Immortal in Death (In Death #3)(103)

“You killed him. You broke him to pieces.”

“Not until it was necessary. I never do anything until it’s necessary. It was Pandora, you see, that beautiful bitch.”

Eve listened, righting to bring her brain and motor skills back into mesh while Casto spun her a tale of sex, power, and profit.

Pandora had spotted him at the club. Or they’d spotted each other. She’d liked the idea that he was a cop, and the kind of cop he was. He’d be able to get his hands on lots of goodies, wouldn’t he? And for her, he’d been happy to do so. He’d been enchanted with her, obsessed, and yes, addicted. No harm in admitting that now. His mistake had been to share his information about Immortality with her, to listen to her ideas for cashing in. Huge profits, she’d predicted. More money than they could spend in three lifetimes. And youth, beauty, great sex. She’d become addicted to the drug quickly, always hungered for more, and she had used him to get it.

But she had been useful, too. Her career, her fame, had made it easy for her to travel, to carry more of what was then being manufactured exclusively on Starlight Station in a little private lab.

Then he’d discovered she’d brought Redford in on the deal. He’d been furious with her, but she’d been able to string him along with sex and promises. And the money, of course.

But things had started to go wrong. Boomer had pushed for money, had pocketed a bag of the drug in powder form.

“I should have been able to handle him. Little wart. Trailed him here. He was flying, running his mouth, tossing the credits I’d given him to keep him quiet around like candy. I couldn’t know what he’d said to that damn whore.” Casto shrugged. “You figured that out yourself. Right scenario, Eve, wrong person. I had to take her out. I was in too deep for mistakes by then. She was just a whore.”

Eve leaned her head back against the wall. Her head had nearly stopped spinning now. She thanked God the dose had been light. Casto was on a roll. She could keep him talking. If she couldn’t get the hell out on her own, someone was going to come looking for her soon.

“Then you went after Boomer.”

“I couldn’t go to his flop and drag him out. My face is too well known around there. I gave him a little time, then I contacted him. Told him we’d be able to deal. We needed him in on our side. He was stupid enough to buy it. Then I had him.”

“You messed him up first. You didn’t kill him quick.”

“I had to find out how much he’d let out, who he might have talked to. He didn’t deal well with pain, our Boomer. Spilled his guts. I found out about the formula. Really pissed me off. I wasn’t going to mess up his face like the hooker’s, but I lost it. Plain and simple. Got emotionally involved, you could say.”

“You’re a cold bastard,” Eve muttered, making her voice weak and blurry.

“Now that’s just not true, Eve. You ask Peabody.” He grinned, gave her breast a quick tweak that sent fury and rage cycling to her gut. “I went for DeeDee when I realized you weren’t going to take a nibble. Too wrapped up in that rich Irish bastard to take a look at a real man. And DeeDee, bless her, was ripe for plucking. Never could get much out of her on what you were up to, though. DeeDee’s got good cop all over her. Slip a little help into her wine, though, she gets more cooperative.”

“You drugged Peabody?”

“Now and then, just to pump her for any details you might have left out of your official report. And to keep her sleeping pretty when I had to go out at night. She was an airtight alibi. Anyway, you know about Pandora. That went pretty much as you had figured, too. Only I was staking out her place that night. Scooped her up the minute she came storming out. She wanted to go to that designer’s. We’d pretty much finished up our sexual relationship by then. Just business now. I figured why not take her? I knew she was working to cut me out of the whole deal. She wanted it all. She didn’t think she needed some street cop hanging on, even if he was the one to give her the damn stuff to begin with. She knew about Boomer, too. But that didn’t bother her. What did she care about some dirty alley croucher? And she never thought, never considered that I’d hurt her.”

“But you did.”

“I took her where she wanted to go. I’m not really sure if I was going to do it then, but when I saw the security camera smashed, it seemed like a sign. Then the place was empty. Just her and me. They’d hang it on the dressmaker, right? Or on the little lady she’d had a fight with. So I hit her. The first strike took her down, but she was up again. That shit made her strong and mean. I had to keep hitting her, and hitting her. Fucking blood flying. Then she was down for good. Your little friend came in, and you know the rest.”

“Yeah, I know the rest. You went back and took the box with the tabs. Why did you take her palm ‘link?”

“She always used it to call me. She might’ve recorded the numbers.”

“Cockroach?”

“Just something extra in the mix. To confuse things. Cockroach was always willing to sample a new product. You were hammering away, and I wanted a hit where I was well alibied, just in case. So I had DeeDee.”

“You got to Jerry, too, didn’t you?”

“Easy as a walk on the beach. Get one of the VT’s stirred up with a quick buzz, wait for the chaos. I had a reviver for Jerry, brought her around and had her out of there before she knew what was happening. I promised her a fix, and she cried like a baby. Morphine first so she wouldn’t get any idea about not cooperating. Then Immortality, then a dash of Zeus. She died happy, Eve. Thanking me.”