Visions in Death (In Death #19)(110)
"My God." Celina set the tray down with a little thunk and rattle. "You're sure? I can't believe it."
"We're sure. It's one of the reasons we came by. Guess you haven't had the screen on."
"No, I haven't. Clearing the mind, and all that. How? When?"
"I figured I'd left you out of the loop, but everything moved fast once it started moving."
"That's not even an issue. He's locked up? It's done." She breathed out slowly, then reached for the teapot. "I don't even know how to think, or feel. It's such a relief. How did you find him?"
"Witnesses who saw him assault Peabody got a decent look at him, and his ride. We worked from there. Picked him up. He broke in Interview in less than an hour."
"You must be not only exhausted but very pleased." She passed cups of tea around. "It came down to straight cop work, after all."
"And some luck."
"I guess I didn't contribute much, at the end of things."
"Not so. You did quite a bit."
"You have a gift," Roarke continued. "You've utilized it."
"It's not something I have a choice over."
"Oh, I disagree." Eve sipped tea. "You certainly chose to use it when you murdered Annalisa Sommers."
"What?" Celina's cup rattled in her saucer. "What did you say?"
"You must've been watching John Blue—visioning him—for months. Did you see him kill his mother, Celina? Did it go back that far? Is that when you started to plan how you could get rid of your competition?"
As she stared, her face went stark white. "This is horrible. This is hideous and horrible. You're accusing me of murder? Of killing poor Annalisa? You have the man responsible. How could you say this to me?"
"I have the man responsible for murdering fifteen women. Fifteen, Celina. He had their eyes on display. Over the past few hours we've been disinterring bodies from the backyard on his mother's place upstate. Bet you know about that place, too. We have thirteen bodies. Thirteen—including his mother whose remains have been positively ID'd. Thirteen women he practiced on."
Eve's face wasn't pale. It was hard as stone, cold as ice, but a faint flush of rage tinged it. "Did you watch him kill them, too? Add Elisa Maplewood, add Lily Napier, and you've got your fifteen."
Celina's hands fluttered up, crossed over her br**sts. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. I think you must have pushed yourself over some edge."
"Right up to it, but not over. If I'd gone over, I'd be breaking your face right now, the way Blue broke my partner's."
"You'd accuse me, after I came to you, after I've tried to help, because you have one too many bodies to fit your case? For God's sake. I want you to leave my house. I want you—"
When she started to rise, Roarke simply reached out, shoved her back into place. "You want to sit quietly, Celina." And his voice was deathly calm. "We've both had a miserable few hours and may be less courteous than you're accustomed to. So I'd sit still if I were you."
"Now you're threatening me. I'm calling my lawyer."
"Haven't read you your rights yet, so you don't get any. I'll read them to you, Celina, and you can call your lawyer, but right now, we're just having a conversation."
"I don't like the tone of this conversation."
"You know what I don't like? I don't like being used. I don't like being hosed by some selfish bitch with a sixth sense so she can kill her boyfriend's new woman."
" Listento yourself! I was at home, all night, when she was killed. I took a tranq. I never left the house."
"Not at all true," Roarke commented. "Oh, you've got the security discs that'll prove you didn't go out the front, use the elevator. But interestingly enough, you've no tenants down below and haven't for the last few months."
Summerset's little contribution, Eve thought. "You didn't renew their lease."
"It's certainly my choice—"
"And that made it very simple," Roarke went on. "You went out the door there—where you shut down the security cams—down the stairs, into 1-A, and out the emergency evac. I checked it myself, and you didn't think to seal up first. We've your prints on the door, on the window, on the evac mechanism."
"It's my property." But her hands were moving restlessly now, from her lap, to her throat, to her hair. "My fingerprints might be anywhere."
" Annalisadidn't fit. She was close," Eve considered. "In the ballpark, but she didn't quite fit Blue's vision. Hair's too dark, too short. Then there's the kitten. He didn't use props with the others. But you needed that moment of distraction. You're not a two-hundred-eighty-pound man. You needed to distract her, to get her down so she didn't have time to fight."
"For heaven's sakes. He raped her. In whatever fantasy you've dreamed up, for whatever reason, you can hardly accuse me of raping another woman."
"Couldn't have been pleasant for you. What appliance did you use? They make all kinds. Some of them are so realistic, you can hardly tell them from the real McCoy."
J.D. Robb's Books
- Indulgence in Death (In Death #31)
- Brotherhood in Death (In Death #42)
- Leverage in Death: An Eve Dallas Novel (In Death #47)
- Apprentice in Death (In Death #43)
- Brotherhood in Death (In Death #42)
- Echoes in Death (In Death #44)
- J.D. Robb
- Obsession in Death (In Death #40)
- Devoted in Death (In Death #41)
- Festive in Death (In Death #39)