“No. Why would she? I was nothing to her.”
You’re nothing
. She’d said it even now, Eve thought. “A potential meal ticket, a punching bag. Just another long con.”
He eased her back, took her face in his hands. “You need to step back from this, from her.”
“Never going to happen.” Reaching up, she wrapped her fingers around his wrists, felt his pulse beat against her palms. “I won’t let who she is, what she did get in the way of finding McQueen. It’s only more important now. I’ll think about that after it’s confirmed. Think about what to do, how to do it. It’s not going to break me.”
“I want to see her.”
“Seeing her’s not what you have in mind.” She drew away to stand on her own, to prove she could. “There’ll be time to deal with her, to figure all that out. She’s going to be caged for the rest of her life. But now, we need her. She’s the solid link to McQueen.”
“Maybe not the only link. I found two of his accounts.”
“You—why didn’t you
tell
me?” She lifted a hand. “Sorry. Obvious.”
“He tapped one of the accounts on the day he first contacted you in New York. He had two hundred thousand wired to a bank in the West Indies, and from there to one in South Africa, and then here to Dallas.”
She lifted her hand again, needing a minute to sort it through. “You’re telling me you have the name of his bank here, in Dallas?”
“I do. He’s using a South African passport and address for this account, one he tapped yesterday for seventy-five thousand. In person. Prairie Bank and Trust, their Davis Street branch.”
“Let me think, let me think.” Rubbing her head, she paced away and back, away and back. “Too much clutter. Why does he go, withdraw that much in cash, in person? He doesn’t want her to know. He’s about done with her, so he’s stockpiling traveling money. How did he get to the bank? Does he use the van? I don’t see how without her knowing. Public transpo, maybe. Or maybe he’s got another vehicle. One he’ll drive when he puts that traveling money to use.
“We need to get to that bank, check their security cams.”
“I expect so.”
“The other, that other.” She glanced back toward the ER doors. “It can wait. This is more important.”
“I said I’d take care of it. Don’t worry about that part.”
“I need to update Ricchio and the feds on this. We need to move on it.”
They started back in. She stopped when she saw Detective Price standing just outside the doors, looking lost.
“Detective.”
“Lieutenant. Lieutenant Ricchio wanted to speak with you. He’s here. He’s . . . inside.”
“Roarke, will you find him, give him what you’ve got? I’ll be right there.”
She waited a moment, standing there with Price, saying nothing.
“I know it’s my fault. She would’ve led us right to Melinda, and I fucked up. We had it down cold, and I broke protocol.”
“Do you think any of us wanted to see that kid pancaked on the street, Price? Do you think Melinda would want that?”
“I don’t know. God, we’d have her back by now. We’d have her.”
“If you hadn’t reacted, that kid would probably be dead. Now he’s home and safe and whole. You saved a life today, Detective. You did the job.”
“At what cost?”
“Nothing’s free. We’ve got the partner. We’ve got other leads, and we’ve got some time. So shake it off and keep doing the job.”
She went inside, started back toward the treatment room. This time the nurse stopped her. “We’ve got her stable. She needs some minor surgery. She’s got a concussion, two broken ribs, whiplash—”
“She’s conscious and stable,” Eve interrupted.
“That’s right.”
“I want to talk to her.”
“She needs a little repair. As soon as—”
“No. Now. If she’s not critical, she can wait for her repair. There are two lives on the line, and neither of them are hers. Is she still in there?”
“Yes. She’s being monitored, then she’ll need to be prepped.”
“Prepping can wait, too.”
Eve pushed past, shoved through the doors. She studied the woman on the table for a moment.
“Pay attention,” she snapped, and watched the woman’s eyes open, go feral. Stepping forward, she Mirandized her mother.
14
Y
ou get that?” Eve asked her.
“I want a ’link, and I want one now.”
“You’re not in a position to make demands. Give me your name. Your real name.”
“Sylvia Prentiss.”
“The longer you bullshit, the longer it’ll be before a medical’s cleared to come in here and give you a hit. Name.”
“Sylvia Prentiss, and I’m going to sue you inside out. You get me a ’link. I know my rights. I get to tag a lawyer.”
