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“Did you want her dead?”
“No. No, because then it’s over, and that’s not payment enough.” She drew a breath, shaky, then another, stronger. “Whitney said it happened fast. They’re talking, and Chase just reached over, snapped her neck. He didn’t even try to resist afterward, just let them haul him away. They’ve got him on suicide watch.”
“Look at me, listen to me.” His tone was brisk and firm. He wouldn’t have it, wouldn’t have her carrying this load. “Can’t you see whatever you wanted, however you played this, it would have ended the same? She wouldn’t have been satisfied with a deal. She would still have tried to use him, he would still have killed her.”
“Maybe. Maybe.”
“Eve, you saw that child moments ago, that tiny new life that carries part of your name. There’s a beginning for you, and you helped bring it to be. It’s pure. We can’t be, you and I, and he won’t stay that way. But by doing what you did, by being what you are, you gave him his family.”
“So close it up where it belongs.” She closed her eyes, nodded. “You’re right, I know you’re right. I will.”
“Dallas? Sorry.” Peabody stiffled a yawn. “Mavis is asking for you. Oh, and she’s up to seven. Some of us are heading down to get a bite to eat. We’re taking Leonardo, because the midwife said we’ve got time.”
“But—”
“She said she’d really just like a little quiet time, with you.”
“Okay, okay. Wipe that relieved look off your face, ace,” she warned Roarke. “You’re still going to be there for liftoff.”
“God pity me.” But he rose, put his arms around her, brushed his lips over her brow. “Think of what’s been saved,” he murmured. “Think of the look on Tandy’s face when she held her son. There’s no place for the dark here.”
“Right again.” She held onto him one more moment. “Thanks.”
Eve thought Mavis was starting to show
a little wear when she went back in. “Something happened.” Mavis pushed a little straighter in bed. “Tandy? The baby?”
“No, no, they’re fine. Something on the job.” Close it up, she reminded herself, and remember what’s begun. “It’s not important.”
“You don’t have to leave?”
“Mavis, I’m not going anywhere till you get this job done. How’re you doing? And are you sick of having people ask you that?”
“I’m pretty okay, and no. It’s kind of frosty, being the focus, you know? It’s not like when I’m performing. This is so real, like primal even, and I’m the only one who can do it. Can you just sit here, be with me?”
“At your beck.”
Because Mavis patted the bed, Eve sat on the side of it. “I wanted…Oh, here it comes again. Getting stronger. Shit, damn, fuck.”
“You gotta breathe. Where’s the focus thing?”
“You are, right now. I’m sick of looking at fucking sunshine.”
Mavis puffed, staring so hard into Eve’s eyes, Eve wondered she didn’t lance right through to her brain. Then she remembered one of the options from the class, and laid hands on Mavis’s belly, rubbing light circles on what now felt like a mound of concrete.
“Easing back, isn’t it? Yeah, it is,” Eve said with a glance toward the monitor. “Coming down, leveling off, good work. Blow it out.”
When she had, Mavis managed a grin. “You were paying attention in class.”
“I’ll remind you I’m a cop. We hear and see all. You know, they have drugs for this.”
“Yeah, and I’m thinking about it. It’s just I’ve never done anything like this before. I think I’m going to go a while longer first. Right now, I wanted the just-you-and-me time. Look.”
She held up her left hand, and Summerset’s ring glinted.
“Yeah, I’m happy for you.”
“Couple of old married ladies now. Who’d’ve thought it? Pretty soon, I’m going to be a mother. I want more than anything to be a good one.”
