In Death 03 - Immortal in Death

her. Slip a little help into her wine, though, she gets more cooperative."
    "You drugged Peabody?"
    "Now and then, just to pump her for any details you might have left out of your official report. And to keep her sleeping pretty when I had to go out at night. She was an airtight alibi. Anyway, you know about Pandora. That went pretty much as you had figured, too. Only I was staking out her place that night. Scooped her up the minute she came storming out. She wanted to go to that designer's. We'd pretty much finished up our sexual relationship by then. Just business now. I figured why not take her? I knew she was working to cut me out of the whole deal. She wanted it all. She didn't think she needed some street cop hanging on, even if he was the one to give her the damn stuff to begin with. She knew about Boomer, too. But that didn't bother her. What did she care about some dirty alley croucher? And she never thought, never considered that I'd hurt her."
    "But you did."
    "I took her where she wanted to go. I'm not really sure if I was going to do it then, but when I saw the security camera smashed, it seemed like a sign. Then the place was empty. Just her and me. They'd hang it on the dressmaker, right? Or on the little lady she'd had a fight with. So I hit her. The first strike took her down, but she was up again. That shit made her strong and mean. I had to keep hitting her, and hitting her. Fucking blood flying. Then she was down for good. Your little friend came in, and you know the rest."
    "Yeah, I know the rest. You went back and took the box with the tabs. Why did you take her palm 'link?"
    "She always used it to call me. She might've recorded the numbers."
    "Cockroach?"
    "Just something extra in the mix. To confuse things. Cockroach was always willing to sample a new product. You were hammering away, and I wanted a hit where I was well alibied, just in case. So I had DeeDee."
    "You got to Jerry, too, didn't you?"
    "Easy as a walk on the beach. Get one of the VT's stirred up with a quick buzz, wait for the chaos. I had a reviver for Jerry, brought her around and had her out of there before she knew what was happening. I promised her a fix, and she cried like a baby. Morphine first so she wouldn't get any idea about not cooperating. Then Immortality, then a dash of Zeus. She died happy, Eve. Thanking me."
    "You're a humanitarian, Casto."
    "No, Eve, I'm a selfish man looking out for number one. And I'm not ashamed of it. I've got twelve years on the streets, wading through blood, vomit, and come. I've paid my dues. This drug's going to give me everything I've ever wanted. I'll take my captaincy, and with that kind of connection, I'll feed profits from the drug into a nice numbered account for four or five years, then I'll retire to a tropical island and sip mai tais."
    He was winding down now, she could tell it from the tone of his voice. The excitement, the arrogance had cooled to practicality. "You'll have to kill me first."
    "I know that, Eve. It's a damn shame. I all but handed you Fitzgerald, but you just wouldn't let it be." With what might have been affection, he brushed a hand over her hair. "I'm going to make it easy on you. I've got something here that'll take you down gently. You won't feel anything."
    "That's damn considerate of you, Casto."
    "I owe you that much, honey. Cop to cop. If you'd let it lay, after your friend got off, but you wouldn't. I wish things had been different, Eve. I had a real taste for you." He leaned close, so close she felt his breath waft over her lips as though he were indeed about to taste her.
    Slowly, she lifted her lashes, looking through them into his face. "Casto," she said softly.
    "Yeah. Just relax now. Won't take long." He reached for his pocket.
    "Fuck you." She brought her knee up hard. Her depth perception was still slightly skewed. Rather than connecting with his groin she knocked solidly into his chin. He went backward off the bed, and the pressure injector in his hand skittered over the floor.
    They both dived for it.
    "Where the hell is she? She wouldn't have walked out on her own party." Mavis tapped her spiked heels impatiently as she continued to scan the club. "And she's the only one of us still sober."
    "Ladies' room?" Nadine suggested, half-heartedly tugging her blouse over her lacy bra.
    "Peabody's checked twice. Dr. Mira, she wouldn't have made a run for it, would she? I know she's nervous, but -- "
    "She's not the running kind." Though her head was