In Death 17 - Imitation in Death

with your stand on this."
     
     
"If Julietta has a flaw, it's that she's not as good a mother as she could be. Not as devoted or involved as I think she should be. I'd like to have children one day, and I expect my mate to want and care for the child as I will. From all I know, Thomas Breen is an excellent father, but he can't be the boy's mother. Only she can."
     
     
"But he's not so hot as a husband."
     
     
"As he's not mine it wouldn't be accurate or fair for me to judge. But she doesn't love him, or respect him. She finds him tedious and too easily led."
     
     
"You were with her on the night of September second." "Yes, at my apartment. She told her husband she had a late meeting."
     
     
"And you think he's buying it?"
     
     
"She's careful. He hasn't confronted her. She would have told me. To be frank, Lieutenant, I think she wishes he would."
     
     
"And the following Sunday morning, when she took the boy out. Were you with them?"
     
     
"I met them in the park. Her voice warmed. "I enjoy the boy."
     
     
"So you've spent time with him, ,the three of you- together."
     
     
"Once a week or so. I want him to know me, so he's comfortable. When he's older, perhaps we'll find a way to blend our relationships."
     
     
"Has Julietta ever told you her husband is violent?"
     
     
"No. Believe me, if there was violence in the home, I would urge her to take the boy and leave. His work is odd, disturbing, but he appears to leave it at that. You suspect him of killing that woman in Chinatown. Lieutenant, if I believed him capable of such a thing, I'd get my lover and her son away from him. Whatever it took."
     
     
"You know the trouble with people having extramarital affairs, Peabody?"
     
     
"Explaining why you never wear all that sexy underwear you bought at home?"
     
     
"There's that. But it's the delusion. They really believe they're getting away with it. Some do, for the short haul, but there are always tells. Too many late nights at the office, secret 'link transmissions, the friend of a friend who happens to see you having lunch with someone not your spouse in some out-of-the-way restaurant. And beyond all that, if that spouse isn't in a coma, there's a sense-a look, a smell, a change in touch. Serena Unger's no dummy, but actually believes Breen hasn't got a-clue.",
     
     
"And you don't."
     
     
"He knows. His wife's been playing pass the strap-on with another woman for a year and a half, he knows."
     
     
"But if he does, how can he ignore it, just go around pretending everything's fine day after day? It would have to eat away at you, make you crazy... Which is exactly what you're getting at. If Roarke was fooling around with somebody, what would you do?"
     
     
"They'd never find the bodies." She tapped her fingers on the wheel as she sat in traffic. "Women are ruining his happy home, threatening his family. Worse, it leaves him feeling dickless. You spend all day writing about murder. You're fascinated with it. Why not give it a try? Show those bitches who's boss. I think it's time to bring him in and press him. But first we'll check out some of your plaster outlets. Maybe we can add weight."
     
     
Peabody pulled out her PPC, did a search for the closest address "Village Art Supplies, 14 West Broadway. Lieutenant, I know you're looking sharp at Breen and Renquist, but I've got just the opposite direction, which I sincerely hope doesn't piss you off so that you remember to punch me in the stomach. I've seen you punch, and it's gotta hurt."
     
     
"If I got pissed off at everyone who disagrees with me... Oh, that's right, I do. But in this case I'll make an exception."
     
     
"Big thanks for that."
     
     
"Why do you disagree?"
     
     
"Okay." Peabody scooted around in her seat to face Eve's profile. "I drink Fortney fits the profile more. He has no respect for women. He hits them and hits on them because it's a way to show what a big shot he is. He's hooked up with a strong woman because she'll take care of him, and the more she takes care of him, the more he resents it, and the more he cheats on her. He's got two exes who skinned him financially because he couldn't keep it in his pants, and without Pepper, he probably wouldn't be able to get a meeting in his chosen field. He's lied in interview to protect himself. His alibis have more holes than a pound of Swiss, and he's theatrical."
     
     
" Those are all good points, and a proud tear threatens my