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“Fifty.”

“Fifty what?”

“I got fifty that says I’m right, you’re wrong.”

“You want to bet on a murderer?”

“It’s just money.”

“All right,” Mira said after a moment. “Fifty it is.”

“Done. Now I’ll tell you why she didn’t do it. The school’s her core, her pride, her vanity. Maybe she could kill, but she’d do it off school grounds. She wouldn’t bring that kind of publicity, that kind of smear to her beloved Sarah Child. This is costing her students. And it’s probably going to cost her her job.”

“A good argument, but self-preservation supersedes even a treasured job. If Foster knew about her relationship with Williams, he was a direct threat-and may have told her he intended to report her. Williams, by her own statement, did just that, in an attempt to blackmail her into keeping him on.”

“Want to make it a hundred?”

Before Mira could answer, Eve’s communicator signaled again. “Okay, what now? Dallas.”

“Dallas, Allika Straffo’s on her way to the hospital. OD’d. Her condition is critical.”

“Where’s the kid?”

“The au pair took her. They left right after the ambulance, took a cab to Parkside, it’s the closest. I missed this by minutes, again. First on scene said the kid was hysterical.”

“I bet she was. You in the penthouse?”

“I came up to talk to the cops who responded to the nine-one-one. MTs were called in by the au pair. Reported overdose, which sent out the uniforms.”

“I want the diary. Find it. I’m headed to the hospital.”

“This isn’t your fault.” Mira shifted in her seat when Eve whipped the wheel. “If this woman couldn’t face the idea that her daughter killed and tried-or succeeded-in self-terminating, it isn’t on you.”

“The fact that I didn’t figure the kid would kill her own mother is on me. If Allika Straffo swallowed a fistful of pills, it’s because that little bitch gave them to her. Goddamn it.”

She punched the gas. “If she was going to do herself, she’d have left a note. Going to protect the kid, she’d have left a note confessing. If she was just going to give it up, can’t face it anymore, why did she call the kid home?”

“Rayleen realized her mother knew, and might be a threat.” Mira shook her head. “Induce her to take an overdose, and the threat’s removed. Her own mother.”

“She shoved her little brother, who was wearing footie pj’s, down the steps on Christmas morning. Pumping Mom full of pills isn’t much of a stretch.”

“If Allika Straffo dies, you’ll never prove it. Even if she lives, she may not implicate her own child.”

“She’ll be counting on that. She’s going to be wrong.”

Eve strode into the chaotic misery of the ER, scanned the bruised, the bleeding, the broken. She snagged a hustling nurse, then flipped out her badge to cut through any bull. “Straffo, Allika, OD. Where?”

“Trauma Room Three. Badge or no badge, you can’t go in. Dr. Dimatto’s a little busy trying to save her life.”

Louise Dimatto. Eve smiled. Sometimes it actually paid to have friends.

“You can get in there. So go in, tell Louise that Dallas needs a status report on her patient. Where’s the kid? The Straffo kid?”

“In the A chairs, with her nanny, father’s on the way. You know Doctor D?”

“Yeah, we go back. A chairs?”

“Follow me.”

Apparently claiming Louise had grease, and slid Eve and Mira straight through the general area to the trauma section. In an alcove across from a set of double swinging doors sat Rayleen, huddled against Cora.

The kid’s face was splotchy from weeping, eyes red and swollen. Eve thought: Good job. Drama Club paid off.

Cora spotted Eve first, and her eyes went weepy. “Lieutenant Dallas. It’s…it’s the missus.”

But Eve’s eyes were all for Rayleen. The girl’s body stiffened. Didn’t expect me to drop in, did you? Eve thought. Then Rayleen pressed closer to Cora.

“I don’t want to talk to her. I don’t want to talk to anybody. I just want my mommy.”

“There, there now, darling. Don’t you fret. The lieutenant’s only here to try to help. Everyone’s here to help.”

Eve glanced at Mira, jerked her head. Understanding, Mira stepped forward.

“Rayleen, I’m Dr. Mira. I know you’re very frightened and very upset.”

Rayleen sniffled, raised her head to study Mira’s face. “You’re a doctor? Are you going to fix my mother?”

“Yes, I’m a doctor, and I know the doctor who’s helping your mother now. She’s a very, very good doctor.” Mira crouched down, all compassion and concern.

Good, Eve decided. Good and smart. Don’t align yourself with me. Just an attractive, female doctor. A motherly one. Eve turned, looking through the glass porthole on the trauma room door as Mira talked to Rayleen.

Inside, it looked to her as if they’d pumped stuff out of Allika, and were pumping stuff in. Louise wore a protective cape, her delicate blond hair clipped back, her smoky eyes intense.

If Allika had a shot, Eve knew Louise would give it to her.

Behind her, Mira spoke in a voice that exuded sympathy and authority. “I know you’re going to be brave now, Rayleen.”

“I’ll try, but-”

“I know it’s very hard. Can you tell me what happened?”

“I don’t know. My mom…We were supposed to have lunch at Zoology, then go to the salon. It’s our girl time.”

“Isn’t that nice?”

“We have lots and lots of fun together. But she called when we were in the museum and said we had to come home instead of her coming to meet us. She didn’t say why. She looked really tired, and she was acting funny.”

“Funny?”

“She said Cora should go, because it’s her half-day off. When she did, my mom cried.”

“I shouldn’t have gone out. I should have stayed.”

“It’s not your fault, Cora. My mom said she was sorry, and not to be mad at her. But I wasn’t mad at her. She couldn’t help it if she was sick. She gets sick sometimes, and needs to rest.”

“I see.”

“She hugged me, really, really tight. Like she does when she and Daddy go on a trip, and I don’t. A good-bye hug. She told me I was her princess, and the best part of her whole life, and how she loved me.”

Rayleen’s mouth quivered as she took a handkerchief with her name embroidered on the corner from her purse. She wiped at her eyes. “How she knew I’d be brave and strong, no matter what.” Her gaze ticked up to Eve’s back, held for an instant. “She said to remember, no matter what, she loved me best of all. Then she said I could get a snack and go play in my room, to be good. She was going to sleep. I was really quiet.” Fresh tears gushed. “So I wouldn’t wake her up.”

The nurse swung out, took a look at the weeping little girl. Her face radiated compassion, then she drew Eve out of earshot. “Condition’s still critical. If Dr. D manages to stabilize her, they’re sending her up to CCU. Her chances aren’t very good, but Dr. D’s fighting the fight.”

“Okay. Appreciate it.” Eve stared over the nurse’s shoulder. “That’s the husband coming down.”

Straffo bolted down the corridor, and Eve could all but feel the fear radiating from him. Rayleen jumped up, and into his arms. Cora rose, weeping and babbling.

Eve left them to it, while Straffo clutched his daughter, murmured to her. Then he set her down, brushed the hair from her face. She nodded, then sat with Cora again. Straffo went to the porthole, staring in as Eve had done.

Eve went to stand beside him.

“What do you know?”

“I know the doctor who’s working on her,” Eve told him. “She’s good, and she doesn’t give up easy.”