Chapter Twenty-One #3
“Your client’s a monster.” Eve circled the table again. “One who will destroy, has destroyed anything that gets in the way of his unquenchable thirst for wealth, power, control. We got in the lab, Banner, the restricted one. The one where your company’s brewing up bioweapons.”
Lomax lifted a hand. “We need to—”
She rolled right over him. “We found out about Rainmaker, and what you intended to do with it. We found more. And by the way, counselor? I hope you got a really big, fat retainer, because all his accounts have been frozen.”
“I won’t tolerate this! You’re nothing, nothing but a cog in the wheel. I built the wheel. I am the goddamn wheel, and I can crush you like the nothing you are.”
“Mr. Banner.”
He shut up his lead counsel with a look.
“Right. You could handle me—or you intended to have Senator Hawley find the way to ruin me, discredit me—the annoying gnat. And Roarke, the Irish upstart. Where’s Senator Hawley now, Reo?”
“Currently being questioned by the FBI.”
“Yeah. I don’t think he’s going to work that for you. The people you’ve bribed, extorted, exploited, none of them are going to work that or anything else for you. You’ve got nothing left. No money, no power, no reputation built on blood and bullshit. And no freedom.
“You thought you were above the law. You’re not. Your lawyers have heard and seen enough in this room to know you’re going to pay, under the law.”
Banner stared at her, and the hate in his eyes was a living thing.
“Everything you are, you have, you love, I will take. I’ll wring it dry of the last drop of blood.”
Her shoulder twinged a little, but she planted her hands on the table, leaned forward. “Try.”
“I need to speak to my client.”
Eve straightened. “Sure. Dallas, Peabody, and Reo exiting Interview. Record off.”
When they stepped out, Peabody closed the door.
“Two things,” Eve began. “They’re trying to talk Banner into accepting a deal or they’re withdrawing from the case. Any bets which?”
“First, Ripski is checking to make sure we’re not bluffing about the FBI. When she confirms we’re not, they’ll try to explain the facts of life to their client.”
“He won’t listen.”
“Not at first,” Peabody put in. “It may take a few rounds, if they stick. I think if Lomax tells him they’ll have to pull out, explains he doesn’t have the funds to hire another firm of their caliber, or any, really, he’ll try for a deal.”
“He’ll want home confinement. Why not?” Eve shrugged. “He’s got that big estate, all the trappings. He’d figure he can sit it out, start pulling people back in to do his dirty work. But none of that’s going to happen.”
“No, it’s not,” Reo assured her. “In fact, you can leave this to me now. As long as Lomax is his attorney of record, he’s not going to let you talk to Banner until Banner faces some reality. Then it’s my court—ha—anyway.”
She glanced over. “Here comes Roarke, Feeney, Whitney, Mira, Jenkinson.”
Jenkinson gave Eve a nod, a fist, then peeled off to the bullpen.
Whitney took a long study. “You should have called for the MTs, on scene.”
“I was capable of getting home, sir, where I had a medic on tap.”
“And are you capable of standing for a media conference?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You were more than capable in there. All of you. If it’s applicable, you can inform the suspect and his counsel that coconspirator O’Brian is in custody. He’s fighting extradition, and will lose. He’ll be ready to be brought back to New York within forty-eight hours.”
“Excellent news, sir. I would like to send Baxter and Trueheart for that pickup.”
Whitney’s eyebrows shot up. “You’re going to send Baxter and Trueheart to Bora Bora?”
“They located him, Commander.”
“Your call. Give it twenty-four unless I tell you otherwise. Meanwhile, I’ve informed Kyung of your physical condition and appearance.
As media liaison he believes you go as you are, no attempts to cover the damage.
To show, in his words, the officers of the NYPSD risk, and will continue to risk, their own well-being to serve and protect the people of this city. ”
“He remains not an asshole. Sir.”
“I agree. I’ll see you and Detective Peabody there. You have ninety minutes.”
“Time enough,” Roarke said when Whitney walked off, “for another wanding, some icing.”
“I’ll see to that,” Mira told him. “I don’t doubt Summerset’s capabilities, but as a doctor, I’d like to make my own assessment.”
“Then I’m with you, Feeney.” But he skimmed a finger, gently, down the dent in her bruised chin. “Don’t be a baby.”
“He just had to say that, didn’t he? If you need me in there—”
“I’ll let you know,” Reo assured her.
In Eve’s office, Mira shut and locked the door. But not before Eve noticed the medical bag on her desk. Which meant this had always been the plan.
“Take it down to the underwear.”
“Oh, man.”
“Don’t be a baby.”
Eve rolled her eyes and obeyed.
“That’s a good brace. I’m going to remove it to examine and scan your shoulder. I wasn’t happy to see you had a morgue tech realign this.”
“She’s studying to be an MT. And it worked.”
“The brace, the icing, the wanding, doing a good job here. Can you lift your arm over your head? All right, good.”
She had Eve move her arm and shoulder in various ways, seemed satisfied enough to start wanding.
“How long for the brace?”
“Another eighteen hours, minimum. You tend to heal quickly.”
After wanding them, Mira laid a cold pack over Eve’s ribs, knees, hip before wanding her face.
“How painful, one to ten?” She pressed fingers to Eve’s jaw. “Be honest.”
“About three. It hit fifteen during. Maybe twenty. All of it, all over? Three to five. Maybe a couple sixes.”
“All right. You’re to avoid strenuous physical activity for another two days. If someone has to chase down a suspect, it’s not you. No exercising. If you have sex, Roarke does all the work.”