Apprentice in Death (25 page)

“Cute kid. Me, I'm not big on kids, but yeah, he's cute enough. And the puppy—he used to have a puppy, right? Looks like love there, the way he's hugging that stupid dog, the way the stupid dog's all cuddled in. I guess that's why she broke its neck and tossed it out the window at the kid's feet.”

“She never did that.”

“She absolutely did that—I bet you taught her how to break a neck, how to apply the pressure, how to work the angle. And she used it on a stupid little dog. Because she hates this kid right here, this cute, harmless
kid. She hates him because he exists. Just as she'd have hated your son, if you'd had one.
She's
all that gets to exist.”

“You don't know her!”

“I do.” Eve slapped her palms on the table, stood up, leaned in. “And so do you. Under it, you know. She hurt him. He was afraid of her. Your ex told you, but you didn't want to see it. Funk helps with that, helps you not see what you don't want to see. But you knew, you always fucking knew.”

“My client is addicted to a substance that—”

“Shut the fuck up!” Mackie exploded.

“Mr. Mackie, let me help you. Remember what we discussed, and let me do my job. I need to consult with—”

“I said shut the fuck up! What good are you? You're just like the rest of them, toeing the line, gaming the system. I don't need you.”

“I represent you, Mr. Mackie. Let me do my job, and—”

“You represent
you
. That's how it is. Now shut the fuck up and get out. I don't need you. I don't want you. I don't need anyone.” He lurched up, yanking on the restraints bolted to the floor.

Pratt jerked sharply, and the resulting fall from his chair saved him from Mackie's grasping hands.

“Sit down or be put down.” Eve straightened, slowly.

“You're a
liar
. He's in on it, too.”

“Sit down, or I'll put you down.”

“Try it.”

As Eve started around the table, Pratt scrambled up. He stayed out of reach, but Eve gave him props for not running for the door.

“My client is in withdrawal. He needs—”

“I'm not your client! Get the fuck out.”

“If you want him gone, you need to fire him, on record.” Eve spoke coolly. “You have to waive your right to counsel, on record. Otherwise, he stays.”

“You're fucking fired. I fucking waive my right to bullshit counsel. Come on, bitch, try me.”

“Love to.”

She easily dodged his restraint-hampered punch, took him down with a sweep of her feet. “Stay down,” she warned him. “You're in no shape or position to take me on. I'm going to give you the chance to reconsider firing your court-appointed counsel. Take a minute, Mackie. Pull yourself together, and consider.”

The trembling ran up his arms, quivered over his chest. “Get him out. The weasel tried to talk me into making a deal. You think I'd take a deal? Get him out.”

“That's pretty clear.” Peabody got up, walked to the door. “The suspect has terminated his counsel, and waived his right to counsel. I'd get gone, Pratt, before he puts your name on a list.”

Saying nothing, a bit green around the edges, Pratt retrieved his briefcase and left the room.

“Terminated counsel has exited Interview.” Peabody closed the door.

“Are you going to sit, or do I have you taken back to a cage?”

From the floor Mackie eyed Eve. “Your turn will come.”

“Yeah, sooner or later, but you won't be around to see it. In the chair, Mackie.”

He sat. The red splotches stained his face again, and his eyes had reddened more.

Eve took a document from the file, the blueprint of the school, pushed it toward him. “This is part of her mission. You can see where she's marked egresses, weak spots. You'd have taught her how.”

“No.”

“Mother, stepfather, brother. They came first. The hate, the rage, it goes deeper there. Then she'd be free of them, and she'd target the principal, the counselor, and the students she felt had wronged her or insulted her or were against her. You taught her how to hone those slights into crimes, you gave her the excuse to kill.”

“Lies.”

“You know better, but hold on to that if it helps you get through. You're looking rough, Mackie. I can authorize another medically approved hit if you need it to continue.”

“I don't need anything from you, you lying cunt.”

“Okay then. Let's go back to this.” She shoved a couple of Zach's photos closer. “She killed his puppy, and she means to kill him. He's in protective custody, for now. You know that can't last forever. And she'll wait, she'll wait as long as it takes unless we stop her, and she'll put a strike through his brain. He shares her blood, they share a mother. He could've been yours, and she'll wait as long as it takes.”

“She's got no reason.”

“She's got
every
reason.” Eve slammed a fist on the table. “He
took
from her. Didn't you help her justify using the skills you taught her to put down anybody who took from her? Some guy's driving down the street on a rainy day, and a woman runs out in front of him. He tries to stop, tries to swerve, but it's too late. Did he aim for her, Mackie? Did he get up that morning planning on killing her? Did he spend days, weeks, months, like you, working on the details? Did he tell himself he could take innocent bystanders, too, because they didn't matter? The kill mattered.”

“He killed her, and they did
nothing
.”

“So you target him, this guy who tried to stop, and you target the doctor and his office manager because her appointment ran over, and you target her supervisor, who gave her grief because she kept coming in late, wasn't doing her job.”

“She did her best!”

