by J. D. Robb
Peabody looked at Marnie. “Maybe you can convince us the actual murder was unpremeditated. Maybe you could make a case of self-defense for yourself. While you’ve got our sympathy.”
“Maybe I should call a lawyer.”
“Fine.” Eve pushed off the table. “No skin off mine, ‘cause I’ve got you. You spring the lawyer, Marnie, that’s your right. Once you do, it cuts deep into my sympathy and admiration. You got a name?” Eve asked easily. “Or do you want court-appointed?”
“Wait. Just wait.” Marnie picked up her fizzy, sipped. When she sat it down again, the guilelessness was replaced by calculation. “What if I tell you she was going to rake you to the bone, you and your man? I stopped her. That’s got to be worth something.”
“Sure it is. We’ll talk about that.” Eve sat back down. “But you’re going to want to lay it out for me. Why don’t we start at the beginning?”
“Why not? God knows I’m sick to death of Zana, you hit on that one. You got my sheet, there. Juvie, the works?”
“Yeah.”
“It doesn’t tell the whole story. You know how that goes. I got kicked around, since I was a kid.”
“I saw your medicals. You had it rough.”
“I learned to kick back. I looked after myself, because nobody else was going to.” In disgust, she shoved the remainder of the fizzy aside. “Can I get some coffee? Black.”
“Sure, I’ll take care of it.” Peabody walked to the door, slipped out.
“The system blows,” Marnie continued. “Beats me to hell and back how you can work for it, after what it did to you.”
Eve kept her gaze level. “I like being in charge.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get that. Got yourself a badge, that frosty weapon. Kick some ass regular. I can see how that could work for you, how you get some of your own back.”
“Let’s talk about you.”
“My favorite subject. So, they finally get me clear of my bitch of a mother, and what do they do? Dump me with Trudy. First, I figure, Hey, I can work this. Nice house, nice things, do-gooder and her boy. But she’s worse than my mother. You know.”
“I know.”
“She was strong. I was puny back then, and she was strong. Cold baths every night—every fucking night—like it was her religion. Locked up in my room every night afterward. I didn’t mind that, it was quiet. Plenty of time to think.”
Peabody came in with the coffee, set it on the table.
“You know, she put something in my food once to make me sick after I took a pair of her earrings?” Marnie sipped the coffee, made a face. “Been awhile since I’ve been in a cop shop. You guys still can’t come up with decent coffee.”
“We suffer in our fight against crime,” Peabody said dryly, and made Marnie laugh.
“Good one. Back to me. So, the second time the bitch caught me, she cut my hair off. I had nice hair. Wore it shorter back then, but it was nice.”
She lifted a hand to it, shook it back. “She cut it off to the scalp— like, I don’t know, I was some kind of war criminal or something. Then she told the social worker I’d done it to myself. Nobody did a damn thing about it. That’s when I knew there’d be payback. One day, somehow. She cut my damn hair off.”
Eve allowed herself a trickle of sympathy. “You ran away.”
“Yeah. Thought about setting the house on fire, with her inside, but that wouldn’t‘ve been smart. They’d come after me harder if I’d done that.”
And the trickle went dry. “Arson, murder, yeah, they’d‘ve come after you hard.”
“Anyway, I was young. Plenty of time for payback. But they came after me anyway. You cops ever think about just letting somebody be?”
She shook her head, took another sip of coffee.
“You got away from her when you were thirteen. That’s half a lifetime ago for you, Marnie. Long time to hold a grudge.”
Mamie’s voice was as bitter as the coffee. “What good’s a grudge if you don’t hold it? She told me I was a whore. Born a whore, die a whore. That I was ugly, useless. That I was nothing. Every day I was with her, she told me. She wanted new living room furniture, so she busted it up, said I did it. The state wrote her a check and put me on restriction. She made my life hell for damn near a year.”
“You waited a long time to pay her back for it.”
“I had other things to do. Kept my eye on her, though, just in case opportunity knocked. Then it did.”
“The night of the bombing in Miami.”
