Page 154 of Concealed in Death

“I’m packing. I can do it myself.”

“I need to ask you some questions.”

“Dr. Gibbons asks the questions.”

“So do I.”

“Are you a doctor?”

“No, I’m the police.”

“Uh-oh, somebody’s in trouble!” He grinned at his brother as if they shared a joke.

“I’m going to read you your rights. Do you understand about rights?”

“It’s all right if I have dessert first sometimes, as long as I eat the rest.”

Oh boy, Eve thought, but read off the Revised Miranda. “Do you understand any of that?”

“I don’t have to talk to you unless I want to.”

“That’s right. And you can have a lawyer here.”

“I have Monty and Dr. Gibbons. They’re smart.” Carefully, he folded a navy blue sweater into the suitcase. “I can be smart if I think about it.”

“Okay. I want to talk to you about when you lived in New York. About The Sanctuary.”

“I can’t go there anymore. It’s not home anymore. This is home.”

“But when it was home, you knew Shelby. You remember Shelby.”

“She’s bad. She said she was my friend, but she was mean to me. She’s bad,” Monty said under his breath. “I want to pack for my trip.”

“You can talk to Lieutenant Dallas while you pack,” Gibbons said gently.

“Dallas is a city in Texas. Everybody knows that. I’m a city, too.”

“How was Shelby mean to you?”

“How come I have to tell you? Nash made me tell him. He said I had to tell him because he’s my brother. You’re not my brother.”

“You should tell her what you told me.” His voice thick with tears, Nash laid a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“You got mad. I don’t like it when you get mad.”

“I got mad in New York, a long time ago. I was upset, and I shouldn’t have talked to you that way. But I didn’t get mad today, when you talked to me, when you told me about Shelby, and—and the others.”

“Because we’re Nash and Monty. Brothers forever.”

“Why didn’t you tell Monty about Shelby, and the other girls, before?” Eve asked him.

“He was mad, so I didn’t tell. Then I had to come here, but Peter’s here, so that’s good. Then I forgot. They don’t have bad girls here, and I forgot about it. I don’t even dream about it anymore.”

“Why don’t you tell me about it, about Shelby?” Eve prompted.

“It’s all right to tell her, Monty,” Peter urged him. “She won’t get mad.”

“Shelby said she’d make me feel good a special way, a secret way. She did, but it’s bad. She’ll get in trouble if I tell you. I don’t tattle.”