“Who says somebody's best is always good enough? What world do you live in? You target the lawyer
you
went to because he couldn't make it all better for you. And you use your daughter to make the kills because you're so fucked-up you can't make the strikes. Whose idea was it to take out more? Hers, I'm guessing. Hers because she wanted that power, that thrill. That practice. Practice so when she got to her own list, she could take out her mother and her little brother.”

His abused eyes twitched now. “We're going to Alaska.”

“She was never going to Alaska. What the hell does she want to go
to Alaska for? She's a fifteen-year-old girl from New York, and the city has everything she wants and needs. Targets galore.

“She'll kill this little boy, this cute little kid because her mother had the nerve to have another offspring. She won't get to him today or tomorrow, not next week, but in six months or a year, when he thinks he's safe again? When he's out playing with some friends, she'll wipe them all out, all those kids. Because she can, because you gave her the excuse, and you taught her how.”

“She won't.”

But his ravaged eyes cut away.

“You know she will. Maybe he'll be twelve when she comes for him. He and a couple of pals heading down to the arcade or riding airboards, or hanging in the park. And done! She ends them all. Just like she ended him.” She pulled Alan Markum's photo out of the file. “He and his wife, having a day together, their wedding anniversary. She was going to tell him they're having a baby. She never got the chance, like that baby will never have the chance to know its father. You did that, Mackie, you and Willow. You took that life on a fucking whim, and now another kid grows up without ever knowing its father. For what? So you can cover up killing a doctor who was busy bringing another life into this screwed-up world so his appointments ran late?

“You stole from them. From this pregnant woman, just like your wife was pregnant. By your rules we should execute you and Willow. You took the father from the child.”

“They took from me.”

“How did he take from you?” She shoved the picture closer yet. “How did Alan Markum take from you? He never met you, you didn't know him. What did he do to you to deserve death, to deserve never holding his son or daughter?”

“We . . . We had to protect the mission. Collateral damage.”

“That's it? That's what you taught her. So this boy, this kid on his
seventeenth birthday?” She tossed Nathaniel's photo on the table. “This boy whose mother loved him, who never did you any harm, he's just excess? His life means
nothing
?”

“We had to finish.” The tremors rose up in his voice now, and his eyes watered. “We needed justice for Susann. For Gabriel.”

“You needed blood, and Willow craved it. She craves the kill like you crave the funk. You gave it to her. You needed someone to blame so you made your list and fuck anybody who happened to be caught in her crosshairs. Now he is.” She tapped Zach's photo. “That's what you created. It's what you've fucking wrought.”

“She'll go to Alaska. Live free. You'll never find her.”

“She's not going anywhere. Don't you fucking get it?” Eve demanded as she sprang up, swooped around the table. “She's not done, and she won't be. Tell me, fucking tell me, if you weren't already thinking about other names. Who else screwed things up for you in your fucked mind, Mackie? The stepfather? Oh, I'd bet my badge he was on your next mission.”

She saw the flicker in his watery, ruined eyes. “He took your place. Lowenbaum. He pushed you out. Patroni. He didn't understand. Oh, yeah, you were already working all that out in your head. And she's like you. She's looking for blood, for blame. Your eyes and hands, Mackie. She's an addict, Mackie, just like you. Her addiction is death, and you gave her the first hit.”

“She's avenging—”

“Nothing!” Eve interrupted. “You broken down piece of shit, this isn't about justice. It's not even about revenge. It's about murder. It's about you giving her the green to kill whoever she wanted. That's what she's doing now. And this boy here, he's top of her list. Don't make me take her out. Look at me, goddamn you. Don't make me take her out, and don't think, not for a second, I'll hesitate to do that if she gives me no choice. Her life's in your trembling hands, because with or without
you, I'll find her. With or without you, I'll stop her. But without you, I may have to give someone else the green. Without you, she may never be sixteen.”

“You won't find her.”

“But I will. She can put me on her list if she hasn't already, but I'll find her first. She's a cop killer, Mackie, and every cop in this city is hunting her. Some of them may not wait for the green. You're not there to hold her back. You're not there to keep her level. She's already made mistakes, and she'll make more. She's fifteen, and she'll make mistakes without her father to help her. She's alone, and every target on your list and hers is out of range. She'll lose control, she'll hit another location, more collateral damage, and we'll end her. Then her blood's on you, Mackie. Your daughter's blood's on your hands.”

“No.”

“She disobeyed you already,” Peabody said quietly. “You told her to get out of the city. You'd have had a route plotted out, but she didn't take it. She didn't leave, didn't go somewhere safe to wait. Because she can't.”

“She can't,” Eve agreed, “because the missions, yours and hers, come first. As long as he's breathing.” Once again, Eve tapped Zach's photo. “She'll stay. And because she'll stay, I'll find her. Pray I find her before another cop does. I'll give her a chance to surrender. Pray she takes it.”

“She'll . . .”

“Die,” Eve said flatly. “Is there enough funk in the world to blur your vision on that one?”

“Get away from me.”

