Apprentice in Death (In Death #43)(101)

Nadine straightened in the chair. “Her father flipped on her?”

“Not exactly, and if you want to ask questions, why don’t we do it? I’ve got a case to close.”

Nadine sat another moment. “I hated getting scooped by that putz from New York–One.”

Eve shrugged again. “Happens, right? He’s probably going to hate you going on with details of the arrest—with a follow-up on the result of the interview with said suspect.”

“Yeah, he is.” Nadine pushed up. “I need to trust you.”

“And you can. Nadine, both Roarke and Peabody took hits—body armor kept those hits from sending them to the morgue.”

“You?”

“Yeah, and me. The thing is, without the distraction, she might’ve hunkered down and distracted us by picking off civilians a couple blocks away. But she didn’t have time to go there because we got in. She focused on you, then she had to focus on us. Minimal damage,” Eve repeated.

“All right. I’m going to think about all that. But right now, I’m going to tell my camera to come in. We’ll get this on the air. I suppose offering you makeup for that face is a waste of time. You want those bruises to show.”

“Hey. I earned them.” Eve smiled.

—

Peabody stepped out of Observation, where she and Mira had been watching a bored, sulky-eyed Willow and talking about tomorrow’s birthday party.

She walked to the Interview room door, opened it.

Willow glanced up. She’d shorn off the dreads so her dark hair hung shaggy and short. Like Eve, she sported some visible bruising.

“About fricking time.”

“It’s going to be another couple minutes,” Peabody told her. “Do you want a drink?”

“Jesus. Yeah.” Willow shrugged. “Orange fizzy.”

On a nod, Peabody turned, then jolted when she came face-to-face with Eve. “Sorry. I didn’t think you were ready. I offered to get the kid a drink.”

“Fine. Just—here comes the APA. Just don’t take all damn day.”

“Rabbit quick.” In her haste, Peabody left the door slightly ajar.

“Dallas.”

“Reo. I told you we didn’t need that damn deal.”

“We made the deal with Mackie for good reasons, and you know it. And without his information you wouldn’t have known what kind of firepower you were going in against.”

“That’s the least of it. Dealing with him for information on her? Making that agreement that ties into trying her as a minor? I’d’ve brought her down without it. I did bring her down, goddamn it. How about you explain to families of all the victims how the person who took their lives does a couple of years for it?”

“Would you have preferred notifying more families their loved ones were in the morgue?”

“With your deal, I can just wait until she’s out at eighteen to start doing that again.”

“Rehabilitation—”

“Oh, don’t even start that crap with me. People like me risk everything to put people like her in a cage. Then you deal it down to nothing so they walk out and do it all again. She does under three years, and you call that a win.”

“It’s not about winning, it’s about doing our jobs. We both did our jobs, and this is where we stand. If you convince her to confess, we can save the taxpayers’ money, avoid a trial, and move on. Now do you want to tie this up so we can both go home, or do you want to stand here and bitch at me about how the system works?”

“The system sucks.”

“Are we ready?” Peabody asked as she came back, fizzy in hand.

“We’re ready. I don’t need you in there, Reo.”

“Not your call. We’re on the same side, Dallas, so suck it up.”

Peabody pushed open the door.

Face set, eyes still flashing with anger, Eve walked in. “Record on. Dallas, Lieutenant Eve; Peabody, Detective Delia; Reo, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Cher, entering Interview with Mackie, Willow.”

She reeled off the rest of the data as Peabody set the fizzy on the table. Willow picked it up, held it in her restrained hands, and sipped with a smirk on her face.

“Have you been read your rights, Miss Mackie?”

“Yeah. And sure, I understand them fine. Banged you up pretty good. Too bad your hand got in the way of my knife.”

“Don’t be disrespectful.” Peabody sent her a disapproving scowl. “You’re in deep enough.”

“Could’ve taken you,” Willow shot back. “And you’d be as dead as that idiot who played you in the vid.”

“Back-talking adults isn’t going to help you,” Peabody warned. “You’re in serious trouble, Willow.”

“You busted into my house. I defended myself.”

“We entered your mother’s house duly warranted,” Eve corrected. “And found you in possession of numerous illegal weapons. You utilized those weapons to attack police officers.”

Willow smiled. She might have been an attractive young woman, despite the bruises and scrapes a few passes with the healing wand and some ice packs hadn’t soothed away. But there was ugliness in that smile.

She lifted her middle finger, scratched her cheek with it as she looked at Eve. “Not my weapons. I used them to defend myself.”