It was the back of his hand rather than a fist, and Eve considered herself lucky. She saw stars as she hit a stand of soy chips, but she held on to the homemade boomer.
Wrong hand, goddamn it, wrong hand, she had time to think as the stand collapsed under her. She tried to use her left to free her weapon, but the two hundred and fifty pounds of fury and desperation fell on her.
“Hit the alarm, you asshole,” she shouted as Francois stood like a statue with his mouth opening and closing. “Hit the fucking alarm.” Then she grunted as the blow to her ribs stole her breath. This time he’d used his fist.
He was weeping now, scratching and clawing up her arm in an attempt to reach the explosive. “I need the money. I got to have it. I’ll kill you. I’ll kill you all.”
She managed to bring her knee up. The age old defense bought her a few seconds, but lacked the power to debilitate.
She saw stars again as her head smacked sharply into the side of a counter. Dozens of the candy bars she’d craved rained down on her.
“You son of a bitch. You son of a bitch.” She heard herself saying it, over and over as she landed three hard short arm blows to his face. Blood spurting from his nose, he grabbed her arm.
And she knew it was going to break. Knew she would feel that sharp, sweet pain, hear the thin crack as bone fractured.
But just as she drew in breath to scream, as her vision began to gray with agony, his weight was off her.
The ball still cupped in her hand, she rolled over onto her haunches, struggling to breathe and fighting the need to retch. From that position she saw the shiny black shoes that always said beat cop.
“Book him.” She coughed once, painfully. “Attempted robbery, armed, carrying an explosive, assault.” She’d have liked to have added assaulting an officer and resisting arrest, but as she hadn’t identified herself, she’d be skirting the line.
“You all right, ma’am? Want the MTs?”
She didn’t want the medi-techs. She wanted a fucking candy bar. “Lieutenant,” she corrected, pushing herself up and reaching for her ID. She noted that the perp was in restraints and that one of the two cops had been wise enough to use his stunner to take the fight out of him.
“We need a safe box—quick.” She watched both cops pale as they saw what she held in her hand. “This little boomer’s had quite a ride. Let’s get it neutralized.”
“Sir.” The first cop was out of the store in a flash. In the ninety seconds it took him to return with the black box used for transporting and deactivating explosives, no one spoke.
They hardly breathed.
“Book him,” Eve repeated. The moment the explosive was contained, her stomach muscles began to tremble. “I’ll transmit my report. You guys with the Hundred and twenty-third?”
“You bet, lieutenant.”
“Good job.” She reached down, favoring her injured arm and chose a Galaxy bar that hadn’t been flattened by the wrestling match. “I’m going home.”
“You didn’t pay for that,” Francois shouted after her.
“Fuck you, Frank,” she shouted back and kept going.
The incident put her behind schedule. By the time she reached Roarke’s mansion, it was 7:10. She’d used over the counter medication to ease the pain in her arm and shoulder. If it wasn’t better in a couple of days, she knew she’d have to go in for an exam. She hated doctors.
She parked the car and spent a moment studying Roarke’s house. Fortress, more like, she thought. Its four stories towered over the frosted trees of Central Park. It was one of the old buildings, close to two hundred years old, built of actual stone, if her eyes didn’t deceive her.
There was lots of glass, and lights burning gold behind the windows. There was also a security gate, behind which evergreen shrubs and elegant trees were artistically arranged.
Even more impressive than the magnificence of architecture and landscaping was the quiet. She heard no city noises here. No traffic snarls, no pedestrian chaos. Even the sky overhead was subtly different than the one she was accustomed to farther downtown. Here, you could actually see stars rather than the glint and gleam of transports.
Nice life if you can get it, she mused, and started her car again. She approached the gate, prepared to identify herself. She saw the tiny red eye of a scanner blink, then hold steady. The gates opened soundlessly.
So, he’d programmed her in, she thought, unsure if she was amused or uneasy. She went through the gate, up the short drive, and left her car at the base of granite steps.
