In Death 22 - Memory in Death

before.”
    “We’ll sign off on Bobby’s statements at the hotel, seeing as he’s injured. But we can get yours out of
    the way, start moving you back toward Texas. Have a seat.”
    “Have you brought many criminals in here?”
    “My share.”
    “I don’t know how you do it. Did you always want to?”
    “As long as I can remember.” Eve sat across the table from her, slouched back. “I guess Trudy’s part
    of that.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “That lack of control I felt when I was with her. Being defenseless. It was a pretty rough time for me.”
    Zana lowered her eyes. “Bobby told me she wasn’t very nice to you. And now, here you are, working
    so hard to find out who killed her. It’s …”
    “Ironic? That’s crossed my mind.” She glanced over as Peabody stepped in.
    “Got you a cherry,” she told Zana. “Tube of Pepsi for you, Dallas.”
    “I love cherry, thanks.” Zana accepted the tube, and a straw. “What do we do now?”
    “To keep everything officialand part of the formality, Zana, is my former relationship with Trudy
    I’m going to read out the Revised Miranda.”
    “Oh. Oh, well, gee.”
    “It’s for your protection, and mine,” Eve explained. “If this case ends up in the cold file”
    “Cold file?”
    “Unsolved.” Eve shook her head. “It’s tough to realize that may be what happens. But if it does, it’s
    better all around if we have everything very official.”
    “Well, okay.”
    “I’m going to set the record.” Eve read off the time, the date, the names of those in the room, the case file, then recited the Revised Miranda. “Do you understand your rights and obligations in this matter?”
    “Yes. Boy, I’m a little nervous.”
    “Relax, it won’t take long. You are married to Bobby Lombard, the son of the victim, Trudy Lombard. Correct?”
    “Yes. We’ve been married nearly seven months.”
    “You were well acquainted with the victim.”
    “Oh, yes. I worked for Bobby and his partner before Bobby and I got married. I got to know Mama
    Tru. That’s what I called her. Um, well, after Bobby and I got married, that’s what I called her.”
    “And your relationship with her was friendly.”
    “Yes, it was. Am I doing this right?” she added in a whisper.
    “You’re doing fine. The victim was, according to your previous statements and statements on record
    from others, a difficult woman.”
    “Well… she could be, I guess you could call it demanding, but I didn’t mind so much. I lost my own mother, so Mama Tru and Bobby are my only family.” She stared at the wall, blinked her eyes. “It’s
    just me and Bobby now.”
    “You’ve stated you moved to Copper Cove, Texas, looking for employment, sometime after the death
    of your mother.”
    “And after I finished business school. I wanted a fresh start.” Her lips curved. “And I found my Bobby.”
    “You had never met the victim or her son before that time.”
    “No. I guess it was fate. You know how you see somebody, and you just know?”
    Eve thought of Roarke, of the way their eyes had met at a funeral. “Yeah, I do.”
    “It was like that for me and Bobby. D.K., um, Densil K. Easton, Bobby’s partner, used to say every
    time we talked to each other, little hearts flew out of our mouths.”
    “Sweet. Whose idea was it to come to New York at this time?”
    “Um, well, Mama Tru’s. She wanted to talk to you. She’d seen you on media reports, about that cloning business, and recognized you.”
    “Who selected the hotel where you were staying at the time of her death?”
    “She did. I guess that’s just awful when you think about it. She picked the place where she died.”
    “We could call that ironic, too. At the time of the murder, you and Bobby were in the room across the hall and three doors down from the victim’s.”
    “Um, gee. I know we were across the hall. I don’t remember how many doors down, but that sounds right.”
    “And at the time of the murder, you and Bobby were in your room.”
    “Yes. We’d gone out to dinner, Mama Tru said she wasn’t up for it. And we got a bottle of wine. After we got back, we …” She blushed prettily. “Well, we stayed in the room all night. I went down in the morning, to her room, because she wasn’t answering the ‘link. I thought maybe she was sick, or a little irritated with us for going out on the town. Then you came, andand you found her.”
    She lowered her eyes again, worked up a few tears, Eve noted.