“Sorry, Mackie, time to get used to not getting your way. I don't have to get away from you. You've been arrested for conspiracy to murder, multiple counts, and you have confessed on record to same. Your life as you knew it is over. You'll live the rest of it being told where to go, when to eat, when to sleep, and every second of that in an off-planet cage.”

He looked at Eve now, with hate. “You want that for my girl.”

“I want your girl to live. You can believe that. I want her to live, Mackie. Do you?”

“She's my flesh and blood.”

“Does that matter to her? This little boy's her flesh and blood. Her brother. And if she could get him in her sights right now, he'd be in the morgue. Don't make me put her there, Mackie. Help me bring her in, don't make me take her out.”

“To live in a cage for the rest of her life?”

Eve let out a long breath, straightened, paced the room. Gave the slightest nod to the two-way mirror.

“That tells me you'd rather she be dead than breathing, so I'm wasting my time with you. Peabody, take this worthless fuck back to—”

She broke off, cursed under her breath, stalked to the door at the brisk knock. “What? I'm in Interview.”

“And I'm here to offer the subject of that Interview a deal.” Reo sailed in, set her briefcase on the table.

“Screw that. Let's take this outside, Counselor.”

“We're all here to protect and serve this city and its people. For the record, Reo, APA, Cher, now in Interview. The PA's office has a deal for Mr. Mackie.”

“I didn't ask for a deal. I told that worthless PD no deals.”

“He didn't ask for a deal,” Eve snapped. “Get out.”

“The deal involves Willow Mackie. Her future. Do you want a future for your daughter, sir?”

“I'm not helping you.”

“Then help her. I'm authorized to offer you this. If you give us information leading to your daughter's arrest before—and I stress
before
—she kills or injures anyone else, if she surrenders peaceably, we will agree to try her as a minor on all charges brought.”

“Bullshit, that's bullshit!” Raging, Eve gripped Reo's arm. “Outside, Reo.”

Reo simply shook Eve off. “Dallas, this comes from the top, and has been agreed to by your boss, and mine.”

“What kind of chickenshit, weaselly bullshit are you trying to serve here? She killed twenty-five people in cold blood. Dozens of others suffered injuries and trauma. She's no kid on a joyride, you gutless bitch.”

Reo turned steely. “And if you'd apprehended her by now, I wouldn't have to make this deal. If you can't find and stop a teenager, that's not on me. Bitch. Go on, put your hands on me again,” she warned when Eve took a step toward her. “You'll be off this investigation in a snap. Do your job, Lieutenant. I'll do mine.”

“Oh, I'll do my job. Peabody, we're out. We're hunting.” She wrenched the door open. “Better make that deal fast, because if I find her before the ink dries, she's mine. Dallas and Peabody, exiting the goddamn fucking Interview.”

She slammed the door behind her, rolled her shoulders, then bulleted to Observation.

“Quite a performance,” Roarke said. “I'm glad I got here just before curtain.”

Eve just muttered, “Come on, come on,” and stared through the glass.

“Explain ‘tried as a minor,'” Mackie said.

“You know very well that due to the severity of the crimes she's accused of, Willow Mackie could and would be tried as an adult.” All business now, Reo sat in the chair Eve had vacated. “She could and would be tried, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison, again multiple sentences. She would be transported to an off-planet penal colony, where she would spend, given current life expectancies, the next century.”

“Maybe I forced her to do it.”

“It won't fly, Mackie,” Reo said calmly. “You couldn't force her to complete the expert strikes with such accuracy. You weren't there last night when eighteen people were murdered.”

“I pressured her, influenced her. Brainwashed her.”

“You can try that, of course, but I can promise I'd rip that to pieces in court. I'd tear that to pieces,” she continued, “and have the evidence of her plans to kill others to help me do just that. She was not under duress. She was co-parented and has never indicated duress to her mother, to her teachers, to anyone. And, in fact, as Lieutenant Dallas learned through her investigation, she has her own list of targets.”

Reo paused to let it sink in.

“Despite all this,” she continued, “Willow Mackie is fifteen, and we will agree to these terms in order to save the lives of innocent people. It's a one-time offer, and the clock's ticking on it. As hotheaded as the lieutenant may be, she is absolutely correct. Willow Mackie will kill again. I suspect she'll do so very soon if not apprehended. If you help us prevent that, if she harms no one else and is apprehended peacefully, she will be tried as a minor and be eligible for release on her eighteenth birthday. She will, understand this, be evaluated physically and mentally. And she will have to agree to residence in a halfway house and counseling, with further evaluations, from her eighteenth birthday for a period of one year. Those are the terms. Do you wish to have a representative read the terms and discuss them with you?”

“I don't need anyone. Let me see it. Let me read it.”

“He's going to sign it,” Eve said, watching.

“You broke his confidence. And using the little boy,” Mira added. “That shook his trust in her. He's afraid for her, but not only afraid she'll be caught and stopped, even hurt. He's afraid of what she'll do without him to hold her back.”