Phoebe broke off, drank more wine. “She told me to hack into your systems.”
Roarke simply smiled. “Mine?”
“Anything of yours I could get into, she said, but your personal data was key. If I got into that, maybe, just maybe she’d let me off the hook. I couldn’t. I mean, I tried. I really tried, but I couldn’t get through. When I told her, she got mad, she got crazy mad, and slapped me.”
“I’m sorry for that.”
“Did anyone else know what you were doing?” Eve asked her.
“No. Well, Ms. Furst figured it out. I’m glad you did,” she said to Nadine. “I’m glad it’s out. I know I have to leave Seventy-Five. I really liked working there before Ms. Mars … Since then, it’s been horrible. If I don’t go to prison, I’m going home, I’m going to get a job working with my mom. If I don’t go to prison.”
“Did you kill her?”
“I— God—oh, no.” Her face turned white as bone under the tear streaks. “No, no. I swear.”
“Do you know who did?”
“No. I don’t know who killed her. But … when I heard she was dead, I was glad. That’s the truth, too. I was glad, and then I felt sick inside because I was glad.”
“Where were you last night between six and seven.”
“Um. I had to work till six, maybe a little after. I was getting ready to go home and Dory got a text from her new boyfriend. He broke up with her in a text, and that’s just mean. She was upset so I stayed with her awhile. Dory’s nice. We went out together. I guess it may have been six-thirty. She just wanted to go home. I got the subway, and I stopped for takeaway from the Chinese place. It’s just a couple blocks from where I live. I don’t know how to kill anybody.”
“Then you won’t be going to prison,” Eve said briskly. “Do you have a record of the names of people you hacked?”
“I remember all of them. You don’t forget when you do something mean to somebody.”
“I’m going to need those names.”
After Eve recorded them, Nadine gave Phoebe a pat on the shoulder. “It’s over now, and Lieutenant Dallas will take care of it from here. I’ve got a car waiting downstairs to take you home.”
“Oh, Ms. Furst, you don’t have to do that. I can take the subway.”
“You’re taking the car. You go down, give the doorman your name. He’ll have it brought around for you. Tomorrow, you give your notice at Seventy-Five, and if you need a reference for a job, you can give my name.”
“I’m ashamed of what I did.”
“You had a weapon at your throat.” Again, Eve spoke briskly. “Next time you do? Call a cop.”
“I wish I had. The marshals were good to us, even after what my father did. I should have known to go to the police.”
Nadine led her to the door, let out a long sigh when she came back. “I wish I could take her onto my team. I think she’s brutally honest and she’s a hard worker. But I can’t, and she’s better off back home planting bushes. I should take on an intern.” Nadine picked up her wine, drained it. “Someone young and smart and looking to learn. Someone I can mentor, and someone I can teach.”
“Seriously?”
Nadine shrugged at Eve. “Yeah. A protégé. I think I’d like having a protégé.”
“You’re good at your job.”
Nadine lifted her glass. “So are we all.”
“I may know somebody. Somebody young and smart. Cocky, but that can be a plus. She’d probably be willing to learn.”
“Really? Who?”
“I’ll let you know.”
* * *