J. Robb - Immortal in Death

"Never mind," Roarke muttered.

"Then he teamed with Casto a couple years."

Roarke's attention snapped back. "Casto? Was he partnered with Casto while he was Cockroach's trainer?"

"Sure, but only one leg of a team works as trainer. 'Course," Feeney murmured as his brow furrowed. "Usual procedure is to take over your partner's contacts. No record Casto did. He had his own weasels."

Roarke told himself it was his own prejudice, his own ridiculous knee-jerk jealousy. He didn't give a damn. "Not everything's locked into record. You don't find it coincidental that two weasels who worked close to Casto got hit, both of them with connections to Immortality?"

"We aren't saying Casto had Cockroach. And it's not that coincidental. You're dealing with illegals here, you got overlaps."

"What other connection have you found that links Cockroach to the other murders, other than Casto?"

"Jesus, Roarke." He ran a hand over his face. "You're as bad as Dallas. Look, a lot of Illegals cops end up with abuse problems. Caste's clean to the bone. Never had a trace in any of his testing. He's got a good rep, he's coming up for captaincy, and it's no secret he wants it. He's not going to go messing around with this kind of shit."

"Sometimes a man is just a little bit tempted, Feeney, and sometimes he gives in. You want to tell me it would be the first time an Illegals cop made a few credits on the side?"

"No." Feeney sighed again. He was sobering up with this kind of talk. And he didn't like it. "There's nothing to pin on him, Roarke. Dallas was working with him. If he was a wrong cop, she'd have smelled it. She's like that."

"She's been distracted. Off stride," Roarke murmured, remembering her own words. "Think it through, Feeney, no matter how fast she moved on this, she always seemed to be one step off. If someone had known her moves, they might have anticipated her. Especially someone who thinks like a cop."

"You don't like him because he's almost as pretty as you," Feeney said sourly.

Roarke let that pass. "How much can you dig up on him tonight?"

"Tonight? Jesus, you want me to dig shit up on another cop, go into personal records, because he had a couple of weasels knocked? And you want me to do it tonight?"

Roarke put a hand on Feeney's shoulder. "We can use my unit."

"You'll make a good pair," Feeney muttered as Roarke steered him through the crowd. "Both a couple of sharks."

Eve's vision wavered as if she'd suddenly stepped over her head into a tankful of water. Through the ripple, she saw Casto, could smell the faint scent of soap and sweat on his skin. But she couldn't home in on what he was doing there.

"What's going on, Casto? We get a call?" Blankly, she looked around for Peabody, saw the shimmering red drapes that were supposed to add sensuality to a room designed for quick, cheap sex. "Wait a minute."

"Just relax." He didn't want to give her another dose, not in addition to what she'd been drinking at her hen party. "The door's locked, Eve, so you can't go anywhere. You've got a nice buzz on to make it easier all around." He pushed a satin-edged pillow behind his back. "It would have been easier still if you'd just let go. But you didn't. You won't. Jesus Christ, I can't believe you put the hammer on Lilligas."

"Who – what?"

"The florist on Vegas II. That's cutting it too damn close. I've been using the bastard myself."

Her stomach tilted nastily. When she tasted bile at the back of her throat, she leaned forward, stuck her head between her knees and concentrated on breathing in and out.

"Downloads make some people nauseous. We'll go with something else next time."

"I missed you." She tried to focus on keeping the heavy, greasy food she'd celebrated with instead of liquor from spewing back up. "I fucking missed you."

"Yeah." He knew she wasn't speaking out of sentiment. "You weren't looking for another cop. Hey, why should you? And you had your own worries. Broke the rules, Eve. You know the primary is never, ever supposed to get personally involved. You were too worried about your friend. I admire that, really, even if it is stupid."

He took her by the hair, dragged her head back. After a quick check of her pupils, he decided the initial dose would hold her for a while. He didn't want to risk overdosing her. Not until he'd finished.

"And I do admire you, Eve."

"You sonofabitch." Her voice slurred over her thickened tongue. "You killed them."

"Each and every one." Relaxed, he crossed his feet at the ankles. "It's been hard to hold it all back, I've got to admit. Rough on the ego not to be able to show a woman like you what a smart man can accomplish. You know, Eve, I was a little worried when I learned you were in charge of Boomer." He reached out, ran a fingertip from her chin down between her breasts. "I thought I could charm you. Gotta admit you were attracted."

"Get your hand off me." She slapped out at it, missed by several inches.

"Your depth perception's off." He chuckled. "Drugs mess you up, Eve. Take it from me. I see it every shitty day on the streets. Got sick of seeing it. That's how it started. All those fancy dudes making their fancy profits and never getting their manicures sticky. Why not me?"

"For money."

"What else is there? I fell into the Immortality connection a couple years back. It was like kismet. Early days then, took my time, did my homework, used a source on the Eden Colony to slip me a sample. Poor old Boomer ferreted it out – my connection from the Eden Colony."

"Boomer told you."

"Sure he did. He had something in the Illegals market, he came to me. Didn't know I was already in on it, not then. I kept it under wraps. I didn't know Boomer had a copy of the fucking formula. Didn't know he was holding out, hoping for a nice big chunk."

"You killed him. You broke him to pieces."

"Not until it was necessary. I never do anything until it's necessary. It was Pandora, you see, that beautiful bitch."

Eve listened, righting to bring her brain and motor skills back into mesh while Casto spun her a tale of sex, power, and profit.

Pandora had spotted him at the club. Or they'd spotted each other. She'd liked the idea that he was a cop, and the kind of cop he was. He'd be able to get his hands on lots of goodies, wouldn't he? And for her, he'd been happy to do so. He'd been enchanted with her, obsessed, and yes, addicted. No harm in admitting that now. His mistake had been to share his information about Immortality with her, to listen to her ideas for cashing in. Huge profits, she'd predicted. More money than they could spend in three lifetimes. And youth, beauty, great sex. She'd become addicted to the drug quickly, always hungered for more, and she had used him to get it.

But she had been useful, too. Her career, her fame, had made it easy for her to travel, to carry more of what was then being manufactured exclusively on Starlight Station in a little private lab.

Then he'd discovered she'd brought Redford in on the deal. He'd been furious with her, but she'd been able to string him along with sex and promises. And the money, of course.

But things had started to go wrong. Boomer had pushed for money, had pocketed a bag of the drug in powder form.

"I should have been able to handle him. Little wart. Trailed him here. He was flying, running his mouth, tossing the credits I'd given him to keep him quiet around like candy. I couldn't know what he'd said to that damn whore." Casto shrugged. "You figured that out yourself. Right scenario, Eve, wrong person. I had to take her out. I was in too deep for mistakes by then. She was just a whore."

Eve leaned her head back against the wall. Her head had nearly stopped spinning now. She thanked God the dose had been light. Casto was on a roll. She could keep him talking. If she couldn't get the hell out on her own, someone was going to come looking for her soon.