The In Death Collection Books 6-10 - J. D. Robb [251]
That was new, Eve mused. He’d had no tattoo in the videos she’d screened. “Do you remember what it looked like?”
“It said, ‘My True Love.’ He showed it to me, wanted me to look at it. He said it was new, permanent, not a temp. Because he was tired of being temporary to everyone he loved. And I was crying, telling him I’d never hurt him. Then he cried, too. He said he knew, he was sorry. He didn’t know what else to do.”
“Can you remember anything else?”
“He said I would always love him, because he’d be my last. And that he’d always remember me, because I’d been his friend.” The glaze had cleared out of her eyes. Now they just seemed weary. “He was going to kill me. He wasn’t Simon anymore, Lieutenant. The man who did this to me, I didn’t know him. He became someone else in that room. And I think it frightened him almost as much as it frightened me.”
“You don’t have to be frightened now. I promise you.” Stepping back, Eve looked over at Rudy. “Let’s step outside a minute and let the doctor examine your sister.”
“I’ll be right back.” He pressed his lips to Piper’s knuckles. “I’m just outside the door. I don’t want to leave her,” he said to Eve as soon as the door closed behind them.
“She’s going to need to talk to someone.”
“She’s talked enough. She told you everything, for God’s sake—”
“She’ll need counseling,” Eve interrupted. “She’ll need treatment. Taking her away isn’t going to help her cope. I gave her a card a couple of days ago, one of mine with a name and number on the back. Contact Dr. Mira, Rudy. Let her help your sister.”
He opened his mouth, then closed it again and seemed to make an effort to level himself. “You were very kind to her in there, Lieutenant. Very gentle. And hearing her describe what happened to her, I understand why you were neither kind nor gentle with me when you believed I was responsible for . . . what was done to the others. I’m grateful to you.”
“You can be grateful when I’ve taken him down.” She rocked back on her heels. “You know him pretty well, right?”
“I thought I did.”
“Where would he go? Is there a place, a person?”
“I would have said he’d come to me or Piper. We spent a great deal of time in each other’s company, professionally and personally.” He closed his eyes. “Which explains how he was able to access the match lists. He wouldn’t have been questioned by anyone in the organization. If I had told you that, if I had opened those doors to you freely rather than trying to protect myself and my business, I might have prevented this.”
“Open them now. Tell me about him, his mother.”
“She self-terminated. I don’t know if anyone’s aware of that but me.” Absently, Rudy pinched the bridge of his nose. “He broke down one night and told me. She was a troubled woman, mentally unstable. He blamed his father. There was a divorce when Simon was a child and his mother never got over it. She was certain that her husband would come back one day.”
“Her one true love?”
“Oh God.” Now he covered his face. “Yes, yes, I suppose. She was an actress, not a particularly successful one, but Simon thought she was marvelous, stunning. He worshipped her. But he was often distressed by her behavior. She would slide into a depression and there were men. She used men to bolster her moods. He was the most tolerant of men, but in this area, he was very close-minded. She was his mother and had no right to give herself sexually. He only spoke about it to me once, shortly after her death when he was lost in grief. She’d hanged herself. He found her Christmas morning.”
“It’s a perfect fit.” Peabody sat rigidly in the passenger seat as Eve fought through traffic. “He has a mother complex, and he’s replacing her, punishing her, loving her, every time he picks out a victim. The two males either represent his father, or his own dominant sexual preferences.”
“Thanks for the bulletin,” Eve said dryly, then rapped the wheel with the heel of her hand as she was jammed in once again on all sides. “This fucking Christmas shit! No wonder hospitals and mental clinics do booming business in