Imitation in Death

Chapter3

It irritated her to jump through hoops. Every time she cleared one, there was another stack to hurdle. No amount of reason, demand, or threat got her through the maze of assistants, staffers, coordinators, and personal attendants toCarmichaelSmith or Niles Renquist.

She was forced to settle for appointments the following day.

Which might have made her slightly less than diplomatic with the blonde touting herself asMr.Fortney ’s social secretary.

“This isn’t a social call. See this?”Eve all but pressed her badge to the woman’s nose. “This means I’m probably not feeling particularly sociable. This is what we NYPSD people like to call an official inquiry.”

The blonde set her face into stern lines and succeeded in looking like a cranky baby doll. “Mr.Fortneyis very busy,” she said in an indignant lispEve just bet some brainless guy found sexy. “He can’t be disturbed.”

“If you don’t tell your boss thatLieutenantDallas of the NYPSD is out here waiting to speak to him, everyone in this building’s going to be disturbed.”

“He’s unavailable.”

Evehad taken that line on Smith, who might very well have been at his health center having a complete physical workup. And she’d taken it on Renquist, who quite possibly had been in back-to-back meetings with various heads of state.

But she wasn’t taking it from some actress’s bimbo companion.

“ Peabody,” she said without taking her eyes off the blonde, “call for an Illegals sweep. I believe I smell Zoner.”

“What are you talking about? That’s just silly.” Obviously incensed, the blonde danced on her four-inch platforms that had her impressive breasts bobbing like soccer balls. “You can’t do something like that.”

“Oh, I bet I can. And you know what happens sometimes, on an Illegals sweep? It leaks to the media. Especially when there’s a celebrity type involved. I betMs.Franklin ’s going to be a little annoyed about that.”

“If you think you can intimidate me into-”

“Illegals team will be here within thirty, Lieutenant.” Peabody tried her cold cop voice. She’d been practicing. “You’re authorized to lock down the building.”

“Thank you, Officer. That was quick work. With me.”

“What?” The blonde clattered after her asEve strode out of the office. “Where are you going? What are you doing?”

“I’m going to lock down. Once a sweep’s been authorized, no one is allowed to enter or leave the premises.”

“You can’t- Don’t.” She grabbedEve ’s arm.

“Oh-oh?”Eve paused enough to look at the lily-white hand with its baby pink nails that clutched her sleeve. “That might be construed as assaulting an officer, and an attempt to obstruct a police investigation. Since you seem a little dim to me, I’ll just cuff you instead of knocking you on your ass, then cuffing you.”

“I wasn’t!” The blonde droppedEve ’s arm as if it had burst into flame, and scrambled back. “I didn’t! Oh, damn it, okay, okay, o-kay! I’ll tellLeo.”

“Hmm. You know, Peabody.”Eve took another testing sniff of air. “I don’t think that’s Zoner after all.”

“I think you’re right, Lieutenant. I think it’s gardenia.” Peabody let the grin spread as the blonde rushed back into the office. “She must be dim if she thinks you can call for a sweep that way.”

“Dim or guilty. Bet she’s got a little goodie stash in here. Who did you call?”Eve asked.

“Weather. It’s hot, and it’s going to stay hot. In case you wondered.”

Chin up, the blonde stepped out again, and announced in her best lisp, “Mr.Fortneywill see you now.”

Evefollowed in the wake of the woman’s intense dislike.

Fortney was set up in one of the five office suites. The area appeared to have been decorated by the color-blind or the insane-possibly both-as evenEve ’s casual sense of style was bombarded with the clashing colors and patterns that dominated walls, floors, ceiling.

Fortney’s space had taken it one step further by adding animal prints that ran rampant over the walls in a jungle madness of leopard spots, tiger stripes, and splotches of unknown wildlife. Clear tables fashioned of glossy plates atop oddly phallic columns were used as accents.

His desk was a larger version of the tables, with the penis-like columns painted a virulent red. He was pacing behind it as they entered, talking rapidly into a headset.

“We need to move on this within twenty-four. Up or down, no in between. I’ve got the outline, the projections, and the Q-factor. Let’s wrap it up.”

