took a gauge on the field kit. Eve did the same, but she entered inside the dumpster and flicked her recorder.

“What we’ve got here – a man around early fifties or mid-sixties, bald head, well-shaved face, muscle-toned body, estimated height of six-ten. Eyes removed, tongue too…and all the nails were removed. Need to tag this to Morris to determine if this is pre or post mortem, though I bet this is pre. Post won’t leave a nasty gash and tear like this.”, she commented, then moved her gaze to the lower torso. “There were needle pricks on various parts of the body, and one of these holes was used to suck all of his blood, and the rest were from the electric needles. Burned marks, broken kneecaps, Jesus, you’ve been brutally tortured till death.”

“TOD read here as 0305. It would take two to three people to bring this dumpster here out of nowhere and leave this man.”, Peabody said, continued. “The data showed here he’s Charlie Spoon, a migrant from Spain and currently employed as a driver in a courier company in Greece.”

“Okay, what was this dude doing here in New York if he’s a Spanish that works with the Greeks?”

“Beats me, Dallas. Same question goes with the dumpster. I’m just reading what appeared here in our system.”

“That’s bullshit. It’s either this guy altered his identity, or his internal records were bogus. Tag Feeney for this, and if he’s loaded, ask for McNab. I’ll accompany this guy to the morgue, and then harass Dickhead big-time.”

“Erm, I think it’s better if we switch roles. You go to EDD while I go to morgue and lab.”, Peabody suggested. “You know – my cold one, and our hot ones.”

Eve immediately understood what she meant. By going to morgue she could ask Morris for an autopsy copy about Stella, and Dickie for her medical histories, hence minimizing some fuss.

“So it’s like two hits in one bullet.”, she said.

“Should be stone, not bullet.”, Peabody pointed out.

“Why use a stone if bullet’s more effective? With all of these advanced technologies.”, she reasoned, sighed. “Okay, let’s scram now. I’ll return to Central then and file some shits. Tag me if you’re done.”

“LT, you’ve got a visitor inside your office.”, Jekinson said as Eve returned to the Central. “Looks like a rich guy.”

“Good to hear it’s not Nadine.”, she responded and entered.

She froze on her spot when she saw it was Don Miguel, standing at her small window and observed a speedy taxi trying to beat a maxibus.

“What the fuck are you doing here?”, she spat.

The Don glanced back and grinned at Eve’s tensed reaction. Seeing her pissed was enough to know that she was fine. “I’m here to ask you for a lunch.”

“I’m sorry Don Miguel, but I’m busy right now. I have a new case to solve – and your request as well.”, she replied as she returned to her seat and faced her computer.

“You re-opened it.”, he muttered with disbelief. “I thought you would refuse, after all I’ve done last night.”

She wanted to say some nasty things, but stopped herself. It was not yet determined if they were related or not, and when the DNA results arrived plus Stella’s autopsy data from Peabody, then that’s the time she would plan her next actions.

“That’s why I don’t have the time to socialize now. There’s a time and place for everything.”

The Don frowned. “We as a human being, deserved to have a lunch. You’re lunch break is part of your payroll, and whether you skipped it or not, you’re rate’s still the same. What’s the difference of taking an hour to eat in lessening your work load?”

He knew that Eve lived with her job, and like Roarke, a workaholic. And after seeing her office, he felt like he knew something about her – and hoped that a ‘date’ could suffice his curiosity about her life.

Eve did not speak for a while, and focused herself in transmitting data to McNab, but the Don’s presence messed her concentration. His casual glances at her surroundings while sitting at her tattered visitor chair ticked her off.

Come to think of it, he’s the first person who sat on the said chair that lasted for almost half an hour with no qualms.

She gave up. “Okay, just one hour.”

“Perfetto.”

“But…”, she inserted immediately, “I’ll be the one who’s gonna choose where to eat, what to eat, and you’re the one’s who’s gonna pay for it.”

“Of course, Lieutenant.”

Before they left, Eve tagged Roarke about the Don’s visitation, and her impending plans.