In Death 10 - Witness in Death

Draco. Carly Landsdowne was onstage the night he was killed."
    "Yes?" Surprise, consideration flashed over her face. "She is an actress? Here in New York? Well, how many circles run within the circle of one life? And she was in the play with Richard and Kenneth. How strange, and how apt."
    Eve waited. Watched. "You don't ask any questions about her."
    "Lieutenant, you want me to pretend some connection, some spiritual bond? Your Carly Landsdowne is a stranger to me. I wish her well, of course. But the link between us, a tenuous and temporary one, was broken years ago. My only connection with those days is Kenneth."
    "Were you acquainted with Areena Mansfield?"
    "Slightly, yes. She was very promising, even so long ago. She's done quite well for herself, hasn't she? I believe Richard toyed with her as well at some point. Why do you ask?"
    "She was also in the cast. Natalie Brooks?"
    "Natalie Brooks?" A little smile curved her mouth. "There is a name I haven't heard in many years. Yes, I remember she had a small part in the play Richard was in when he and I were lovers. She was very young, too. Pretty, fresh in a country girl sort of way. And, of course, easy prey. He seduced her when he turned from me. Perhaps even before. It's difficult to know. Was she, too, in this play?"
    "No, but her son was Draco's understudy."
    "Fascinating." Her eyes danced with amusement. "Please, you must tell me who else."
    "Eliza Rothchild."
    "But yes! A delightful woman. So dignified and acerbic. She had no tolerance for Richard. Of course, she was hardly his type and he took no pains to disguise that. Yes, this is fascinating. So many ghosts of the past moving like shadows on the stage. And Richard in the center, where he liked it best.
    "I no longer follow theater, but if I'd known, I might have bought a ticket. Yes, I might very well have paid to see that final performance."
    "You've had no contact with any of these people in the last twenty-four years?"
    "But for Kenneth, no, as I've already said. I realize Kenneth told you that he hadn't seen or spoken to me over the years, didn't know where I was. The lie was not for himself, but for me. And now that you've told me all who are involved, it comes even more clear why he did so. He would have worried that these ghosts would haunt me. I assure you, and will assure him, they don't."
    "Did he tell you that Richard Draco and Carly Landsdowne had been lovers?"
    The cup jerked to a halt before it reached her lips. With her eyes on Eve's, she lowered it slowly to the table. "What are you saying?"
    "That your former lover and the child you made together were intimate. They had a sexual affair that ended shortly before his death."
    "Mother of God." Anja squeezed her eyes shut. "Is this the payment for a small sin committed so many years ago? You've disturbed me, Lieutenant." She opened her eyes again, and they were hard, glinting. "If that was your purpose, you've succeeded. Surely neither of them knew."
    She rose, prowled the room. "She's young. Attractive?" she asked with a glance back at Eve.
    "Yes. Very attractive."
    "He would find her hard to resist. Would see no reason to resist. And he has always been able to lure women into bed."
    "She might have lured him, knowing."
    "What woman chooses to sleep with her own father?" Anja shot back. Her hands fisted, her body trembled once as she spun around. "Why would she have known? The files were sealed."
    "Seals crack," Eve said mildly. "Any and all of the parties involved can request the file. Perhaps she was curious about who made her."
    "I would have been informed if a request was made and granted. It is the law."
    "Laws are broken. That's why I have a job. Draco might have opened the file himself."
    At this, Anja merely laughed, a cold and brittle sound. "For what purpose? He had no interest whatsoever at the time. It's unlikely he remembered a child existed after all these years."
    "There was a resemblance, Ms. Carvell. She has his coloring, the shape of his eyes, his jaw."
    "So." She drew a breath, nodded, ordered herself to sit again. "He might have looked at her and seen himself. Might have," she murmured, toying with her button again. "Might have. Then taken her to his bed for some narcissistic thrill. I can't say. I can't tell you. Richard has become as much of a stranger to me as the young woman you speak of. I don't know them."
    "Kenneth Stiles did."
    Eve watched the realization and the horror bloom on Anja's face. Color rushed into her