The In Death Collection Books 26-29 - J.D. Robb [419]
“And I can run pretty fast given the right incentive.”
“I’d make her pay for it. How do you think I’d make you pay for it, Peabody?”
“In the most painful and humiliating way possible.”
“See how well we know each other? The difference in the situations and personalities as I see it is I wouldn’t end her. I’d want her to hurt and fear me for a long, long time. But we all have our different definition of fun. Did you have fun killing Sandy, Alex?”
“That accusation—”
Alex simply lifted a hand to cut the lawyer off. “Rod’s dead? How?”
She’d kept a lid on it and saw now she’d been right to do so. He hadn’t known, Eve thought. His network hadn’t found Sandy, or hadn’t been ordered to look quite deep enough. “I’m asking the questions. He betrayed you, made a fool of you, now he’s dead. That’s a one plus one equals two kind of deal around here. Of course, that’s if we believe you were the goat.”
She tipped back casually in her chair. “We could speculate that you and Sandy were duping your father. Take his money and Sandy feeds him what you want him to eat. You’re smart enough to do that.”
“It’s exactly what I would have done, if I’d known.”
“You’re in a tough spot here, Alex. Say you knew and it could take you off the hook on Sandy’s murder. But say you knew, and—since he’s implicated in Coltraine’s murder—that could tie you to a cop killing. Say you don’t know, and you come off a fool who’d probably want some of his own back.”
“Lieutenant Dallas,” Proctor began, “my client can hardly be held responsible for the actions of . . .”
Eve didn’t bother to listen, didn’t bother to interrupt. She just kept looking at Alex. It was Alex who finally shut the lawyer down, and leaned toward Eve. “I don’t know when my father got his hooks into Rod. I intend to find out, but I don’t know how long ago. I don’t know why Rod betrayed me for money. Now I’ll never know. You may not think the why would be important. It’s essential to me. I didn’t want Rod dead. I wanted to know why, I wanted to know if he had anything, anything at all to do with Ammy’s death. I wanted to look in his face and know if he could’ve done that to her, to me. And why.”
“He not only could have, he did. Why? Money’s often enough. Add sex and the potential for power, and you’ve got it all. Hell, Alex, he’s probably been banging your sister regularly since college.”
“I don’t have a sister, so the supposition is—”
“Christ, Peabody, maybe he is just an oblivious idiot.” Eve pulled out Cleo Grady’s photo, tossed it on the table. “Not much family resemblance, but that’s understandable with half sibs.”
Alex stared at the photo, and Eve watched his color fade shade by shade. “Get out,” Alex said to the lawyers. “All of you, get out.”
“Mr. Ricker, it’s not in your best interest to—”
“Get out now, or you’re fired.” He stared at Eve as the lawyers packed up their briefcases and left the room. “If you’re lying about this, if you’re playing me on this, I’ll use every means at my disposal to have your badge.”
“Now I’m scared.”
“Don’t fuck with me!”
It was the anger, the raw emotion through it, that gave Eve some of the answers she’d wanted. “We’ll remain on record. You have dismissed your attorneys?”
“Yes, I’ve damn well dismissed them. Tell me who this is, and what she has to do with me.”
Morris opened the door of Ammy’s apartment for Cleo Grady. She stepped forward, said only, “Morris,” and gave him both her hands.
“I’m sorry I pulled you into this, Cleo. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Don’t be. You shouldn’t try to do this alone. She was my friend. I want to help.”
She sounded so sincere, he thought. With just the slightest catch in her voice. How easy it would be to believe her, if he didn’t know. He shifted to let her inside, closed the door. “I don’t know if I could do it alone. But when her family asked, I . . . They don’t want to come back here. I can’t blame them. But going through her things, packing them up . . . There’s so much of her. And none of her.”
“I can take care of it. I’ve got the personal