Naked in Death (In Death #1)(14)

There was a viewing screen recessed in the forward wall and a uniformed flight attendant who showed no surprise at seeing Roarke board with a strange woman.

“Brandy, sir?”

“My companion prefers coffee, Diana, black.” He lifted a brow until Eve nodded. “I’ll have brandy.”

“I’ve heard about the JetStar.” Eve shrugged out of her coat, and it was whisked away along with Roarke’s by the attendant. “It’s a nice form of transportation.”

“Thanks. We spent two years designing it.”

“Roarke Industries?” she said as she took a chair.

“That’s right. I prefer using my own whenever possible. You’ll need to strap in for takeoff,” he told her, then leaned forward to flip on an intercom. “Ready.”

“We’ve been cleared,” they were told. “Thirty seconds.”

Almost before Eve could blink, they were airborne, in so smooth a transition she barely felt the g’s. It beat the hell, she thought, out of the commercial flights that slapped you back in your seat for the first five minutes of air time.

They were served drinks and a little plate of fruit and cheese that had Eve’s mouth watering. It was time, she decided, to get to work.

“How long did you know Sharon DeBlass?”

“I met her recently, at the home of a mutual acquaintance.”

“You said you were a friend of the family.”

“Of her parents,” Roarke said easily. “I’ve known Beth and Richard for several years. First on a business level, then on a personal one. Sharon was in school, then in Europe, and our paths didn’t cross. I met her for the first time a few days ago, took her to dinner. Then she was dead.”

He took a flat gold case from his inside pocket. Eve’s eyes narrowed as she watched him light a cigarette. “Tobacco’s illegal, Roarke.”

“Not in free air space, international waters, or on private property.” He smiled at her through a haze of smoke. “Don’t you think, lieutenant, that the police have enough to do without trying to legislate our morality and personal lifestyles?”

She hated to admit even to herself that the tobacco smelled enticing. “Is that why you collect guns? As part of your personal lifestyle?”

“I find them fascinating. Your grandfather and mine considered owning one a constitutional right. We’ve toyed quite a bit with constitutional rights as we’ve civilized ourselves.”

“And murder and injury by that particular type of weapon is now an aberration rather than the norm.”

“You like rules, lieutenant?”

The question was mild, as was the insult under it. Her shoulders stiffened. “Without rules, chaos.”

“With chaos, life.”

Screw philosophy, she thought, annoyed. “Do you own a thirty-eight caliber Smith & Wesson, Model Ten, circa 1990?”

He took another slow, considering drag. The tobacco burned expensively between his long, elegant fingers. “I believe I own one of that model. Is that what killed her?”

“Would you be willing to show it to me?”

“Of course, at your convenience.”

Too easy, she thought. She suspected anything that came easily. “You had dinner with the deceased the night before her death. In Mexico.”

“That’s right.” Roarke crushed out his cigarette and settled back with his brandy. “I have a small villa on the west coast. I thought she’d enjoy it. She did.”

“Did you have a physical relationship with Sharon DeBlass?”

His eyes glittered for a moment, but whether with amusement or with anger, she couldn’t be sure. “By that, I take you to mean did I have sex with her. No, lieutenant, though it hardly seems relevant. We had dinner.”

“You took a beautiful woman, a professional companion, to your villa in Mexico, and all you shared with her was dinner.”

He took his time choosing a glossy green grape. “I appreciate beautiful women for a variety of reasons, and enjoy spending time with them. I don’t employ professionals for two reasons. First, I don’t find it necessary to pay for sex.” He sipped his brandy, watching her over the rim. “And second, I don’t choose to share.” He paused, very briefly. “Do you?”

Her stomach fluttered, was ignored. “We’re not talking about me.”

“I was. You’re a beautiful woman, and we’re quite alone, at least for the next fifteen minutes. Yet all we’ve shared has been coffee and brandy.” He smiled at the temper smoldering in her eyes. “Heroic, isn’t it, what restraint I have?”

“I’d say your relationship with Sharon DeBlass had a different flavor.”

“Oh, I certainly agree.” He chose another grape, offered it.

Appetite was a weakness, Eve reminded herself even as she accepted the grape and bit through its thin, tart skin. “Did you see her after your dinner in Mexico?”

“No, I dropped her off about three A. M. and went home. Alone.”

“Can you tell me your whereabouts for the forty-eight hours after you went home — alone?”

“I was in bed for the first five of them. I took a conference call over breakfast. About eight-fifteen. You can check the records.”

“I will.”