by J. D. Robb
As she left the office, she shot a frown over her shoulder. Weird, she thought again. The whole damn day was weird.
Mira’s admin gave Eve a glare that turned the room into an arctic cave. Knowing the way to Mira lay at the dragon’s feet, Eve cut through the bull. “I kicked you, and kicked you hard this morning.” She pulled out one of the crime-scene photos. “She’s why.” And laid it on the desk.
The admin sucked in a breath, held it, let it out slowly. “I see. Yes. She’s waiting for you, Lieutenant.”
“Thanks.” Eve picked up the photo and walked into Mira’s office.
Mira wasn’t at her desk but standing at the window, her back to the room. She looked smaller somehow, Eve thought. Almost delicate in her quiet lavender suit.
“Dr. Mira.”
“Yes. Such a lovely day. Sometimes you need to remember the world is full of lovely days. You’ve had a very long one, haven’t you?”
“It’s got a ways to go yet.”
Mira turned. Her sable hair curled around her pretty face, but her eyes looked tired and troubled. “Where do you want me to begin?”
“I know what happened, and I know who’s responsible. At least the main players. I need to know what was done to Jackson Pike and Mika Nakamura, how it was done, and who did it. What was done to them was also done to the desk clerk at the hotel, and he bashed his own brains out with a hammer. So I need to know if it was done to anyone else.”
Rather than sit in one of her cozy scoop chairs as was her habit, Mira continued to stand. “First, the toxicology screening showed a combination of drugs in their systems. I have that list for you. Both had a hallucinogenic in their bloodstream and a drug we sometimes use to control patients with violent tendencies. As you know, both Pike and the victim were also given sexual drugs.”
“Would that explain the headaches, the memory blanks?”
“The combination would likely result in a kind of chemical hangover, but no, not the violent pain. There may be blank spots as well, but again, no, that’s not my conclusion.”
She did sit now. “The drugs were used to begin a process, and to enhance it.”
“They’ve been hypnotized.”
“You’re ahead of me.”
“No, but I’m hoping we’re on pace. At least two of the suspects are sensitives. They took a pass at me. Since I’ve dealt with a homicidal psychic before, I used the same method to block them, to steer them away. One of them, Silas Pratt, he’s . . . Look, I know you’ve got a daughter who’s Wiccan, and I get there are theories and faiths and even documentation, studies, blah, blah. I’m not big on that. But this guy?”
It went against the grain to admit it. “He’s got a punch,” Eve told her.
“You don’t want to use the word ‘power.’ ”
“It doesn’t take power to load people up with drugs, or to hypnotize them. It’s a technique. You use it.” She stuffed her hands in her pockets and began to pace. “One of these bastards is Mika’s kid’s doctor. She took the kid in for a standard checkup three weeks ago. So, we theorize Pratt hypnotizes her. Maybe they slip her something first to make her more susceptible, but he takes her under, and gives her the assignment. Posthypnotic suggestion, right?”
“Yes.”
“It needs a trigger—something she sees, hears. Easy enough to take care of that while she’s on her way to work, maybe give her a booster shot. She goes in, shuts down the cameras. They had to get to the desk clerk. We’ll find the intersect there, but they turned him on like a damn droid. They waltz Pike and the victim right in. They go along like puppies. They’re loaded by then, and under . . .”
“A spell?”
“If that’s the word. Pike’s left as patsy, with that trigger still cocked in his head. The pain’s impossible, and trying to remember takes it up to excruciating.”
“I believe if you hadn’t gotten them to me, into a controlled, medical environment when you did, they’d have ended it as the desk clerk did. I’ve had to use that pain to try to get to the trigger. It’s . . . difficult.”
Understanding, Eve moved to Mira’s AutoChef. “What’s that tea you’re always drinking?”
Mira managed a smile. “It varies. I think jasmine would be nice. Thank you.”
Eve programmed a cup, brought it to Mira, took a seat. “You’re not hurting them. You know that. The one who cocked the trigger is.”
