Devoted in Death (In Death #41)(111)

His face lit up, all but glowed. “It was like riding a shooting star. We knew nobody’d ever felt what we did. It wasn’t the same when we did it again the next day, and we knew to reach up to heaven again that way, what we needed to do. It’s what we had to do to fulfill ourselves and our destiny. What it was, was our true love right.”

“So the next time, you looked for someone.”

“Well, the next time, he kind of found us. We were just borrowing this cabin, over near Silby’s Pond, and this guy, he comes in and he asks what we’re doing, and says we shouldn’t oughta be in there, ’cause we broke the lock. Just this pissant guy, talking a little crazy. So I hit him with the poker from the fireplace, then we thought maybe if we kept him around, took our time with it, we’d ride that shooting star longer. And we did. Lord knows, we rode that star.”

“Details, Darryl, and they need to match with Ella-Loo’s.”

For the next two hours, he took them through every horrific detail of the bloody route across country.

Twice she sent Banner out for the sweet soft drinks James requested – and to give him a short break from the interview.

When it was done, she looked at the two-way glass, nodded.

“That’s it, Darryl, that’s all of it?”

“I swear to God, it is. If I left anything out it’s ’cause I don’t remember or got mixed up is all. You’re going to fix it now so Ella-Loo and me can be together, so I can see nothing bad happens to her.”

“The deal’s good as long as I’m in charge.”

On cue, Zweck stepped in with two agents he’d contacted. “Darryl Roy James, you’re under arrest for the murder of twenty-nine human beings, for the abduction, forcible imprisonment and torture of same. For the abduction, forcible imprisonment and torture of Jayla Campbell and Reed Mulligan, the attempted murder of Jayla Campbell and the rape of both Campbell and Mulligan.”

“I don’t understand. I thought I was already under arrest.”

“By the NYPSD,” Eve said as she rose.

“You are now charged with federal crimes, and the FBI hereby takes jurisdiction of all matters pertaining. You’re in federal custody, and will be transported to a federal facility.”

“With Ella-Loo?”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“But you promised!” Darryl rounded on Eve. “You said!”

“As long as I was in charge.” She shrugged. “Now I’m not. We’re done.” She walked to Zweck, murmured something. He nodded.

“Hold him here,” Zweck ordered.

Eve walked out with Zweck and Banner while Darryl shouted for Ella-Loo.

“Peabody and I will wrap her up. Banner, you don’t have to hear all this again.”

“I’m in it till it’s done. I’m just going to contact my boss. I want to talk to him, then I’ll be back to watch.”

“Same play?” Zweck asked as Banner walked off.

“Same play. Do me a solid, Zweck. Vendings hate me. Get a Pepsi.”

When she started to pull out credits, he shook his head. “On me. I owe you more than a tube.”

“I’ll take it.” And she drank deep, not deep enough to wash the sickness out, but deep.

Then she went in to do it all over again, hear it all over again, with Ella-Loo.

EPILOGUE

By the time it was done, she wanted a week’s long shower, she wanted to sleep for a year.

Ella-Loo’s recounting didn’t vary by much. It might not have been as romantic as Darryl’s, might not have included rides on shooting stars, but she rolled it all out.

Some was fear – fear for herself at the idea of being in a place where someone could do to her what she had done to others. And some was her sick and terrible need for the man who’d flipped that murderous switch inside her.

In the end, with Ella-Loo fighting the restraints, cursing Eve, screaming at the federal officers who hauled her up and out, Eve kept her promise.

They pulled Darryl out of his interview room at the same time.

And they saw each other.

“Darryl, Darryl, help me. Don’t let them hurt me.”

He fought like a madman, screaming for her. “Ella-Loo! I love you, Ella-Loo! I’ll find you. They won’t keep us apart.”

“I love you, Darryl! I’ll wait for you. I’ll wait forever!”

The feds pulled them off in opposite directions, with the corridor echoing with their desperate declarations of love.

Zweck held out a hand for Eve’s. “Lieutenant, anytime you need anything from me. Anything, anytime, you’ve got it.”

“Appreciate it. I’d like to know where they end up.”

“Worlds apart, Lieutenant. That much I can promise.”

When he walked off, Eve pressed her fingers to her eyes. When she dropped her hands, she looked straight at Roarke.

“You’re still here?”

“I’ve come and gone a few times, but yes.” When he laid his hands on her shoulders, she gestured him into interview. Shut the door.

Then let herself lean, let herself be held.

“You always think, this is the worst. It can’t be worse than this. You have to think it, or you can’t do the job. You have to think it even knowing there’s going to be worse. So far, this is the worst. Hearing them tell it, how they enjoyed it, how they needed it, how they got off on it – and that was how they defined love.”