Fantasy in Death

“Now, now, honey.” Taija stroked his arm. “Don’t get all worked up. You know it’s not good for you. And she’s being real polite. You’re always saying people need to do the jobs they’re paid to do and all that. Especially public servants. You’re a public servant, right?” she asked Eve.

“That’s right.”

“Anyway, honey, you know you were at work until nearly four. He works so hard,” she confided to Eve. “And then you came right home and we had our little lie-down before we got dressed for the di

“Taija, it’s a matter of principle.”

“There, there,” she said, stroking. “Now, now.”

DuVaugne took a slow, audible breath. “Taija, I think I’d like my evening martini.”

“Sure, honey, I’ll go tell Derby to mix you one right up. ’Scuze… I mean, please excuse me a minute.”

After she’d clicked out, DuVaugne turned to Eve. “My wife is naive in certain areas.”

Maybe, Eve thought, but she also came off as sincere, and absurdly likeable.

“Naive enough not to understand ‘working hard’ includes you paying a con man for confidential information on the workings and projects of U-Play? We have Dubrosky in custody,” Eve said before he could speak. “He rolled on you.”

“I have no idea what or who you’re talking about. Now, I’m going to ask you to leave.”

“Peabody, read Mr. DuVaugne his rights.”

While he blustered, Peabody recited the Revised Miranda. “Do you understand your rights and obligations in this matter?” Peabody finished.

“This is beyond belief!” His face burned bright red as he shoved to his feet. “I’m calling my lawyer.”

“Fine. Tell him to meet us down at Cop Central.” Cool and calm in contrast, Eve rose. “Where you can chill in Holding until he arrives, at which time we’ll filter our questions through your representative on both matters-your involvement in corporate espionage and your co

“Just a minute, just one damn minute. I was nowhere near Mi

“You’ve requested a lawyer, Mr. DuVaugne,” Eve reminded him. “We’re obliged to wait until your representative meets with you before we take any statements or continue this interview. We’ll hold you at Central prior to that, and prior to booking you on the pending charges.”

“Arresting me? You’re arresting me? Wait. Just wait.” He didn’t sweat like Roland, but his hand trembled as he pushed it through his glossy mane of hair. “We’ll hold on the lawyer; we’ll keep this here.”

“That’s your choice.”

“Martinis!” Taija a

“Give me that.” DuVaugne grabbed the oversized shaker, dumped the contents into a glass to the rim. Then downed it.

“Oops! You forgot the olives. Derby, pour our guests drinks.”

“We’re not allowed to drink on duty, Mrs. DuVaugne, but thanks.”

Taija’s mouth turned down in a sympathetic frown. “Geezy, that doesn’t seem fair.”

“Taija, go upstairs. I have business to discuss here.”

“Oh.” After shooting her husband a hurt glance, she turned to Eve and Peabody. “It was nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you, too.”

“Derby, leave us alone.” DuVaugne sat, rubbed his fingers over his eyes. “I didn’t have anything to do with Mi

“Can and will. But when a man pays someone to steal for him, it’s a short step up to paying someone to kill for him.”

DuVaugne dropped his hands. “I don’t know what this Dubrosky character’s told you, but he’s a thief and a liar. He’s not to be trusted.”

“You trusted him with about a hundred and fifty thousand,” Eve pointed out.

“That’s business, just the price of doing business.” He waved that away, then settled his hands on his knees. “And he came to me. He said he wanted to develop a game, and was working on some new technology, but needed backing. Normally, I’d have dismissed him, but he was persuasive, and the idea was interesting, so I gave him a few thousand to continue the work. And a bit more shortly after as I confess I was caught up. I should know better, of course, but poor judgment’s no crime. Then, after I’d invested considerable time and money, he told me he’d stolen the data from U-Play.”

On a huff of breath, DuVaugne poured a second martini-and remembered the olives. “I was shocked, outraged, threatened to turn him in, but he blackmailed me. I’d paid him, you see, so it would look as if I’d hired him to access the information. I continued to pay him. I didn’t know what else to do.”

Eve sat for a moment. “Do you buy any of that, Peabody?”

“No, sir. Not a word.”

Obviously stu

“In this case,” Eve considered, “oh yeah. You’re not naive, DuVaugne. Not like your very nice wife. And you wouldn’t take a big chunk of cash out of your own pocket to help some struggling programmer develop a game. You hired Dubrosky, and you paid him to do exactly what he did-use some silly sap to feed him the data you wanted. You bring the game and the technology to your company, which is downsizing rapidly, you get to be the hero. Your investment pays off several hundred times. The only hitch to pulling it off? Bart Mi

“I’m not a murderer!” DuVaugne downed half the second martini before slapping the glass down. “If Dubrosky killed that man, he did it on his own. I had nothing to do with it.”

“You just paid him to steal?”

“It’s business,” DuVaugne insisted. “It’s just business. My company’s in some trouble, that’s true. We need an infusion, some fresh ideas, a boost in the market. When information comes my way, I use it. That’s good business. It’s the way of the industry. It’s very competitive.”

“When you pay someone to steal and/or transfer proprietary information it’s called theft. And guess what? You go to jail. And if that theft is linked to murder you get the bonus prize of accessory thereto.”

“This is insane. I’m a businessman doing my job. I’d never hurt anyone or have a part in it.”

“Stealing the results of someone else’s sweat hurts, and we’ll see what we add to that before we’re done. You can call that lawyer on the way downtown. Lane DuVaugne, you’re under arrest for the solicitation of theft of proprietary information, and for the receipt of same, for conspiracy to commit corporate espionage. Cuff him, Peabody.”

“No. Please, please. My wife. You have to let me explain to my wife. Let me tell her I’m going with you to-to help you with your investigation. Please, I don’t want to upset her.”

“Call her down. Tell her whatever you want. But she’s going to find out when she has to post bail-if you get it.”

She hadn’t done it for him, Eve thought as she let Peabody handle the booking. She’d done it to give his wife a little more time to adjust to the coming change. DuVaugne could talk with his lawyer, could try to wheedle, but there was no way they’d have a bail hearing until morning.

She’d see what he had to say after a night in a cell.

In her office, she tagged Roarke to let him know she was back, then wrote and filed her report.

While waiting for him she did what she hadn’t had time to do all day. She started her murder board.

When it was done, she sat, put her feet on the desk, sipped coffee, and studied it.

Bart Mi