He gave a come-ahead gesture with a hand glittering with gold and silver bands.

While he continued to talk and pace,Eve sat in one of the tiger-striped chairs and studied him. He was posing for her, she had no doubt of it. So, she’d accommodate him.

He was artfully dressed in a tunic-jacket and pants, both the color of green grapes. His hair was a dark magenta, worn long and sleek around a narrow, deeply carved face. His eyes too closely matched the shade of his suit to be natural.

Like his fingers, his ears glittered with gold and silver bands.

About six two,Eve judged-with the heeled sandals-and well turned out for his type. Took his body seriously, she imagined, and enjoyed showing it off in fancy duds.

Since he was working hard to show her what a busy and important man he was, she assumed he was neither.

He removed the headset, smiled at her. “I’m so sorry,LieutenantDennis. I’m just swamped today.”

“ Dallas.”

“ Dallas, of course, Dallas.” He made a little ha-ha sound and walked to a long counter, bent down to the minifriggie beneath. He continued to speak in his rapid-fire style, in a accentless tone that said West Coast toEve. “It’s just madness around here, my mind’s going a thousand directions at once. Parched. Just parched. Drink?”

“No, thank you.”

He took out a bottle of something orange and frothy and poured it into a glass. “Suelee tells me you were very insistent about seeing me.”

“Suelee was very insistent I wouldn’t see you.”

“Well, ha-ha, just doing her job. Don’t know what I’d do without my Suelee guarding the gates.”

He beamed, sat in an I’m-a-busy-but-personable-son-of-a-bitch style on the edge of his horrible red desk. “You’d be amazed how many people try to get in to see me on any given day. Comes with the territory, of course. Actors, writers, directors.” He threw up a hand, waved it dramatically. “But I don’t often have an attractive policewoman looking for a meeting.”

His smile glittered, white and perfectly even. “So, tell me, what’ve you got? Play, vid, disc book? Cop drama’s cooled off recently, but there’s always room for a good story. The girl cop angle’s good. What’s your pitch?”

“Your whereabouts betweenmidnight and threeA.M. this morning.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m primary on a homicide investigation. Your name’s come up. I’d like to know your whereabouts during the time frame I just gave you.”

“Murder? I don’t-Oooh!” With another laugh, he shook his head so his hair shook fashionably. “Interesting pitch. Let’s see, my first reaction would be what? Shock, insult, fear?”

“A licensed companion was brutally murdered early this morning inChinatown. You can speed up this process,Mr.Fortney, by telling me where you were betweenmidnight and three.”

He lowered his glass. “You’re serious?”

“Midnightand three,Mr.Fortney.”

“Well, my God. My God.” He laid his free hand on his heart, patted it there. “I was home, of course. Pepper comes straight home after the show. We tend to go to bed early during a run. It’s both physically and emotionally exhausting for her. People don’t understand the strain of performing, night after night, and how few reserves one has left after-”

“I’m not interested in whereMs.Franklin was,”Eve interrupted. Or in your stalling tactics, she thought. “Where were you?”

“Well, home, as I said.” His tone was a little testy now. “Pepper would have arrived bymidnight, and she needs a bit of company and care after a show, so I always wait up to be there for her. We had a nightcap while she ran down, then we were tucked in before one, so she could get her beauty sleep. I can’t understand why you’d possibly question me. An LC, inChinatown? What could that have to do with me?”

“Can anyone verify that you were home during the timeframe?”

“Pepper, of course. Pepper. I was right there to greet her when she arrived home, just beforemidnight. And we were in bed, as I said, by one. She’s a very light sleeper. It comes from being so creative and sensitive. She’ll tell you she’d have known if I so much as stirred from the bed in the night.”

He took another drink, a longer one. “Who was this woman who was killed? Do I know her? I don’t use the services of companions. I do, naturally, know many people, from various walks. Certainly some actors and hopefuls might moonlight as LCs.”

“JacieWooton.”

