Naked in Death (In Death #1)(86)

“She wasn’t weak like me. She turned it on him, used it against him. I heard them arguing. Christmas Day. When we all went to his house to pretend we were a family. I saw them go into his office, and I followed them. I opened the door, and I watched and I listened through the crack. He was so furious with her because she was making a public mockery of everything he stood for. And she said, ‘You made me what I am, you bastard.’ It warmed me to hear that. It made me want to cheer. She stood up to him. She threatened to expose him unless he paid her. She had it all documented, she said, every dirty detail. So he’d have to play the game her way. They fought, hurling words at each other. And then…”

Catherine glanced over at Elizabeth, at her brother, then looked away. “She took off her blouse.” Elizabeth’s moan had Catherine trembling again. “She told him he could have her, just like any client. But he’d pay more. A lot more. He was looking at her. I knew the way he was looking at her, his eyes glazed over, his mouth slack. He grabbed her br**sts. She looked at me. Right at me. She’d known I was there, and she looked at me with such disgust. Maybe even with hate, because she knew I’d do nothing. I closed the door, closed it and ran. I was sick. Oh, Elizabeth.”

“It’s not your fault. She must have tried to tell me. I never saw, I never heard. I never thought. I was her mother, and I didn’t protect her.”

“I tried to talk to her.” Catherine gripped her hands together. “When I went to New York for the fund-raiser. She said I’d chosen my way, and she’d chosen hers. And hers was better. I played politics, kept my head buried, and she played with power and kept her eyes opened.

“When I heard she was dead, I knew. At the funeral I watched him, and he watched me watching him. He came up to me, put his arms around me, held me close as if in comfort. And he whispered to me to pay attention. To remember, and to see what happened when families don’t keep secrets. And he said what a fine boy Franklin was. What big plans he had for him. He said how proud I should be. And how careful.” She closed her eyes. “What could I do? He’s my child.”

“No one’s going to hurt your son.” Eve closed a hand over Catherine’s rigid ones. “I promise you.”

“I’ll never know if I could have saved her. Your child, Richard.”

“You can know you’re doing everything possible now.” Hardly aware she’d taken Catherine’s hand, Eve tightened her grip in reassurance. “It’s going to be difficult for you, Ms. DeBlass, to go over all of this again, as you’ll have to. To face the publicity. To testify, should it come to trial.”

“He’ll never let it go to trial,” Catherine said wearily.

“I’m not going to give him a choice.” Maybe not on murder, she thought. Not yet. But she had him cold on sexual abuse. “Ms. Barrister, I think your sister-in-law should rest now. Could you help her upstairs?”

“Yes, of course.” Elizabeth rose, walked over to help Catherine to her feet. “Let’s go lie down for a bit, darling.”

“I’m sorry.” Catherine leaned heavily against Elizabeth as she was led from the room. “God forgive me, I’m so sorry.”

“There’s a psychiatric counselor attached to the department, Mr. DeBlass. I think your sister should see her.”

“Yes.” He said it absently, staring at the closed door. “She’ll need someone. Something.”

You all will, Eve thought. “Are you up to a few questions?”

“I don’t know. He’s a tyrant, difficult. But this makes him a monster. How am I to accept that my own father is a monster?”

“He has an alibi for the night of your daughter’s death,” Eve pointed out. “I can’t charge him without more.”

“An alibi?”

“The record shows that Rockman was with your father, working with him in his East Washington office until nearly two on the night of your daughter’s death.”

“Rockman would say whatever my father told him to say.”

“Including covering up murder?”

“It’s simply a matter of the easiest way out. Why should anyone believe my father is connected?” He shuddered once, as if blasted with a sudden chill. “Rockman’s statement merely detaches his employer from any suspicion.”

“How would your father travel back and forth to New York from East Washington if he wanted no record of the trip?”

“I don’t know. If his shuttle went out, there would be a log.”

“Logs can be altered,” Roarke said.

“Yes.” Richard looked up as if remembering all at once that his friend was there. “You’d know more about that than I.”

“A reference to my smuggling days,” Roarke explained to Eve. “Long behind me. It can be done, but it would require some payoffs. The pilot, perhaps the mechanic, certainly the air engineer.”

“So I know where to put the pressure on.” And if Eve could prove his shuttle had taken the trip on that night, she’d have probable cause. Enough to break him. “How much do you know about your father’s weapon collection?”

“More than I care to.” Richard rose on unsteady legs. He went to a cabinet, splashed liquor into a glass. He drank it fast, like medicine. “He enjoys his guns, often shows them off. When I was younger, he tried to interest me in them. Roarke can tell you, it didn’t work.”