J. Robb - Ceremony In Death

"I've requested a bail hearing," Leila began and passed Eve some paperwork. "It's scheduled for two p.m. today."

"You won't get bail." Eve handed the papers to Peabody. "And it won't delay this very long."

"I didn't even know the man who was killed," Chas began. "I'd never seen him before that night. I was with you."

"Which puts you on the scene at the time, giving you opportunity. Motive?" She leaned back. "You were there, you knew he was about to break, to talk. His blood wasn't the first to spill, was it, Mr. Forte?"

"I don't know anything about it." His voice quavered. He took a breath, laid his hand over Leila's as if for support. Their fingers linked and his voice came stronger. "I've never harmed anyone in my life. It's against everything I believe, everything I've made myself. I've told you. I held nothing back from you, trusting you to understand."

"Do you own a black robe? Natural silk, wrap style, floor length?"

"I own many robes. But I don't care for black."

Eve held a hand out, waited until Peabody put the sealed garment into it. "Then you don't recognize this?"

"It's not mine." He seemed to relax a little. "That doesn't belong to me."

"No? Yet it was found in a chest in the bedroom of the apartment you share with Isis. Carelessly, perhaps quickly hidden under a stack of other robes. There's blood on it, Mr. Forte. Wineburg's blood."

"No." He cringed back. "That's not possible."

"It's a fact. Your representative is free to study the lab report. I wonder if Isis will recognize it. It might… jog her memory."

"She has nothing to do with this. Nothing to do with any of this." Panic had him lurching up. "You can't suspect her of – ''

"Of what?" Eve cocked her head. "Of being an accessory? She lives with you, works with you, she sleeps with you. Even if she's just been protecting you, it puts her in it."

"She can't be drawn into this. She can't be put through this. Leave her alone." He leaned forward, resting trembling hands on the table. "Leave her alone. Promise me that, and I'll tell you whatever you want to hear."

"Chas." Leila stood, put a firm hand on his shoulder. "Sit down. Don't say anything else. My client has nothing further to say at this time, Lieutenant. I need to confer with him and request privacy to do so."

Eve took her measure. The woman no longer looked young and sad-eyed, but cool and determined. "There won't be a deal, counselor, not on this one." She rose, signaled Peabody. "But a full confession might get him a psych facility rather than a maximum lockup. Think about it."

She swore under her breath once she was outside the room. "She'll put a lid on him. He'll do what she tells him because he's too scared not to."

Eve paced a yard down the corridor then back. "I've got to get to Mira. She's bound to be done by now with testing. You contact the PA's office. We need somebody down here. Maybe if we have a prosecutor talk to his rep lawyer to lawyer, we can open it up."

"Isis cracked him." Peabody glanced back toward the door as they headed away. "He really loves her."

"There's all kinds of love, isn't there?"

"I don't get why he had sex with Mirium."

"There's all kinds of sex, too. Some is straight manipulation." She turned into her office to call Mira.

Delusional, sociopathic, an addictive and easily influenced personality. Eve tossed Mira's report aside. She hadn't needed a psychiatrist to tell her Mirium was a lunatic with no conscience. She'd seen that for herself.

Or that she had obsessive leanings toward the occult, a low intelligence quotient, and a capacity for violence.

Mira's recommendation for further testing, and for treatment as a mentally defective might have been sound, but it didn't change the facts.

Mirium had butchered a man in cold blood, and would more than likely do her time in the quiet rooms of a mental health facility.

The truth testing hadn't been much more helpful. It indicated the subject was telling the truth – as the subject saw the truth. There were gaps and hitches and confusion.

Likely due, Eve noted, glancing at the drug scan results, from having a half dozen illegal substances bouncing around in her system.

"Lieutenant?" Peabody stepped in, waited for Eve to look up. "Schultz from the PA's office just tagged me."

"What's the status?"

"The lawyer won't budge. She's pushing for a truth test, but Forte keeps refusing. Schultz thinks she's stalling, says she wants forty-eight to study all the reports and evidence. It'll keep Forte in since bail was denied, but she's insisting. Schultz thinks Forte's ready to roll over, but she's keeping him on a short leash."

"Schultz give you all that?"

"Yeah, well, I think he was looking to make time. Fresh divorce."

"Oh." Eve lifted a brow. "And he likes a woman in uniform."

"I'd say it's more like he likes a human with breasts at this point. Bottom line, he doesn't think we're getting any more tonight. The lawyer exercised her client's right for minimum break. Schultz agreed to talk more in the morning. He's headed out."

"All right. Maybe it's best to give them both time to stew. We'll swing by Isis's place. May be able to shake her."

"You've got it pretty well wrapped." Peabody fell into step beside her. "You'll be able to relax some tonight at the party."

"Party?" Eve stopped dead. "Mavis's party? That's tonight? Hell."

"So speaks the party animal," Peabody said dryly. "Personally, I'm looking forward to it. It's been a shitty week."

"Halloween's supposed to be for kids, so they can blackmail adults into forking over junk food. Grown men and women running around in dopey costumes. It's embarrassing."

"Actually it's an old, revered tradition with its roots in earth religions."

"Don't get started," Eve warned as they rode down to the garage. She eyed Peabody suspiciously. "You're not actually wearing a costume."

"How else can I guarantee getting my share of candy?" Peabody brushed some lint from the front of her uniform.

– =O=-***-=O=-

The store was dark, and so was the apartment. No one answered the knock on any door. Eve considered, checked her watch. "I'm going to stake it out for a couple of hours. I'd rather hit her tonight."

"She's probably at the sabbat ceremony."

"I don't figure she's in the mood for naked dancing under the circumstances. I'll stick. You can catch transpo from here."

"I can stay."

"It's not necessary. If she doesn't show in a couple hours, I'll head to Mavis's."

"Like that?" Peabody scanned Eve's faded jeans, worn boots, and battered jacket. "Don't you want to wear something more… festive?''

"No. I'll see you there." Eve climbed back in the car, lowered the window. "So, what are you wearing?"

"It's a secret," Peabody said with a grin and walked off to catch a tram home.

"Embarrassing," Eve decided, and settling back, engaged her 'link. The system put her through to Roarke at his midtown office.

"Just caught me," he told her, and noted the edge of the steering wheel on the monitor. "Obviously, you're not at home getting yourself ready for tonight's festivities."

"Obviously not. I've got a couple more hours here, so I'll meet you at Mavis's. We can duck out early."

"I can see you're already looking forward to an exciting evening."

"Halloween." She glanced over as a ghoul, a six-foot pink rabbit, and a mutant transexual crossed the street in front of her car. "I just don't get it."

"Darling Eve, for some it's simply an excuse to be foolish. For others it's a serious holy day. Samhain, the beginning of Celtic winter. The beginning of the year, the turn of it with the old dying and the new yet unborn. On this night the veil between is very thin."