Forgotten in Death(120)

“That’s bullshit, as the record, which I’ll play, clearly shows. You thought about trying that third shot, but you knew I’d stun you. I didn’t stun you because you’re really old and it could’ve killed you, even on low. But you really wanted to fire again, try for the head shot. Even better than the—on-record—attempted murder of a police officer, which will get you twenty-five to life, is the fact that the bullets fired from that gun tonight and the bullets fired thirty-seven years ago into Johara Murr match. Same weapon used. You should’ve gotten rid of it. Shouldn’t have kept her passport, should’ve destroyed those invoices, but you didn’t want to. They were like medals of honor for you.”

“You won’t put me in prison.”

“Elinor, we need to talk.”

She shoved Breathed’s hand away. “She will not put me in prison. Do you know who I am?”

“Oh, yes, I do. You bet I do.”

“You broke into my home, you planted all those things. I will be believed over you. You’re nothing. You’re married to a competitor, a criminal. Everyone knows he’s no more than a vicious Irish thug. You’re trying to destroy what my family has built over generations for him, for some nouveau riche foreigner. People will believe me.”

“Not a chance. Your own lawyer doesn’t believe that line of bullshit. Science, you murdering bitch. Science, evidence, statements. A recording that shows you holding the weapon, firing it at me, just like you fired on the pregnant woman your grandson loved.”

“Love means nothing. She was some tramp, some whore trying to worm her way into my family, our status, our money, our heritage with the bastard growing inside her.”

“Your great-grandchild,” Peabody mumbled.

“Nothing but a nit.”

“Elinor, stop. My client has nothing more to say at this time.”

“She thinks she can bully me.” Elinor pushed his hand away again. “That whore thought the same. She found out differently, and so will you.”

“So you shot her, killed her, had your son help you wall her in because you considered her a whore and the child inside her a nit that had to be killed so as not to infect your family.”

“She was a threat. I eliminated the threat. That is my right as head of the family. You will not put me in prison for protecting my family from infestation.”

“You’ll never know another day of freedom,” Eve promised.

“No, she won’t,” Reo agreed. “There will be no deal, Mr. Breathed, so let’s not waste time on that. Your client has confessed. We have evidence on top of evidence. She will serve her two life sentences for murder and her twenty-five for attempted murder of a police officer, consecutively.”

“Ms. Reo, consider my client’s age and life expectancy.”

“She’ll live that expectancy out in prison. One concession I’ll give, considering that age and the physical strain of transporting her off-planet, is she’ll live what’s left of her life in an on-planet maximum-security prison.

“Take me to court on it,” Reo invited. “And that concession is deleted.” She rose. “Speak with your client, but that’s it, and that’s all.”

She sailed out.

“Reo exiting Interview.” Eve rose, gathered the files. “We actually have more, but you get the gist. When you’ve finished with your client, she’ll be taken back to her cell.”

“I will not spend another minute in that hellhole.”

“You’re going to spend a lot more than a minute in hellholes. I only wish you had more years left to spend in them. Interview end.”





Epilogue





Eve stepped out, rubbed her fingers on her gritty eyes, then over her face, then back into her hair.

She needed a shower, she thought, needed to wash off the sludge that excuse for a human had left behind.

“You sure called it, going for the son first.” Peabody scrubbed at her own face. “Not only the way he rolled, but getting the time to get the ballistics, to have the search come around. Her lawyer barely got to play lawyer.”

“He might try to push a little more, but I’m not budging.” Reo bared her teeth at the closed door of Interview A. “Neither is the boss. I’ll take a conference room if he wants to play with it awhile. She may overrule him. She may insist on going to trial.”

“She may,” Mira agreed as she walked to them. “She’s a malignant narcissist, classic, and is certain she will never face consequences.”

“She will, and there’ll be more of them if she takes it to court. Either way.” Reo rolled her shoulders. “Long day.”

“He’s going to push for bail, or house arrest.”

Reo nodded at Eve. “He will, and he’ll do so knowing he won’t get either. The passport? That’s gold. But the diamonds and rubies on the gold? She used the same gun she used to kill a twenty-two-year-old woman pregnant with her own great-grandchild to shoot a cop.”

Nothing could have satisfied Eve more. “Now I’ll take a blocker. Who has one?”

Peabody reached in her pocket, Reo in her briefcase, Mira in her purse. “Jesus, really? You all carry them?”

She plucked one from Peabody, knocked the tiny blue pill back.