A butler opened the door for her. She’d never actually seen a butler outside of old videos, but this one didn’t disappoint the fantasy. He was silver haired, implacably eyed and dressed in a dark suit and ruthlessly knotted old-fashioned tie.
“Lieutenant Dallas.”
There was an accent, a faint one that sounded British and Slavic at once. “I have an appointment with Roarke.”
“He’s expecting you.” He ushered her into a wide, towering hallway that looked more like the entrance to a museum than a home.
There was a chandelier of star-shaped glass dripping light onto a glossy wood floor that was graced by a boldly patterned rug in shades of red and teal. A stairway curved away to the left with a carved griffin for its newel post.
There were paintings on the walls—the kind she had once seen on a school field trip to the Met. French Impressionists from what century she couldn’t quite recall. The Revisited Period that had come into being in the early twenty-first century complimented them with their pastoral scenes and gloriously muted colors.
No holograms or living sculpture. Just paint and canvas.
“May I take your coat?”
She brought herself back and thought she caught a flicker of smug condescension in those inscrutable eyes. Eve shrugged out of her jacket, watched him take the leather somewhat gingerly between his manicured fingers.
Hell, she’d gotten most of the blood off it.
“This way, Lieutenant Dallas. If you wouldn’t mind waiting in the parlor, Roarke is detained on a transpacific call.”
“No problem.”
The museum quality continued there. A fire was burning sedately. A fire out of genuine logs in a hearth carved from lapis and malachite. Two lamps burned with light like colored gems. The twin sofas had curved backs and lush upholstery that echoed the jewel tones of the room in sapphire. The furniture was wood, polished to an almost painful gloss. Here and there objects d’art were arranged. Sculptures, bowls, faceted glass.
Her boots clicked over wood, then muffled over carpet.
“Would you like a refreshment, lieutenant?”
She glanced back, saw with amusement that he continued to hold her jacket between his fingers like a soiled rag. “Sure. What have you got, Mr.—?”
“Summerset, lieutenant. Simply Summerset, and I’m sure we can provide you with whatever suits your taste.”
“She’s fond of coffee,” Roarke said from the doorway, “but I think she’d like to try the Montcart forty-nine.”
Summerset’s eyes flickered again, with horror, Eve thought. “The forty-nine, sir?”
“That’s right. Thank you, Summerset.”
“Yes, sir.” Dangling the jacket, he exited, stiff-spined.
“Sorry I kept you waiting,” Roarke began, then his eyes narrowed, darkened.
“No problem,” Eve said as he crossed to her. “I was just . . . Hey—”
She jerked her chin as his hand cupped it, but his fingers held firm, turning her left cheek to the light. “Your face is bruised.” His voice was cool on the statement, icily so. His eyes as they flicked over the injury betrayed nothing.
But his fingers were warm, tensed, and jolted something in her gut. “A scuffle over a candy bar,” she said with a shrug.
His eyes met hers, held just an instant longer than comfortable. “Who won?”
“I did. It’s a mistake to come between me and food.”
“I’ll keep that in min
d.” He released her, dipped the hand that had touched her into his pocket. Because he wanted to touch her again. It worried him that he wanted, very much, to stroke away the bruise that marred her cheek. “I think you’ll approve of tonight’s menu.”
“Menu? I didn’t come here to eat, Roarke. I came here to look over your collection.”
“You’ll do both.” He turned when Summerset brought in a tray that held an uncorked bottle of wine the color of ripened wheat and two crystal glasses.
“The forty-nine, sir.”
“Thank you. I’ll pour out.” He spoke to Eve as he did so. “I thought this vintage would suit you. What it lacks in subtlety . . .” He turned back, offering her a glass. “It makes up for in sensuality.” He tapped his glass against hers so the crystal sang, then watched as she sipped.
God, what a face, he thought. All those angles and expressions, all that emotion and control. Just now she was fighting off showing both surprise and pleasure as the taste of the wine settled on her tongue. He was looking forward to the moment when the taste of her settled on his.
