She'd given her official statement to the media, though a few lingered, hoping for more.
They'd get no more from her tonight, and she wanted private moments to stay private.
She slid her arms around his waist, pressed her cheek to his. "Let's just hold on here a minute." "Gratefully." "It shakes me. You can never get yourself ready for something like this. No matter what. And you know they'll never be enough payment made for it. There can't be. I'm sick.
I'm sick in every part of myself." She turned her head so it rested on his shoulder. "So yeah, I'll give you two days and take them. Somewhere away, Roarke. Away, where it's just us. Let's go to the island." She tightened her grip, tried to envision the sugary sand, the blue water, and erase the vision of the muddy ground and body bags. "We don't even have to take any clothes." With a small sigh, he rested his head on top of hers. "I can't think of anything more perfect." "I got to finish up tonight's work. A couple days more, maybe after that. Then we'll get the hell out." He gave her a boost into the copter. "You sure you're up to the rest of this tonight? You're running on chemicals." "I sleep better when I tie off the ends." She strapped in, then used the "link to check on Peabody while the copter rose into the rain.
Celina opened the gate to the elevator in her loft. "Dallas, Roarke. You both look exhausted." "You're not wrong. I know it's late. I'm sorry." "Don't worry about that. Come in and sit." She gestured them in. "Let me get you something. Have you eaten?" "Not thinking about food for some time yet. But wouldn't say no to a chair."
"And some tea, I think." "She could use it," Roarke said before Eve could speak.
"We both could." "Just give me a minute." She hurried away on bare feet with her lounging robe floating around her ankles. "Peabody?" she asked from the kitchen.
"She's pretty good, considering. In a regular room well in the hospital palace Roarke finagled for her. She'll need a couple more days in anyway, then maybe she can switch to at-home care until she's a hundred percent again." Tm so glad to hear it. I don't know if you've talked to Mira, but we made more progress today, and I think I could work with a police artist tomorrow." She carried a tray back in, hesitated when she saw Eve's face. "What?" "We ID'd him this afternoon. We got him." "My God." Celina set the tray down with a little thunk and rattle. "You're sure? I can't believe it." "We're sure. It's one of the reasons we came by. Guess you haven't had the screen on." "No, I haven't. Clearing the mind, and all that. How? When?" "I figured I'd left you out of the loop, but everything moved fast once it started moving." "That's not even an issue. He's locked up? It's done." She breathed out slowly, then reached for the teapot. "I don't even know how to think, or feel. It's such a relief. How did you find him?" "Witnesses who saw him assault Peabody got a decent look at him, and his ride. We worked from there. Picked him up.
He broke in Interview in less than an hour." "You must be not only exhausted but very pleased." She passed cups of tea around. "It came down to straight cop work, after all." "And some luck."
"I guess I didn't contribute much, at the end of things." "Not so. You did quite a bit." "You have a gift," Roarke continued. "You've utilized it." "It's not something I have a choice over." "Oh, I disagree." Eve sipped tea. "You certainly chose to use it when you murdered Annalisa Sommers." "What?" Celina's cup rattled in her saucer. "What did you say?" "You must've been watching John Blue visioning him or months. Did you see him kill his mother, Celina? Did it go back that far? Is that when you started to plan how you could get rid of your competition?" As she stared, her face went stark white. "This is horrible.
This is hideous and horrible. You're accusing me of murder? Of killing poor Annalisa? You have the man responsible. How could you say this to me?" "I have the man responsible for murdering fifteen women.
Fifteen, Celina. He had their eyes on display. Over the past few hours we've been disinterring bodies from the backyard on his mother's place upstate. Bet you know about that place, too. We have thirteen bodies. Thirteen including his mother whose remains have been positively ID'd. Thirteen women he practiced on." Eve's face wasn't pale. It was hard as stone, cold as ice, but a faint flush of rage tinged it. "Did you watch him kill them, too? Add Elisa Maplewood, add Lily Napier, and you've got your fifteen." Celina's hands fluttered up, crossed over her breasts. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. I think you must have pushed yourself over some edge." "Right up to it, but not over. If I'd gone over, I'd be breaking your face right now, the way Blue broke my partner's." "You'd accuse me, after I came to you, after I've tried to help, because you have one too many bodies to fit your case? For God's sake. I want you to leave my house. I want you-" When she started to rise, Roarke simply reached out, shoved her back into place. "You want to sit quietly, Celina." And his voice was deathly calm. "We've both had a miserable few hours and may be less courteous than you're accustomed to. So I'd sit still if I were you." "Now you're threatening me. I'm calling my lawyer." "Haven't read you your rights yet, so you don't get any.
I'll read them to you, Celina, and you can call your lawyer, but right now, we're just having a conversation." "I don't like the tone of this conversation." "You know what I don't like? I don't like being used. I don't like being hosed by some selfish bitch with a sixth sense so she can kill her boyfriend's new woman." "Listen to yourself! I was at home, all night, when she was killed. I took a tranq. I never left the house." "Not at all true," Roarke commented. "Oh, you've got the security discs that'll prove you didn't go out the front, use the elevator. But interestingly enough, you've no tenants down below and haven't for the last few months." Summerset's little contribution, Eve thought. "You didn't renew their lease." "It's certainly my choice-" "And that made it very simple," Roarke went on. "You went out the door there where you shut down the security cams down the stairs, into 1-A, and out the emergency evac. I checked it myself, and you didn't think to seal up first. We've your prints on the door, on the window, on the evac mechanism." "It's my property." But her hands were moving restlessly now, from her lap, to her throat, to her hair. "My fingerprints might be anywhere." "Annalisa didn't fit. She was close," Eve considered. "In the ballpark, but she didn't quite fit Blue's vision. Hair's too dark, too short. Then there's the kitten. He didn't use props with the others. But you needed that moment of distraction.
You're not a two-hundred-eighty-pound man. You needed to distract her, to get her down so she didn't have time to fight." Tor heaven's sakes. He raped her. In whatever fantasy you've dreamed up, for whatever reason, you can hardly accuse me of raping another woman." "Couldn't have been pleasant for you. What appliance did you use? They make all kinds. Some of them are so realistic, you can hardly tell them from the real McCoy." "Please." Eve patted Roarke's knee. "Sorry." "You'll never prove this." "Oh, Celina, I will." Eve leaned forward so Celina could look directly into her eyes. "You know I will. Just like you knew I'd get John Blue, with or without you. You wanted me to, just not before Annalisa. You have the right to remain silent," she began.
"This is insane," Celina said when Eve finished the Revised Miranda. "Why would I come to you, to help?" "Always better to be in the inner circle, closer to data, if you can. That was clever of you." "I'm going to call a lawyer." "Go ahead." Eve gestured toward the "link. "Once you do, I'll make it my mission in life to take you down harder. I'm tired. I want to close this down. Because I'm tired, I'm inclined to work with you on this, see what we can manage." She saw speculation, just an instant of it, flicker over Celina's face. "Blue's got no reason to lie, Celina. He knows how many women he killed, and what he did to and with every one of them. The number is fifteen. He wasn't in Greenpeace Park the night Annalisa was killed. He's alibied." "Then it was-"