Rebecca scowled. "She's stalling. Let's go, baby."
Dance said, "Because I had to warn Morton--"
Rebecca whispered, "Let's just finish up and get going. Jesus, we're wasting--"
"Quiet, lovely." Pell turned his bright blue eyes back to Dance, just as he'd done in Salinas during their interview on Monday. It seemed like years ago. "Yeah, you wanted to warn him about me. So?"
"No. I wanted to warn him about Rebecca."
"What're you talking about?"
Dance held Pell's eyes as she said, "I wanted to warn him that she was going to use you to kill him. Just like she used you at William Croyton's house eight years ago."
Chapter 50
Dance saw the flicker in Daniel Pell's otherworldly eyes.
She'd touched something close to the god of control.
She used you. . . .
"This is such bullshit," Rebecca snapped.
"Probably," Pell said.
Dance noted the conditional word, not an absolute one. The agent eased forward. We believe that those who are physically closer to us tell the truth more than those leaning away. "She set you up, Daniel. And you want to know why? To kill William Croyton's wife."
He was shaking his head, but he was listening to every word.
"Rebecca was Croyton's lover. And when his wife wouldn't give him a divorce she decided to use you and Jimmy Newberg to kill her."
Rebecca laughed harshly.
Dance said, "You remember the Sleeping Doll, Daniel? Theresa Croyton?"
Now she was using his first name. She'd established a bond--by suggesting a common enemy.
He said nothing. His eyes flicked to Rebecca, then back to Dance, who continued, "I just talked to the girl."
Rebecca was shocked. "You what?"
"We had a long conversation. It was quite revealing."
Rebecca tried to recover. "Daniel, she didn't talk to her at all. She's bluffing to save her ass."
But Dance asked, "Was Jeopardy! on the TV in the den the night you and Newberg broke into the Croytons'? She told me it was. Who else would have known that?"
What is Quebec? . . .
The killer blinked. Dance saw she had his complete attention. "Theresa told me that her father was having affairs. He'd drop the children off at the Santa Cruz boardwalk and then meet his lovers there. One night Croyton spotted Rebecca doing sketches and picked her up. They started an affair. She wanted him to get a divorce but he wouldn't, or couldn't, because of his wife. So Rebecca decided to kill her."
"Oh, this is ridiculous," Rebecca raged. "She doesn't know any of this."
But Dance could see it was posed. The woman was flushed and her hands and feet were flashing subtle but clear affect displays from the stress. There was now no doubt that Dance was on to something.
Dance looked at him with steady eyes. "The boardwalk . . . Rebecca would've heard about you there, wouldn't she, Daniel? That's where the Family went to sell things at flea markets and to steal and shoplift. Caused kind of a stir, this cult of criminals. Gypsies, they called you. It made the news. She needed a fall guy, a killer. Linda told me you two met on the boardwalk. You thought you seduced her? No, it was the other way around."
Rebecca's voice remained calm. "Shut up! She's lying, Dan--"