“You approve?” he asked.
“It’s good.” It was the equivalent of sipping gold.
“I’m glad. The Montcart was my first venture into wineries. Shall we sit and enjoy the fire?”
It was tempting. She could almost see herself sitting there, legs angled toward the fragrant heat, sipping wine as the jeweled light danced.
“This isn’t a social call, Roarke. It’s a murder investigation.”
“Then you can investigate me over dinner.” He took her arm, lifting a brow as she stiffened. “I’d think a woman who’d fight for a candy bar would appreciate a two-inch fillet, medium rare.”
“Steak?” She struggled not to drool. “Real steak, from a cow?”
A smile curved his lips. “Just flown in from Montana. The steak, not the cow.” When she continued to hesitate, he tilted his head. “Come now, lieutenant, I doubt if a little red meat will clog your considerable investigative skills.”
“Someone tried to bribe me the other day,” she muttered, thinking of Charles Monroe and his black silk robe.
“With?”
“Nothing as interesting as steak.” She aimed one long, level look. “If the evidence points in your direction, Roarke, I’m still bringing you down.”
“I’d expect nothing less. Let’s eat.”
He led her into the dining room. More crystal, more gleaming wood, yet another shimmering fire, this time cupped in rose-veined marble. A woman in a black suit served them appetizers of shrimp swimming in creamy sauce. The wine was brought in, their glasses topped off.
Eve, who rarely gave a thought to her appearance, wished she’d worn something more suitable to the occasion than jeans and a sweater.
“So, how’d you get rich?” she asked him.
“Various ways.” He liked to watch her eat, he discovered. There was a single-mindedness to it.
“Name one.”
“Desire,” he said, and let the word hum between them.
“Not good enough.” She picked up her wine again, meeting his eyes straight on. “Most people want to be rich.”
“They don’t want it enough. To fight for it. Take risks for it.”
“But you did.”
“I did. Being poor is . . . uncomfortable. I like comfort.” He offered her a roll from a silver bowl as their salads were served—crisp greens tossed with delicate herbs. “We’re not so different, Eve.”
“Yeah, right.”
“You wanted to be a cop enough to fight for it. To take risks for it. You find the breaking of laws uncomfortable. I make money, you make justice. Neither is a simple matter.” He waited a moment. “Do you know what Sharon DeBlass wanted?”
Her fork hesitated, then pierced a tender shoot of endive that had been plucked only an hour before. “What do you think she wanted?”
“Power. Sex is often a way to gain it. She had enough money to be comfortable, but she wanted more. Because money is also power. She wanted power over her clients, over herself, and most of all, she wanted power over her family.”
Eve set her fork down. In the firelight, the dancing glow of candle and crystal, he looked dangerous. Not because a woman would fear him, she thought, but because she would desire him. Shadows played in his eyes, making them unreadable.
“That’s quite an analysis of a woman you claim you hardly knew.”
“It doesn’t take long to form an opinion, particularly if that person is obvious. She didn’t have your depth, Eve, your control, or your rather enviable focus.”
“We’re not talking about me.” No, she didn’t want him to talk about her—or to look at her in quite that way. “Your opinion is that she was hungry for power. Hungry enough to be killed before she could take too big a bite?”
“An interesting theory. The question would be, too big a bite of what? Or whom?”
The same silent servant cleared the salads, brought in oversize china plates heavy with sizzling meat and thin, golden slices of grilled potatoes.
Eve waited until they were alone again, then cut into her steak. “When a man accumulates a great deal of money, possessions, and status, he then has a great deal to lose.”
“Now we’re speaking of me—another interesting theory.” He sat there, his eyes interested, yet still amused. “She threatened me with some sort of blackmail and, rather than pay or dismiss her as ridiculous, I killed her. Did I sleep with her first?”
“You tell me,” Eve said evenly.
