Secrets in Death (In Death #45)(74)

“Okay. But Larinda found out.”

Phoebe knuckled a tear away. “She found out. I didn’t lie exactly on my job app. I gave the data we’d been given. But she found out. She called me into her office. I thought she needed help with her comp, but she told me she knew, and she’d ruin me and my mom. When people found out who we really were, they’d turn on us, and how she’d make sure everybody knew. We’re just regular people, Lieutenant Dallas, but all my life we’ve been afraid somebody would find out who we used to be. And she did.”

“What did she ask you to do?”

“It was little things at first, like hacking into Valerie Race’s communications so Ms. Mars could see who she was talking to and where she planned to be. Her travel. I didn’t want to, but she showed me a picture of my mom at work. She works for a landscaper in New Jersey. I got scared, so I did it. I never hacked before in my life, I swear it. But I did it, and I did it again and again when she told me to. I begged her not to make me do it. She promoted me, made me an assistant. And she showed me she’d kept records of everything I’d done, and when she told Ms. Hewitt they’d believe I’d done it on my own, they’d believe it because I was my father’s daughter. She—”

Phoebe broke off, drank more wine. “She told me to hack into your systems.”

Roarke simply smiled. “Mine?”

“Anything of yours I could get into, she said, but your personal data was key. If I got into that, maybe, just maybe she’d let me off the hook. I couldn’t. I mean, I tried. I really tried, but I couldn’t get through. When I told her, she got mad, she got crazy mad, and slapped me.”

“I’m sorry for that.”

“Did anyone else know what you were doing?” Eve asked her.

“No. Well, Ms. Furst figured it out. I’m glad you did,” she said to Nadine. “I’m glad it’s out. I know I have to leave Seventy-Five. I really liked working there before Ms. Mars … Since then, it’s been horrible. If I don’t go to prison, I’m going home, I’m going to get a job working with my mom. If I don’t go to prison.”

“Did you kill her?”

“I— God—oh, no.” Her face turned white as bone under the tear streaks. “No, no. I swear.”

“Do you know who did?”

“No. I don’t know who killed her. But … when I heard she was dead, I was glad. That’s the truth, too. I was glad, and then I felt sick inside because I was glad.”

“Where were you last night between six and seven.”

“Um. I had to work till six, maybe a little after. I was getting ready to go home and Dory got a text from her new boyfriend. He broke up with her in a text, and that’s just mean. She was upset so I stayed with her awhile. Dory’s nice. We went out together. I guess it may have been six-thirty. She just wanted to go home. I got the subway, and I stopped for takeaway from the Chinese place. It’s just a couple blocks from where I live. I don’t know how to kill anybody.”

“Then you won’t be going to prison,” Eve said briskly. “Do you have a record of the names of people you hacked?”

“I remember all of them. You don’t forget when you do something mean to somebody.”

“I’m going to need those names.”

After Eve recorded them, Nadine gave Phoebe a pat on the shoulder. “It’s over now, and Lieutenant Dallas will take care of it from here. I’ve got a car waiting downstairs to take you home.”

“Oh, Ms. Furst, you don’t have to do that. I can take the subway.”

“You’re taking the car. You go down, give the doorman your name. He’ll have it brought around for you. Tomorrow, you give your notice at Seventy-Five, and if you need a reference for a job, you can give my name.”

“I’m ashamed of what I did.”

“You had a weapon at your throat.” Again, Eve spoke briskly. “Next time you do? Call a cop.”

“I wish I had. The marshals were good to us, even after what my father did. I should have known to go to the police.”

Nadine led her to the door, let out a long sigh when she came back. “I wish I could take her onto my team. I think she’s brutally honest and she’s a hard worker. But I can’t, and she’s better off back home planting bushes. I should take on an intern.” Nadine picked up her wine, drained it. “Someone young and smart and looking to learn. Someone I can mentor, and someone I can teach.”

“Seriously?”

Nadine shrugged at Eve. “Yeah. A protégé. I think I’d like having a protégé.”

“You’re good at your job.”

Nadine lifted her glass. “So are we all.”

“I may know somebody. Somebody young and smart. Cocky, but that can be a plus. She’d probably be willing to learn.”

“Really? Who?”

“I’ll let you know.”

*

“Black Hat Derick,” Roarke said as he and Eve rode down to the garage.

“You’re not going to tell me you admired him?”

“Well now, there was a time in my youth when he was a hero for certain, scooping up funds like candy drops and bolloxing up the system with keystrokes and vision. No question at all he was bleeding deadly, but he went full mentaller, and that’s the tragic.”