"All the business and security and publicity work over the past few days has been boring for her," Lane said. "She's been awfully patient."
"Yeah, a real trooper." Eve wandered to one of the three antique sofas, sat on an arm of silk. "You're very involved with the auction, and your mother's foundation. Takes up a lot of your time."
"That it does. But it's worth it."
"No problem seeing her chuck a billion dollars out the window?"
"All for a good cause," he said cheerfully. "I couldn't be more proud of her."
"Really? Even when you're flat broke and siphoning off loans for debts from her friends?" She waited a beat while his body jerked. "Wow, Vince, you're a hell of a sport."
"I don't know what you're talking about, and I find your comments in very bad taste."
"I find plots to steal from family and charity in very bad taste. I find little skunks who're too lazy to work for a living in very bad taste. But most of all, I find murder in very bad taste. Your guy missed his target this morning, by the way. You want to make sure he doesn't collect the rest of his fee on that portion of the contract."
"I want you to leave." He pointed a finger at the door in what would have been a dramatic gesture if his arm hadn't trembled. "I want you to get out. I intend to report this behavior to your superiors. I intend to consult my attorney. I intend – "
"Why don't you shut up, you miserable excuse for a humanoid. Peabody, record on."
"Yes, sir."
"Vincent Lane," Eve began, "you have the right to remain silent."
"You're arresting me?" The color that had drained from his cheeks bloomed back violently. "You think you can arrest me? You have no cause, you have no case, you have nothing on me whatsoever. Do you know who I am?"
"Yeah, I know who you are. You're scum. Now, you're going to sit down while I read you the rest of your rights and obligations. Then you're going to sit there and answer my questions. Because if you don't, I'm going to haul you downtown, into Interview. And somehow along the way, the media's going to get wind of it. By the time you're supposed to be meeting your girlfriend for lunch, it'll be all over the screen how Vince Lane has been arrested for suspicion of conspiracy to commit grand larceny, conspiracy to transfer stolen goods, and a whole bunch of other fun little conspiracies, too – topped off with the whopper. Conspiracy to commit murder."
"Murder! You're crazy. You've lost your mind. I never killed anyone. I'm calling my lawyer."
"You do that." Eve spoke mildly and stretched out her legs. "You go right on and do that. Wonder how long it'll take your friends Gerade and Naples to find out you're hiring a rep to defend you in a murder case. Wonder how long after that they'll sic Yost on you to cover their own hides. Or maybe they won't have to hire him."
She paused, studying her nails as Lane stood frozen by his 'link. "Yeah, I'm thinking he'll do this one for free. He's got his own hide to protect. You know what he does to his victims, Vinnie?" She lifted her eyes then, locked on his without an ounce of pity. "He breaks them to pieces, then he makes sure they're conscious when he rapes them. I've got a video I can show you of how he'd take on a man like you. Snap your arm like a twig, pound your face into mush so even your mother wouldn't know you. Then when you think it can't get worse, he'd butt-fuck you. And the pain of all of that is so huge, so impossible, you can't believe it's real. It's like some horrible nightmare, some personal hell that opened up and swallowed you whole. And you won't be able to get out of it, get away from it. Not until he slips that wire around your neck and pulls it tighter. And your feet hammer on the floor. You die pissing yourself."
She got up. "Come to think of it, that's just about the perfect end for you. Go ahead and call your lawyer. Let's get it started."
"No one was supposed to get hurt." Tears spurted from his eyes, spilled down his face. "It's not my fault."
"It never is with people like you." She pointed to the sofa. "Sit down, and tell me why you're not to blame."
"I needed money." He rubbed his eyes, then glugged the water Peabody had brought to him. "Mother got this insane idea to auction off her things, so many of her things, and just give it away. This damn foundation idea of hers. I'm her son." He shot her a glance that begged for pity. "Why should she give all that money to strangers when I need it?"
"So you needed to figure a way to keep it in the family."
"We argued. She said she was cutting me off. She'd said that before, but I thought this time she might have meant it. I was so angry. She's my mother," he said, looking to Eve for understanding.
"You went to see your friends."
"Needed to blow off steam. I went to see Dom. You wouldn't catch his father shoveling money to strangers like this. Dom never has to worry how he's going to pay a fucking bill. We were just talking, having a few drinks. I said something like, I should just take the stuff, sell it myself, and see how she liked it. We were just talking about how it could be done. Just talk. Then it started looking like maybe it could be done. Hundreds of millions of dollars. I'd never have to worry again. I could live the way I chose, with no one to answer to.
"I guess I got pretty drunk. I passed out, and the next thing I know it's morning and Dom's talked to his old man. It just started rolling. We got Michel, went down to see him, and talk about it. It still seemed unreal, you know. Just like a game. But Dom's old man, he said we could do it. He knew how to set it up. We'd each take a percentage after expenses. It was business, that's all. Nobody said anything about murder. Just business."
"When did Yost come into the mix?"
"I don't know. I swear to God. We had it planned out. I was to go back, make it up with my mother, and ask to help out. Get involved in the setup so I could pass on information. That's when I found out she'd hooked up with Roarke. I didn't like that part of it. You hear things about Roarke. But Naples, he liked it a lot. Said it added spice. He brought in another partner, the German guy, and because Dom and I were tied up with other business, they met with Michel in Paris."
He licked his lips, searching Eve's face for support, for understanding. For mercy. And saw nothing but the cold, clear eyes of cop. "I think, they must… I don't know. They must have cooked up bringing Yost in during those meetings. All I knew then was that the German had pulled out. Naples called him a fish belly. But it left more for us, and Naples was going to arrange the transpo personally. He hired on a couple more guys. It was starting to make me nervous, all those expenses. But when I complained, it got nasty. Dom said how it was best for me to let him deal with his father direct from then on. He'd pass instructions to me. All I had to do was give them the details, the timing, pass along the security scheme, and keep my mother happy. They said they had a way to keep Roarke occupied and off my back."
He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. "You can see, can't you, you can see that I was in too deep to back out. You can see how it wasn't my fault. And now I'm cooperating, right? That makes a big difference."
"Oh yeah. You want to keep cooperating, Vince. You want to keep going."
"Yeah, I'll tell you everything I know. See, just a few weeks ago, Dom gets in touch. He says I have to come up with a million for a consult fee, that's my share of it. It's to go into Naples Communications, and they'll fix the books so it'll look like I've bought some swank new system. I went nuts. A fucking million. I don't have that kind to outlay. I wasn't looking at that kind of an expense. What the hell kind of consult runs a million for just my share?"