"And devoted to your husband."
"Why shouldn't she be?" Belle's voice rose as she got to her feet. "He stepped in when her father died.Gave her his time and attention, helped with her education. He'd have done anything for her."
"And she for him?"
Belle's lipsquivered, and she sat again, as if her legs quivered as well. "She would never be a party to murder. He would never ask it of her."
"Maybe she didn't know. Maybe she was just asked to deal with the cameras and nothing else. Mrs. Skinner, your husband's dying." Eve saw Belle jerk, shudder. "He doesn't have much time left, and the loss of his men is preying on him as he prepares for death. Can you sit there and tell me his behavior over the last several months has been rational?"
"I won't discuss my husband's condition with you."
"Mrs. Skinner, do you believe Roarke's responsible for something his father did? Something this man did when Roarke was a child, three thousand miles away?"
She watched tears swim into Belle's eyes again, and leaned in.Pressed. "The man used to beat Roarke half to death for sport. Do you know what it feels like to be hit with fists, or a stick, or whatever the hell's handy – and by the person who's supposed to take care of you?By law, by simple morality. Do you know what it's like to be bloody and bruised and helpless to fight back?"
"No." The tears spilled over. "No."
"Does that child have to pay for the viciousness of the man?"
"The sins of the fathers," Belle began,then stopped. "No." Wearily, she wiped her wet cheeks. "No, Lieutenant, I don't believe that. But I know what it has cost my husband, what happened before, what was lost. I know how it's haunted him – this good, good man, this honorable man who has dedicated his life to his badge and everything it stands for."
"He can't exorcise his ghosts by destroying the son of the man who made them. You know that, too."
"He would never harm Zita, or Reggie. He loved them as if they were his own. But…" She turned to Mira again, gripped her hands fiercely. "He's so ill – in body, mind,spirit. I don't know how to help him. I don't know how long I can stand watching him die in stages. I'm prepared to let him go because the pain – sometimes it's so horrible. And he won't let me in. He won't share the bed with me, or his thoughts, his fears. It's as if he's divorcing me, bit by bit. I can't stop it."
"For some, death is a solitary act," Mira said gently."Intimate and private. It's hard to love someone and stand aside while they take those steps alone."
"He agreed to apply for self-termination for me." Belle sighed. "He doesn't believe in it. He believes a man should stand up to whatever he's handed and see it through. I'm afraid he's not thinking clearly any longer. There are moments…"
She steadied her breathing and looked back at Eve. "There are rages, swings of mood. The medication may be partially responsible. He's never shared the job with me to any great extent. But I know that for months now, perhaps longer, Roarke has been a kind of obsession to him. As have you. You chose the devil over duty."
She closed her eyes a moment. "I'm a cop's wife, Lieutenant. I believe in thatduty, and I see it all over you. He would see it, too, if he weren't so ill. I swear to you he didn't kill Reggie or Zita. But they may have been killed for him."
"Belle."Mira offered her another tissue. "You want to help your husband, to ease his pain. Tell Lieutenant Dallas and Chief Angelo what you know, what you feel. No one knows your husband's heart and mind the way you do."
"It'll shatter him. If he has to face this, it'll destroy him. Fathers and sons," she said softly, then buried her face in the tissue."Oh, dear God."
"Hayes." It clicked for Eve like a link on a chain. "Hayes didn't lose a father during the bust. He's Commander Skinner's son."
"A single indiscretion."Tears choked Belle's voice when she lifted her head again."During a bump in a young marriage.And so much of it my fault. My fault," she repeated, turning her pleading gaze to Mira. "I was impatient, and angry, that so much of his time, his energies went into his work. I'd married a cop, but I hadn't been willing to accept all that that meant – all it meant to a man like Douglas."
"It isn't easy to share a marriage with duty." Mira poured more tea."Particularly when duty is what defines the partner. You were young."
"Yes." Gratitude spilled into Belle's voice as she lifted her cup. "Young and selfish, and I've done everything in my power to make up for it since. I loved him terribly, and wanted all of him. I couldn't have that, so I pushed and prodded, then I stepped away from him.All or nothing. Well. He's a proud man, and I was stubborn. We separated for six months, and during that time he turned to someone else. I can't blame him for it."
"And she got pregnant," Eve prompted.
"Yes. He never kept it from me. He never lied or tried to hide it from me. He's an honorable man." Her tone turned fierce when she looked at Eve.
"Does Hayes know?"
"Of course.Of course he knows. Douglas would never shirk his responsibilities. He provided financial support. We worked out an arrangement with the woman, and she agreed to raise the child and keep his paternity private. There was no point, no point at all in making the matter public and complicating Douglas 's career, shadowing his reputation."
"So you paid for his… indiscretion."
"You're a hard woman, aren't you, Lieutenant? No mistakes in your life? No regrets?"
"Plenty of them.But a child – a man – might have some problem being considered a mistake.A regret."
" Douglas has been nothing but kind and generous and responsible with Bryson. He's given him everything."
Everything except his name, Eve thought. How much would that matter? "Did he give him orders to kill, Mrs. Skinner?Orders to frame Roarke for murder?"
"Absolutely not.Absolutely not.But Bryson is… perhaps he's overly devoted to Douglas. In the past several months, Douglas has turned to him too often, and perhaps, when Bryson was growing up, Douglas set standards that were too high, too harsh for a young boy."
"Hayes would need to prove himself to his father."
"Yes. Bryson's hard, Lieutenant.Hard and cold-blooded. You'd understand that, I think. Douglas – he's ill. And his moods, his obsession with what happened all those years ago is eating at him as viciously as his illness does. I've heard him rage, as if there's something else inside him. And during the rage he said something had to be done, some paymentmade, whatever the cost. That there were times the law had to make room for blood justice.Death for death. I heard him talking with Bryson, months ago, about this place. That Roarke had built it on the bones of martyred cops. That he would never rest until it, and Roarke,were destroyed. That if he died before he could avenge those who were lost, his legacy to his son was that duty."
"Pick him up." Eve swung to Darcia. "Have your people pick Hayes up."
"Already on it," Darcia answered as she switched on her communicator.
"He doesn't know." Belle got slowly to her feet. "Or he's not allowing himself to know. Douglas is convinced that Roarke's responsible for what's happened here. Convincedhimself that you're part of it, Lieutenant. His mind isn't what it was. He's dying by inches. This will finish him. Have pity."
She thought of the dead, and thought of the dying. "Ask yourself what he would have done, Mrs. Skinner, if he were standing in my place now. Dr. Mira will stay with you."
She headed out with Darcia, waited until they were well down the hall. "There should be a way to separate him from Skinner before we bag him. Take him quietly."
Darcia called for the elevator. "You're some ruthless hard-ass, aren't you, Dallas?"
"If Skinner didn't give him a direct order, there's no point in smearing him with Hayes, or making the arrest while he's around. Christ, he's a dead man already," she snapped when Darcia said nothing. "What's the fucking point of dragging him into it and destroying half a century of service?"