“Sometimes fate just drops it in your lap, what can I say? I was sick that night, got somebody to cover for me. Nobody gave a shit, joint like that. Had to give her my ID and pass code so she could get in the back, into my locker for costumes. Then I hear about it on-screen. Place is blown up, nearly everybody’s dead, and in pieces. Well, Jesus, lucky break for me, wasn’t it? I’d gone in, I’d be in pieces. Shook me up, let me tell you. Really made me think.”
“And you thought, ‘Why not be someone else?’”
“Well, here’s the thing. I owed a little money here and there. Can’t pay if I’m dead. I took the dead friend’s ID, what money we had between us, and lit out. She had a nice stash.”
“You got a name on her?”
“Who? Oh, shit, what was her name? Rosie, yeah. Rosie O’Hara. Why?”
“She might have next of kin looking for her.”
“Doubt it. She was a street LC with a funk habit.” She dismissed the woman who’d died in her place as callously as she’d dismissed the coffee. “Her ID wasn’t going to hold me long, so I knew I needed to ditch it, get fresh. That’s when I came up with the idea for Zana. It’s not so hard to get fresh ID and data if you know where to go, whose palm to grease. Had some work done, face work. Off the books. Good investment, the way I looked at it. Especially when I checked out Bobby.”
“Nice-looking guy, single, ambitious.”
“All that, and still tight with Mama. I wasn’t figuring on killing her, let’s get that straight.” She lifted both hands, pointed the index fingers across at Eve. “Let’s get that real clear. None of this ‘lying in wait’ crap. I just figured on stealing her boy, then making her life a misery, like she’d done to me. Maybe getting a nice nest egg out of it.”
“Just a long con,” Eve supplied.
“That’s right. Bobby was easy. He’s not a bad guy all in all. Boring, but he’s okay. Plus he’s got some moves in the sheets. And Trudy?”
Marnie sat back, grinning ear-to-ear. “She was a pleasure. Figured she had a new slave, meek little Zana. Oh, Mama Tru, I’d be happy to do that for you. You got dirty work needs doing, I’m your girl. Then I get the big surprise. She’s got money tucked away. Pretty big money, too, so why shouldn’t I get some of it? I’ve got the run of her house, seeing as I’m her little helper. She’s got good stuff in there, stuff that costs. Now where’s this coming from? Just takes a little research, a little detecting. Blackmail. I can turn the tables on her with this. Just need a little time, need to figure it all out.”
Propping an elbow on the table, Marnie set her chin on her fist. “I was looking for the best way to siphon off some of the money, then expose her. They’d lock her up, like she’d locked me up.”
Enjoying this, Eve thought, enjoying every minute of this.
“Then she sees you on that media report, and gets all worked up about going to New York. I was going to wrap this up in shiny paper, drop it right in your lap. Then I’d stand back, big wide eyes, horrified that my husband’s mother turned out to be a blackmailer. I’d be laughing my ass off.”
“A good plan,” Eve acknowledged, “but opportunity jumped out at you again.”
“If you’d fallen in, it would’ve turned out differently. You want to think about that,” Marnie said, and gestured with her drink. “I figured you’d pay her off, or at least take a couple days to think it over. Then I’d come to you, all dewy-eyed and upset, tell you what I’d found out about my darling husband’s mama.”
; Marnie nudged the coffee aside. “You and me, we’d both have gotten something out of that. Every kid she ever screwed with would’ve gotten something out of that. But you pissed her off good. Roarke? He shot her through the ozone. She was going to make you pay, and pay big. That’s all she could think about. Somebody screwed with her, she’d do anything to screw them back, and bigger. You saw what she did to herself.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”
“Not the first time, like you said. You ask me, that woman had some serious issues. She’d already bunged herself up good when she called me. Not Bobby—he wouldn’t put up with what she wanted to do. He’d have stopped her, or tried. But me? Her sweet, biddable daughter-in-law? She knew she could count on me, she knew she could bully me. It wasn’t much of a stretch to act stunned when I went into her room. Her face was a freaking mess. You know what she told me? You want to know?”
“I’m riveted,” Eve answered.
“She said you’d done it.”
