In Death 03 - Immortal in Death

murder engage with the victim in the use of illegals?"
    "No."
    "Did you, at any other time, engage with the victim in the use of illegals?"
    He smiled. When he angled his head, she caught more gold, threaded through the sleek queue twisting to his shoulder blades. "No. I didn't share Pandora's affection for substances."
    "Did you have the victim's security code for her town house in New York?"
    "Her security code." His brow furrowed. "I might have it. Probably." For the first time he appeared uneasy. Eve could all but see his mind weighing his answer and the consequences. "I imagine she gave it to me at one time or another to simplify matters when I visited her." Composed again, he took out his notebook, keyed in data. "Yes, I have it here."
    "Did you use her code to gain access to her home on the night of her murder?"
    "A domestic let me in. There wasn't any need for it."
    "No, there wouldn't have been. Before her murder. Are you aware that her security code also engages and disengages her video system?"
    Caution flickered in his eyes again. "I'm not sure I follow you."
    "With the code, which you state is in your possession, the outside security camera can be deactivated. That camera was deactivated for a period of approximately one hour after the murder. During that period, Mr. Redford, you state you were at your club. Alone. During that period, someone who knew the victim, who was in possession of her code, who was aware of the workings of her home and security, deactivated the system, entered the house, and it would seem, took something from the house."
    "I would have no reason to do any of those things. I was at my club, Lieutenant. I keyed in and out."
    "A member can key in and out without ever going in." She watched his face harden. "You saw an ornate, possibly Chinese antique box, from which you state the victim took a substance and ingested it. You further state that she then locked the box away in the vanity of her bedroom. This box has not been found. Are you sure this box existed?"
    There was ice now, but beneath it, just around the edges of it, she thought she caught something else. Not panic, not yet. But wariness, and worry.
    "Are you certain the box you described existed, Mr. Redford?"
    "I saw it."
    "And the key?"
    "The key?" He reached for a pitcher of water. His hand was still steady, Eve noted, but that mind was working overtime. "She wore it on a chain, a gold chain, around her neck."
    "No chain or key was recovered on the body or at the scene."
    "Then it would follow that the murderer took it, wouldn't it, Lieutenant?"
    "Did she wear the key openly?"
    "No, she -- " He stopped, the muscles in his jaw twitching. "Very good, Lieutenant. As far as I am aware, she wore it under her clothes. But, as I have stated, I am not the only one who was invited to see Pandora without clothing."
    "Why were you paying her?"
    "I beg your pardon?"
    "Over the past eighteen months, you transferred over three hundred thousand dollars into the victim's credit accounts. Why?"
    His eyes went blank, but Eve saw, for the first time, fear behind them. "Certainly what I do with my money is my own business."
    "No, it's not. Not when it's murder. Was she blackmailing you?"
    "That's absurd."
    "Plays for me. She had something on you, something dangerous, embarrassing, something she enjoyed holding over you. She nibbled away, demanding little payments here and there, and some not so little. I imagine she was the type to flaunt that kind of power, to enjoy it. A man could get tired of that. A man could begin to realize there was only one way to end it. It wasn't the money, really, was it, Mr. Redford? It was the power, the control, and that enjoyment she rubbed in your face."
    His breathing deepened raggedly, but his face remained still. "I would say that Pandora was not above blackmail, Lieutenant. But she had nothing on me, and I would not tolerate threats."
    "What would you do about them?"
    "A man in my position can afford to ignore quite a bit. In my business, success is much more important than gossip."
    "Then why did you pay her? For sex?"
    "That's insulting."
    "No, I suppose a man in your position wouldn't have to pay for sex. Still, it might add a certain twist to the excitement. Do you ever frequent the Down and Dirty Club on the East End?"
    "I don't frequent the East End, and I certainly don't frequent a second-rate sex club."
    "But you know what it is. Were you ever there with Pandora?"
    "No."
    "Alone?"
    "I said I hadn't