Ceremony In Death

"Would I," Eve said coolly. "Would I really?"

"I can offer you that. I can offer you pain."

Eve smiled, and her smile was slow and humorless. "That slips into the area of threatening a police officer. And that'll get you some time in a cage until your lawyer finesses you out again."

"You bitch." Furious that she'd been trapped so neatly and with so little effort, Selina sprang to her feet. "You can't hold me for that."

"Sure, I can. Selina Cross, you're under arrest for verbal threat to physically harm a police officer."

She was fast, but Eve's reflexes were sharp. She blocked the first blow as Selina flew at her. But the second rapid swipe caught her along the throat with those lethal dark nails. She smelled her own blood and indulged herself by bringing her elbow up to ram Selina's chin.

The dark eyes rolled back, went glassy. "Looks like we add resisting arrest. You're going to have your hands full for the next couple hours, counselor."

He hadn't moved, not a muscle. Trivane continued to sit, staring at the photos of the dead. When Feeney opened the door, a uniform behind him, Eve nodded. "Book her," she ordered. "Verbal threat and resisting."

Selina staggered as Eve passed her to the uniform. But her eyes cleared and fixed on Eve's face with bubbling malice. She began to speak softly, in a chant that rose and fell almost musically. She swiveled her head, looking over her shoulder as the uniform took her out.

Eve dabbed ringers on her throat, disgusted when they came away smeared with blood. "Did you catch what she was saying there?"

Feeney took out a handkerchief, handed it to her. "Sounded like Latin, bastardized some. My mother made me learn when I was a kid. Had delusions about me becoming a priest."

"See if you can make any of it out from the record. We may be able to add to the charges. Shit, this burns. Interview is concluded," she added and logged the time and date. "Trivane, you want to talk to me?"

"What?" He looked over, swallowed, shook his head. "I'll see my client, Lieutenant, as soon as she's booked. These charges won't hold."

Eve held out her bloody fingers. "Oh, I think they will. Take a good look, Louis." She stepped closer, jammed her fingers under his nose. "It could be yours next time."

"I'll see my client," he repeated, and his face was still white as death as he hurried from the room.

"That bitch is loony," Feeney commented.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"She hates your ever fucking guts," he said pleasantly, happy to be in tandem again. "But you knew that, too. Put the hoodoo on you."

"Huh?"

"Cursed you." He winked at her. "Let me know if you start getting stomach cramps. You're starting to get to her."

"Not enough," Eve murmured. "But my money's on the lawyer. Let's keep a man on him, Feeney. I don't want him ending up dead before he breaks. It was the way he looked at the shot of Lobar. Shock, then something like recognition." She shook her head. "Let's not lose him." She glanced at her watch, hummed with satisfaction. "Just in time to make my nooner with Nadine."

"You want to have that neck looked after. Nasty."

"Later." She headed out, moving fast. Nadine wouldn't miss the injury. Nor, Eve thought, would the all-seeing eye of the camera.

– =O=-***-=O=-

"What the hell happened to you?" Nadine demanded. She stopped pacing, stopped looking at her watch.

"Little problem in Interview."

"You cut it close, Dallas, we got two minutes before air. You don't have time to clean up."

"Fine, we'll go like we are."

"Get a voice and light level," Nadine told her camera operator. She took out a mirrored compact, polishing up her face when she sat. "Looks like female," she added. "Long, nasty nails, four separate grooves."

"Yeah." Eve patted the already stained handkerchief against the wound. "Somebody was curious, they could check booking, get the data."

Nadine's eyes went sharp. "I imagine someone could," she purred. "You didn't do anything with your hair."

"I cut it."

"I meant anything constructive. Coming up in thirty. Set, Suza

The operator made a circle of forefinger and thumb. "The fresh blood shows up real good. Nice touch."

"Gee, thanks." Eve settled back, hooked one booted foot over her knee. "Let's keep this short, Nadine. I haven't seen yours yet."

"Here's a preview then. What local white witch is the son of infamous mass murderer David Baines Conroy, who is currently doing five separate life stretches, no parole options, in maximum lockup on Penal Station Omega?"

"Who – "

"In five," Nadine said sweetly, delighted to have snagged Eve's full attention. "Four, three…" She signaled the last of the countdown with her fingers, below camera level. On cue, she stared into the camera with sober eyes. "Good afternoon, this is Nadine Furst, leading off the noon hour with an exclusive interview with homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas in her office at Cop Central…"

Eve was prepared for the questions. She knew Nadine's style well, too well to allow herself to be rattled by the information that had been dumped on her seconds before air time. As, she imagined, Nadine had hoped. She answered briefly, carefully, and knew she was bumping up Cha

"The department is proceeding with the belief that the cases are co

"Can you describe the weapons?"

"I can't comment on that."

"But they were knives."

"They were sharp instruments. I'm not at liberty to go into any more detail. Doing so would jeopardize our investigation at this point."

"The second victim. You were pursuing him at the time of his death. Why?"

She was ready for this, had already decided to exploit the question for her own benefit. "Thomas Wineburg had indicated he had information which would be useful to my investigation."

"What information?"

Zip, Eve thought, but kept her eyes level. "I'm not at liberty to divulge that. I can only say we spoke, and he became agitated and ran. I pursued."

"And he was killed."

"That's correct. Ru

A

"Nope. Gimme."

"All right then." Nadine sat back, crossed her pretty legs. "Charles Forte took his mother's maiden name legally twelve years ago after his father was convicted of the ritual slayings of five people. It's believed he killed countless others, but it's never been proved. The bodies have never been found."

"I know the story behind Conroy. I didn't know he had a kid."

"That was kept locked. Privacy Act. The family was already out of it. The mother had divorced and relocated a few years before Baines was caught. The kid was sixteen when she took him and left. Twenty-one when his father was tried and convicted. My sources claim the son attended court every day."

Eve thought of the small, unassuming man she'd met at Alice's viewing. Son of a monster. How much of that came through the blood? She thought of her own father, nearly shuddered. "I appreciate it. If it comes to anything, I'll owe you."

"Yeah, you will. I've got lots of data on cults in the city. Nothing as dramatic as this, but it may lead somewhere. Meanwhile, if you were in Interview with someone pissed off enough to try to slice your jugular, should I assume you have a suspect?"

Eve studied her nails. She supposed some would have said she was overdo for a manicure. "I can't comment on that. You know, Nadine, cameras aren't allowed down in Booking."