“It means nothing to me. Nothing.” The color that had come into his face during his rambling alibi began to diminish. He shrugged, carelessly now. “I don’t believe I’ve ever been toChinatown.”

“You bought stationery inLondon several months ago. Fifty sheets and envelopes, plain, cream-colored, unrecycled stock.”

“Did I? It’s certainly possible. I buy quite a lot of things. For myself, for Pepper, as gifts. What in the world does stationery have to do with anything?”

“It’s very expensive, very distinctive stock. It would be helpful if you could produce it.”

“Paper, bought months ago, inLondon?” He made his ha-ha sound again, but this time it carried annoyance. “For all I know it’s still inLondon. I think I should call my lawyer.”

“That’s your choice. You can ask your representative to meet us downtown, at Central, to discuss your priors. Assaults and sex crimes.”

His face turned nearly the same shade as his hair. “Those incidents are in my past. If you must know the sexual assault charge was completely unwarranted. An argument with a woman I’d been dating that escalated, and her revenge when I broke things off with her. I didn’t fight the charge as I felt it would only generate more ugly publicity and drag things out.”

“Indecent exposure.”

“A misunderstanding. I’d had a bit too much to drink after a party and, impaired, was relieving my bladder when a group of young women happened to pass. It was foolish and ill-advised, but hardly criminal.”

“And the battery?”

“A shoving match with my ex-wife. Who started the incident, by the way. Just an unfortunate display of temper, which she used to skin me in the divorce. I don’t appreciate having all this thrown in my face, or being accused of murder. I was at home and in bed last night. All night. And that’s all I have to say without my lawyer.”

– -«»--«»--«»--

“Funny,”Eve commented as she headed uptown. “A guy can be arrested and charged three times, but none of it was his fault. All misunderstandings.”

“Yeah, the law’s a bitch.”

“What we’ve got here, Peabody, is a weasely little man who likes to put on a big show. Look at me. I’m important, I’m powerful. I’m somebody. And he has a history of knocking women around, showing off his dick and losing his temper. Surrounds himself with phallic symbols and has a big-breasted blonde playing guardian of the gates.”

“I didn’t like him. But it’s a pretty big leap from shaking his wang to slicing up an LC.”

“Steps and stages,”Eve declared. “Let’s see if Pepper’s home, and how she slept last night.”

– -«»--«»--«»--

The brownstone was lovely, old and elegant. And meant,Eve calculated as she walked toward the door, private security. The sort the owner could turn on and off at whim.

She rang the bell, considered the entrance, the flow of flowers in pots running up the short set of steps, the proximity of neighboring houses.

When the door opened, she had an immediate flash, and not very pleasant, of Roarke’s majordomo, and the bane of her existence, Summerset.

The butler was dressed in stark black, as was Summerset’s habit. He was long and thin with pewter hair atop a narrow face.

She actually felt her gorge rise.

“May I help you?”

“LieutenantDallas,OfficerPeabody.” Prepared to plow through him if necessary, she flipped out her badge. “I need to speak withMs.Franklin.”

“Ms.Franklinis engaged in her yoga/meditation hour. May I be of some assistance?”

“You can assist me by getting out of the way, telling Ms. Franklin she’s got a cop at the door who wants to question her regarding an official investigation.”

“Of course,” he said so genially, she actually blinked. “Please come in. If you’d make yourself comfortable in the living area, I’ll informMs.Franklin. Would you care for any refreshment while you wait?”

“No.” She eyed him suspiciously. “Thanks.”

“I’ll just be a moment.” After gesturing them into a large, sunny room with long white sofas, he turned toward a staircase.

“Maybe we can trade Summerset for him.”

“Hey, Dallas, check it out.”

Eveturned and studied whatPeabody was currently gaping at. The life-sized portrait of Pepper Franklin rose above the sea green mantel of a white hearth. In it, she appeared to be dressed in nothing but mists. They curled and draped around her, shimmering and thin so that her impressive body was displayed. Her arms were stretched out as if welcoming an embrace.

She was smiling, dreamily, her lips painted deep rose. Her hair was a tumble of gold around a heart-shaped face set off by wide, deep blue eyes.

