In Death 24 - Innocent in Death

there and stare at my work.”
    “Interesting ego,” Roarke remarked.
    Eve glanced up. “She had to have written this after her mother called them back home.
    And still, it’s full of I, I, I. Mira’s going to have a field day with this one.”
    She looked back at the book, continued to read.
    “I wassupposed to meet my mother for lunch at Zoology. It’s my favorite place for lunch, and we had to bookthree weeks in advance for the reservation. One day, when I’m famous, I won’t need a stupid reservation to go anywhere. People will be grateful if I bother to eat in their restaurant.
    “After, I was going to the salon for a hair styling and a pedicure. I’d already decided on the Carnival polish, with glitter. Then Cora’s ’link beeped and it was my mother calling us home. We hadplans! We had reservations, but I had to come home, and the whole day was spoiled. My mother wasn’t even dressed when we got there. She’s so selfish.
    “But it’s really all that nosy Lieutenant Dallas’s fault. I thought, at first, she was interesting, but she’s not. She’s just mean and pushy and stupid. Now I’ve had to fix everything. Again. It’s just as well, really. My mother’s so weak and silly, and my daddy’s been paying more attention to her lately than to me. So, I’ve taken care of it. It was easy. The easiest one so far.
    “She hid pills in her lingerie drawer. As if I wouldn’t find them! All I had to do was make her some tea, and put the pills in it. Like I did with smelly old Mrs. Versy at the Kinley House last year. I had to use more with Mommy because Mrs. Versy was old and half-dead anyway.”
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    “Well, Christ,” Roarke murmured.
    “Yeah. I wondered if there were others along the way.” Eve read on.
    “She got into bed just like a baby for me. I watched her drink the tea. That was the best part. She drank it just like I told her, then I waited until she fell asleep. I left the empty bottle right there, so when Daddy gets home in a few hours he’ll find her that way. I’ll cry and cry. I’ve been practicing in the mirror, and I’m so good at it! Everyone will feel so sorry for me, and give me whatever I want. Everyone will think my mother killed that idiot Mr. Foster and that nasty Mr. Williams. It’s such a tragedy! I have to laugh.
    “I’m going to do some art now, and listen to some music. I’ll just be in my room when Daddy gets home. His best girl being quiet as a mouse so her mother can sleep. And sleep and sleep.
    “I have to go put this book in the recycler now. That’s annoying, andthat’s Lieutenant Dallas’s fault, too! But, it’s okay. Daddy will buy me another diary, a better one. He’ll buy me anything I want now, and take me anywhere I want to go.
    “I think we should go somewhere warm and pretty, with a really nice beach.”
    Roarke said nothing for a moment. “She wrote that while her mother was, as far as she knew, dead or dying in the other room.”
    “Oh, yeah.”
    “She shouldn’t waste her time with art and ballet. She should consider becoming a professional assassin. She has the constitution for it.”
    “I’m going to make sure she has plenty of time to consider her options-inside maximum security.” She looked down at the book again, at the tidy yet still childish penmanship.
    “Let’s get this copied. I want Mira and Whitney to see it ASAP. Then I want to read the rest.”
    It was all there, meticulously documented: motives, means, opportunities, plans, execution. Rayleen didn’t stint on details.
    If it had been the journal of an adult killer, Eve would have wrapped the investigation and the perpetrator in a heavy chain and locked the door.
    But the sticking point was how to handle a killer of such a young age, whose father was a top defense counsel.
    By sevenA. M. , Eve had Mira and Peabody in her home office, and her commander on hologram.
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    “I’m not going to buy she’s legally insane,” Eve began.
    “Did she and does she know right from wrong? Most certainly,” Mira agreed. “Her crimes are planned and executed, and her motives in each case are self-serving. The motives are the very reason a psychiatrist hired by the defense will argue insanity.”
    “Will you argue against it for the prosecution?”
    “Yes. I’ll need to examine her, of course, but at this point, most certainly I can argue against. Eve, either way, she must be put away, and I believe she will be. She won’t stop.”
    Mira drew a deep