“Fine. Give me the contact and I’ll arrange to have your lawyer come in. What’s not going to happen is you making contact with anybody outside of this room. What’s not going to happen is you tagging McQueen with a heads-up.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I don’t give a shit. You nearly killed me. I’m not going to talk to you. I want a doctor, and I want a ’link.”
Eve stepped closer. She’d changed her eyes, she thought dully, gone a vivid, unearthly green. Once they’d been the same. In her last real flash of her mother, they’d shared the same eyes.
Wondering what else they shared made her sick.
“You know who I am, but you don’t know me. You don’t know me,” Eve repeated, calming herself. “But I know you. Your name doesn’t matter. You’re the same under all of them.”
So many questions, Eve thought, but they had nothing to do with now. With Melinda or Darlie. With McQueen.
“You left a child with a monster.” Again, she thought, but this time it was different because . . . “A child whose parents love and care for her. A child who’ll never be a child again because of what you’ve done. You left her and a woman who tried to help you with this monster. In my book that makes you worse than he is.”
Pale, bruised face coated in a light sheen of sweat, the woman who called herself Sylvia bared her lips in a sneer. “You’ve got me mixed up with somebody else.”
“I know you,” Eve repeated, leaning close so the woman could see the truth on her face. “You’re done. We know Stibble sent you to McQueen in prison. We know you’ve been in contact with McQueen for more than a year. We know you bought the van under your Sister Suzan Devon ID.”
Eve leaned back, kept eye contact. “We know as Sarajo Whitehead you worked at the Circle D bar, faked a rape to draw in Melinda Jones for McQueen.” She saw the blows land, turn the pale face sickly gray. “We know you rented the duplex as Sandra Millford—a slight variation on your New York Sandi Millford. Oh, Civet says hey. We know you rented and outfitted McQueen’s apartment.”
Stella—Sylvia—moistened her lips. “If you know so much you wouldn’t be wasting time hassling me.”
“We’re going to do more than hassle you. I see you as worse than McQueen, but the law looks at you as the same. You’re going down for the kidnappings, for accessory to rape, enforced imprisonment. You’re going down as accessory to murder, aiding and abetting. It’s a smorgasbord of charges that’ll keep you in a cage for the rest of your life.”
“You’ve got nothing.” But fear lived in those unearthly green eyes now.
“We’ve got it all. We’ve got Stibble and Lovett. We’ve got Civet. We’ve got your fake IDs, and witnesses. We’ve got you on the security discs at the mall with Darlie Morgansten—Sandra.
“He used you, left your ass swinging in the wind. And he doesn’t give a rat’s ass what happens to you.”
Fury burst over fear. “You don’t know anything about it.”
“I know
everything
about it, and him. I know all the others he used before, and what he did when he was finished with them. I know what he planned to do to you. He’s sitting in the apartment you found for him, furnished for him right now, counting down the hours till he slits your throat.”
The nausea rolled again; Eve forced it down. “You’ve got a chance to help yourself, make a deal so maybe you do your time on-planet, maybe you deal down some of the charges so you see the light of day again.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. And you’re the one going down. Believe me, you’re going to pay.”
“For what?” Rage spurted through her so she white-knuckled the safety guard as she leaned closer. “I don’t owe you. I don’t owe you a goddamn thing but pain and misery. You believe
me,
nobody wants to see you go down, all the hard way down, more than I do. I’m giving you a chance, and the door’s closing. We’ll have him in a matter of hours anyway, we’re that close. Tell me now, tell me where he is, where he’s keeping Melinda and Darlie, and I’ll help you deal it down.”
“You’re a liar, just like all cops. You’ve got jackshit.”
“We found his accounts. All that money, and neither of you will ever see it now. That’s right,” she said when she saw the flicker in her mother’s eyes. “You’ll be tapped out. And tapped out in prison, with nothing to deal with. Did you know he’s pulled out a nice pile for his running money once he ditches you?”
“Liar.”
“He’ll kill you, just like all the others, when he’s done. You’re the one being used now, after all the years of using. With him, you’re dead. With me, you’ve got a chance to live. Where are Melinda and Darlie?”
“Fuck them. Fuck you.”
