Peabody kept her gaze steady. She knew how she looked. She hadn’t eaten or slept. Symptoms, she knew that were embarrassingly similar to those she displayed when a love affair ended badly. And this, she’d realized during the long night, was worse than any breakup with a man.
“I would like to formally apologize, Lieutenant, for statements made after the Forte interview. It was insubordinate and incorrect to question your methods. I hope that my lack of judgment in this matter will not influence you to dismiss me from this case, or from this division.”
Eve sat, leaned back in a chair that creakily begged for lubricant. “Is that all, Officer Peabody?”
“Yes, sir. Except to say—”
“If you’ve got more to say, pull the stick out of your butt first. You’re off duty and off the record.”
Peabody’s shoulders slumped slightly, but in defeat rather than relaxation. “I’m sorry. Watching him fall to pieces that way got to me. I wasn’t able to divorce myself from the situation and view it objectively. I don’t believe—don’t want to believe,” she corrected, “that he’s responsible. It tainted my viewpoint.”
“Objectivity’s essential. And, more often than any of us want to admit, impossible. I wasn’t completely objective either, which is why I overreacted to your comments. I apologize for that.”
Surprise and relief spread through her. Peabody found them both easier to swallow than crow and fear. “Will you keep me on?”
“I’ve got an investment in you.” Leaving it at that, Eve turned back to her ’link.
Behind Eve’s back, Peabody closed her eyes tightly, dug for composure. She took a breath, swallowed hard, and found it. “So, does this mean we’ve made up?”
Eve slanted a look at Peabody’s hopeful grin. “Why don’t I have any coffee?” She engaged the ’link, let her messages run. The first had barely begun when Peabody set a steaming cup at her elbow.
“Come on, Dallas, come on. Give me a break. I can go on with an update any time, day or night. Get back to me damn it. Just a couple details.”
“Not going to happen, Nadine,” Eve murmured and zipped through the next three messages from the reporter, all inc
reasingly desperate.
There was a communication from the ME, with the autopsy report. Eve downloaded and ordered a hard copy print. Finally, a relay from the lab which verified the blood on the robe was Wineburg’s.
“I can’t see it,” Peabody said quietly. “Why can’t I see it? It’s all there.” She lifted her shoulders, let them fall. “It’s all right there.”
“We charge him and book him.” Eve rubbed a finger up and down the center of her forehead. “Murder one on Wineburg. We’ll hold off on the conspiracy to murder on Trivane until Mira’s done the testing. Have him brought up for interview again, Peabody. We’ll see how many more we can pin to him.”
“Why Alice?” Peabody asked. “Why Frank?”
“He didn’t do them. They’re not his.”
“Separate cases? You still think Selina’s responsible for them?”
“I know she is. But we’re a long way from proving it.”
She spent the day going over reports, filing her own. By noon, when she faced Chas in interview again, she was ready to try a different tack.
She studied his chosen representative, a young, sad-eyed woman who, by Eve’s estimate, could barely be old enough to have passed the bar. She didn’t bother to sigh as she recognized the woman from the initiation ceremony.
A lawyer witch, she mused. And wondered if that would be considered a redundancy.
“This is your chosen counsel, Mr. Forte?”
“Yes.” His face was a sickly gray, his eyes shades darker. “Leila has agreed to help me.”
“Very well. You’ve been charged with murder, Mr. Forte.”
“I’ve requested a bail hearing,” Leila began and passed Eve some paperwork. “It’s scheduled for two P.M. today.”
“You won’t get bail.” Eve handed the papers to Peabody. “And it won’t delay this very long.”
“I didn’t even know the man who was killed,” Chas began. “I’d never seen him before that night. I was with you.”