The In Death Collection Books 21-25 - J. D. Robb [161]
She was making considerable headway when Peabody came to her office door.
“Tubbs’s tox came back positive for traces of Zeus, and various others. Other vic was clean. The bodies, such as they are, will be released to next of kin tomorrow.”
“Good job.”
“Dallas?”
“Mmm. I’m sending the squad’s expense chits up. Most of them,” she said with a sneer. “Baxter and I are going to have a little chat.”
“Dallas.” Eve glanced up, saw Peabody’s face. “What?”
“I’ve got to go to court. Celina.”
Eve got to her feet. “We’ve already given our testimony.”
“Prosecution called me separately, remember? As one of the victims.”
“Yeah, but . . . I thought you weren’t coming up for that yet, not for another week or two anyway. With the holidays . . .”
“It’s moving along pretty fast. I need to go in.”
“When?”
“Sort of now. It shouldn’t take long, but . . . You’re going with me?” Peabody asked as Eve grabbed her coat.
“What do you think?”
On a long breath, Peabody closed her eyes. “Thanks. Thanks. McNab’s going to meet me there. He’s out in the field, and he’s going to try to . . . Thanks.”
On the way out, Eve stopped at one of the vending units. “Get yourself some water,” she told Peabody. “Get me the cold caffeine.”
“Good idea. My throat’s already dry. I’m prepped,” Peabody continued as she entered her code, made her choices. “The prosecution team drilled me good. And it’s not like it’s the first time I’ve testified in court.”
“It’s the first time you’ve testified as a victim. It’s different. You know it’s different.”
She passed Eve a tube of Pepsi, and took a long pull from the water as they walked. “It wasn’t even Celina who hurt me. I don’t know why I’m so spooked.”
“She was part of it. She had foreknowledge and did nothing. She’s charged with accessory for a reason, Peabody. You go in, you lay out what happened, you don’t let the defense shake you. Then you walk away from it.”
You could walk away from it, Eve thought, but you never really got away. Peabody would remember every moment of that attack. She’d remember the pain and the fear. Justice might be served, but even justice couldn’t wipe away the memories.
She went out the main doors. However crappy the day, the short walk would settle Peabody down. “You’re a cop,” she began, “and you took a hard hit in the line. That matters to juries. You’re a woman.” Eve slid her hands into her pockets, out of the cold rain. “Whether or not it should apply, that matters to juries, too. The fact that this big, crazy son of a bitch—one who’d killed and mutilated multiple women—kicked you around . . . it matters big time.”
“He’s sewed up.” And that was a huge relief. “Too damn crazy to stand trial. He’ll be locked up in an institution for the mentally defective, violence sector, ’til he croaks.”
“Your job here is to make what Celina didn’t do matter. To help the prosecution prove she was responsible.”
“They’ll get her cold on Annalisa Sommers’s murder, the one she did herself. She’ll go up for that. Maybe it’s enough.”
“Enough for you?”
Peabody stared straight ahead, chugged more water. “I’m working on it being enough.”
“Then you’re doing better than I am. You made it through, others didn’t. She watched. Every one of the dead after she linked psychically with John Blue is on her. Every minute you spent in the hospital, in recovery. Every bad moment you’ve had about it is on her, too. I damn well want her to pay.”
As they walked up the courthouse steps, Peabody swallowed hard. “Hands are shaking.”
“Toughen up” was all Eve said.
Once they were through security, she could have badged her way into the courtroom. Instead she waited with Peabody while APA Cher Reo made her way over.
“We’ve got a short recess,” Reo began. “You’ll testify next.”
“How’s it going in there?” Eve asked.
“She’s got good lawyers.” Reo glanced back toward the double doors. She was pretty and blonde,