“They, both of them, begged me to kill them.” Mira sipped the tea, then eased wearily back in the chair. “It’s taken hours for me to find the right method to dial the pain down. Not turn it off, not yet, but lower it from inhuman to hideous. Enough that Jack remembered a little. He remembered that Dr. Pratt called him into his office at the end of the day. He’s not sure of the time, it’s cloudy, but thinks it was after his last patient. Pratt gave him a cup of coffee, and after he drank it, it’s more jumbled. He remembers being in a limo with Collins and Ava. He thinks there were more. I recorded everything, of course. He remembers having sex with Ava.”
“Does he remember the murder?”
Her eyes troubled, Mira shook her head. “He’s suppressing. Even without the trigger, his mind’s not ready to go there. He next remembers waking in a bed, covered with blood, and a woman he called Leah sitting beside him, crying.”
“Leah Burke. Good, that’s good. I can break her, and she’ll take them all down with her.”
“It wasn’t just a young woman killed in that suite, Eve. Parts of the two people I have sedated and restrained for their own safety were murdered in there. When I find the way to remove the trigger and they remember what was done, their part in it however unwilling, they’ll never be the same.”
“You’ll help them deal with it, or find someone who’ll help them deal with it. It’s what you do.”
“Take them down, Eve. Take them down hard. When I can tell Mika and Jack that’s been done, we can start on the healing.”
In all the time they’d worked together, Mira had never asked. Eve rose. “Like you said, it’s a lovely day. Before it’s over, they’ll be down.”
As she walked out, Eve whipped out her communicator to contact Peabody. “Search warrants?”
“It’s looking good on the clinic. I just need to—”
“Put a hold on it. We’ve got a wit who puts Leah Burke in Suite 606. We’re bringing her in. Book an interview room.”
“You want me to have her picked up?”
“Here’s how it goes. Two uniforms at her door. If she’s not home yet, I need to know ASAP. She’s not under arrest, and she’s not to be read her rights. Got that?”
“Got it.”
“She’s needed down here for further questioning. That’s all they know. She’s not to be permitted to contact anyone. She’s not under arrest. I’ll finish up with the search warrants.”
Eve was still listing the names for the APA when she approached Homicide. What sounded like a small riot had her quickening her steps.
Then she smelled the pizza. “Yeah, I mean even the house in the Caribbean. I’ve got goddamn probable cause right down the line. I’ve got witness statements, and within two hours I’m going to hand you a confession on a goddamn platter that will take down every son of a bitch on the list I just gave you. They’re going to have hoodoo voodoo crap tucked away,” Eve said meeting Roarke’s eyes as she stepped into the bullpen. “Because they believe it. A dozen blades were used on the vic. We’re going to find some, most, or all of them.”
She clicked off. “Figured you’d be back around after you got your witch home.”
“You haven’t eaten.” He picked up a box of pizza while her men swarmed like ants over the five others he’d brought in. “Eat now.”
She grabbed a slice, chomped a huge bite. “Oh. God. Good.” She swallowed, took another. “I got them.”
“I can see that. Can I watch?”
She took the tube of Pepsi he offered, guzzled. “It’s a good bribe. Take Observation.”
Ten
&n
bsp; Revived and revved, Eve stood with Roarke in Observation and watched Leah pace the interview room in her smart suit.
“She’s already sweating. Ten minutes in, and she’s already sweating. She’s scared and guilty, and the doctors aren’t here to tell her what to do, what to say.”
“Why her? Out of all of them?”
“She cried.” She glanced over as Mira came in.
“Word’s out that you have one of them in,” Mira said. “I wanted to see for myself.”
“I haven’t arrested her yet. Listen, I’m going to ask you not to turn on the audio until I give you the go. Actually, I’m not asking. I’ve got to get started.”
“Will I be able to see Mika?” Roarke asked Mira after Eve stepped out.
“Not yet. She’s comfortable for the moment. I’ve spoken with her husband.”
“So have I. Is there anything I can do for her?”
“There will be.” Mira laid a hand over Roarke’s, and watched Eve enter Interview. “What she’s going to say needs to be off the record. At least for my ears.”
“Do you object?”
“No.” Mira stared at Leah Burke through the glass. “No, I don’t.”
