In Death 04 - Rapture in Death

At her wit's end, Eve rubbed her hands over her face. "Take off, Nadine, or I'll put you on the blackout list."
    As a threat, it had punch. The blackout list meant there wouldn't be a cop in the homicide division who'd give Nadine the right time, much less a story lead. "Okay, fine. But I'm not dropping this." There were other ways to dig, she thought, and other tools to dig with. She snatched up her bag, gave Eve one last bitter look, then flounced out.
    "How could you?" Mavis demanded. "Dallas, how could you do this?"
    To insure some level of privacy, Eve shut the door. Her headache had come full circle and was now gleefully throbbing behind her eyes. "Mavis, this is my job here."
    "Your job?" Her eyes were laser blue today, and red-rimmed from weeping. It was touching the way they matched the cobalt streaks in her scarlet hair. "What about my career? I finally get the break I've been waiting for, working for, and you toss my partner into a cage. And for what?" Her voice hitched. "Because he came on to you and pissed Roarke off."
    "What?" Her mouth fell open, worked silently before she could get her tongue around words. "Where the hell did you get that?"
    "I just got off the 'link with Jess. He's devastated. I can't believe you'd play this way, Dallas." Her eyes began to leak again. "I know Roarke's premiere with you, but we've got history."
    At that moment, with Mavis noisily weeping into her hands, Eve could have cheerfully strangled Jess Barrow. "Yeah, we've got history, and you should know I don't play that way. I don't toss someone in a cage because I find them a personal annoyance. Would you sit down?"
    "I don't need to sit." She wailed it, made Eve wince as the sound acted as the dull point of an edgy knife on her brain.
    "Well, I do." She dropped into a chair. How much could she safely tell a civilian without crossing the line? And how far over the line was she willing to go? She looked at Mavis again, sighed. As far as it took. "Jess is the prime suspect in four deaths."
    "What? What bend did you go around since last night? Jess wouldn't -- "
    "Be quiet," Eve snapped. "I haven't got him solid on that yet, but I'm working on it. I do, however, have him on other charges. Serious charges. Now, if you'd stop blubbering and sit the hell down, I'll tell you what I can."
    "You didn't even stay and watch my whole act." Mavis managed to fall into a chair, but she didn't manage to stop blubbering.
    "Oh, Mavis, I'm, sorry." Eve dragged a hand through her hair. She was lousy with weepers. "I couldn't -- there was nothing I could do. Mavis, Jess is into mind control."
    "Huh?" It was such a wild statement coming from the most grounded person she knew that Mavis stopped crying long enough to sniffle and gape. "Huh?"
    "He's developed a program that accesses brain wave patterns and influences behavior. And he's used it on me, on Roarke, and on you."
    "On me? No, he didn't. Get genuine here, Dallas, this is too Frankenstein. Jess isn't a mad scientist. He's a musician."
    "He's an engineer, a musicologist, and a prick." Eve took a deep breath, then related as much as she felt was necessary. As she spoke, Mavis's tears dried up, hardening her eyes. Her bottom lip quivered once, then thinned.
    "He used me to get to you, to get to Roarke. I was just a spring. Then once I'd bounced him to you, he fucked with your mind."
    "This is not your fault. Stop it," Eve ordered when Mavis's eyes started to shimmer again. "I mean it. I'm tired, I'm pressed, and my head is about to explode. I don't need this soggy routine from you right now. It's not your fault. You were used, and so was I. He was hoping for Roarke's backing on his project. It doesn't make me less of a cop or you less of a performer. You're good, and you got better. He knew you could, and that's why he used you. He's too damn arrogant about his talent to have linked himself up with a dud. He wanted somebody who could shine. And you did."
    Mavis swiped a hand under her nose. "Really?"
    It was that one word delivered with such shaky hope that made Eve realize how far Mavis's ego had sunk. "Yeah, really. You were great, Mavis. That's solid."
    "Okay." She wiped at her eyes. "I guess my feelings got hurt when you didn't hang for the act. Leonardo said I was being silly. You wouldn't have split if you hadn't had to split." She took a long breath that lifted her thin shoulders, then dropped them again. "Then Jess, when he called, he laid all this stuff on me. I shouldn't have