In Death 23 - Born in Death

enough hammering. But I let her know I was going to see her fry. I let her see it. I wanted her to.”
    “And why not? She was responsible for all of this, for murder, for misery. You wanted justice.”
    “No, or not only. I wanted to give her pain and fear. He did the killings, and he enjoyed doing them. But she twisted him, right from the beginning. She made him what he was, and used him as her tool, she abused him like—”
    Roarke lifted her hand, pressed it to his lips. “As you were.”
    “I saw my father when I went at her in the box. I felt him, and I felt what he’d done, wanted to do, with me.”
    “She was a monster, as he was. But regardless, Winfield Chase was a grown man. He could have escaped her. He could have gotten help.”
    “You don’t believe in help, or escape, when they’re done with you.”
    “He wasn’t you, Eve. And you could never, no matter what, have been like Chase. You could never have made his choices.”
    “No. I know that. And yeah, he had choices, we all do, but she limited them. She skewed them.”
    “And that’s what your father would have done, was trying to do, to you.”
    “He comes back, in my head, in my dreams. So I saw him in her. I saw him when I looked in her eyes, and I wanted her to pay. I wanted her to suffer and to pay and to know why. Now she has paid. I don’t know if she understood why.”
    “Did you want her dead?”
    “No. No, because then it’s over, and that’s not payment enough.” She drew a breath, shaky, then another, stronger. “Whitney said it happened fast. They’re talking, and Chase just reached over, snapped her neck. He didn’t even try to resist afterward, just let them haul him away. They’ve got him on suicide watch.”
    “Look at me, listen to me.” His tone was brisk and firm. He wouldn’t have it, wouldn’t have her carrying this load. “Can’t you see whatever you wanted, however you played this, it would have ended the same? She wouldn’t have been satisfied with a deal. She would still have tried to use him, he would still have killed her.”
    “Maybe. Maybe.”
    “Eve, you saw that child moments ago, that tiny new life that carries part of your name. There’s a beginning for you, and you helped bring it to be. It’s pure. We can’t be, you and I, and he won’t stay that way. But by doing what you did, by being what you are, you gave him his family.”
    “So close it up where it belongs.” She closed her eyes, nodded. “You’re right, I know you’re right. I will.”
    “Dallas? Sorry.” Peabody stiffled a yawn. “Mavis is asking for you. Oh, and she’s up to seven. Some of us are heading down to get a bite to eat. We’re taking Leonardo, because the midwife said we’ve got time.”
    “But—”
    “She said she’d really just like a little quiet time, with you.”
    “Okay, okay. Wipe that relieved look off your face, ace,” she warned Roarke. “You’re still going to be there for liftoff.”
    “God pity me.” But he rose, put his arms around her, brushed his lips over her brow. “Think of what’s been saved,” he murmured. “Think of the look on Tandy’s face when she held her son. There’s no place for the dark here.”
    “Right again.” She held onto him one more moment. “Thanks.”
    Eve thought Mavis was starting to show a little wear when she went back in. “Something happened.” Mavis pushed a little straighter in bed. “Tandy? The baby?”
    “No, no, they’re fine. Something on the job.” Close it up, she reminded herself, and remember what’s begun. “It’s not important.”
    “You don’t have to leave?”
    “Mavis, I’m not going anywhere till you get this job done. How’re you doing? And are you sick of having people ask you that?”
    “I’m pretty okay, and no. It’s kind of frosty, being the focus, you know? It’s not like when I’m performing. This is so real, like primal even, and I’m the only one who can do it. Can you just sit here, be with me?”
    “At your beck.”
    Because Mavis patted the bed, Eve sat on the side of it. “I wanted…Oh, here it comes again. Getting stronger. Shit, damn, fuck.”
    “You gotta breathe. Where’s the focus thing?”
    “You are, right now. I’m sick of looking at fucking sunshine.”
    Mavis puffed, staring so hard into Eve’s eyes, Eve wondered she didn’t lance right through to her brain. Then she remembered one of the options from the class, and laid hands on Mavis’s belly, rubbing light circles