J. Robb - Immortal in Death

"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. And then I met Mavis, and everything changed for me. Dallas, where is Mavis? Where is she?"

"I'm not at liberty to give you Ms. Freestone's whereabouts at this time."

"Just tell me she's all right." His eyes filled, swam. "Just tell me she's all right."

"She's being taken care of," was all Eve would say. Could say. "Leonardo, is it true that Pandora was threatening to ruin you professionally? That she demanded you continue your relationship with her, and that if you refused, she would pull out of the showing of your fashion designs. A show that you had invested with a great deal of time and money."

"You were there, you heard her. She didn't give a rat's damn about me, but she wouldn't tolerate me being the one to pull back. Unless I stopped seeing Mavis, unless I was her lapdog again, she would have seen to it that the show was a failure, if it ran at all."

"You didn't want to stop seeing Ms. Freestone."

"I love Mavis," he said with great dignity. "She's the most important thing in my life."

"And yet, if you didn't accede to Pandora's demands, you would in all probability be left with enormous debts and a stain on your professional reputation that would have been intolerable. Is this correct?"

"Yes. I put everything I had into the show. I borrowed a great deal of money. More, I put my heart into it. My soul."

"She could have wiped that all out."

"Oh yes." His lips curled. "She would have enjoyed it."

"Did you ask her to come to your apartment last night?"

"No. I never wanted to see her again."

"What time did she come to your apartment last night?"

"I don't know."

"How did she get in? Did you let her in?"

"I don't think so. I don't know. She would have had my key code. I never thought to get it back from her or to change it. Everything's been so crazy."

"You argued with her."

His eyes glazed over, went blank. "I don't know. I don't remember. But I must have. I would have."

"Recently, Pandora came into your apartment uninvited, threatened you, attacked your current companion physically."

"Yes, yes, she did." He could remember that. It was a relief to be able to remember that.

"What was Pandora's state of mind when she came to your apartment this time?"

"She must have been angry. I would have told her I wasn't giving Mavis up. That would have infuriated her. Dallas…" His eyes focused again, and desperation shone in them. "I just don't remember. Any of it. When I woke up this morning, I was in Mavis's apartment. I think I remember using my key code to get in. I'd been drinking, walking and drinking. I rarely drink because I tend to lose time, black holes in my mind. When I woke up, I saw the blood."

He held out his arm where the wound had been poorly bandaged. "There was blood on my hands, on my clothes. Dried blood. I must have fought with her. I must have killed her."

"Where are the clothes you were wearing last night?"

"I left them at Mavis's. I showered, and I changed. I didn't want her to come home and find me looking like that. I was waiting for her, trying to figure out what to do, and I turned on the news. I heard – I saw. And I knew."

"You're saying that you don't remember seeing Pandora last night. You don't remember having an altercation with her. You don't remember killing her."

"But I must have," he insisted. "She died in my apartment."

"What time did you leave your apartment last night?"

"I'm not sure. I'd been drinking before. A lot. I was upset, and I was angry."

"Did you see anyone, speak with anyone?"

"I bought another bottle. From a street hawker, I think."

"Did you see Ms. Freestone last night?"

"No. I'm sure of that. If I'd seen her, if I could have talked to her, everything would have been all right."

"What if I tell you Mavis was in your apartment last night?"

"Mavis came to see me." His face brightened. "She came back to me? But that can't be right. I couldn't have forgotten that."

"Was Mavis there when you fought with Pandora? When you killed Pandora?"

"No. No."

"Did she come in after Pandora was dead, after you'd killed her? You were panicked then, weren't you? Terrified."

There was panic in his eyes now. "Mavis couldn't have been there."

"But she was. She called me from your apartment, after she found the body."

"Mavis saw?" Beneath the copper tone, his skin went pasty. "Oh, God, no."

"Someone struck Mavis, knocked her unconscious. Was it you, Leonardo?"

"Someone hit her? She's hurt?" He was up, out of the chair, dragging his hands through his hair. "Where is she?"

"Was it you?"

He held out his arms. "I'd cut my hands off before I'd hurt Mavis. For Christ's pity, Dallas, tell me where she is. Let me see if she's all right."

"How did you kill Pandora?"

"I – the reporter said I beat her to death." And he shuddered.

"How did you beat her? What did you use?"

"I – My hands?" Again he held them out. Eve noted there was no sign of bruising, no tears or abrasions on the knuckles. They were perfect, as if they'd been carved from rich, glossy wood.

"She was a strong woman. She must have fought back."

"The cut on my arm."

"I'd like the cut to be examined, as well as the clothes you say you left at Mavis's."

"Are you going to arrest me now?"

"You are not being charged at this time. You will, however, be held until the results of the tests are complete."

She took him over the same ground again, pushing for times, for places, for his movements. Again and again, she bumped up against the wall blocking his memory. Far from satisfied, she concluded the interview, took him to holding, then made arrangements for the tests.

Her next stop was Commander Whitney.