In Death 03 - Immortal in Death

emotional attachment to any of the players. It was just sex with Pandora. Just sex, Lieutenant, and business."
    Eve rapped on the door where Casto was interviewing Jerry. When he poked his head out, she shifted her gaze, studied the woman at the table. "I need to talk to her."
    "She's running down, running out. Not going to get too much out of her today. Lawyer's already making noises about a break."
    "I need to talk to her," Eve repeated. "How have you been handling her this round?"
    "Tough line, hard-ass."
    "Okay, I'll downgrade." Eve slipped into the room.
    She could still feel pity, she realized. Jerry's eyes were jittery and shadowed. Her face was drawn, and her hands shook as they ran over it. Her beauty was fragile now, and haunted.
    "You want some food?" Eve asked in a quiet voice.
    "No." Jerry's gaze bounced around the room. "I want to go home. I want Justin."
    "We'll see if we can arrange a visit. It'll have to be supervised." She poured water. "Why don't you drink a little of this, take a minute?" She covered Jerry's hands with her own on the glass, lifted it to the trembling lips. "This is rough on you. I'm sorry. We can't give you anything to counteract the crash. We don't know enough yet, and whatever we gave you might be worse."
    "I'm all right. It's nothing."
    "It sucks." Eve slipped into a seat. "Redford got you into this. He verified that."
    "It's nothing," she said again. "I'm just tired. I need a little of my health drink." She looked hopefully, pitifully at Eve. "Can't I have a little, just to gear back up?"
    "You know it's dangerous, Jerry. You know what it's doing to you. Counselor, Paul Redford has stated on record that he introduced Ms. Fitzgerald to the illegal, under the pretense of a business venture. It is our assumption that she was unaware of its addictive qualities. We have no intention, at this time, of charging her with use."
    As Eve had hoped, the lawyer relaxed visibly. "Well, then, Lieutenant, I'd like to arrange for my client's release and her admission into rehab. Voluntary admission."
    "Voluntary admission can be arranged. If your client can cooperate for a few more minutes, it would help me in closing the charges on Redford."
    "If she cooperates, Lieutenant, all illegals charges will be dropped?"
    "You know I can't promise that, Counselor. I will, however, recommend leniency on the charges of possession and intent to distribute."
    "And Justin? You'll let him go?"
    Eve looked back at Jerry. Love, she thought, was an odd burden. "Was he involved in the business transaction?"
    "No. He wanted me to pull out. When he found out that I was... dependent, he pushed me to go into rehab, to stop taking the drink. But I needed it. I was going to stop, but I needed it."
    "The night Pandora died, there was an argument."
    "There was always an argument with Pandora. She was hateful. She thought she could get Justin back. The bitch didn't care about him. She just wanted to hurt me. To hurt him."
    "He wouldn't have gone back to her, would he, Jerry?"
    "He hated her as much as I did." She lifted her beautifully manicured nails to her mouth, started to gnaw. "We're glad she's dead."
    "Jerry -- "
    "I don't care," she exploded with a wild look to her cautioning lawyer. "She deserved to die. She wanted everything, never cared how she got it. Justin was mine. I would have been headliner at Leonardo's show if she hadn't found out I was interested. She went out of her way to seduce him, to have me cut out so that she could take the job. It would have been my job, it should have been my job all along. Just like Justin was mine. Like the drug was mine. It makes you beautiful and strong and sexy. And every time anyone takes it, they'll think of me. Not of her, of me."
    "Did Justin go with you to Leonardo's that night?"
    "Lieutenant, what is this?"
    "It's a question, Counselor. Did he, Jerry?"
    "No, of course not. We -- we didn't go there. We went out for drinks. We went home."
    "You taunted her, didn't you? You knew how to play her. You had to be sure she'd go hunt down Leonardo. Did Redford contact you, tell you when she'd left?"
    "No, I don't know. You're confusing me. Can't I have something? I need my drink."
    "You were using it that night. It made you strong. Strong enough to kill her. You wanted her dead. She was always in your way. And her tablets were stronger, more effective than your liquid. Did you want them, Jerry?"
    "Yes, I wanted them. She was getting younger in front of my eyes. Thinner. I