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-"
"Someone else?" Eve suggested. "Yes, it was. Someone who knew the details, details not released to the media.
Someone who could use them, copy them. But that someone wasn't a man. Because there was no man that night. Only you. He left you. Lucas left you, and ended up with her." "We left each other, and he wasn't seeing her when we were together." "No, he wasn't. Decent guy, honest guy. He didn't two-time you. But he'd met her before you split. He confirms that, by the way. He'd met her, and he'd felt something click.
I bet you knew he was interested, maybe before he really knew it himself. I bet you read him every chance you got." "I told you I don't intrude." "You're a liar. Up till now, your gift's been more a game to you than anything else. Entertaining, interesting, lucrative.
You told me once you were shallow, and that's one absolute truth. Lucas wasn't in love with you anymore, he was pulling away. Had to save your pride and make it seem amiable. And now, look at this, his new lady meets with a terrible death, and there you are, arms open to comfort. Did you weep a few tears when you went over to comfort him this afternoon?" "I had every right to see Lucas. Decency-" "Don't tell me about decency." The whip of Eve's voice had Celina's head snapping back. "You knew what John Blue was, where he was, what he was doing long before you came to my office. You watched him kill, over and over again. And you used them, used him, used me. One of the clerks uptown you were smart to go uptown at a craft shop remembers you, Celina. You're a striking woman, and she remembers you coming in four months ago. Four months ago, and buying three yards of red corded ribbon." Her cheeks weren't pale now. They were going gray. "That that doesn't prove-"
"You think it's all circumstantial, and maybe. But it adds up so nice. Means, motive, opportunity." She flipped out three fingers. "You knew the victim, you knew the details of the other murders, you had the murder weapon in your possession.
We can trace it back to that uptown shop. It'll take a little time, but we can do it. When we do, it's as good as around your neck." She waited a beat to let that factor sink in. "You're the only one who could have killed her. You're boxed. Stand up to it, Celina. One thing you're not, is weak." "No, I'm not." She picked up her tea, wrinkled her nose in distaste. "I'd rather a brandy, I think. Would you mind?" She gestured vaguely. "On the shelf by the kitchen. A double." Roarke obliged her, walked across the room.