Free Immortal in Death by J. D. Robb Page A

Mavis’s.
    As a setup, Eve thought and let her eyes close, it was perfect. Mavis comes in, wrong time, wrong place, and the killer sees a tailor-made scapegoat.
    Had he or she known the history between Mavis and the victim, or had that just been one more stroke of luck?
    In any case, he knocks Mavis out, plants some evidence, even adds the master stroke of scraping the dead woman’s nails over Mavis’s face. Easy enough to press her fingers onto the weapon, then slip out and away with the satisfaction of a job well done.
    It wouldn’t take a genius, she mused. But it would take a cold, practical mind. And how did that jibe with the rage and the insanity of the attack on Pandora?
    She would have to make it jibe, Eve told herself. And she would have to find a way to clear Mavis and find the kind of killer who could batter a woman’s face into nothing, then tidy up after himself.
    Even as she started to rise, her door burst open. Wild-eyed, Leonardo lurched inside.
    “I killed her. I killed Pandora. God help me.”
    With that, his wild eyes rolled back and all two hundred and sixty pounds of him thudded to the floor in a dead faint.
    “Jesus. Jesus Christ.” Rather than try to catch him, Eve nipped back out of the way of his falling body. It was like watching a redwood go down. Now he was stretched, feet on her threshold, his head nearly brushing the opposite wall. She crouched down, put her back into it and managed to roll him over. She tried a couple of sharp, light slaps, then waited. Muttering to herself, she put her back into that as well as rapped his cheeks hard.
    He moaned, and his bloodshot eyes fluttered open. “What — where — “
    “Shut up, Leonardo.” Eve snapped out the order as she rose, went to the doorway, and kicked his feet inside. With the door firmly shut, she looked down at him. “I’m going to read you your rights.”
    “My rights?” He looked dazed, but managed to heave himself up until he was sitting on the floor instead of lying on it.
    “You listen up.” She gave him the standard revised Miranda, then held up a hand before he could speak. “You understand your rights and your options?”
    “Yeah.” Weary, he rubbed his hands over his face. “I know what’s going on.”
    “You wish to make a statement?”
    “I’ve already told you — “
    Eyes flat, she held up a hand again. “Yes or no. Just yes or no.”
    “Yes, yes, I want to make a statement.”
    “Get up off the floor. I’m going to record this.” She turned to her desk. She could have hauled him down to Interview. Probably should have, but it could wait. “You understand whatever you say now is going on record?”
    “Yes.” He got to his feet, then dropped into a chair that groaned under his weight. “Dallas — “
    She shook her head to cut him off. After engaging her recorder, she noted the necessary information, then gave him his Miranda again for the record. “Leonardo, you understand these rights and options, and at this time have waived counsel and are prepared to make a statement?”
    “I just want to get it over with.”
    “Yes or no?”
    “Yes. Yes, damn it.”
    “You were acquainted with Pandora?”
    “Of course I was.”
    “You had a relationship with her?”
    “I did.” He covered his face again, but could still see the image that had flashed on Mavis’s viewing screen when he’d decided to flip on the news. The long black bag being carried out of his own apartment building. “I can’t believe this has happened.”
    “What was the nature of your relationship with the victim?”
    It was so cold,he thought, the way she said it. “The victim.” Leonardo dropped his hands into his lap and stared at Eve. “You know we were lovers. You know I was trying to break it off because — “
    “You were no longer intimate,” Eve interrupted, “at the time of her death.”
    “No, we hadn’t been together for weeks. She’d been off planet. Things had cooled between us even before she left.