“It would fit the scenario, considering her choice of profession. There may be a blackout on the press on this particular case, but it takes little deductive power to conclude sex reared its head. I had her, then I shot her . . . if one subscribes to the theory.” He took a bite of steak, chewed, swallowed. “There’s a problem, however.”
“Which is?”
“I have what you might consider an old-fashioned quirk. I dislike brutalizing women, in any form.”
“It’s old-fashioned in that it would be more apt to say you dislike brutalizing people, in any form.”
He moved those elegant shoulders. “As I say, it’s a quirk. I find it distasteful to look at you and watch the candlelight shift over a bruise on your face.”
He surprised her by reaching out, running a finger down the mark, very gently.
“I believe I would have found it even more distasteful to kill Sharon DeBlass.” He dropped his hand and went back to his meal. “Though I have, occasionally, been known to do what is distasteful to me. When necessary. How is your dinner?”
“It’s fine.” The room, the light, the food, was all more than fine. It was like sitting in another world, in another time. “Who the hell are you, Roarke?”
He smiled and topped off their glasses. “You’re the cop. Figure it out.”
She would, she promised herself. By God she would, before it was done. “What other theories do you have about Sharon DeBlass?”
“None to speak of. She liked excitement and risk and didn’t flinch from causing those who loved her embarrassment. Yet she was . . .”
Intrigued, Eve leaned closer. “What? Go ahead, finish.”
“Pitiable,” he said, in a tone that made Eve believe he meant no more and no less that just that. “There was something sad about her under all that bright, bright gloss. Her body was the only thing about herself she respected. So she used it to give pleasure and to cause pain.”
“And did she offer it to you?”
“Naturally, and assumed I’d accept the invitation.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I’ve already explained that. I can elaborate and add that I prefer a different type of bedmate, and that I prefer to make my own moves.”
There was more, but he chose to keep it to himself.
“Would you like more steak, lieutenant?”
She glanced down, saw that she’d all but eaten the pattern off the plate. “No. Thanks.”
“De
ssert?”
She hated to turn it down, but she’d already indulged herself enough. “No. I want to look at your collection.”
“Then we’ll save the coffee and dessert for later.” He rose, offered a hand.
Eve merely frowned at it and pushed back from the table. Amused, Roarke gestured toward the doorway and led her back into the hall, up the curving stairs.
“It’s a lot of house for one guy.”
“Do you think so? I’m more of the opinion that your apartment is small for one woman.” When she stopped dead at the top of the stairs, he grinned. “Eve, you know I own the building. You’d have checked after I sent my little token.”
“You ought to have someone out to look at the plumbing,” she told him. “I can’t keep the water hot in the shower for more than ten minutes.”
“I’ll make a note of it. Next flight up.”
“I’m surprised you don’t have elevators,” she commented as they climbed again.
“I do. Just because I prefer the stairs doesn’t mean the staff shouldn’t have a choice.”
“And staff,” she continued. “I haven’t seen one remote domestic in the place.”
“I have a few. But I prefer people to machines, most of the time. Here.”
He used a palm scanner, coded in a key, then opened carved double doors. The sensor switched on the lights as they crossed the threshold. Whatever she’d been expecting, it hadn’t been this.
It was a museum of weapons: guns, knives, swords, crossbows. Armor was displayed, from medieval ages to the thin, impenetrable vests that were current military issue. Chrome and steel and jeweled handles winked behind glass, shimmered on the walls.
If the rest of the house seemed another world, perhaps a more civilized one than what she knew, this veered jarringly in the other direction. A celebration of violence.
“Why?” was all she could say.
“It interests me, what humans have used to damage humans through history.” He crossed over, touching a wickedly toothed ball that hung from a chain. “Knights farther back than Arthur carried these into jousts and battles. A thousand years . . .” He pressed a series of buttons on a display cabinet and took out a sleek, palm-sized weapon, the preferred killing tool of twenty-first century street gangs during the Urban Revolt. “And we have something less cumbersome and equally lethal. Progression without progress.”