In Death 22 - Memory in Death

it.”
    Her face was grim now, and full of hate. “She said I wasnothing,just like she did when I was a kid. ‘You’re nothing,’ she said, ‘and you’d better remember who’s in charge.’ Then she turned her back on me. I still had the sap in my hand. I didn’t think about it, didn’t even think. It just happened. I let her have it good. And she went down, right down to her knees, and I let her have it again. Nothing in my life ever felt better. Who was nothing now?”
    She held up her coffee. “Hey, can I get another? It’s crap, but it gives you a buzz.”
    “Sure.” Eve signaled to Peabody, then rose herself to get water from the jug kept in the room.
    “I didn’t plan it,” Marnie continued. “But sometimes you can’t stick to the plan. You got anybody behind the mirror?”
    Eve studied her own reflection. “Does it matter?”
    “Just like knowing if I have an audience. I didn’t murder her. I just lost my head for a minute. She slapped me, right across the face.”
    “Open palm,” Eve murmured, remembering. “Quick sting, not hard enough to leave a mark. She was good at it.”
    “She liked pain. Liked to give it, liked to get it.” Marnie scooted around in the chair, facing Eve so their eyes met in the mirror in a gesture of intimacy.
    Inside Eve, something twisted. She understood what it was to find a weapon in her hand, and to use it. Blindly, ferociously.
    “She was one of those S and M types, without the kick of sex,” Marnie went on. “That’s what I think. She was one sick bitch. But I didn’t set out to kill her. I didn’t even get a chance to tell her who I was. Watch her face when I did. Too damn bad. I used to dream about doing that.”
    “That must’ve been a disappointment.” Eve turned back as Peabody came in with fresh coffee, kept her face neutral. “You had to think fast after it was done.”
    “Thought about just running. But I kept my head. Probably shouldn’t have taken the sweater and stuff.” Marnie glanced down at the sweater, smiled. “But I couldn’t resist. Should’ve waited, gotten them later. But it was spur of the moment.”
    “You knew the room next door was empty.”
    “Yeah. The maid mentioned it. Thought we might want to take that room so we could be next door to each other. No, thank you. The window wasn’t locked on it, otherwise I’d have had to clean up on the escape platform, change, and walk around, go in the front. Crappy hotel, crappy security. Didn’t figure anyone would look next door. I left a trail leading down the escape. Open window, dead woman, blood trail. I was careful.”
    “Not half bad,” Eve agreed. “You shouldn’t have pushed it. You should’ve let Bobby find her.”
    “It was more fun the way I did it. You’ve got to get in a few kicks. You could’ve knocked me over with
    a feather when you and Roarke showed, though. Last people I expected to see come knocking on the
    old bitch’s door. Had to improvise.”
    “You must’ve sweated some, having to leave the ‘link, the weapon, the bloody towels next door while
    we went over the scene.”
    “Some, yeah. But I figured if you found them, you still didn’t have reason to look at me. The business
    the next day was a little insurance. I get the stuff, head out, dump everything in different recyclers while
    I walk around, find the right spot. I used to live in New York. I knew that bar.”
    “I knew that.”
    Marnie snorted. “Come on.”
    “You slipped up with the dogs, made the wrong comment. I had a homer on both of you that day. A
    little insurance for me.”
    Marnie’s face went blank, then there was a snap of irritation before she shrugged. “Bobby slipped.”
    “You’re in it this far, Marnie, and you’re going to get points for cooperating. Don’t start bullshitting me now. Trudy’s dead, and she’s got all that money. Bobby’s sitting between you and it. Boring Bobby.”
    “You think this was about money? Money’s a little icing, but it’s not the cake. It’s payback. She deserved it, you know damn well she deserved it. Bobby’s an idiot, but he’s okay. If I gave him a little nudge, it was impulse, that’s all. Just a little something to keep you looking for the invisible man. And I tried to
    pull him back. I got witnesses.”
    She sulked over her coffee. “Tally it up, why don’t you? You’ve got one dead blackmailer. And she hit me first. I destroyed the discs of the recording she had me make. All of them: I destroyed