In Death 05 - Ceremony in Death

horror flickering through. His skin went pasty, and his chest rose and fell in jerks.
    "He didn't survive," Eve said softly, "did he, Selina?"
    "His death is a symbol. He will not be forgotten."
    "Do you own an athame?"
    "I own several, naturally."
    "Like this?" She took out another photo, this one a close-up of the weapon left pinned into Lobar. Blood crusted the blade.
    "I have several," Selina repeated. "Some similar to this, as one might expect. But I don't recognize this particular one."
    "Hallucinogens were found in Lobar's system. You use drugs during rituals."
    "Herbals, and some chemicals. All legal."
    "Not everything found in Lobar's system was on the legal list."
    "I can't be responsible for the choices other people make."
    "He was with you the night he died. Was he using?"
    "He had taken the ritual wine. If he took something otherwise, it was without my knowledge."
    "You have priors as a chemi-dealer."
    "And paid my debt to so-called society. You have nothing on me, Lieutenant."
    "I have three bodies. And they're yours. I've got a dead cop, and he's on you, too. I'm closing in on you, Selina. Step by step."
    "Keep out of my face."
    "Or?"
    "Do you know pain, Dallas?" Selina's voice went low and thick. "Do you know the pain that eats at the stomach like drops of acid spreading? You beg for relief, but none comes. The pain becomes agony, and agony almost pleasure. The pain becomes so intense, so unspeakable that if a knife came to your hand, you would gladly slice through your own guts to cut out the source of it."
    "Would I," Eve said coolly. "Would I really?"
    "I can offer you that. I can offer you pain."
    Eve smiled, and her smile was slow and humorless. "That slips into the area of threatening a police officer. And that'll get you some time in a cage until your lawyer finesses you out again."
    "You bitch." Furious that she'd been trapped so neatly and with so little effort, Selina sprang to her feet. "You can't hold me for that."
    "Sure, I can. Selina Cross, you're under arrest for verbal threat to physically harm a police officer."
    She was fast, but Eve's reflexes were sharp. She blocked the first blow as Selina flew at her. But the second rapid swipe caught her along the throat with those lethal dark nails. She smelled her own blood and indulged herself by bringing her elbow up to ram Selina's chin.
    The dark eyes rolled back, went glassy. "Looks like we add resisting arrest. You're going to have your hands full for the next couple hours, counselor."
    He hadn't moved, not a muscle. Trivane continued to sit, staring at the photos of the dead. When Feeney opened the door, a uniform behind him, Eve nodded. "Book her," she ordered. "Verbal threat and resisting."
    Selina staggered as Eve passed her to the uniform. But her eyes cleared and fixed on Eve's face with bubbling malice. She began to speak softly, in a chant that rose and fell almost musically. She swiveled her head, looking over her shoulder as the uniform took her out.
    Eve dabbed ringers on her throat, disgusted when they came away smeared with blood. "Did you catch what she was saying there?"
    Feeney took out a handkerchief, handed it to her. "Sounded like Latin, bastardized some. My mother made me learn when I was a kid. Had delusions about me becoming a priest."
    "See if you can make any of it out from the record. We may be able to add to the charges. Shit, this burns. Interview is concluded," she added and logged the time and date. "Trivane, you want to talk to me?"
    "What?" He looked over, swallowed, shook his head. "I'll see my client, Lieutenant, as soon as she's booked. These charges won't hold."
    Eve held out her bloody fingers. "Oh, I think they will. Take a good look, Louis." She stepped closer, jammed her fingers under his nose. "It could be yours next time."
    "I'll see my client," he repeated, and his face was still white as death as he hurried from the room.
    "That bitch is loony," Feeney commented.
    "Tell me something I don't know."
    "She hates your ever fucking guts," he said pleasantly, happy to be in tandem again. "But you knew that, too. Put the hoodoo on you."
    "Huh?"
    "Cursed you." He winked at her. "Let me know if you start getting stomach cramps. You're starting to get to her."
    "Not enough," Eve murmured. "But my money's on the lawyer. Let's keep a man on him, Feeney. I don't want him ending up dead before he breaks. It was the way he looked at the shot of Lobar. Shock, then something like recognition." She shook her