rage, or fear of exposure, yes, she could.”
Eve thought of the moment with the empty glass. Gwen, ready to throw it at her face. But one word of warning, possible repercussions, and she’d thrown it against the wall.
“However,” Mira went on, “she calculates. She’s had to, all of her life. Would she have killed, then left evidence of her presence behind? Highly, very highly, doubtful.”
“Yeah, well, I circled around to that same conclusion. If she’d followed the victim upstairs, killed her in that moment of rage, she’d have started thinking. And covering. She’d have taken the vic’s ’link, the sheets, the glasses. Wiped the place down. Or contacted somebody she could pay to do it.”
“Agreed. She could have, as you speculated before, contacted someone to solve this problem for her—pay Byrd off, threaten her, or, yes, eliminate her. That would have to have been someone she had power over.”
“Her parents are Natural Order hierarchy.”
“Yes.” Coolly, Mira studied the board. “And she would absolutely be capable of using that lever. She has no friends, would trust no one without having power over them.”
“McNab’s working on her damaged ’link. But she claimed to be glad we had it because we’d see she hadn’t contacted anyone.”
“Possibly another lie—they’re instinct for her. But just as possibly true. Her returning the next morning fits her profile. She would manipulate her lover—whom she would soon discard—and if her lover still resisted, she’d simply steal the ’link, which she believed was the only way to expose their affair.
“She’s a liar by nature, but this is truth: She’s desperate for you to keep this information from her parents.”
Studying the board, Eve nodded. “I believe that, no question. She gave us all the information this morning without tagging a lawyer. She can’t afford to hire another lawyer, to have someone else see the evidence.”
“Yes. She believed she had power over Merit Caine, and learned it only went so far. She can’t put her fate into another’s hands. I will say that if she’d succeeded with Merit Caine, met the terms of the trust—or manages to do so with someone else—she might consider finding a way to eliminate her parents. She’s capable of that sort of calculation. The money from the trust wouldn’t be enough for her after she claimed it. Nothing will ever be enough.”
Mira sighed into her tea. “Some of this is simply her nature, but that’s been enhanced, refined by the need to pay them back, those parents, for what they put her through. And their money is a tangible way to punish them.”
“It’s going to come out—who she is. She’s deluding herself right now that her parents won’t find out, and I’m using that. She’ll never get what she wants.”
“No, she won’t. Her promiscuity will ruin her, and her promiscuity is yet another way she’s striking back at her parents. Without intensive therapy she’ll never be happy or fulfilled. Regardless, I believe whatever part she played in Ariel Byrd’s death was innocent—so far as innocence goes.”
“Because someone has power over her, and she’s not aware of it.” Eve only nodded as she thought the same. “Her ’link echo.”
“I leave that to those who know more about tech and electronics than I, but it’s a sound theory. Natural Order has power over her, as she must remain in good standing with them, through her parents, to reach her goals. Wilkey is another malignant narcissist, and one with a messiah complex. A charismatic bigot who draws in his followers with words of harmony, peace, personal success, and contentment if they adhere to his vision of what is natural, what is order. And reject what he sees as unnatural and chaos. And often bastardizes scripture to his own ends.”
Mira set her empty cup aside. “He turns a blind eye and occasionally disavows any in his membership who commit violence. That, as is what he preaches, is—I like that word you often use—bollocks. Complete bollocks.”
“I’m going to try to have a conversation with him today.”
Mira took a moment to consider. “He will, if you manage to have that conversation, be respectful. He’s a careful man. But he will not respect your authority. In fact, it will offend him. You’re a woman, therefore less by nature and biology and the grand plan. He may speak with you out of curiosity.”
“You know a lot about him.”
“I considered doing my dissertation on cults, with Natural Order highlighted. I decided on serial killers. I’ll add that if you’re right about the technology on Gwen