Eve sat back, as if stunned. “Really?”
“Oh, yeah, she put it on thick. Look what she did to me. After I took her in, gave her a home. And she’s a policewoman! So I played the part right back. Oh, my, oh, gosh. We have to get you to the hospital, tell Bobby, call the police! But she lays it out. No, no, no. A cop did this, and she’s married to a powerful man. She’s afraid for her life, see? So she gets me to make the recording. For protection, she says, and I see just how she’s wheeling it. It’s all there, subtle-like. If you don’t do the right thing, she’ll send a copy of the recording to the media, to the mayor, the chief of police. They’ll know everything. I’m supposed to make a copy—so she keeps the original—and hand-carry it to you at Cop Central. No telling Bobby. She makes me swear.”
Laughing, Marnie swiped a finger over her heart. “So I make her some soup, and I put a nice tranq in it, add some wine. And she’s out. Could’ve killed her then, you know. You want to think about that, too.”
“I’m thinking about it.”
“I searched the room, found the sap she’d made. Found a copy of the file she had on you, too. Interesting stuff. I took all of it. She called me later, but I said I couldn’t talk. Bobby was right there. I’d call her when we got back from dinner, after he was asleep. She didn’t care much for that, let me tell you. Well, you got the ‘link right there, so you’ve heard.”
“She pushed you,” Eve prompted. “Trudy didn’t like being told to wait.”
“Nope. But I’m like, Oh, let me tell Bobby. We won’t go out, we’ll come down and take care of you. I know she won’t go for that, so she takes another pill, and I go out on the town. Long night for me, but God! It was fun. Just bat my eyes, ask Bobby if we can have champagne, and he pulls out all the stops in his middle-class way. I’m so juiced, you know?”
She drew breath in her nose, letting her head fall back, closing her eyes as she relived it. “Lay him just right when we get back, give him a little something extra to make him sleep. Then I go on down the hall to have my talk with Trudy.”
“You took the weapon with you?”
“Sure. Not to use it,” she added quickly. “Get that straight. I’m putting that on record. What I figured was I’d show it to her, stay in character at least awhile. What have you done? You lied to me! I’m going to tell Bobby. I’m going to the police!”
Marnie laid her hands on her belly and laughed. “God! You should’ve seen her face. She never expected it. So, she slapped me. Told me I was hysterical, and slapped me. Said I was going to do just what she told me, and no back talk. If I wanted to keep my cozy nest, I’d shut my mouth and do what she said. Otherwise I’d be out on my ass, she’d see to it.”
Her face was grim now, and full of hate. “She said I was nothing, just like she did when I was a kid. ‘You’re nothing,’ she said, ‘and you’d better remember who’s in charge.’ Then she turned her back on me. I still had the sap in my hand. I didn’t think about it, didn’t even think. It just happened. I let her have it good. And she went down, right down to her knees, and I let her have it again. Nothing in my life ever felt better. Who was nothing now?”
She held up her coffee. “Hey, can I get another? It’s crap, but it gives you a buzz.”
“Sure.” Eve signaled to Peabody, then rose herself to get water from the jug kept in the room.
“I didn’t plan it,” Marnie continued. “But sometimes you can’t stick to the plan. You got anybody behind the mirror?”
Eve studied her own reflection. “Does it matter?”
“Just like knowing if I have an audience. I didn’t murder her. I just lost my head for a minute. She slapped me, right across the face.”
“Open palm,” Eve murmured, remembering. “Quick sting, not hard enough to leave a mark. She was good at it.”
“She liked pain. Liked to give it, liked to get it.” Marnie scooted around in the chair, facing Eve so their eyes met in the mirror in a gesture of intimacy.
Inside Eve, something twisted. She understood what it was to find a weapon in her hand, and to use it. Blindly, ferociously.
“She was one of those S and M types, without the kick of sex,” Marnie went on. “That’s what I think. She was one sick bitch. But I didn’t set out to kill her. I didn’t even get a chance to tell her who I was. Watch her face when I did. Too damn bad. I used to dream about doing that.”
