In Death 05 - Ceremony in Death

is why I overreacted to your comments. I apologize for that."
    Surprise and relief spread through her. Peabody found them both easier to swallow than crow and fear. "Will you keep me on?"
    "I've got an investment in you." Leaving it at that, Eve turned back to her 'link.
    Behind Eve's back, Peabody closed her eyes tightly, dug for composure. She took a breath, swallowed hard, and found it. "So, does this mean we've made up?"
    Eve slanted a look at Peabody's hopeful grin. "Why don't I have any coffee?" She engaged the 'link, let her messages run. The first had barely begun when Peabody set a steaming cup at her elbow.
    "Come on, Dallas, come on. Give me a break. I can go on with an update any time, day or night. Get back to me damn it. Just a couple details.''
    "Not going to happen, Nadine," Eve murmured and zipped through the next three messages from the reporter, all increasingly desperate.
    There was a communication from the ME, with the autopsy report. Eve downloaded and ordered a hard copy print. Finally, a relay from the lab which verified the blood on the robe was Wineburg's.
    "I can't see it," Peabody said quietly. "Why can't I see it? It's all there." She lifted her shoulders, let them fall. "It's all right there."
    "We charge him and book him." Eve rubbed a finger up and down the center of her forehead. "Murder one on Wineburg. We'll hold off on the conspiracy to murder on Trivane until Mira's done the testing. Have him brought up for interview again, Peabody. We'll see how many more we can pin to him."
    "Why Alice?" Peabody asked. "Why Frank?"
    "He didn't do them. They're not his."
    "Separate cases? You still think Selina's responsible for them?"
    "I know she is. But we're a long way from proving it."
    She spent the day going over reports, filing her own. By noon, when she faced Chas in interview again, she was ready to try a different tack.
    She studied his chosen representative, a young, sad-eyed woman who, by Eve's estimate, could barely be old enough to have passed the bar. She didn't bother to sigh as she recognized the woman from the initiation ceremony.
    A lawyer witch, she mused. And wondered if that would be considered a redundancy.
    "This is your chosen counsel, Mr. Forte?''
    "Yes." His face was a sickly gray, his eyes shades darker. "Leila has agreed to help me."
    "Very well. You've been charged with murder, Mr. Forte."
    "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