J Robb - Imitation in Death

“Yeah, go ahead.”

“Do you want me to sit in?” Peabody asked her when Trueheart left. “Or go baby-sit Breen?”

“Fortney was your pick before you decided to be fickle. Let’s both hear what she has to say.”

She walked to her desk, sat, and swiveled toward the door when Pepper entered. The actress was wearing enormous silver sunshades and bright red lip dye. Her glamorous hair was pulled straight back in a long, sleek tail. The sunny yellow skinsuit was in direct opposition to the murderous expression on her lovely face.

“Get us some coffee, Peabody. Have a seat, Pepper. What can I do for you?”

“You can arrest that lying, cheating son of a bitch Leo, and drop him in the deepest, darkest hole you can find until the flesh rots off his fucking bones.”

“No need to stifle your emotions in here, Pepper. Tell us how you really feel.”

“I’m not in the mood for jokes.” She whipped off the shades and revealed an impressive shiner. It would be more impressive in a few hours, Eve judged, when the blood finished gathering in bruises.

“Bet that hurts.”

“I’m too mad to feel it. I found out he’s been boffing my understudy. My goddamn understudy. And the assistant stage manager. And Christ knows who else. When I confronted him, he denied it, just kept lying, telling me I was imagining things. Have you got any vodka?”

“No, sorry.”

“Probably just as well. I woke up about three this morning. I don’t know why, generally I sleep like I’m in a coma. But I woke up, and he wasn’t there. I was confused, and concerned, so I did a house scan. And damned if it didn’t tell me he was there, in bed. Well, he wasn’t there, in bed. He’d programmed it to say so, I suppose, if I ever got suspicious and ran a replay, the system would verify that he’d never left the house. Bastard!”

“I guess you looked through the place to make sure it wasn’t a glitch, and he was in the kitchen raiding the AutoChef.”

“Of course I did. I was worried.” Bitterness spewed out like acid. “That was my only thought then. I looked all over the house, and I waited, and I thought about calling the police. Then it occurred to me he might have just gone out for a walk, or a drive, or Jesus, I don’t know. And the security system was faulty. I convinced myself, and I actually dozed off in the chair about six. When I woke up a couple hours later, there was a message on the ‘link.”

She reached into a handbag the size of Nebraska and pulled out the disc. “Do you mind? I’d like to hear it again.”

“Sure.” Eve took it, slid it into her own ‘link, and requested message play. Leo’s voice spilled out.

GOOD MORNING, SLEEPYHEAD! DIDN’T WANT TO WAKE YOU. YOU LOOKED SO BEAUTIFUL SNUGGLED UP IN BED. GOT UP EARLY, DECIDED TO HEAD STRAIGHT TO THE HEALTH CLUB, AND ENDED UP HAVING A BREAKFAST MEETING. YOU NEVER KNOW WHO YOU’LL RUN INTO. I’VE GOT A PRETTY FULL SCHEDULE, SO I WON’T BE BACK UNTIL AFTER YOU’VE LEFT TO RECORD THAT PROMO SPOT THIS AFTERNOON. YOU’LL BE GREAT! PROBABLY WON’T SEE YOU UNTIL AFTER THE SHOW TONIGHT. I’LL WAIT UP, ‘CAUSE I MISS YOU, BABY DOLL.

“Baby doll, my butt,” Pepper uttered. “He sent the transmission silent, about six-fifteen. He knows I’m never up before seven-thirty, never sleep past eight. He never came home last night but he was covering himself. I went to his office, but he’d called that bimbo he’s probably been doing and told her he wouldn’t be in all day. She was surprised to see me as apparently he’d told her that I was having some sort of emotional crisis and he needed to stay with me. I’ll show him an emotional crisis.”

She rose, saw there wasn’t room to pace, then dropped down again. “I postponed the promo spot, went home, and went through his office. That’s how I found out he’s been sending flowers and tasteful little gifts to his fucking harem, and I found receipts for hotel rooms, names and dates on his personal calendar. He showed up about three, looking all surprised to see me, all delighted.” Her bruised eye flashed fury. “He’d had a couple of cancellations, and wasn’t this lucky? Why didn’t we go upstairs to bed, and get lucky again.”

“I’m assuming you told him his luck had run out.”

“In spades. I hit him with not being home all night, and he tried to make me think I’d been dreaming or sleepwalking. When I showed him the copies I’d made of his personal receipts and date book, he had the nerve, the fucking nerve, to act hurt and insulted. If I didn’t trust him, we had a serious problem.”

She paused, lifted a hand to indicate she needed a moment. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing coming out of his mouth. So smooth, so practiced. Well. Well.”

“I don’t have any alcohol in here,” Eve said into the silence. “How about a hit of coffee?”

“Thanks, but just some water, if you don’t mind.”

While Peabody moved to take care of it, Pepper picked up her shades by the earpiece, twirled them. “No point in going into all the ugly details, but when he realized I wasn’t buying, when I explained to him that it was done, he was out-out of the house, the office, the expense account, and my life-the shit hit the fan. And his fist hit my face.”

“Where is he now?”

“I have no idea. Thanks,” she said when Peabody handed her some water. “I expect you to find him, Dallas, and arrest him. I’d have worse than a black eye if I hadn’t had a security droid on standby. I’d done that because I wanted the droid to escort him upstairs, wait while he packed up what belonged to him, and escort him out. Instead, when I called out, it came in while Leo was coming toward me, ready to hit me again. It hauled him up and heaved him out.”

She drank, slow sips, until the glass was empty.

“He said vicious things to me,” Pepper continued. “Crude, vicious, horrible things. It was my fault he was seduced-his term-seduced by other women because I was so controlling, even in bed. How it was past time he showed me who was in charge around here because he was through taking orders from… from some bossy cunt.” She shuddered. “He was screaming that sort of thing at me before the droid came in. I was terrified. I didn’t know I could be terrified, not really. I didn’t know he could be the way he was in those few awful minutes.”

“Get her some more water, Peabody,” Eve ordered when Pepper started to shake.

“I’d rather be mad than scared.” She dug into the bag again, found a lace-edged handkerchief, and mopped at her streaming eyes. “I’m all right when I’m just mad. I know about the woman who was attacked last night, and the report speculated it’s connected with two murders-the ones you asked me about. And I thought, Oh God, oh God, I thought, Leo could have done it. The Leo I saw today could have done it. I don’t know what to do.”

“You’re going to file a complaint, and we’re going to bring charges of assault. We’ll track him down and bring him in. He won’t touch you again.”

This time she only stared into the water Peabody gave her, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m afraid to be alone. I’m ashamed that he’s made me a coward, but-”

“You’re not a coward. You just had some guy who outweighs you by a good thirty sock his fist into your eye and threaten to do more. If you weren’t shaken up, you’d be stupid. You’re not stupid because you came in and you’re bringing charges.”

“What if he killed those women? I slept beside him, I made love with him. What if he did those horrible things, then came home to me?”

“Let’s take it one step at a time. Once we’ve done the paperwork, I can arrange for an officer to stay at home with you if you’d feel safer having a cop as well as your security droid.”