Golden in Death (In Death 50)

After Eve accommodated, she heard locks bang open.

Cilla Roe had short, russet-colored hair currently sticking up in every possible direction. She had a sleep crease in her right cheek and shadows under bleary brown eyes.

She wore a pair of striped pajama pants and a faded T-shirt. Her bare feet sported pale blue polish on the toes.

“What’s this about?”

“Dr. Kent Abner.”

“My husband’s already at work. He had an early shift. And didn’t you talk to him already?”

“We’re here to talk to you.”

“Me?” She rubbed her tired eyes. “I didn’t even know Dr. Abner.”

“But you were aware of his conflict with your husband.”

“That?” Now the tired eyes rolled. “Does that really come up to the level of conflict?”

“Would you like to have this conversation in the doorway, Ms. Roe?”

On a little hiss, Roe stepped back, gestured them in. “If I’m going to have a damn conversation on four hours’ sleep, I need coffee. You?”

“We’re good.”

Roe walked across the small living area and into a tiny galley kitchen. After hitting a button on the AutoChef, she waited, then pulled out an oversize mug of coffee.

“Let’s sit down and get this done. I really want to go back to bed.”

She took the single chair, leaving the short sofa for Eve and Peabody.

“Okay, yes, I know about the incident with Milo and Dr. Abner. I’m going to say Milo has about as much tact and diplomacy as I’ve had sleep in the last twenty-four. Which is little. He’s a good emergency doctor, keeps his head and will work like a maniac to try to save a patient. But he doesn’t have a good filter, and says what pops into his head. I like knowing he says what he thinks—but I’m not a patient.”

She drank some coffee, sighed in a way Eve understood. “He told me you checked where he was on the night before Dr. Abner was killed—something about a package, a shipment, the time. I’m sure you’ve confirmed he was still on duty. He ran late with his shift. I was waiting for him because we were going to the beach for a couple days of very welcome R & R.”

“Was anyone here with you while you waited?”

“With me? No, we were going out of town as soon as he got home.”

“Did you see or speak to anyone between nine and eleven P.M.?”

“Why would…” Very slowly, Roe lowered her cup. “Oh my God, do you think I— Why would I kill a man I’d never met? Why would I kill anyone? Milo was tactless—I told him so myself when he told me what happened. He got slapped back for it. You don’t kill someone over that.”

“You know quite a bit about poison,” Eve continued.

“I’m a nurse.”

“Before you were, you showed an interest. You did a paper on poisons and nerve agents in high school.”

Roe leaned back in the chair. “How do you know that? You’ve—you’ve looked into me, back to—to high school? It was a good subject for a paper, and I had an interest. I’ve always had an interest in chemistry, in fact, had thought to go into biochemical research before I fell in love with nursing, and surgery. I—I work to save lives. I’d never take one.”

“So you didn’t speak to or see anyone from nine to eleven that night?”

“No, I … When Milo texted he’d be late, I laid down right there on the couch, took a nap. Do I need a lawyer?”

“That would be up to you. You work in a hospital where Dr. Abner had privileges. You never met him?”

“No. A lot of doctors have privileges at Unger. I haven’t met every damn one of them. He wasn’t a surgeon. I work in the surgical wing. I’m not saying I never saw him, I don’t know. He may have checked on a patient on the surgical level. I may even have assisted a pediatric surgeon who worked with him. But I didn’t know him.”