The In Death Collection Books 6-10 - J. D. Robb [406]
The doors slid smoothly open.
“I guess I’ve just been authorized.”
“Your tenacity is admirable, Lieutenant. Please, come in.”
Waverly had removed his lab coat. He was dressed as if for an elegant evening engagement in a perfectly cut dark suit with a silk tie. His gold caduceus glinted in the bright lights.
He smiled charmingly and held a pressure syringe against the pulse in Louise’s throat. Eve’s heart bumped once, hard against her ribs. Then she saw the gentle rise and fall of Louise’s breasts.
Still breathing, she thought, and she intended to keep it that way.
“You got sloppy in the end, Doc.”
“I don’t think so. Just a few loose ends needing to be tied off and snipped. I suggest you put down your weapon, Lieutenant, unless you want me to administer this very fast-acting, very lethal medication to our young friend here.”
“Is that the same stuff you used on Friend and Wo?”
“As it happens, Hans treated Tia. But, yes. It’s painless and efficient. The drug of choice for discriminating self-terminators. She’ll be dead in less than three minutes. Now, put down your weapon.”
“You kill her, you’ve got no shield.”
“You won’t let me kill her.” He smiled again. “You can’t. A woman who risks her life for dead derelicts will swallow her pride for the life of an innocent. I’ve made quite a study of you in the past couple of weeks, Lieutenant—or should I say former Lieutenant Dallas.”
“You saw to that, too.” She would count on her wits now, Eve thought, as she laid the gun on the counter beside her. And on Roarke.
“You made that simple, all in all. Or Bowers did. Close doors and secure,” he ordered, and she heard them snick together at her back, locking her in. Locking backup out.
“Did she work with you?”
“Only indirectly. Move away from your weapon, slowly, to the left. Very good. You have a good mind, and we won’t be disturbed in here for some time. I’m happy to cooperate and fill in the blanks for you. It seems only fair, under the circumstances.”
To brag, she realized. He needed to brag. Arrogance, God complex. “I don’t have too many blanks yet to fill. But I’m interested in how you roped Bowers in.”
“She walked into it. Or you did. She turned out to be a handy tool to get rid of you, since threats didn’t do the job, and bribery seemed absurd, considering both your record and your financial situation. You cost this area of the Drake a very expensive security droid.”
“Well, you’ve got more.”
“Several. One is even now dealing with your husband.” The flash in her eyes delighted him. “Ah, that concerns you, I see. I’ve never been a believer in true love, but the two of you do make a lovely couple. Did.”
Roarke was armed, she reminded herself. And he was good. “Roarke isn’t easy to deal with.”
“He doesn’t trouble me overmuch.” The arrogance seeped through as Waverly shrugged. “Now, the two of you together were an irritant, but . . . well, you were asking about Bowers. It simply fell into place. She was a paranoid violent tendency that slipped through the system and ended up in uniform. There are others, you know.”
“It happens.”
“Every day. You being assigned to the investigation on—what was his name?”
“Petrinsky. Snooks.”
“Yes, yes, that’s right. Rosswell was supposed to be assigned to that matter, but there was some slipup in dispatch.”
“How long have you owned him?”
“Oh, only a few months. If all had gone according to plan, the entire business would have been filed and forgotten.”
“Who’ve you got in the ME’s department?”
“Just a midlevel clerk with an affection for pharmaceuticals.” He smiled slowly, winningly. “It’s a simple matter to find the right person with the right weakness.”
“You killed Snooks for nothing. You failed with him.”
“A disappointment to us. His heart didn’t respond. But there must be failures in any serious search for progress, just as there are obstacles to be overcome. You’ve been quite an obstacle. It was clear very quickly that you’d dig hard and deep and uncomfortably