Franco set her cup down with a snap. “You were wired.”
“Oh yeah.”
“Nothing said here is admissible. You didn’t read me my rights and you entrapped me. Everything I said was said in temper, simply to get back at you for leaking the story.”
“Good thinking. We’ll see what your lawyers can do with it. Jenna Franco, you’re under arrest for conspiracy to murder.” As she listed the names, Eve pulled out her restraints. Even as Franco stepped back, the door opened.
The mayor came in first, followed by Whitney and Tibble. “You’re a disgrace, Jenna,” Peachtree said quietly. “I hope the system you so callously misused gives you full justice.”
“I have nothing to say.” Franco’s face turned to stone as Eve cuffed her. “I want my attorneys. I will not make any statements.”
“A little late for that.” Eve glanced over as Nadine came to the doorway, her camera behind her. “You get it all?”
“Every word,” Nadine assured her. “Live feed. We’re through the roof.”
“You broadcast . . .” Franco’s stony face went sheet white. “You had cameras in here?”
“Just my little spin. Oh, and if you’re thinking about getting that tossed, or using it to bite at the NYPSD, I’ll remind you that this is my office, and you entered it without invitation. I was under no legal obligation to inform you of security or media presence. Excuse me, gentlemen.” Eve maneuvered Franco through the men who crowded into her tiny office. “Peabody.”
“Sir.” Peabody stepped up from her spot in the hall.
“Read her her rights. Book her.”
As Franco was led away, Nadine on her heels shooting questions like laser blasts, Eve could hear Franco’s terse and furious: “No comment.”
“Lieutenant.” Peachtree stepped out. “Well-done. I’d like to thank you for what you did for this department, this city, and for me personally.”
“I did my job. If you’d been part of it, I’d’ve taken you down just as hard.”
“Wasn’t I?” he said, looking after Franco. “For not seeing what was under my nose?”
“What’s under it is usually harder to see than what’s in the distance.”
“Perhaps.” He held out a hand, shook hers. “Chief, Commander. We need to clean this up.”
As Tibble passed, he nodded at Eve. “Media conference in one hour. Good work, Lieutenant.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“You and your team are commended,” Whitney told her. “I want your report before the media conference.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll get right on it.”
She’d just sat at her desk when Roarke walked in. “That was quite a show.”
“Yeah. Feeding her to the media was just a bonus. I had to put it together pretty fast. Didn’t have time to tell you.”
“You did,” he corrected, “when you looked horrified at the idea of me kissing you in here.”
“Yeah, well, the guys in EDD will be snickering over that for days.”
“Cameras still on?”
“No.”
He leaned down, kissed her, long, slow, and deep.
“There now,” he said. “I feel better.”