He paused, his eyes going to Mirina. He watched her, Eve thought, as if he waited for her to shatter like glass.
"You argued, Mr. Slade?" Eve prompted.
"Yes. About what had happened, why. I wanted to know how she had found out about it, but she cut me off. Lieutenant, she was furious. She told me she was going to deal with it for her daughter's sake. Then she would deal with me. She ended transmission abruptly, and I settled down to brood and to drink."
He walked back to Mirina, laid a hand on her shoulder, stroked. "It was early in the morning, just before dawn, when I heard the news report and knew she was dead."
"She had never spoken to you about the incident before."
"No. We had an excellent relationship. She knew about the gambling, disapproved, but in a mild way. She was used to David. I don't think she understood how deeply we were both involved."
"She did," Roarke corrected. "She asked me to cut you both off."
"Ah." Slade smiled into his empty glass. "That's why I couldn't get through the door of your place in Vegas II."
"That's why."
"Why now?" Eve asked. "Why have you decided to revise your previous statement?"
"I felt it was closing in on me. I knew how hurt Mirina would be if she heard it from someone else. I needed to tell her. It was her decision to contact you."
"Our decision." Mirina reached for his hand again. "I can't bring my mother back, and I know how it will affect my father when we tell him Randy was used to hurt her. Those are things I have to learn to live with. I can do that, if I know that whoever used Randy, and me, will pay for it. She would never have gone out there, she would never have gone, but to protect me."
When they were flying west, Eve paced the comfortable cabin. "Families. " She tucked her thumbs into her back pockets. "Do you ever think about them, Roarke?"
"Occasionally." Since she was going to talk, he switched the business news off his personal monitor.
"If we follow one theory, Cicely Towers went out on that rainy night as a mother. Someone was threatening her child's happiness. She was going to fix it. Even if she gave Slade the heave-ho, she was going to fix it first."
"That's what we assume is the natural instinct of a parent."
She slanted him a glance. "We both know better."
"I wouldn't claim that either of our experiences are the norm, Eve."
"Okay." Thoughtful, she sat on the arm of his chair. "So, if it's normal for a mother to jump to shield her child against any trouble, Towers did exactly as her killer expected. He understood her, judged her character well."
"Perfectly, I'd say."
"She was also a servant of the court. It was her duty, and certainly should have been her instinct, to call the authorities, report any threats or blackmail attempts."
"A mother's love is stronger than the law."
"Hers was, and whoever killed her knew it. Who knew her? Her lover, her ex-husband, her son, her daughter, Slade."
"And others, Eve. She was a strong, vocal supporter of professional motherhood, of family rights. There have been dozens of stories about her over the years highlighting her personal commitment to her family."
"That's risking a lot, going by press. Media can be – and is – biased, or it slants a story to suit its own ends. I say her killer knew, not assumed, but knew. There'd been personal contact or extensive research. "
"That hardly narrows the field."
Eve brushed that aside with a flick of the hand. "And the same goes for Metcalf. A meeting's set, but it isn't going to be specifically documented in her diary. How does the killer know that? Because he knows her habits. My job is to figure out his or hers. Because there'll be another one."
"You're so sure?"
"I'm sure, and Mira confirmed it."
"You've spoken to her then."
Restless, she rose again. "He – it's just easier to say he – envies, resents, is fascinated by powerful women. Women in the public eye, women who make a mark. Mira thinks the killings may be motivated by control, but I wonder. Maybe that's giving him too much credit. Maybe it's just the thrill. The stalking, the luring, the planning. Who is he stalking now?"
"Have you looked in the mirror?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you realize how often your face is on the screen, in the papers?" Fighting back fear, he rose and put his hands on her shoulders, and read her face. "You've thought of it already?"
"I've wished for it," she corrected, "because I'd be ready."
"You terrify me," he managed.
"You said I was the best." She grinned, patted his cheek. "Relax, Roarke, I'm not going to do anything stupid."
"Oh, I'll sleep easy now."
"How much longer before we land?" Impatient, she turned to walk to the viewscreen.
"Thirty minutes or so, I imagine."
"I need Nadine."
"What are you planning, Eve?"
"Me? Oh, I'm planning on getting lots of press." She shoveled her fingers through her untidy hair. "Haven't you got some ritzy affairs, the kind the media just love to cover, that we can go to?"
He let out a sigh. "I suppose I could come up with a few."
"Great. Let's set some up." She plopped down in a seat and tapped her fingers on her knee. "I guess I can even push it to getting a couple of new outfits."
"Above and beyond." He scooped her up and sat her on his lap. "But I'm sticking close, Lieutenant."
"I don't work with civilians."
"I was talking about the shopping."
Her eyes narrowed as his hand snaked under her shirt. "Is that a dig?"
"Yes."
"Okay." She swiveled around to straddle him. "Just checking."
CHAPTER TEN
"I'm going to do my lead-in first." Nadine looked around Eve's office and cocked a brow. "Not much of a sanctum."
"Excuse me?"
Casually, Nadine adjusted the angle of Eve's monitor. It squeaked. "Up till now, you've guarded this room like holy ground. I expected something more than a closet with a desk and a couple of ratty chairs."
"Home's where the heart is," Eve said mildly, and leaned back in one of those ratty chairs.
Nadine had never considered herself claustrophobic, but the industrial beige walls were awfully close together, making her rethink the notion. And the single, stingy window, though undoubtedly blast treated, was unshaded and offered a narrow view of an air traffic snarl over a local transport station.
The little room, Nadine mused, was full of crowds.
"I'd have thought after you broke the DeBlass case last winter, you'd have rated a snazzier office. With a real window and maybe a little carpet."
"Are you here to decorate or to do a story?"
"And your equipment's pathetic." Enjoying herself, Nadine clucked her tongue over Eve's work units. "At the station, relics like this would be delegated to some low-level drone, or more likely, kicked to a charity rehab center."
She would not scowl, Eve told herself. She would not scowl. "Remember that, the next time you're tagged for a donation to the Police and Security Fund."
Nadine smiled, leaned back on the desk. "At Channel 75, even drones have their own AutoChef."
"I'm learning to hate you, Nadine."
"Just trying to get you pumped for the interview. You know what I'd like, Dallas, since you're in the mood for exposure? A one-on-one, an in-depth interview with the woman behind the badge. The life and loves of Eve Dallas, NYPSD. The personal side of the public servant."
Eve couldn't stop it. She scowled. "Don't push your luck, Nadine."
"Pushing my luck's what I do best." Nadine dropped down into a chair, shifted it. "How's the angle, Pete?"
The operator held his palm-sized remote up to his face. "Yo."
"Pete's a man of few words," Nadine commented. "Just how I like them. Want to fix your hair?"
Eve caught herself before she tunneled her fingers through it. She hated being on camera, hated it a lot. "No."
"Suit yourself." Nadine took a small, mirrored compact out of her oversized bag, patted something under her eyes, checked her teeth for lipstick smears. "Okay." She dropped the compact back in her bag, crossed her legs smoothly with the faintest whisper of silk against silk, and turned toward camera. "Roll."