Inside, Leah spun toward Eve. “I demand to know why I was brought here, why I’m being treated this way. I have rights. I have—”
“Shut the fuck up. You’ve got nothing here until I give it to you. Sit down.”
The words, the tone, had Leah’s whole body recoiling. “I will not—”
“I’ll put you down, bitch. Believe it.”
The threat, so hot and hard in Eve’s eyes, had Leah sitting at the small table. “You’ll lose your badge.” But her voice trembled, just a little. “Worse. There are laws.”
Eve slammed both fists on the table, hard enough to have Leah covering her face in defense. “Laws? I bet you were thinking about laws when Ava Marsterson was being hacked to death. Jack remembers, Leah.” She leaned close, snapped her fingers in front of Leah’s face. “Boom. Spell broken. You’ve got one shot. One, then I move on to the next. But I’ll hurt you first.”
“You can’t touch me. You can’t put your hands on me. I want—”
“I know how to hurt you so it won’t show.” Eve let the heat burn in her eyes as she circled the table. “Your word against mine. Decorated cop against murder suspect. Guess who they’ll believe? I haven’t put this on record. I haven’t read you your rights. And we’re all alone here, Leah. One shot once I turn on the record. You don’t take it, I move to Kiki or Rodney, to Larry’s wife, and down the line—and you go back to a cage blubbering with the pain.
“Everybody gets one shot. Take it, I deal down to Murder Two. You’ll do life, but you’ll do it on planet. Pass? And you’ll find out what hell really is because you’ll be in some concrete cage in an off-planet penal colony where I will personally see that word gets out you fucked with tiny little children. Do you know what cons like to do to people who fuck with tiny little children?”
“I’ve never touched a child—”
“I’ll lie.” Eve grinned. “And I’ll love it. One shot, and if you so much as think lawyer, it’s done. You only get the chance because Jack’s soft-hearted enough to think you feel real bad about what happened. Me? I’m hoping you pass so I can look forward to getting the reports on how many inventive ways the other cons and the guards rape you over the next, oh, fifty years.”
She came around the table, whispered in Leah’s ear. “They find ways to get sharp, ugly tools into those cages, Leah. They’ll slice and dice you, let them stitch you up again just so they can slice and dice some more. The more you beg, the more they’ll enjoy it.”
She watched tears plop on Leah’s trembling hands, on the rough surface of the table. And thinking of Ava, felt no pity. “She trusted you, you bitch.”
“Please. Oh, please.”
“Screw you.” Eve walked to the door, stepped out. She took a deep breath, signaled Peabody. “Let’s do it.” Walking back in, she nodded toward the observation glass. “Record on. Dallas, Lieutenant Eve—”
“Please, please. I’ll tell you everything.”
“Hey, great.” Eve slid into her chair, composed and easy. “Let’s just get everything on record first, and read you your rights.”
When she’d finished, she nodded to Leah. “What do you want to tell us, Ms. Burke?”
“I didn’t know it would be like that. I swear, I swear I didn’t know.”
“Like what?”
“So much blood. I never thought they would really kill her.”
“Be more specific.”
“I thought it would be a symbolic death.”
“Bullshit.” Eve leaned back in her chair with the warning in her eyes clear. Lie, and your one shot dies. “You knew exactly what was going to happen, and when it did, you couldn’t handle it. If you want me to go to the PA and say you came in, you confessed, you gave the details and feel remorse, don’t bullshit me. Did you participate in the ritual murder of Ava Marsterson?”
“Yes. I didn’t understand. Believe me, I didn’t understand. I thought I did, but . . . She didn’t accept, and neither did Jack. Not like Silas said they would.”
“Silas Pratt participated in the murder of Ava Marsterson?”
“He cut her throat. She just stood there, and he cut her throat, and the blood gushed out of her. She didn’t accept. She didn’t know what was happening, so how could she accept?”
“Accept what?”
“Her sacrifice. That she would be the gift.”
“Whose gift?”
“The gift from us to the prince. To Lucifer.”
“How long have you been a satanist?”
“I am not a satanist. I am a disciple of the One.”
