Immortal in Death

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Did she turn you on to it, give you enough tastes to addict? Maybe she held it back then, until you wanted to beg for it. Until you wanted to kill her."

"I never touched it," Redford exploded.

"But you knew about it. You knew she had it. And there were ways of getting more. Did you decide to cut her out instead? Bring Jerry in? You bought the plant. We'll find out if you had the substance analyzed. With the plant, you could manufacture your own. You wouldn't need her. You couldn't control her, either, could you? She'd want more money, more of the drug. You found out it was fatal, but why wait five years? With her out of the way, you'd have a clear field."

"I didn't kill her. I was through with her, I had no reason to kill her."

"You went to her house that night. You went to bed with her. She had the drug. Did she taunt you with it? You'd already killed twice to protect yourself and your investment, but she was still in the way."

"I killed no one."

She let him shout, let the counselor spout his objections and threats. "Did you follow her to Leonardo's that night, or did you take her?"

"I was never there. I never touched her. If I was going to kill her, I'd have done it in her own house when she threatened me."

"Paul – "

"Shut up, just shut up," Redford spat at his counsel. "She's trying to pin murder on me, for Christ's sake. I argued with her. She wanted more money, a lot more money. She made sure I saw her supply of the drug, how much she had at her personal disposal. It was worth a fortune. But I'd already had it analyzed. I didn't need her, and I told her so. I had Jerry to endorse the line when it was ready. She was furious, threatened to ruin me, to kill me. It gave me great pleasure to walk out on her."

"You pla

"As a topical," he said, dabbing his mouth with the back of his hand. "Once it was ready. It was irresistible. The money. Her threats meant nothing, do you understand? She couldn't ruin me without ruining herself. And that, she would never do. I was finished with her. And when I heard she was dead, I opened a bottle of champagne and toasted her killer."

"Very nice. Now let's start again."

After Eve turned Redford over to booking, she stepped into the commander's office.

"Excellent work, Lieutenant."

"Thank you, sir. I'd rather be booking him for murder than drug charges."

"That may come."

"I'm counting on it. Prosecutor."

"Lieutenant." He'd risen when she'd come in, and continued to stand. His ma

"And on the murder?"

"We don't have enough to tie him. No physical evidence," he went on before she could protest. "And motive… you've proven he had the means to his end before her death. It's still more than possible that he's guilty, but we have quite a bit more work to do to justify charges."

"You justified charging Mavis Freestone."

"On overwhelming evidence," he reminded her.

"You know she didn't do it, Prosecutor. You know that the three victims in this matter are tied together." She looked toward Casto who lounged in a chair. "Illegals knows it."

"I have to go with the lieutenant on this," Casto drawled. "We've investigated the aspect of Freestone being involved with the substance known as Immortality, found no co

"Your recommendation is noted, Lieutenant," the prosecutor said. "The prosecutor's office will take it into consideration as we review all current data. At this point, our belief that these three homicides are linked still falls short of solid proof. Our office is, however, willing to agree to Ms. Freestone's representative's recent request for testing, re truth detection, auto hypnosis, and VR recreation. The results will weigh heavily in our decision."

Eve let out a long, slow breath. It was a concession, and a big one. "Thank you."

"We're on the same team, Lieutenant. And now we'd all best keep that in mind and coordinate our stand before this press conference."

As they prepped, Eve moved over to Casto. "I appreciate what you did."

He shrugged it off. "It was my professional opinion. I hope it helps your friend. Ask me, Redford's guilty as homemade sin. Either he whacked them himself or paid to have it done."

She wanted to latch onto that, but shook her head slowly. "Professional hits. Seems sloppy for pros, too personal. Still, thanks for adding the weight."

"You can consider it payback if you want for handing me one of the biggest illegals cases of the decade. Once we clean it up and go public with the Immortality drug and the busts, I'm going to get me a set of captain's bars."

"Then congratulations in advance."

"I'd say that goes for both of us. You're going to nail down these homicides, Eve, then we'll both be sitting pretty."

"I'll nail them down all right." She lifted a brow when he brushed a hand over her hair.

"I like it." With a quick smile he tucked his hands in his pockets. "You damned sure you gotta get married?"

Angling her head, she smiled back. "I hear you're having di

"She's a jewel, all right. I've got a weakness for strong women, Eve, and you'll have to forgive me if I'm a little disappointed in the timing here."

"Why don't I try to be flattered instead?" She caught Whitney's signal and sighed. "Oh hell, here we go."

"Makes you feel like a big meaty bone, don't it?" Casto murmured as the doors opened to a horde of reporters.

They got through it, and Eve would have considered it a good day's work if Nadine hadn't ambushed her in the underground lot.

"This area's off limits to unauthorized perso

"Give me a break, Dallas." Still lounging on the hood of Eve's car, Nadine gri

"Cha

"You look good," Nadine said casually. "Who's the stylist?"

"Friend of a friend. I'm tired of talking about my hair, Nadine."

"Okay, let's talk about murder, drugs, and money."

"I just spent forty-five minutes talking about that." Eve flashed her badge at the security camera and bumped out to the street. "I believe you were there."

"What I saw was a lot of dancing and dodging. What's that squeaking noise?"

"My well-tuned vehicle."

"Oh yeah, you got hit with budget cuts again, didn't you? Damn shame. Anyway, what's this business about a new line of inquiry?"

"I'm not at liberty to discuss that aspect of the ongoing investigation."

"Uh-huh. What's this buzz about Paul Redford?"

"Redford has, as stated in the press conference, been charged with fraud, possessing a controlled specimen, and intent to manufacture and distribute an illegal."

"And where does that tie to Pandora's murder?"

"I'm not at liberty to – "

"All right, shit." Nadine flopped back in the seat, scowled at the traffic clogging the roadway. "How about a trade?"

"Maybe. You first."

"I want an exclusive interview with Mavis Freestone."