“That must’ve been a disappointment.” Eve turned back as Peabody came in with fresh coffee, kept her face neutral. “You had to think fast after it was done.”
“Thought about just running. But I kept my head. Probably shouldn’t have taken the sweater and stuff.” Marnie glanced down at the sweater, smiled. “But I couldn’t resist. Should’ve waited, gotten them later. But it was spur of the moment.”
“You knew the room next door was empty.”
“Yeah. The maid mentioned it. Thought we might want to take that room so we could be next door to each other. No, thank you. The window wasn’t locked on it, otherwise I’d have had to clean up on the escape platform, change, and walk around, go in the front. Crappy hotel, crappy security. Didn’t figure anyone would look next door. I left a trail leading down the escape. Open window, dead woman, blood trail. I was careful.”
“Not half bad,” Eve agreed. “You shouldn’t have pushed it. You should’ve let Bobby find her.”
“It was more fun the way I did it. You’ve got to get in a few kicks. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather when you and Roarke showed, though. Last people I expected to see come knocking on the old bitch’s door. Had to improvise.”
“You must’ve sweated some, having to leave the ‘link, the weapon, the bloody towels next door while we went over the scene.”
“Some, yeah. But I figured if you found them, you still didn’t have reason to look at me. The business the next day was a little insurance. I get the stuff, head out, dump everything in different recyclers while I walk around, find the right spot. I used to live in New York. I knew that bar.”
“I knew that.”
Marnie snorted. “Come on.”
“You slipped up with the dogs, made the wrong comment. I had a homer on both of you that day. A little insurance for me.”
Marnie’s face went blank, then there was a snap of irritation before she shrugged. “Bobby slipped.”
“You’re in it this far, Marnie, and you’re going to get points for cooperating. Don’t start bullshitting me now. Trudy’s dead, and she’s got all that money. Bobby’s sitting between you and it. Boring Bobby.”
“You think this was about money? Money’s a little icing, but it’s not the cake. It’s payback. She deserved it, you know damn well she deserved it. Bobby’s an idiot, but he’s okay. If I gave him a little nudge, it was impulse, that’s all. Just a little something to keep you looking for the invisible man. And I tried to pull him back. I got witnesses.”
She sulked over her coffee. “Tally it up, why don’t you? You’ve got one dead blackmailer. And she hit me first. I dest
royed the discs of the recording she had me make. All of them: I destroyed the copies of your file—as a favor. If I was after money, I could’ve come after you with them. But I didn’t, ‘cause the way I saw it, she put us in the same boat back then. I could’ve waited, and screwed with Bobby when we were back in Texas. I’ve got nothing but time.”
“But you aren’t going back to Texas. Bali, isn’t it?”
A smile glimmered again. “I’m thinking about it. A lot of people she screwed with are going to be glad I took care of her. You ought to thank me. She messed with us, Dallas. Preyed on and played with us. You know it. You know she got what she deserved. We come from the same place, you and me. You’d have done the same thing.”
Eve thought of the way their eyes had met in the mirror. What she’d seen in Marnie’s. What she’d seen in her own. “That’s how you figure it.”
“That’s how it is. I’m not going down for this. Not when it comes out what she was, what she did. Assault, maybe. I do a couple years for that and the ID gambit. But murder? You can’t make that stick.”
“Watch me.” Eve pushed to her feet. “Marnie Ralston, you’re under arrest for the murder of Trudy Lombard. Further charges are attempted murder of Bobby Lombard. We’ll toss in the ID fraud, giving false statements to the police. You’ll do more than a couple years, Marnie. You’ve got my word on it.”
“Oh, cut the crap,” Marnie insisted. “Turn off the record, shove your partner out so it’s just you and me. Then tell me how you really feel.”
“I can tell you how I feel, Marnie, on or off record.”
“You’re glad she’s dead.”
“You’re wrong.” What had clutched inside of her loosened. Because Marnie was wrong. Completely. “If it was up to me, she’d be in a cage, the same as you’ll be. She’d be in a cage for what she did to me, to you, to every kid she ever abused, to every woman she ever exploited. That’s justice.”