Strangers In Death

“It’s not what you think. Not at all what you think.”

Trueheart came in with a plastic glass filled with ice and ginger ale. “Excuse me. I’m sorry it took so long.”

Eve waited while Trueheart stepped out, while Ava sipped. Yeah, you think, Eve mused. Think how to play it. Bet I know how you will.

“Suza

“By offing her lousy husband? Man, who couldn’t use a pal like you?”

“Good God, no.” Ava pressed a hand to her heart. In lieu of the not-currently-in-fashion wedding ring, a bloodred ruby glowed. “I took an interest in her, and it was frustrating that she refused to help herself. I know it was foolish of me, I know that, but to prove a point, I arranged a kind of intervention between her and her husband.”

“What kind of intervention would that be? The kind that involves castration?”

“Don’t be so horrible and crude! I wanted to help. Why would I conceive the mothers’ programs unless I wanted to help these women?”

“What did you do? To help?”

“I went to the bar that he frequented and lured him-you could say I lured him-to that horrible hotel room. Suza

She pressed her fingers to her eyes. “I haven’t spoken to her since. She hasn’t contacted me, and didn’t take my few attempts to reach her. I assumed things didn’t work out as we’d hoped. But I had no idea…If she killed him, Lieutenant, if that’s what happened, it had to be in self-defense. It had to be.”

“Let me just compact all this. You dressed up like a hooker, went to the bar, to the flop with Ned Custer, as a favor to his wife?”

Ava lifted her chin. “I don’t appreciate your implications, or your attitude.”

“Gee, pardon the hell right out of me.”

“Lieutenant, it’s so easy to become involved with the lives of these women, to feel for them. Suza

“Okay, let’s clarify for the record. You state that you met Ned Custer in the bar on the night of January twenty of this year, that you went with him to the flop.”

“Yes, yes, to meet Suza

“That’s a tough one. You couldn’t know.”

“I feel terrible about it. Sick about it. But Suza

This time it was Baxter who stepped in, carrying several evidence bags. He murmured as he leaned down to Eve. “Custer’s en route.”

“Thanks. And look what we have now. Black market bypass remote. And these security discs taken from your home.” Eve lifted the disposable ’link. “Cheap-ass piece of crap. Pressure syringes, cock thickener, tranq. All confiscated from Suza

“My God, my God, is that…is that the device used to circumvent our security?” Ava’s voice dropped down to a strained whisper. “When Tommy…Suza

“Bet she did.”

“But, but why? Why? Her children were in the program. Tommy and I…No. No. No.” With her hands pressed to her temples, Ava shook her head from side to side in what Eve considered overacting. “Not because of what happened with her husband. Not because of what I did that night! Please, not because of that.”

“Yeah, because of that.”

“How can I ever forgive myself?” She wept then, harsh, angry sobs. “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault. Oh, Tommy. Tommy.”

“Do you need a minute, Ava?” Eve reached over, patted her hand. “This is rough. I’m sorry I was so hard on you at the start of the interview. I had to get the motive.”

“It doesn’t matter, none of it matters. It’s my fault. If I hadn’t agreed to that foolish business with Suza

“You’re right about that. But here’s the thing. You listening, Ava? Can you compose yourself? Okay?”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I’ll try, I’ll try. This is all such a shock.”

“Here’s another. Suza

“Of course she was. I saw her. I spoke with her.”

“She was in her apartment, blocks away, leaving messages on her husband’s ’link while you were slitting his throat. While you came out of the bathroom, sealed up with a six-inch serrated blade and raked it across his throat, she was home, pacing the floor, trying to reach him while you watched him bleed out, while you hacked off his dick, then climbed out the window. While you practically flew ten blocks to the auto lot where you had parked your Mercedes, New York plate A AVA, in the slot you’d reserved.”

It was tingly, Eve realized. It was downright tingly to watch Ava’s face.

“I got the time in, I got the time out. Time out comes twenty-one minutes after time of death. Here’s something else. You sealed up, but you didn’t think about how dirty the windows are in those flops, how nasty the sills are, how that crud might latch on to the bottom of your fuck-me shoes. We’ll be processing your shoes, Ava, and I’m betting on them.”

Eve shrugged. “Not really important though, since you’ve admitted-on record-that you were there.”

“And I told you why, and that the man was alive when I left. What possible reason would I have to kill him? To-to mutilate him afterward? I didn’t even know him.”

“You’ve already said why. If Custer hadn’t been killed, Tommy would be alive. See this?” She tapped the ’link. “Piece of crap, as I said. Most people think these crappy disposables can’t hold transmission history. But those EDD geeks? They’re freaking magicians.”

Eve leaned forward, smiled brilliantly. “Good girl. Do you remember saying that to Suza

Good girl.

“They’ll clean that up some, but I wanted you to hear it as soon as it was ready. Nice of you to give Suza

“This is ridiculous, and you’re pathetic. It’s obvious Suza

“From St. Lucia? They triangulate these transmissions really well.”

“I don’t recall. I might have.”

And more tingles, Eve thought, as she saw the pulse in Ava’s throat start to pound. “Previous statement: You haven’t spoken or had contact with Suza

“I might have been mistaken about that.”

“No, you lied about that. It’s the lies that tripped you up. It was a pretty solid plan, I’ll give that to you. But you couldn’t keep it simple. You had to elaborate, make yourself more of a stoic, loyal, and loving wife by painting your husband as so much less than he was. You had to make him pay for all those years you played the loving wife. He never hired LCs, never had affairs, never demanded kink from you.”

“You can’t prove or disprove what happens between people in the privacy of their bedroom.”

“Yeah, that was your thinking on it. It’s not bad. But I can prove no one who ever knew him or had business with him can corroborate your claim. I can prove you substituted a sleep aid for his nightly vitamin the morning before you left for St. Lucia. I can prove you conspired with Suza