Imitation in Death

“Keeps the rain off.”

Pepper laughed. “It’s been some time since I’ve been here, but I recall a formidable manservant rather than the splashy domestic droid who let me in.”

“Summerset. He’s on vacation. He’ll be back later today.” Unless he’s captured by desperados and held for ransom. Or falls madly in love with a young nudist and moves to Borneo.

“Summerset. Yes, of course.”

“You’re not here to see him either.”

“No.” Pepper nodded. “My motive for coming is a woman-to-woman thing. I know you saw Leo again yesterday. He was very upset by it, feels hounded, and that you have some sort of personal grudge against him.”

“I don’t have a personal grudge against him. Even if he’s a killer, it wouldn’t be personal. It’s my job to hound people.”

“Maybe it is. But the fact is there is a personal co

“Go ahead,” Eve invited.

Pepper sat a bit straighter in her chair, folded her hands neatly in her lap. “You’re aware, I’m sure, that Roarke and I had a relationship at one time. I can certainly understand how you might feel uncomfortable or irritated by this. But it was several years ago, before he met you. I’d hate for any a

Eve let the silence hang for a moment. “Let me see if I have this straight. You’re wondering if because you and Roarke rolled around naked a few years ago, I’m personally pissed off, and because I’m pissed off about it, I’m giving the guy you’re currently rolling around naked with a rough time.”

Pepper opened her mouth, shut it again, then delicately cleared her throat before speaking. “In a nutshell.”

“Let me ease your mind on this score, Ms. Franklin. If I were to get personally pissed off about every woman Roarke banged, I’d spend my life in a perpetual state of a

For a moment, Pepper did nothing but stare. Then she blinked, very slowly. And the corners of her mouth twitched. “That’s very… sensible, Lieutenant. And a very clever way to slap me back at the same time.”

“Yeah, I thought so.”

“But, in any case-”

“There is no other case. Roarke and I were grown-ups when we met. What happened before doesn’t mean dick to me. And if I let petty jealousies interfere with or influence my work, I wouldn’t deserve my badge. I deserve my badge.”

“I bet you do,” Pepper replied. “Just as I bet you deserve Roarke, too. He’s the most fascinating man I’ve ever known, just like his house, full of color and style and surprises. But he didn’t love me, and never pretended he did.”

“And Leo does. Love you?”

“Leo? Leo needs me. And that’s enough.”

“I have to say, it sounds to me like you’re selling yourself short.”

“That’s nice of you. But I’m no prize, Lieutenant. I’m selfish and demanding.” She gave a light, amused laugh. “And I like that about me. I expect to be given my own time and space when I require it, and any man in my life must understand that my work is the priority. If he does, and he’s loyal, needing me is enough. Leo’s weak, I know that,” she continued with an elegant little shrug. “Maybe I need a weak man, maybe that’s why I couldn’t hang on to Roarke for more than a few weeks. Leo suits me. And being weak, Lieutenant, is just one more reason he can’t be the man you’re looking for.”

“Then neither of you have anything to worry about. He lied during our initial interview. Someone lies to me, I’m going to wonder why.”

Her face softened in a way that told Eve whatever she said about need being enough, she loved Leo Fortney. “You frightened him. That’s natural, isn’t it, for someone to be frightened when they’re questioned by the police? Especially about a murder.”

“You weren’t.”

Pepper blew out a breath. “All right. Leo has trouble with the truth occasionally, but he’d never hurt anyone. Not seriously.”

“Can you tell me where he was on Sunday morning?”

Pepper’s lips firmed, and her eyes stayed direct. “I can’t. I can only tell you where he said he was, and he’s already told you that. Lieutenant, don’t you think I’d know if I was living with, sleeping with, if I were intimate with a murderer?”

“I can’t say. You may want to tell him that if he wants to get clear of this, he can start being straight with me. As long as he… has trouble with the truth, I’m going to keep looking at him.”

“I’ll talk to him.” She got to her feet. “Thanks for seeing me.”

“No problem.” Eve walked her to the door, and opening it saw the waiting car. And her aide huffing down the drive on foot.

“Officer… what was her name?” Pepper asked.

“Peabody.”

“Oh yes. Officer Peabody looks to have had a difficult morning already. That storm last night cooled things off a bit, but not enough. Not nearly enough yet.”

“Last gasp of summer in New York. What else can you expect?”

“Teach me to stay in London.” She offered her hand. “I’d still love for you and Roarke to come to the play. Just contact me anytime and I’ll arrange for seats.”

“Soon as things cool off for me a bit, we’ll take you up on it.”

She watched the driver get out, open the rear door of the small town limo. And waited until a breathless and sweaty Peabody rushed up the steps.

“Sir. Sorry. Overslept, then the subway… breakdown. Should’ve contacted you, but didn’t realize-”

“Inside, before you fall over with heatstroke.”

“I think I’m a little dehydrated.” Peabody’s face was lobster-red and starting to drip. “Can I have a minute? Splash some water on my face.”

“Go. Christ, next time take a cab!” she called out as she jogged upstairs to get her jacket and what she needed for the day.

She grabbed two bottles of water from her kitchen, and met Peabody coming out of the powder room. Her aide’s color had calmed down, her uniform was straightened, her hair neatly combed and dry again.

“Thanks.” Peabody took the water, and glugged at the bottle to add to the water she’d slurped up in the powder room. “Hate to oversleep. I was up late studying.”

“Didn’t I tell you that you can over-study? You won’t do yourself any good going into the exam burned out.”

“I just gave it a couple hours. Wanted to make up the time I took checking out apartments with McNab. I didn’t realize we had a meet with Pepper Franklin.”

“We didn’t. She stopped by to defend Fortney.” Eve headed out the door and around to the garage. She hadn’t thought to tell one of the droids to have her car brought out in front. Summerset did it without her asking. The fact that it was the sort of detail that slipped her mind, and never slipped his, just a

“Well, at least I know I’m not losing my mind,” Peabody managed as she quickened her pace to match Eve’s. “So much going on right now. Jesus, Dallas, we signed a lease. It’s a good space. Got an extra bedroom we can set up as a shared office, and it’s close to Central. It’s in your old building, so Mavis and Leonardo will be neighbors, and that’s mag, and it was really great of Roarke to put us on to it, but…”

“But what?”

“I signed a lease, with McNab. It’s like, huge. We’re going to be moving in together in thirty days.”

Eve coded into the garage, waited for the doors to open. “I thought you were already cohabitating.”

“Yeah, but informally. Real informally. He just hangs at my place most of the time. This is the real deal. I got the jitters.” She pressed a hand to her stomach as she walked to Eve’s police issue. “So I dove into studying as soon as we got back, then I got the jitters from that. Then I couldn’t sleep because of the jitters, so I jumped McNab to sort of remind myself why I’m doing this, and that took a while because, you know, I was pretty jittery-”