Page 156 of Passions in Death
“I assumed the two of you were reasonably competent, but now I see why it took you days to arrest that stripper for Erin’s murder.”
Peabody started to speak, caught Eve’s slight head shake, and let that ride.
“I told you it was some lowlife, and it was. Shauna should never have associated with someone like that, and wouldn’t have except for Erin.”
Keep talking, Eve thought. Record’s on, rights read.
“Now you come into my shop, in front of clients and staff, and drag me out like a common criminal.”
“I don’t recall any dragging. Do you recall dragging, Peabody?”
“No, sir, I don’t. And the record will show no dragging involved. He actually came along fairly meekly.” She shifted to smile at him. “Thanks for your cooperation.”
“It shows what happens when the flighty are given authority.”
“Now we’re flighty,” Eve observed. “Peabody, we’re incompetent, flighty draggers.”
“Maybe. But he’s the one in cuffs.”
Pride swelled in Eve’s chest as she pulled into the garage.
“And here we are, home again.”
When they got him out of the back, he jutted out his chin.
“I can tolerate mistakes. People make mistakes. But there’s no excuse for humiliating me at my workplace. There will be recompense.”
“Counting on that,” Eve said, and led him into the elevator. “Detective Peabody is going to process you, then we’ll have a nice chat, the three of us, in Interview.”
“The sooner this is sorted out, the better.”
His chin continued to jut as the elevator stopped to let in more cops.
“And once we do, you will come to the shop, apologize to me in front of my staff, and you will contact Mr. Henrich and Ms. Charro and explain your mistake.”
One of the cops in the car slid an amused glance in Eve’s direction.
“Doesn’t know you very well, does he?”
Eve just smiled. “Not yet. He’s about to.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Smarter, Eve decided as she prepped for the interview, to have yelled lawyer right off the jump. But he considered himself in the clear on the murder, and as far as he was concerned hadn’t stolen anything.
Add he considered himself smarter than a couple of female cops, and he’d decided to forgo that one. For now.
Tagging a lawyer also meant someone else knew about his arrest. He wouldn’t want that.
She put the evidence bags in an evidence box, added some crime scene photos to a file. Then, checking the time, tagged Roarke.
His face filled the screen. “Lieutenant, you just caught me. Lunch meeting coming up.”
“Well, bon appétit there. Just letting you know I’m bringing Barney into the box.”
“For the murder.”
“That’ll be the end result. We’re starting off with theft. What he took out of Shauna’s apartment that day. I knew it. Now I know what. Some baubles he’d given her back in high school. She’d kept them in a box for sentiment. I guess he couldn’t have that, so when he had the chance—alone in her place—he took the box. He hid it in his sock drawer.”
