“Or she just flat out refuses to widen the slice of the pie.”
“That’s a pisser either way. And any way it plays, you’re back in that room with her late Saturday night, early Sunday morning. She turns her back on you. You’ve got the record, you’ve got the weapon. You’ve got motive, you’ve got opportunity. You take her out. You bag up her ‘link, her copy of the documentation, her disc files, anything else that might implicate you or help you out. You unlock the window, and you’re gone.”
“Now you’ll get the whole pie.” Roarke glanced down at the pizza between them. They’d fairly well demolished it, he noted. Hungry work.
“Then it angles back.” Eve licked a little sauce from her thumb. “Bright and early Monday morning, you’re right there, right on the spot to snatch Zana when she comes out. Happy coincidence for you that she’s out hunting bagels on her own.”
“Maybe Trudy wasn’t the one with the lover.”
“That’s a thought, isn’t it?” She inclined her head, and shoved the pizza away before she made herself sick. “Going to take a closer look at Bobby’s pretty little wife.”
“Not Bobby?”
“I’ll go down a few layers. But the thing with matricide is it’s usually uglier. More rage.”
As was patricide, she thought. She’d all but swam in the blood when she’d killed her father.
As that was one memory she didn’t need or want, she focused on the now. “Then the motive’s murky there. If it’s the money, why not wait until she scooped it up? Then you arrange for an accident back home, and you inherit. Could’ve been impulse, just of the moment, but…”
“You’ve got a spot for him,” Roarke said. “A soft one.”
“It’s not that.” Or maybe part of that, she admitted. “If he was putting on a show outside that hotel room, he’s wasting his talents with real estate. And I was with him when Zana had her adventure, so that means he’d have to have a partner. Or he and Zana are in this together. None of that’s impossible, so we’ll go down those layers. But it’s not what rings for me.”
He studied her face. “And something does. I can see it.”
“Back to the vic. She likes to be in charge, keep people under her thumb. Like you pointed out, she didn’t just take kids in for the fees. She took them in so she had sway over them, so they’d do her bidding, fear her. According to her, she kept files on them. So why would I be the first she’s hit on?”
“Not a partner then. A minion.”
“That’s a good word, isn’t it?” Eve sat back in her chair, swiveled back and forth. “Minion. Right up her alley. From the look back I already took, she always fostered females. Which plays into her being in her nightgown. Why bother with a robe when it’s another woman? No need to be concerned or afraid when it’s someone you bossed around when she was a kid and who, for whatever reason, is still under your control.”
“Zana was abducted by a man, if we take her at her word.”
“And if we do, going by this theory, there are two. Or Trudy had herself a man. I’m going to take a closer look at who she fostered.”
“And I’ll play with my numbers.”
“Getting anywhere?”
“It’s a matter of time. Feeney got a start and a warrant. Which makes it possible for me to use my office equipment without dodging around CompuGuard.”
“Only half the fun for you.”
“Sometimes you settle.” He got to his feet. “I’ll get back to it.”
“Roarke. Before, what I said about bringing work home, and cops into the house. I should’ve added pulling you into this mix.”
“I put myself into the mix quite a few times, going around you to do so.” His lips curved, just a bit. “I’ve tried to learn to wait to be asked first.”
“I ask a lot. And I haven’t forgotten you were hurt, took a couple of pretty serious hits on my last two major cases because I asked you first.”
“As did you,” he reminded her.
“I signed up for it.”
He smiled fully now—it was enough to make a woman’s heart do a header—and walked around the desk to lift her hand, rub his finger over her wedding ring. “As did I. Go to work, Lieutenant.”
“Okay. Okay,” she repeated quietly as he walked to his own office. She turned to her computer. “Let’s start earning our pay.”