Apprentice in Death (In Death #43)(89)

The trembling ran up his arms, quivered over his chest. “Get him out. The weasel tried to talk me into making a deal. You think I’d take a deal? Get him out.”

“That’s pretty clear.” Peabody got up, walked to the door. “The suspect has terminated his counsel, and waived his right to counsel. I’d get gone, Pratt, before he puts your name on a list.”

Saying nothing, a bit green around the edges, Pratt retrieved his briefcase and left the room.

“Terminated counsel has exited Interview.” Peabody closed the door.

“Are you going to sit, or do I have you taken back to a cage?”

From the floor Mackie eyed Eve. “Your turn will come.”

“Yeah, sooner or later, but you won’t be around to see it. In the chair, Mackie.”





17


He sat. The red splotches stained his face again, and his eyes had reddened more.

Eve took a document from the file, the blueprint of the school, pushed it toward him. “This is part of her mission. You can see where she’s marked egresses, weak spots. You’d have taught her how.”

“No.”

“Mother, stepfather, brother. They came first. The hate, the rage, it goes deeper there. Then she’d be free of them, and she’d target the principal, the counselor, and the students she felt had wronged her or insulted her or were against her. You taught her how to hone those slights into crimes, you gave her the excuse to kill.”

“Lies.”

“You know better, but hold on to that if it helps you get through. You’re looking rough, Mackie. I can authorize another medically approved hit if you need it to continue.”

“I don’t need anything from you, you lying cunt.”

“Okay then. Let’s go back to this.” She shoved a couple of Zach’s photos closer. “She killed his puppy, and she means to kill him. He’s in protective custody, for now. You know that can’t last forever. And she’ll wait, she’ll wait as long as it takes unless we stop her, and she’ll put a strike through his brain. He shares her blood, they share a mother. He could’ve been yours, and she’ll wait as long as it takes.”

“She’s got no reason.”

“She’s got every reason.” Eve slammed a fist on the table. “He took from her. Didn’t you help her justify using the skills you taught her to put down anybody who took from her? Some guy’s driving down the street on a rainy day, and a woman runs out in front of him. He tries to stop, tries to swerve, but it’s too late. Did he aim for her, Mackie? Did he get up that morning planning on killing her? Did he spend days, weeks, months, like you, working on the details? Did he tell himself he could take innocent bystanders, too, because they didn’t matter? The kill mattered.”

“He killed her, and they did nothing.”

“So you target him, this guy who tried to stop, and you target the doctor and his office manager because her appointment ran over, and you target her supervisor, who gave her grief because she kept coming in late, wasn’t doing her job.”

“She did her best!”

“Who says somebody’s best is always good enough? What world do you live in? You target the lawyer you went to because he couldn’t make it all better for you. And you use your daughter to make the kills because you’re so fucked-up you can’t make the strikes. Whose idea was it to take out more? Hers, I’m guessing. Hers because she wanted that power, that thrill. That practice. Practice so when she got to her own list, she could take out her mother and her little brother.”

His abused eyes twitched now. “We’re going to Alaska.”

“She was never going to Alaska. What the hell does she want to go to Alaska for? She’s a fifteen-year-old girl from New York, and the city has everything she wants and needs. Targets galore.

“She’ll kill this little boy, this cute little kid because her mother had the nerve to have another offspring. She won’t get to him today or tomorrow, not next week, but in six months or a year, when he thinks he’s safe again? When he’s out playing with some friends, she’ll wipe them all out, all those kids. Because she can, because you gave her the excuse, and you taught her how.”

“She won’t.”

But his ravaged eyes cut away.

“You know she will. Maybe he’ll be twelve when she comes for him. He and a couple of pals heading down to the arcade or riding airboards, or hanging in the park. And done! She ends them all. Just like she ended him.” She pulled Alan Markum’s photo out of the file. “He and his wife, having a day together, their wedding anniversary. She was going to tell him they’re having a baby. She never got the chance, like that baby will never have the chance to know its father. You did that, Mackie, you and Willow. You took that life on a fucking whim, and now another kid grows up without ever knowing its father. For what? So you can cover up killing a doctor who was busy bringing another life into this screwed-up world so his appointments ran late?

“You stole from them. From this pregnant woman, just like your wife was pregnant. By your rules we should execute you and Willow. You took the father from the child.”

“They took from me.”

“How did he take from you?” She shoved the picture closer yet. “How did Alan Markum take from you? He never met you, you didn’t know him. What did he do to you to deserve death, to deserve never holding his son or daughter?”