“You have no right pushing your way in here, throwing your weight around.”
She flipped out her badge so the images in the room had a clear view. “Bet?”
Fortney’s color was edging toward magenta. “I’m sorry, Thad. I need to take care of this… disturbance. I’ll have my assistant reschedule, at your convenience.”
He shut the hologram down before Thad could do more than raise two thin eyebrows into sharp, questioning points.
“I don’t have to tolerate this kind of ambush!” His magenta hair was pulled severely back from his face today, and the sleek tail of it whipped wildly as he flung out his arms. “I’m calling my lawyer, and I’ll see you’re reprimanded by your superior.”
“You do that. And we’ll take this to Central where you can explain to me, your lawyer, and my superior why you handed me a pile of bullshit as an alibi.”
Evetoed in, and punched a finger toward his chest. “Lying to a primary during a homicide investigation doesn’t earn you any points,Leo.”
“If you think you can insinuate that I’m covering up some crime-”
“I’m not insinuating anything.” She got right up in his face as she spoke, and enjoyed that as well. “I’m saying it. Flat out. Your meal ticket didn’t back you up, pal. You did not, as you claimed, retire with her on the night in question. She went to bed alone, and assumes you joined her at some point. Assume ain’t dick. So let’s start this over. Your place or mine, it doesn’t mean a damn to me.”
“How dare you!” He lost all color now, insult and temper robbing his cheeks. “If you think I’m going to stand here and be insulted, have the woman I love insulted by some two-bit dyke bitch cop-”
“What’re you going to do about it? Take me out, like you took out Jacie Wooton and Lois Gregg? You’re going to find it tougher. I’m not a used-up LC or a sixty-year-old woman.”
His voice piped out now, like an adolescent boy’s threatening to crack. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Couldn’t get it up, could you, Leo?” She was careful to keep her hands off him, though she’d have liked to have given him a couple of mild shots. “Even when you had her tied up, and helpless, you couldn’t get the wood on.”
“Get away from me. You’re crazy.” Little darts of fear shone in his eyes now as he danced behind his desk. “You’re out of your mind.”
“You’re going to see just how crazy if you don’t tell me where you were on the night of September second, and the morning of September fifth. Shuffle me again, Leo,” she said and slapped her hands on the desk. “And you’ll see how crazy.”
On cue, her ‘link beeped. With a snarl, she ripped it out of her pocket. “Text only,” she snapped. Waited a few beats as if reading. “Goddamn it.” She muttered it, then rounded on Peabody. “Get the goddamn information from this asshole. I’ve got to take this, and I don’t have time to waste. Five minutes, Leo,” she said over her shoulder as she marched to the door. “Then I’m coming back for the next round.”
He sat heavily when the door slammed behind Eve. “That woman is a menace. She was going to strike me.”
“Sir. I’m sure you’re mistaken.” ButPeabody cast an uncertain eye toward the door still shuddering on its hinges. “My lieutenant is… it’s been a difficult few days, Mr. Fortney, andLieutenantDallas is under a great deal of stress. I’m sorry she lost her temper. Can I get you some water?”
“No. No, thank you.” He pressed a hand to his brow. “I just need to settle down. I’m not used to being treated that way.”
“She’s very colorful.”Peabody tried a half smile when he looked up. “I’m sure we can straighten this all out before she gets back. There were some discrepancies in your earlier statement, sir. It’s easy to get confused or mix up times and dates when you’re not expecting to have to remember your movements.”
“Well, of course it is,” he said with obvious relief. “I certainly wasn’t expecting to be questioned about a murder. For God’s sake.”
“I understand that. And it seems to me if you’d killed Ms. Wooton or Ms. Gregg, you’d have arranged a solid alibi. You’re obviously an intelligent man.”
“Thank you, Officer…”
“It’s Peabody, sir. If I could take out my notebook, we could try to put things together for the times in question.” She smiled at him with whiffs of sympathy and nerves. “May I sit down?”
“Yes, yes. That woman’s shaken my manners loose. I don’t see how you stand to work with her.”
“It’s really for her, sir. I’m in training.”
“I see.” He was relaxing, Peabody could see. Just as she could see his amusement at thinking he’d escaped the lion and gotten himself a pussycat. “Have you been with the police long?”
“Not very. I do mostly administrative work. The lieutenant hates paperwork.” She started to roll her eyes, seemed to catch herself and worked up a blush.
Fortney laughed. “Your secret’s safe with me. Still, I wonder what an attractive woman like you is doing in such a difficult field?”
“Men still outnumber women on the job,” she heard herself saying, and felt the quick, flirtatious smile curve her lips. “That can be a pretty strong incentive. I’d just like to say how much I admire your work. I’m such a fan of musical theater, and you’ve been involved in wonderful projects. It seems so glamorous and exciting to someone like me.”
“It has its moments. Maybe you’d like me to give you a tour of the theater, backstage, where the action really is.”
“That would be…” She trailed off breathlessly. “I’d just love it.” She glanced back at the door again. “I’m not supposed to do something like that. You won’t say anything?”
He mimed zipping his lip and made her giggle.
“If I can just clear up some of these discrepancies before she gets back. Otherwise, she’ll skin me.”
“Sweetheart, you can’t really believe I’d kill anyone.”
“Oh no,Mr.Fortney, but the lieutenant…”
He got up from the desk, came around, and sat on the corner of it. “I’m not interested in the lieutenant. The fact is, Pepper and I… well, our relationship has devolved, you could say. We’re really just business partners at this point, keeping up appearances for the public. I don’t want anything to damage her while she’s working so hard in this play. I have a great deal of affection and respect for her even though… even though things aren’t what they were between us.”
He gavePeabody a puppy-dog look, and she did her best to respond with one of sympathy. Even as she thought: Putz. Do I look that green? “It must be awfully hard for you.”
“Show business is a demanding mistress, on both sides of the curtain. I did tell nearly the truth about that night. I didn’t mention that Pepper and I didn’t really speak or have contact with each other when she came back from the theater. I spent that night as I’ve spent far too many of them. Alone.”
“So you have no one to corroborate your whereabouts?”
“I’m afraid I don’t, not directly, though Pepper and I were in the same house together all night. It was just another lonely night, and to be frank, they blur together now. I wonder, maybe you and I could have dinner?”
“Ummm…”
“Privately,” he added. “I can’t be seen having dinner with a beautiful woman while Pepper and I still have to keep up this pretense. Gossip would hurt her, and she’s so temperamental. She needs to focus on the play. I have to honor that.”
“That’s so…” The words that ran through her head were anything but flattering, but she choked out an alternative. “… so brave. I’d love to, if I can get the time off. These murders have the lieutenant working practically24 /7. And when she works, I work.”
“Murders.” For a moment he looked genuinely puzzled. “Is that what all this business about this Gregg person is? Another prostitute’s been killed?”