The In Death Collection Books 6-10 - J. D. Robb [510]
He broke off then, closed his mouth tightly.
“Zeke, you have to finish. Finish it out. You won’t help Clarissa by covering up now.”
“She did it for me. She was afraid for me. It was the shock, you see?” Those young, soft gray eyes pleaded with Eve for understanding. “She just panicked, that’s all, and thought if there wasn’t a body, if she cleaned up the blood, it would be all right. He’d hurt her,” Zeke murmured, “and she was afraid.”
“Explain what happened. You went to get water.”
He sighed, nodded, and finished.
Eve sat back, considered. Calculated. “Okay, thank you. You’re going to have to go downtown, make a full statement.”
“I know.”
“McNab, call Dispatch, report a homicide at this address.” She shot Peabody a look as her aide sprang off the couch. “Believed self-defense. We need a team in here. And we need a team out, dragging the river. Zeke, I’m calling in a couple of uniforms to take you downtown. You’re not under arrest, but you will be detained until this scene can be secured and swept and we get your statement.”
“Can I see Clarissa before I go?”
“It’s not a good idea. McNab.” She indicated by a jerk of her head for him to stay in the room with Zeke. “Peabody, with me.”
She strode out into the hall, saying nothing when Roarke slipped out of a door and shut it gently. “She’s asleep.”
“Not for long. Peabody, pull it together and listen to me. You ride with your brother. I’m going to order he be detained in an interview room, not a cage. And you’re going to talk to him and explain that he’s going to agree to truth testing and a psych and personality exam. Mira will do it. We’ll put a rush on it and get it done tomorrow. We’ll lawyer him up and get him out tonight. He may have to wear a bracelet until after testing results, but his end of the story is clean, and it’s going to hold.”
“Don’t take me off the case.”
“You were never on. Don’t push this,” she said in a fierce whisper when Peabody protested. “I’ll take care of your brother. If I let you on, it’s going to look shaky. It’s going to be tricky enough for me to hang as primary.”
She was struggling against the tears and losing fast. “You were good to him. You let him get it out on record clean, without the lawyer. You were right about that.”
Eve jammed her hands in her pockets. “For Christ’s sake, Peabody, a blind man could see the guy would trip over his own feet before he’d step on an ant. Nobody’s going to argue with self-defense here.” If they found the body. The goddamn body. “He’ll be okay.”
“I should’ve looked after him.” Now she did begin to weep, in great gulping sobs. Helpless, Eve looked at Roarke, spread her hands.
Understanding, he turned Peabody into his arms. “It’s all right, darling.” He stroked her hair, rocked, watched his wife suffer more than a little. “You let Eve look after him now. Let her take care of him.”
“I need to talk to the woman.” Eve’s stomach rolled every time a fresh sob shuddered out. “McNab will secure the scene and wait for the uniforms. Can you . . . handle this?”
He nodded and continued to murmur to Peabody as Eve slipped into the room where Clarissa slept.
“I’m sorry.” Peabody’s voice was muffled against Roarke’s chest.
“Don’t be. You’re entitled to a good cry.”
But she shook her head, eased back, and scrubbed at her wet face. “She wouldn’t break down.”
“Peabody.” Gently, Roarke cupped her cheek. “She breaks.”
Eve yanked all the chains she could reach, gathered strings and pulled each one. She argued, justified, debated, and came close to threatening. In the end, she was primary in the matter of the death of B. Donald Branson.
She booked two interview rooms, positioning Zeke and Clarissa in separate areas, put the fear of God into the crime scene team and sweepers, harangued the body retrieval unit that was already dragging the East River, put McNab to work on the Branson droid, and arrived