“It’s not a risk because I do know him.”
“I’ll dredge it all up anyway.”
“Go ahead, and I’ll make it my mission in life to see you’re the one who pays the price. I’ll make it hurt, Magdelana. Beyond even what you’re afraid of right now.”
Before Magdelana looked away, Eve saw what she needed to see. Fear and despair with it.
“I warned you.”
“Yeah, back at you. Observation up.” Eve rose, opened the door.
“Record on,” she said.
She waited until Peabody took her seat.
“You’ve been read your rights, on record, and are aware of the charges against you.”
“It’s all a mistake. I was duped, used.”
“Yeah, we’ve heard that one before, right, Peabody?”
“If I had a dollar for every time, I’d be rich.”
“You are presently without legal counsel. If you can’t afford counsel, counsel will be provided for you.”
“Access to my funds has been cut off, and I’m well aware how useless public defenders are. I’m an innocent woman, and have nothing to hide. I trusted the wrong man. I gave him my heart, and he used and betrayed me.”
“You’re speaking of James Mulligan?”
“That’s correct. He swept me off my feet.” A little tear slid out of her good eye. “He promised me everything. I thought we were happy. I thought he loved me.”
“You were so happy you came to New York last December and stayed several days at Barrister House with Henry Barrister and shopped your ass off on his accounts.”
“Henry was a dear friend. I knew he didn’t have long to live, so wanted to spend some time with him. He was always generous.”
“You went by the name Sabrina Fancy.”
“His nickname for me.”
“No, the name on the false identification you used to pass through Customs. You flew on Barrister’s private, but you still had to pass through Customs on your return, considering the shopping haul. It was on that visit that Henry, suffering from cognitive decline, showed you the vault in his home office and the contents therein.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Do you think the staff didn’t notice the time you spent in there? With and without him. The time you spent in there with Joy Barrister?”
Magdelana let out a quick, frustrated sound. “Of course I spent time in there with him, but he never showed me a vault. And I’ve never actually met his daughter.”
“Really? That’s strange.”
“Playback time, Lieutenant?”
“Yeah, let’s roll that. You know where to start.”
Joy, sweetheart, you know you shouldn’t contact me at this point.
Magdelana’s lips trembled open, shut again firmly as the playback continued.
“The two of you seem chummy enough, for people who never met, to conspire to hire a paid assassin to take me, a police officer, out. To kill me.”
