“Now, you listen to me.” Anger suited her. Anna’s face glowed as she leaned forward. “That boy adored his mother, and she him. He was devastated by her dea
th. I know. I sat with him, I comforted him.”
“You gave him two hundred thousand dollars.”
“It was my money to do with as I chose.” She bit her lip. “No one would help him. His parents refused. They’d agreed to refuse this time. I spoke with Cicely about it months ago. She was a wonderful mother, and she loved her children, but she was a very strong believer in discipline. She was determined that he had to handle his problem on his own, without her help. Without mine. But when he came to me, desperate, what was I to do? What was I to do?” she demanded, turning to her husband. “Jack, I know you told me to stay out of it, but he was terrified, afraid they would cripple him, even kill him. What if it had been Linda, or Steven? Wouldn’t you have wanted someone to help?”
“Anna, feeding his problem isn’t help.”
“He was going to pay me back,” she insisted. “He wasn’t going to gamble with it. He promised. He only needed to buy some time. I couldn’t turn him away.”
“Lieutenant Dallas,” Linda began. “My client lent her own money to a family member in good faith. There is no crime in that.”
“Your client hasn’t been charged with a crime, counselor.”
“Did you, in any of your previous interviews, ask my client directly about disposition of funds? Did you ask my client if she had any financial dealings with David Angelini?”
“No, I did not.”
“Then she is not required to volunteer such information, which would appear to be personal and unconnected to your investigation. To the best of her knowledge.”
“She’s a cop’s wife,” Eve said wearily. “Her knowledge ought to be better than most. Mrs. Whitney, did Cicely Towers argue with her son over money, over his gambling, over his debts and the settlement thereof?”
“She was upset. Naturally they argued. Families argue. They don’t hurt each other.”
Maybe not in your cozy little world, Eve thought. “Your last contact with Angelini?”
“A week ago. He called to make sure I was all right, that Jack was all right. We discussed plans for setting up a memorial scholarship fund in his mother’s name. His idea, Lieutenant,” she said with swimming eyes. “He wanted her to be remembered.”
“What can you tell me about his relationship with Yvonne Metcalf?”
“The actress.” Anna’s eyes went blank before she dabbed at them. “Did he know her? He never mentioned it.”
It had been a shot in the dark, and hadn’t found a target. “Thank you.” Eve picked up her recorder, logged in the end of the interview. “Counselor, you should advise your client that it would be in her best interest not to mention this interview or any portion of it to anyone outside this room.”
“I’m a cop’s wife.” Anna neatly tossed Eve’s words back in her face. “I understand the drill.”
The last glimpse Eve had of the commander as she stepped outside, he was holding his wife and daughter.
Eve wanted a drink. By the time she’d logged out for the day, she had spent the better part of the afternoon chasing after David Angelini’s tail. He was in a meeting, he was out of contact, he was anywhere but where she looked. Without any other choice, she’d left messages at every possible point on the planet and figured she’d be lucky to hear from him before the following day.
Meanwhile, she was faced with an enormous, empty house and a butler who hated the air she breathed. The impulse struck as she zipped through the gates. She grabbed her car ’link and ordered Mavis’s number.
“Your night off, right?” she asked the instant Mavis’s face blipped on screen.
“You bet. Gotta rest those vocal chords.”
“Plans?”
“Nothing that can’t be tossed out for better. What do you have in mind?”
“Roarke’s off planet. You want to come over here and hang, stay over, get drunk?”
“Hang at Roarke’s, stay over at Roarke’s, get drunk at Roarke’s? I’m on my way.”
“Wait, wait. Let’s do it up big. I’ll send a car for you.”
“A limo?” Mavis forgot her vocal chords and squealed. “Jesus, Dallas, make sure the driver wears, like, a uniform. The people in my building will be hanging out the windows with their eyes popped out.”