Striking,Eve mused. Sensual. Powerful.

Just what, she wondered, was a woman with that much style and strength doing with a loser like Fortney?

“I’ve seen her on-screen and in mags and stuff, but this is-you know-wow. She looks like, I don’t know, a fairy queen.”

“Thank you.” The voice was silver wrapped in fog. “That was the goal,” Pepper said as she walked into the room. “It’s taken, more or less, from my role ofTitania.”

She wore a skin-suit now, in dark purple, and had a short towel hooked around her neck. Her face, still striking, was sheened with perspiration, and her hair was bundled up carelessly.

“LieutenantDallas?” She offered a hand. “Excuse my appearance. I’m in the middle of yoga. It helps keep me in shape-body, mind, spirit. It also makes me sweat like a pig.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt.”

“I assume it’s important.” She sat, dropping down on the white sofa, letting out a long sigh. “Please, have a seat. Oh God, Turney, thanks.” She took the large bottle of water the butler brought her on a silver tray.

“Mr.Fortneyis on the ‘link. He’s called three times in the last thirty minutes.”

“He should know better than to call during yoga hour. Tell him I’ll get back to him.”

She took a long drink, angled her head. “Well, what’s this about?”

“I’d like you to verifyMr.Fortney ’s whereabouts this morning betweenmidnight and three.”

The easy smile vanished. “Leo? Why?”

“His name has come up in the course of an investigation. If I can verify his whereabouts during that period, we can eliminate it and move on.”

“He was here, with me. I got home abouteleven forty-five. Maybe a few minutes later. We had a drink. I allow myself one glass of wine before bed after a performance. We talked about various things, then I went upstairs. I suppose I was in bed and asleep by twelve-thirty.”

“Alone?”

“Initially. I’m always beat after a show, andLeo ’s a night owl. He was going to watch some screen, make some calls. Something.” She lifted one elegant shoulder.

“You a light sleeper,Ms.Franklin?”

“Hell, I sleep like the dead.” She started to laugh, then caught the implication. “Lieutenant,Leo was here. Honestly, I can’t imagine what sort of investigation you might be pursuing whereLeo ’s name came up in any way.”

“You’re aware it’s not the first time his name’s come up in a police investigation.”

“Those incidents are in the past. He had some bad luck with women, until me. He was here when I got home, and we had coffee together this morning at about eight. What’s this about?”

“Last fallMr.Fortney purchased, inLondon, some stationery.”

“Oh for God’s sake.” Pepper tipped the bottle back for another drink. “I’m still angry with him about that. Ridiculous, and careless. Unrecycled. I don’t know what he was thinking. Don’t tell me he brought it with him into theU.S.?” She rolled her eyes, then stared at the ceiling. “Really, I know it’s against the law, technically. I’m very active in environmental groups, which is why I could have skinned him for buying that stationery. In fact, we had a row about it, and I made him promise to get rid of it. I’m sure there’s a fine, and I’ll see he pays it.”

“I’m not a Green Cop. I’m Homicide.”

Those brilliant blue eyes went blank. “Homicide?”

“Early this morning, a licensed companion identified asJacieWooton was murdered inChinatown.”

“I know.” Pepper’s hand crawled up to her throat. “I heard the report this morning. You can’t possibly believe…Leo? He’d never do such a thing.”

“Stationery, of the typeMr.Fortney purchased inLondon, was used for a note left with the body.”

“He… he’s certainly not the only idiot who bought that stationery.Leo was home last night.” She bit off the words so that each one was highlighted. “Lieutenant, he’s occasionally foolish, tends to be a bit of a show-off, but he’s not vicious or violent. And he was home.”

– -«»--«»--«»--

She was going home herself, dissatisfied. She’d done all she could forJacieWooton in one day, but it wasn’t enough.

She needed to clear her mind. Take a couple hours’ downtime, then go back, read over the reports, the notes, juggle it around in her home office.

Fortney andFranklin just didn’t match for her. The guy was a putz, a braggart, a fake with a handsome face. Her impression ofFranklin was that the woman was the real deal. Smart, strong, stable.