Eve gave it a moment, unsure if she was amused or irritated by the obvious insult in Leah’s voice. “Okay. And does the One demand the murder of innocents?”
“Your God murdered my child.” Leah’s hands balled into fists, beat lightly on the table. “He took her, and what had she ever done? She was just a baby. I found my way back. I found my strength and my purpose.”
“Silas Pratt showed you the way back.”
“He’s a great man. You’ll never understand. A man of power. You’ll never hold him with your pitiful laws and your bars.”
“But he lied to you, this great man, this man of power,” Peabody put in. “He lied to you about Ava and Jack.”
“No, I think . . . No, he wouldn’t lie. I think he miscalculated, that’s all. She just wasn’t ready. Wasn’t as strong as Silas thought. Or maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m weak. I couldn’t stand what they did to her.”
“Tell me who they are. Every name of everyone who was in Suite 606.”
“Silas and his wife, Ola. Larry—Dr. Collins, and his wife, Bria.” In a dull, empty voice, she gave Eve a dozen names in addition to her own. “And Ava and Jack.”
“Dr. Slone?”
“No. Peter and the others from the clinic who weren’t there aren’t disciples or priests. It’s important, Silas thinks, that there are those who aren’t part of us—and to know who is open to our faith, and who would be closed. Everyone who is of our group attended. It was an important ritual, a celebration.”
“A celebration?”
“Yes. It was Silas’s birthday.”
“I’ve seen his records. It wasn’t his birthday.”
“His date of rebirth in the One.”
“Right.” Eve sat back again. “Why Ava and Jack?”
“Ava was the gift. Silas recognized her as such the day she came in to interview for the position. And Jack . . . the sexual energy between them would be a vital element to the ritual.”
“Why that room?”
“We’d considered other venues, but . . . A palace, it seemed right. And Larry’s connection to the head of security gave us the way in. I’m only a disciple. I don’t plan.” She folded her hands now, bowed her head. “I follow.”
“You followed them
into that suite. But first you helped drug Ava and Jack at the clinic.”
“We gave them what would open them to the coming ritual, what would help them accept, and embrace Silas’s power.”
“He used hypnosis, Leah, on top of hallucinogens.”
Tears continued to gather and spill. “You don’t understand. You’re closed.”
“Fine. You used chemicals to open Ava and Jack, without their knowledge or permission.”
“Yes, but—”
“And once they were under that influence, you took them to the hotel. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“There, Mika Nakamura and Brian Trosky had also been drugged, and embraced by Silas’s power. That power caused them to shut down the security cameras to the lobby, and to the elevators for the sixtieth floor. It also, as had been done to Jack, caused them to forget what had been done, or suffer pain.”
“The pain is only if they refuse to accept, only to help them—”
“Inside the room, you ate and you drank, you engaged in sexual activity.”
Color flushed into her cheeks. It was amazing, Eve mused, what embarrassed murderers.
“Sex is an offering.”
“Ava didn’t offer, did she? After you’d feasted and stoked up, painted your pentagram, lit your candles, said whatever it is you people say, you stretched out a drugged, helpless, naked woman on the floor, and told a drugged, helpless man to have at her. He cared for her. They cared for each other, isn’t that true?”
“Yes, yes, but—”
“And when he finished what he’d have never done of his own will, the rest of you raped her.”
“Yes.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Everyone was required to take from the gift, and to give of ourselves. But I felt . . .”
“What?”
“Cold. So cold. Not the heat, not the fire, but ice. I heard her screaming in my head. I swear I heard her.” She covered her face with her hands. “But no one would listen. They pulled her to her feet. Kiki and Rodney. Silas stepped into the circle, and the cold, the cold was terrible. Her screaming was like spikes in my head. But no one heard her. He slashed her throat, and her blood sprayed all over him. Everyone rushed forward when she fell to take more blood, to make more blood. Jack passed out, so they coated him with her blood. They took him upstairs, left him in bed while they finished with her. Larry told me to go up, to take one of the knives and put it in Jack’s hand, and to give him another round of drugs so he’d overdose.”
