In Death 24 - Innocent in Death

me.”
    “I bet he did,” Eve said, and almost lost her ability to sound mildly interested.
    “And he was quiet, just like I told him to be. I said we were going to go down and see the toys, and maybe even Santa. He believed in Santa. He was ajoke. It was their fault, anyway.”
    “Whose?”
    “My parents’, for God’s sake. They should never have had him in the first place. He was always in the way, and they were always spending time with him when they should have spent it with me. I was the first.”
    “You pushed him down the steps?”
    “It was easy.” Rayleen executed a small leap, then picked up her drink again. “Just one shove and he went tumble, tumble, tumble. Snap! And that was that.” On a giggle, she drank-and Eve’s stomach churned.
    “Things were the way they were supposed to be. I gotall the toys that Christmas. All I had to do was cry when Daddy started to put the ones for Trev away. I got them all, and now I always get them all.”
    She did another pirouette, followed it with a grand pli?, then a long deep bow. “I bet you’ve never been beaten by a kid before. I’m better than any of the rest. Than anyone.
    Say it. Say that Rayleen is better and smarter than anyone you’ve ever met.”
    “Hold that thought,” Eve suggested at the knock on the door. She opened it to Peabody, who handed Eve Rayleen’s diary. “Well, well, what have we here?”
    “Where did you get that! That’smine !” The smirking child was gone, and it was an enraged killer who charged at Eve. “Give that to me. Now!”
     
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    Eve took the vicious shove, even the clawing hands as she held the diary out of reach.
    “Well, now, that’s what we call assaulting an officer. Rayleen Straffo, you’re under arrest for-”
    “You shut up. You’d better shut up right now, or you’re going to be sorry. That’s my diary and I want it back! My father’s going to make you pay.”
    Eve tossed the diary to Peabody, then gripped Rayleen’s arms, spun her around. She clamped on restraints while Rayleen screamed and cried and kicked. “You’re the one who’s going to pay, for all of it. You were right, Ray. I can lie during interviews. I wasn’t wired, but the room was.”
    “You didn’t read me my rights.”
    “True. But I don’t need anything you told me in there. I’ve already got it. From the diary we pulled out of the recycler yesterday, from the clerk who sold you the engraved go-cup you used to replace Craig Foster’s, from your mother, who told us-before you tried to kill her-that she knew you’d been up earlier on Christmas.”
    “No one’s going to believe you.” Rayleen’s face was wildly red with rage, and not a hint of fear. “My daddy will fix it all.”
    “Wrong again.” Eve took a firm hold of Rayleen’s arm while Peabody took the other.
    A few feet away, Straffo stood staring at his daughter like a man still gripped in a nightmare. “Rayleen.”
    “Daddy! Daddy! They’re hurting me! Stop them.”
    He took two lurching steps toward her. “He was just a baby. He was just a little boy. He loved you so much. How could you do that, Rayleen, to people who loved you so much?”
    “It’s lies, Daddy. She’s lying to you. I’m your best girl. I’m…Mommy did it! I saw her do it, Daddy. She pushed Trev, and then she killed Mr. Foster and Mr. Williams. I didn’t want to tell on her, Daddy. I didn’t want them to take her away from us. I-”
    “Stop. Oh, God.” He covered his face with his hands. “Oh, God.”
    “Take her, Peabody. Take her, Mira, and the CP agent to Central. I’ll follow as soon as I can.”
    “You’ll pay,” Rayleen said to Eve under her breath as Peabody signaled a uniform to help her. “You’ll pay, just like the others. I’ll enjoy you the most.”
     
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    “Spoiled brats don’t scare me. Read her her rights, Peabody, and book her, three counts murder one, one attempted murder. We’ll add on Adele Versy when we have that locked in.”
    “Daddy! Don’t let them take me away from you! Daddy!”
    Eve turned away and walked toward Straffo without looking back. “Let’s go sit down, Oliver.”
    “I have nothing left. I have nothing. That’s my child. She…I made her.”
    “You didn’t. Sometimes the unspeakable can come from the decent. And sometimes, it’s possible to make yourself decent out of the unspeakable. I know about this.”
    Eve put her hand on his arm, then stood where she was as she saw Louise coming toward them.
    “Mr.