Then again, you never could tell why people ended up together.

She’d given up trying to figure out how she and Roarke had become a unit.

He was rich, gorgeous, sneaky, just a little dangerous. He’d been everywhere and had bought most of it. He’d done everything, and a great deal of what he’d done didn’t fall on her side of the law.

And she was a cop. Solitary, short-tempered, and unsociable.

He loved her anyway, she mused, as she drove through the iron gates of home.

Because he did, she’d ended up here, living in the huge stone palace draped in trees and flowers, surrounded by the stuff of fantasy. It was ridiculous, really, she thought, that someone who’d lived in reality, often the harshest wells of it, should end up in some sort of dreamscape.

She parked in front of the house. She’d leave her pea-green cop issue there, as sort of an homage to Summerset, the gnome in her personal dreamscape.

He might’ve still been on holiday-sing hallelujah-but since he despised her habit of parking out front of the spectacular entrance, she saw no reason to stop.

She stepped inside, into the cool and rarefied air of the house that Roarke built, and was immediately greeted by the cat. The pudgy and obviously irritated Galahad pranced up, batted his head against her ankle, and mewed shrilly.

“Hey, I’ve got to work for a living. I can’t help it if you’re alone all day with He Who Shall Not Be Named out of the country.” But she bent down, scooped the cat up. “You need a hobby. Or hey, maybe they make VR for pets. If not, Roarke will jump right on that.”

She scratched the cat as she headed out of the foyer and downstairs to the gym. “Little VR goggles for cats, with programs about war on mice, kicking a Doberman’s ass, that sort of thing.”

She dumped him on the floor of the gym, and knowing the true path to his heart, got a bowl of tuna from the AutoChef.

With the cat occupied, she stripped down, changed into workout gear, and set herself a twenty-minute run on the video track. She opted for a beach run, and set out at a light jog, feeling her feet slap sand.

By the time she was at full pace, she’d worked up a nice sweat and was enjoying the salty breeze of the sea, the sound of the surf.

You could keep your yoga,Eve thought. Give her a good, full-out run, then maybe a couple rounds with a workout droid, follow it with a good strong swim, and you’d have your mind, body, and spirit tuned right up.

When the machine blinked end-of-program, she grabbed a towel, scrubbed it over her sweaty face. With the intention of challenging the droid to a little hand-to-hand, she turned.

And there was Roarke, sitting on a weight bench with a cat in his lap, and his eyes on his wife.

Spectacular eyes, she thought. Violently blue in a face carved by clever angels. The dangerous poet, the poetic danger, whichever way you looked at it-at him-he was amazing.

“Hey.” She tunneled her fingers through her damp hair. “How long have you been here?”

“Long enough to see you wanted a hard run. You’ve had a long day, Lieutenant.”

There wasIreland in his voice, dreamy wisps of it that could, unexpectedly, wind around her heart. He set the cat aside, and walked over to tip up her chin. Rubbed his thumb in the shallow dent in its center.

“I heard about what happened inChinatown. That’s what pulled you out of bed so early this morning.”

“Yeah. She’s mine. Just clearing my head before I get back to it again.”

“All right.” He touched his lips to hers. “You want a swim, then?”

“Eventually.” She rolled her shoulders to loosen them up. “Hand-to-hand’s next up. I was going to use the droid, but since you’re here…”

“Want to fight with me, do you?”

“You’re better than the droid.” She stepped back, began to circle him. “Marginally.”

“And to think some men come home after a day of work and are greeted by their woman.” He rolled up to his toes, and back, glad he’d changed with the idea of a workout. “A smile, a kiss, perhaps a cold drink.” His grin flashed. “How tedious for them.”

She lunged, he countered.

She kicked out, her foot coming within a half-inch of his face. He slapped it away, then swept her standing leg out from under her. She went down, rolled, and was up again in seconds.

“Not bad,” she acknowledged, and scored a hit mid-body before their forearms slapped together in a block. “But I was holding back.”

“Can’t have that.”

