Page 135 of Obsession in Death

“Run it again, slow it down.”

Top of the head for a second, back for a few more. Shaking, clearly shaking all over and favoring her right arm.

“Nothing much we can use there. Let’s see Jamie’s.”

Roarke cued it up, then grinned like a boy, gestured toward the screen with his coffee. “Look at the resolution there, would you? Like crystal it is, and this from a unit he cobbled together himself.”

“It may be crystal, but she’s still smart enough, still has herself in control enough to keep her face off cam. Damn it. But yeah, yeah, she’s hurt. Nadine did a number on her with a fricking herbal lighter. Maybe a quick stop en route for an ice pack or a blocker, something, because there’s a time lag.”

“She might’ve taken that time to pull herself back together,” Roarke suggested.

“Yeah, just as likely. But she’s still shaking, still running on rage. Freeze it! There, right there, just for a second, she loses it. Master doesn’t work, and she shifts. A lot of shadows on her face, but we’ve got some of it—more than before. Can you clean that up?”

“With a bit of time and effort, yes.”

“Name your price.”

“Well now, I don’t work cheap.” He slid a hand around her waist, danced his fingers up her ribs.

“I’ll give you an IOU.”

“I’ll take it.”

“We’ve got more of her,” Eve noted. “Just a little more. She got sloppy, and we’ve got more.”

•••

She wept, wept and wept. Everything she’d wanted in the world, all her hopes, her dreams, her needs, shattered like glass.

How could it all go so wrong? She’d done everything, been so careful, so patient. So true. And now it was all for nothing.

There was no meaning now, no goal, no joy.

The skin on her wrist and forearm was raw and blistered, and the pain like hot knives cutting.

She could fix it, she knew how to fix it. But what was the point? Her life was over, wasn’t it? Her purpose gone, erased. It had been a false purpose, as the single person she’d depended on was false.

All lies, she thought. Everything a lie.

So she’d end it. No one would care; no one ever had. She had nothing and no one now. She knew how to end it—a dozen ways to die. She had only to pick one and slide away into yet another form of oblivion.

Empty death after an empty life.

She lifted her head, and there was Eve, looking back at her. She could hear the voice—and there was purpose.

Stop sniveling! Act! You know what to do. You’ve always known. All the rest was play. There’s only one way we can really be partners, be friends, be together. Are you strong enough, finally? Or are you still a coward?

“Don’t say that! Don’t say I’m a coward. I’ve killed for you. Look what she did!”

She held out her blistered wrist to the photo, and saw Eve sneer.

You wasted your time with her, with the boy. It’s always been about us. Clock’s ticking. The ball’s going to drop. It’s the end of the year, so out with the old. In with the new.

Hope, the first rays, broke in her heart. “Is it what you really want?”

It’s what has to be. You’ll convince me. You’ll do what’s best for us. Better get started.

“Yes, I’d better get started. I know what to do.”