“He killed his own mother, and all the substitutes who came after. He’ll do the same to you. Slit your throat and toss you in the nearest river.”
“He loves me!”
It shocked Eve to hear that passion, that desperation. Just for a moment she felt something close to sympathy.
“Who’s doing all the work, taking all the risks? Not him. Who’s strapped to a hospital gurney jonesing for a hit? Not him. He won’t even let you stay with him, and if he touches you, it’s just another way to use you. He likes little girls. You know about that, don’t you? About men who like little girls.”
“Get the hell away from me.”
“What made you this way?” Desperation scraped at her. God, how she wanted that single answer. “Does it go back even further? Your mother, your father? Is all the blood just poisoned?”
“You’re crazy.” Despite the pain, Sylvia pushed up, strained against the restraints. “He’s going to make you pay, you and that Irish bastard you married. Pay and pay and pay.”
She panted, rearing up, bucking, face contorted. Withdrawal, Eve concluded. Withdrawal, fear, pain, fury.
“How? How will he make me pay?”
“You won’t get to him. But he’ll get to you. Roarke will pay a lot to get you back, but he won’t get you back whole. And I’ll watch while Isaac makes you scream, while he makes you beg.”
“Is that how you get off? Watching? Do you like to watch while men rape children? While they hurt the innocent?”
“Nobody’s innocent! Some are just luckier than others. Get me drugs or I’ll kill you myself.”
“Melinda Jones and Darlie Morgansten. Tell me where they are. It’s your only chance.”
“They’re where you’re going to be. You won’t be so lucky this time. You’ll beg him to kill you. The asshole you married will bleed money every time Isaac cuts you. And we’ll swim in a river of it.”
“If he’s so good, he doesn’t need Melinda and Darlie to get me. Tell me where they are, unless you don’t think he’s man enough to take me on again.”
“I hope they’re
dead.
Martyr bitch and whiny brat. I hope he lets me kill you when he’s finished.”
Hated me then, hates me now, Eve thought, tired of it, unspeakably tired of it. Had there ever been anything but hate? Even for a moment?
“You’re the one who’d be dead if he had his way. It’s what he does, what he’s always done. What makes you think you’re any different than the others? Or is it you? Are your others no different?”
Risky, Eve calculated. Last ditch. “What pulls you toward men like him? What’s the draw? He’s not your first. You can change your name, your looks, but it’s all the same. Richard Troy, he was the same. Stella.”
Her mother’s eyes narrowed, then cut away. “Fuck off.”
“You remember him. Long time ago, but you remember. It didn’t end well, did it? It never does. Who screwed who over that time?”
“You think I’m stupid? I get my share and I walk when I’m ready to walk. You got Rich to say any different, he’s a liar, too. I took what was mine and walked.”
“Left something behind, didn’t you?”
Her lips twisted into an ugly smile. “Nothing I wanted. Rich is nothing but a fuckup with big dreams. Isaac knows how to get things done, and how to treat me right. Nothing you can do’ll make me roll over on him.”
“Yeah, I can see that.” Love, she thought, even perverted love could be unassailable. “We’ll get him without you. We’ll get Melinda and Darlie back to their families without you. And we’ll do you the favor of keeping you alive so you can spend the rest of the life we saved for you in a concrete cage.”
“He’ll get me out.”
“He won’t give you another thought.” But I will, Eve admitted to herself. I’ll think about you for a very long time. “You’ve got until the doctors put you back together to change your mind.”
She walked to the door, stopped, turned around. “You had a kid once.” The medical exam would show that, and the data would be on her chart. “What happened to it?”
“How the fuck should I know?”
Cold inside, colder and steadier than she’d have believed possible, Eve nodded. “That’s what I figured. You’re just what you seem to be, Stella,” she said, using the name she remembered from glimmers of her childhood. “Exactly what you seem.”
She walked out.
“Anything.” Bree grabbed at Eve’s arm. “Did you get anything?”
“She won’t budge.”
“We’ll take a pass at her.” Nikos stared at the porthole in the door.
“Be my guest. I don’t think we need her. Roarke’s got the accounts, and he’s tracking them back. We’ve got a better shot at McQueen’s location through that than through her.”