She came in on a spin-left hook, right cross-that would have knocked his head back if she’d connected. His backhand stopped a hairbreadth from her nose.

With the droid, she’d have pounded and gotten pounded in return. But this-the demand for control-was more challenging. And a hell of a lot more fun.

She got under his guard, flipped him, but when she leaped on the mat to pin him, he was already up again. She had to somersault aside, and came up just enough off balance to give him the opening.

Her breath whooshed out as she hit the mat, flat on her back, with his weight pinning her.

She stared up into his eyes as she got her wind back, lifting a hand so she could trail her fingers through the wonderful mane of black hair that nearly hit his shoulders.

“Roarke,” she murmured, and with a little sigh, tugged his hair to bring his lips to hers.

And when he relaxed, started to sink into her, she scissored her legs, arched, and flipped him over.

She was looking in his eyes again, and grinning as she pressed the point of her elbow lightly to his throat. “Sucker.”

“I do tend to fall for that one, don’t I? Well then, it appears you’ve taken this-” He broke off, winced.

“What? You hurt?”

“No. Just must’ve jammed my shoulder a bit.” He rotated it, winced again.

“Let me take a look.” She eased back, shifting her weight.

And found herself flat on her back under him again.

“Sucker,” he said and laughed when her eyes went to slits.

“Foul.”

“No more foul than the seductive murmur of my name. You’re down, darling.” He touched his lips to the tip of her nose. “Well pinned.” His fingers linked with hers as he held her hands down. “Now I’m going to have you.”

“You think?”

“I do.Victor, spoils, all that. Not going to be a sore loser, are you?” he asked with his mouth rubbing hers.

“Who says I lost?” She arched her hips. “Like I said, you’re better than the droid.” She arched again. “Touch me.”

“I will. Let’s start with this.”

His mouth came down on hers, warm and soft, sliding her into the kiss, deepening it until, once again, she lost her breath.

“It’s never quite enough,” he whispered, trailing his lips over her face, down her throat. “Never will be.”

“There’s always more.”

So he took more, skimming those lips, scraping his teeth over the swell of her breasts beneath the loose cotton T-shirt.

Her heart began to thud, anticipation. Her fingers curled tighter against the ones that held her hands prisoner. She didn’t try to free herself, not yet. Here, too, was control. His and hers. And trust. Absolute.

When he drew her hands down to her waist, roamed with that busy mouth over her torso, she braced herself for the onslaught of pleasure.

Her skin was already damp, her muscles taut. He loved the feel of them, hard and strong, under all that smooth skin. He loved the lines of her, and the subtle, almost delicate curves.

He released her hands, then drew the shorts down. With a slight frown, he traced a fingertip over her thigh. “You’ve a bruise here. You’re always coming up with bruises.”

“Hazard of the job.”

She faced worse hazards, they both knew. He lowered his head, touched his lips lightly to the faint discoloration.

Amused, she stroked his hair. “Don’t worry, Mom. It doesn’t hurt.”

The laugh caught in her throat as his mouth got to work.

Her hand fisted in his hair now, and her other hand dug into the mat as her system shot from rest to revved. A shockwave of heat, a stunning ache that gathered in a fist of pressure, then imploded inside her.

“Teach you to call me mum,” he said, and nipped lightly at her thigh while she shuddered.

She got her breath back, whistled it out again. “Mom,” she repeated, and made him laugh.

He wrapped his arms around her so they rolled, playfully now. Hands sliding over flesh, tugging off clothes, lips meeting for nibbles or longer tastes.

She felt free and careless, and foolishly in love as she held him against her. Easy enough to laugh even as her body quaked, to rub her cheek against his in innocent affection even as he slid into her.

“Looks like I’ve pinned you again.”

“How long do you think you can keep me down?”

“Another challenge, is it?” His breath was backed up in his lungs, but he moved slowly, watching her watch him.

With long, smooth, almost lazy strokes he urged her up again until he saw her eyes begin to blur, and the flush deepen in her cheeks. And then heard her low sound, that helpless sound, of pleasure.

“There’s always more,” he said and captured her lips with his again and let himself fly with her.