“I know you want to see this through,” she began. “I get it. But I’ll arrange for you to view the record. You need to go home, take those damn drugs you refused, and let Summerset hover over you.”
“I will if you will.”
“Roarke.”
“Eve. We understand each other, don’t we? Let’s finish this.”
“There’s going to be a chair in Observation. Use it.”
She walked away, found Mira. “I’m going to ask you for a favor. I need you to keep your eye on Roarke. If he looks like he needs it, jab him with a damn pressure syringe full of tranqs. I’ll take the rap.”
“Don’t worry.” Mira slipped her arm around Eve’s waist, just for a moment. “We’ll have him outnumbered.”
She nodded, then ordered herself to shake it off. Just shake it off and do the job. “Peabody.” She paused, pushed a hand through her hair. “You’re sympathetic, even a little impressed. Not too soft, nobody would buy it. But you’re younger than he is, and he’ll read that as naive. If he’s done any digging, and he would have, he knows you’re cohabbed with an e-man.”
“Got it. Suggestion? I’d lose the jacket you got out of your locker. Go in bare-armed so he can see the hits you took. It’ll give him a little rush.”
“That’s good.” She tugged it off, setting her teeth when her arm twinged. She tossed the jacket to McNab. “Hang onto it.”
Then she nodded to Peabody and opened the door of Interview A.
He sat at the table, hands folded, head down. He lifted it as they entered, gave Eve a sorrowful look. “I don’t know what hap pened. I-”
“Quiet,” she snapped. “Record on. Dallas, Lieutenant Eve, and Peabody, Detective Delia, entering Interview with Hoyt, Levar. Mr. Hoyt, have you been read your rights?”
“Yeah, when they-”
“Do you understand your rights and obligations?”
“Okay, yeah, but the thing is-”
“Look, asshole, I’m not wasting time on your lame explanations and bullshit. I was there, remember? Had a ringside seat to your sick game.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” His shackles clattered when he lifted his hands. “The whole thing got away from me. Some sort of glitch, and I was trying to fix it when-”
She slammed both hands on the table, made him jump. But she saw his gaze slide over, and up to the wound on her arm. “You stood there, you bastard, watching that vicious world you created go for us. You stood there.”
“I was trying to make it stop, but-”
“Stood there, observing. Too much of a coward to actually play.” She reached out, grabbed his shirtfront. “Too weak to take me on?”
“Easy, Dallas. Easy.” Peabody laid a hand on Eve’s shoulder in warning. “The guy created something pretty amazing. He’s a scientist. He probably doesn’t do much combat.”
“I can hold my own.”
Eve snorted in disgust, paced away.
“Well, sure.” Peabody sat now. “But I’m just saying, up against somebody trained like Dallas, or in the shape Roarke’s in, you’d be at a disadvantage. Physically. When it comes to e? You’re off the scale.”
“Maybe you two would like a moment alone,” Eve said coolly.
“Come on, Dallas, credit where it’s due. How long did it take you to develop the program? The tech’s beyond the ult. I can’t get my head around it.”
“It’s an entirely new level. It took years, but I could only put so much time into it. It’ll open up a whole new world, not just for gaming, but, well, for training you guys, and military. That kind of thing.” Eager now, he leaned forward. “I wanted to create something, to give something to society. I tried dozens of theories, applications, programs, before I was able to refine it. The realism offers the player true risk and reward. And that’s…” He drew back, as if realizing he was digging a hole.
“I never expected it would cause actual harm. That’s why I’ve been working to retool, to offer that same realism but without the potential to cause injury.”
“You knew it could harm, could even kill,” Peabody said, still wide-eyed. “So you’ve been trying to fix it.”
“Yes, yes. I’d never want anyone to be hurt.”
“Then why didn’t you tell Bart? Why didn’t you tell him the program was fatally flawed?”
“I… didn’t know he was going to take the disc. He didn’t log it out, he didn’t say anything.”
“But what was it doing there, at U-Play, if you were working on it outside the office?”
“I wanted to run it for him, to brainstorm with him, but he must’ve taken the disc to try it for himself.” Var lowered his head into his hands again. “I don’t know why he did that. Why he took a chance like that.”
“You’re stating that you told Bart about your work, about the program, and the risks?”
“Absolutely.”
“Just Bart?”
“That’s right. I didn’t realize he’d taken the experimental disc until-”
“Then why is Cill in the hospital?” Peabody persisted. “How did she get her hands on a second program disc if you only took one in to Bart?”
“After Bart I told her about it.” He widened his eyes, all sorrowful innocence. “I had to tell someone.”
“And she just got some wild hair and repeated Bart’s mistake?”
He sat back, set his jaw. “She must have. She didn’t say a thing about it. You can ask Benny.”
“We’ll be asking her. She’s out of the coma,” Eve lied and turned back. “The doctors said she’s going to make a full recovery, and she’ll be able to talk to us tomorrow.” She glanced at her watch. “Make that later today.”
“Thank God. Thank God for that. But you have to understand, she’s really pissed. She’s really wrecked and totally pissed at me about Bart. She blames me.”
“Imagine that. And imagine, Var, who we’re going to believe when she tells us you gave her that disc, told her to work on it.”
“I never did any such thing. You’ll never be able to prove that. My word against Cill’s, and she’s right out of brain surgery. Maybe I should get a lawyer. I bet a lawyer would tell you the same thing.”
“You want a lawyer? Fine. We’ll end the interview now while you make those arrangements. And while you are, the e-team will be dissecting your precious program, your logs and records, your unregistered, and destroying same.”
“Wait! Wait!” His restraints rattled again as he came halfway out of his chair. “You can’t do that. That’s my work. My property. You’ve got no right to do that.”
“Tell it to your lawyer.”
“Let’s just hold off. Let’s just wait.”
“Are you saying you don’t want legal representation at this time?”
“Yes. Let’s just talk this through.” He folded his hands again, but this time, Eve noted, his knuckles had whitened. “That work is valuable and complex. Your e-people aren’t going to get it. It’s years in the making. It’s mine.”
“Yours? Not U-Play’s? You have a contract, Var. Share and share alike. Any of you develops something, it goes in the kitty.”
“That doesn’t seem altogether fair,” Peabody added. “Not when you did this on your own. Something this brilliant.”
“I would’ve shared it, but Bart… Look, I discussed all this with Bart and he didn’t want any part of it. So it’s mine. Exclusively.”
“You told Bart about the work, the concept for the program?”
“He’s the marketing genius. We could’ve revolutionized the market.”
“But he was shortsighted.”
“Games are games, that was Bart’s line. He couldn’t see expanding beyond that, couldn’t see the possibilities. He was all about the risks. So it’s mine. I did all the work, put in all the time-my own time.”
“And melded it with the concept and technology in Fantastical,” Eve finished. “Not yours exclusively.” She pointed a finger. “You cheated.”