In Death 03 - Immortal in Death

back, I've got to admit. Rough on the ego not to be able to show a woman like you what a smart man can accomplish. You know, Eve, I was a little worried when I learned you were in charge of Boomer." He reached out, ran a fingertip from her chin down between her breasts. "I thought I could charm you. Gotta admit you were attracted."
    "Get your hand off me." She slapped out at it, missed by several inches.
    "Your depth perception's off." He chuckled. "Drugs mess you up, Eve. Take it from me. I see it every shitty day on the streets. Got sick of seeing it. That's how it started. All those fancy dudes making their fancy profits and never getting their manicures sticky. Why not me?"
    "For money."
    "What else is there? I fell into the Immortality connection a couple years back. It was like kismet. Early days then, took my time, did my homework, used a source on the Eden Colony to slip me a sample. Poor old Boomer ferreted it out -- my connection from the Eden Colony."
    "Boomer told you."
    "Sure he did. He had something in the Illegals market, he came to me. Didn't know I was already in on it, not then. I kept it under wraps. I didn't know Boomer had a copy of the fucking formula. Didn't know he was holding out, hoping for a nice big chunk."
    "You killed him. You broke him to pieces."
    "Not until it was necessary. I never do anything until it's necessary. It was Pandora, you see, that beautiful bitch."
    Eve listened, righting to bring her brain and motor skills back into mesh while Casto spun her a tale of sex, power, and profit.
    Pandora had spotted him at the club. Or they'd spotted each other. She'd liked the idea that he was a cop, and the kind of cop he was. He'd be able to get his hands on lots of goodies, wouldn't he? And for her, he'd been happy to do so. He'd been enchanted with her, obsessed, and yes, addicted. No harm in admitting that now. His mistake had been to share his information about Immortality with her, to listen to her ideas for cashing in. Huge profits, she'd predicted. More money than they could spend in three lifetimes. And youth, beauty, great sex. She'd become addicted to the drug quickly, always hungered for more, and she had used him to get it.
    But she had been useful, too. Her career, her fame, had made it easy for her to travel, to carry more of what was then being manufactured exclusively on Starlight Station in a little private lab.
    Then he'd discovered she'd brought Redford in on the deal. He'd been furious with her, but she'd been able to string him along with sex and promises. And the money, of course.
    But things had started to go wrong. Boomer had pushed for money, had pocketed a bag of the drug in powder form.
    "I should have been able to handle him. Little wart. Trailed him here. He was flying, running his mouth, tossing the credits I'd given him to keep him quiet around like candy. I couldn't know what he'd said to that damn whore." Casto shrugged. "You figured that out yourself. Right scenario, Eve, wrong person. I had to take her out. I was in too deep for mistakes by then. She was just a whore."
    Eve leaned her head back against the wall. Her head had nearly stopped spinning now. She thanked God the dose had been light. Casto was on a roll. She could keep him talking. If she couldn't get the hell out on her own, someone was going to come looking for her soon.
    "Then you went after Boomer."
    "I couldn't go to his flop and drag him out. My face is too well known around there. I gave him a little time, then I contacted him. Told him we'd be able to deal. We needed him in on our side. He was stupid enough to buy it. Then I had him."
    "You messed him up first. You didn't kill him quick."
    "I had to find out how much he'd let out, who he might have talked to. He didn't deal well with pain, our Boomer. Spilled his guts. I found out about the formula. Really pissed me off. I wasn't going to mess up his face like the hooker's, but I lost it. Plain and simple. Got emotionally involved, you could say."
    "You're a cold bastard," Eve muttered, making her voice weak and blurry.
    "Now that's just not true, Eve. You ask Peabody." He grinned, gave her breast a quick tweak that sent fury and rage cycling to her gut. "I went for DeeDee when I realized you weren't going to take a nibble. Too wrapped up in that rich Irish bastard to take a look at a real man. And DeeDee, bless her, was ripe for plucking. Never could get much out of her on what you were up to, though. DeeDee's got good cop all over