Vendetta in Death (In Death #49)(109)

“I was witness to grace and strength, and for some reason it scraped me raw. I’ll eat some shagging pizza.”

“Good. And it’ll do you no good to snap at me, because I need this as much as you do.” He pulled her in, just held her, felt her stiffen, then give.

“Well, if you need it.”

“I do.” He brushed a kiss to the top of her head. “I’ll be with my EDD mates till you’re done.”

“It’s going to be—”

“A long night,” he finished. “Won’t be the first of them for us.”

Or the last, she thought as she started out. “Peabody, with me.”

She had pizza—but rather than in her office with Peabody, in a conference room with Peabody, Mira, and Reo.

“Eloise Callahan’s going to get her a serious lawyer,” Eve began. “I’m going to take the window before she can get that going to get what I can out of her.”

“You and several other cops caught her in the act of torturing her fourth victim.” Reo bit into a slice, went mmm. “We’re going to match the hair from the wig, the scrapings from the floor. We have her journal, her documentation. I don’t care if she gets the ghost of Clarence Darrow, she’s cooked.”

“Not disputing. Confession’s always best, and this one will give us chapter and verse. She’s never going in a concrete cage off-planet.”

“Legal insanity isn’t your call.”

“I know it when I see it.”

“She’s right, Reo.” Peabody nibbled her own slice to make it last.

“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t go into a high-security prison, but it’s going to be the mentally defective wing. Still.” Eve looked at Mira. “If we’re wrong, you’ll know it.”

“She planned each murder precisely,” Reo argued. “With alternatives, escape routes, ways to avoid detection. She knew right from wrong.”

“I’ll observe, and I’ll have a one-to-one evaluation session with her. Eve, what is this pizza? I’ve never had better.”

“Shagging, apparently.”

“Sorry?”

“It’s one of Roarke’s deals. He’s started stocking my office AC because he’s constantly afraid I’ll starve to death.”

“Aw,” Reo and Peabody said in stereo.

“Love sometimes comes with mozzarella,” Mira said with a smile.

“I guess it does. I have to tag somebody, then we’re going in. Peabody, we square on approach?”

“Yeah.”

“Have her brought up. I’ll meet you there.”

Now Eve went to her office, contacted Nadine.

“Late this afternoon,” Eve began, “officers attached to Homicide and EDD entered the home of Eloise Callahan—”

“The what!”

“On a duly authorized warrant,” Eve continued. “At that time they apprehended Darla Pettigrew. Ms. Pettigrew is charged with the abduction, torture, and murder of Nigel McEnroy, Thaddeus Pettigrew, and Arlo Kagen, and the abduction and torture of Linus Brinkman. Ms. Callahan, grandmother of Ms. Pettigrew, had been sedated by her granddaughter and is not a suspect or a person of interest in the investigation.

“Those are the highlights, you could say.”

“Jumping Jesus, Dallas.”

“I want Eloise Callahan protected, Nadine. I want you to give her a damn good cushion. She’s a victim in this, too.”

“You’re sure she wasn’t—”

“One hundred percent. Pettigrew slipped her something before she went out on the hunt and had a goddamn medical droid—of her making—guarding her. She did her dirty work in the basement behind doors locked so tight it took Roarke—who designed the damn system—several precious minutes to get through.”

“Okay, got it. Give me—”

“I’m putting her in the box now. That’s all I can give you. You do your job, I’ll do mine.”

“And good luck to us both.”

Eve put the ’link back in her pocket, rolled her shoulders to loosen them, and went out to meet Peabody.

“She’s in there,” Peabody told her outside the door of Interview B. “Hasn’t asked for legal representation, hasn’t asked to make any contact. The uniforms who brought her up said she’s anxious to talk to us.”

“Then let’s not keep her waiting.”

Eve stepped in.

“Finally.” Darla rattled her restraints as she lifted her hands. She looked calm, composed as she sat at the table in her orange jumpsuit.

“Record on,” Eve began. “Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, and Peabody, Detective Delia, entering Interview with Pettigrew, Darla, on the matters of case files H-33491, H-33495, H-33498, and H-33500.” Eve set down a file as she and Peabody took their seats. “Ms. Pettigrew—”

“Oh now, it’s Darla.”

“Fine. Darla, you’ve been read your rights. Do you understand those rights and obligations?”

“Of course I do. I understand we have to go through these formalities, deal with these fussy little rules, but I’m here to talk with you, both of you.”

“Great.”