In Death 05 - Ceremony in Death

thought. I caught the replay of your little tete-a-tete with Nadine on the way over to Central. I'm surprised you agreed to it."
    "It was a trade. I got my share." She leaned forward, engaged the privacy shield between them and the driver. "And I'd better fill you in before we join in tonight's festivities."
    She detailed the new line she was pursuing, then sampled one of the sweet, fat olives on the antipasto tray. "It bumps him up a few notches on the list," she concluded.
    "The sins of the father?"
    "Sometimes it works that way."
    He said nothing a moment. They both had reason to be uncomfortable with the theory. "You know best, Lieutenant, but isn't it just as likely circumstances would push him to the opposite pole?"
    "He knew Alice, he has knowledge of chemicals. Her grandfather had chemicals in his system, and she'd been hallucinating. The other two victims were ritual slayings. Forte belongs to a cult. I can't ignore the steps."
    "He looked remarkably unhomicidal to me."
    She poked through the antipasto, selected a marinated pepper. "I once took down this little old lady, looked like everybody's favorite granny. She took in stray cats and baked cookies for the neighborhood kids. Grew geraniums on her windowsill." Enjoying the bite, Eve chose another pepper. "She'd lured a half a dozen kids into her apartment, and had fed their internal organs to the kitties before we nailed her."
    "Charming story." Roarke slipped his plate into the holding slot. "Point taken." Reaching into his pocket, he took out the amulet Isis had given him the night before, slipped it over Eve's neck.
    "What's this for?"
    "It looks better on you than me."
    She narrowed her eyes at him. "Bull. You're being superstitious."
    "No, I'm not," he lied and set her plate in with his before he shifted and began to unbutton her shirt.
    "Hey, what are you doing?"
    "Passing the time." His hands, clever and quick, swooped down to take her breasts. "It'll take an hour to get there by car."
    "I'm not having sex in the back of a limo," she told him. "It's -- "
    "Delicious," he finished and replaced his hands with his mouth.
    She felt remarkably limber and relaxed by the time the limo turned onto a narrow country road. Here the trees were plentiful, the stars brilliant, and the dark complete. Half-denuded trees arched over the roadway, tunneling them in. She caught the glinting gold eyes of what might have been a fox as a shadow darted across the road and into the woods.
    "Feeney and Peabody still behind us?"
    "Hmm." Roarke tucked his shirt back into his trousers. "It would seem so. "You're putting that on inside out," he said mildly and grinned.
    "Hell." Eve struggled back out of the shirt, pulled the arms through, and tried again. "Don't look so smug, I just pretended to enjoy that."
    "Darling Eve." He took her hand, kissed it. "You're too good to me."
    "You're telling me." She slipped the amulet off, looped it over his head. "You wear it." Before he could object, she caught his face in her hands. "Please."
    "You don't believe in it, anyway."
    "No." She tucked it under his shirt, patted it. "But I think you do. Your driver knows where he's going?"
    "The directions from Isis are programmed in." He checked his watch. "By my calculations, we should be nearly there."
    "Looks like we're nowhere if you ask me." She stared out the window. Nothing but dark, trees, and more dark. "I'd rather be on my own turf. Hard to believe there's this much nothing less than two hours' drive from New York."
    "You're such an urbanite."
    "And you're not?"
    He moved his shoulders. "The country's an interesting place to visit for short periods of time. Quiet can be restful."
    "It makes me edgy." They turned onto another winding road. "And everything looks the same. There's no... action," she decided. "Now, you stroll into Central or Greenpeace Park and you're bound to run into a mugger or chemi-head at least. Maybe an unlicensed hooker, couple of perverts."
    She glanced back, saw he was grinning at her. "Well?"
    "Life with you has such... color."
    She snorted, strapped on her side arm. "Yeah, like everything was gray in your little world before I came along. All that wine, women, and money. Must have been pretty tedious."
    "The ennui," he said on a sigh, "was unspeakable. I might have faded away from it if you hadn't tried to hang a murder or two on me."
    "Just your lucky day." She caught the glimmer of lights through the trees as the car turned up a steep, rutted incline. "Thank