Eve paused the playback. “You’re not in charge here. You’re never going to be in charge of anything again, unless it’s the prison laundry. This is one of several private conversations you had with Magdelana Percell, who is now charged with conspiracy to murder, with conspiracy in murder for hire of a police officer, with conspiracy to steal roughly half a billion in jewels from the vault in the office of Barrister House, among other things. All of which you were part of and had knowledge of before and after the fact.”
She glanced at Pinkney. “I’m sure your client hasn’t informed you of all this.”
“Voiceprints on clone ’links are hardly one hundred percent accurate.”
“Accurate enough, and she admitted to the private conversation, on the record, before you could stop her. Let’s finish this playback where your client and Magdelana consult on hiring a Timothy Kruger to kill me, and the subsequent conversation where your client agrees to wire the down payment for the hit. Then we can backtrack to the earlier ones where they conspired to hire a thief to take the jewels, discussed your client’s wish to eliminate her brother and use that burglary as cover to do so—and set up the thief for the murder.”
She shifted to Joy. “We’ve got it all, and to add a nice flourish, there’s the hundred million or so, and the gold bars, in your home office safe. We’ll be going over your books, and taking a hard look at where you skimmed from the company your father founded and left in your brother’s hands instead of yours.”
“I’d like to consult with my client.”
“Consult!” Joy turned on him. “I’m not paying you to consult. You assured me you would handle this quickly.”
“We’ll give you a minute.” Eve rose. “Dallas, Peabody, and Reo exiting Interview for attorney-client consultation. Record off.
“She’s going to fire him,” Eve said when they stepped out.
“That or he withdraws as counsel.” Reo shook her head. “She didn’t tell him a damn thing. He’d have been prepared for some of this if she’d told him. He’d have worked out a strategy to counter some of it. He’d already have a deal in mind to propose after we went a few rounds.”
“She’s scared,” Peabody put in. “But she’s more mad and insulted.”
“She’s already said too much on record. Admitting the ’link’s hers, private conversation.” Reo shrugged. “He knows even if he can get her off on the murder, she’s cooked on the murder for hire.”
Minutes later, Pinkney stepped out. “I’m no longer attorney of record on this matter. Ms. Barrister believes, against advice, she is more capable of handling this interview and its results.”
After a nod, he walked to the elevator.
“I’m going in hard,” Eve said. “She’ll break. The scared and the mad and yeah, the insult. No nice cop, Peabody. Any opening you see, you go hard.”
“Yippee!”
They stepped back in, Eve restarted the record.
“Let the record show Ms. Barrister has released her attorney. Do you waive legal representation?”
“What good is it? Idiots.” She tried to fold her arms, looked shocked to find them restrained.
“I won’t be treated this way, dragged from my home, thrown in a cell, forced to wear this hideous thing, accused of horrid crimes. Have you forgotten who I am?”
“No.” Eve slapped her hands on the table, leaned in. “You’re the woman who’s been stealing from her own company because she wanted more than she’d been given. You’re the woman who plotted for months to murder her own brother because your father favored him.”
“How dare—”
“Shut up. You’re the woman, the coward, who lured her sick brother out of bed on the pretext of a break-in, and when he stood at his desk, preparing to report it, you’re the woman who struck him from behind.”
“You can’t prove any of that. You—”
“Oh, bitch, please.” Eve rounded the table. “You’re the woman who, when she heard her sister-in-law coming, hid, and when Aileen saw the husband she loved bleeding on the floor, slipped away. I bet you counted off the seconds until you rushed in, all shocked.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
But Eve saw the fear growing.
“There was a break-in, there was a burglary! You said so yourself. The Royal Suite was taken from the vault.”
“Yeah. You and Magdelana had several conversations about it. We’ve got them from your ’link.”
“It’s not my ’link.”
