insisted. “I’m the best. I have trophies to prove it. Why shouldn’t they pay more, plenty more, for the best? You think they’d look like that if it wasn’t for me? Shit. Desk jockeys, socialites, rich bitches, and lazy bastards.”
“In other words,” Eve said, “clients.”
“That’s right. They’ve got good bodies because of me. They’d pay some sculptor to carve the fat off for twice what I get. I keep ’em honest, so I deserve more.”
“You didn’t settle for that, Ziegler. You didn’t settle for what you deserved.”
“Why settle? All that gets you is a dump of an apartment, crappy shoes, and some dumb-ass bimbo whining for more. No pain, no gain.” Smirking, he tapped his chest, either side of the knife, with his thumbs. “I got gain.”
“You’re a rapist.”
“Hell no! You!” He shouted over the music, jabbed a finger in the air at Martella. “Bump up those weights! Squeeze those biceps. Let me see some sweat! I never raped anybody in my life,” he said to Eve.
“You drugged them.”
“All natural product,” he insisted. “Just to help them relax, ease those inhibitions. Some women, they tell themselves they don’t want it, but they do. I just gave them a little help relaxing. And every one of them got off.” He grinned, cupped his cock. “I’m the trainer.”
“You’re an asshole. You raped them. And those women who were willing, though God knows why, you sold yourself to. Illegally.”
“It’s not selling to take a nice tip for exceptional service. They got off, didn’t they? So what if they gave me a few bucks?”
“Others you blackmailed.”
“So you say. Somebody offers me a few bucks to keep my mouth shut, why shouldn’t I take it? I’m better than this place. I’m going to have my own place. You take money for what you do,” he pointed out. “You’re no different from me. Jesus, JJ, I want real push-ups, not those wussy girl excuses for push-ups. Burn it up a little.
They kept coming back, she thought. Copley, Quigley, the Schuberts, Robbins, Sima, Alla Coburn. All of them lifting, running in place, lunging, sweating.
And all of them watching Ziegler with hate in their eyes.
“They come back, but they hate you.”
“I ain’t in it for love.”
“For money, for sex, for what you see as power? It got you killed.”
“That’s not my fault. You’re supposed to fix it, so fix it.” He reached out, grabbed her arm, squeezed. “You need to build more muscle. I can help you with that. I can help you with a lot of things.”
“Keep your hands off me.” She yanked away, but he only grinned. Grinned as the blood from the shattered skull began to drip.
“What’re you going to do about it?” He grabbed her again. “Are you going to try to stop me like you stopped your old man?”
Her hand closed over the hilt of the knife. She felt the warm, wet blood in her hand, remembered, remembered how it sprayed and poured when she’d hacked and hacked.
He grinned at her while the blood slid between her fingers.
“If you had a chance to kill him now, you’d do it. You’d cut him to pieces if you had a chance to do it all over again.”
“No.” And God, dear God, that was a relief. “No, I wouldn’t. I’m not helpless now, not afraid for my life now. I’m a fucking cop.”
She shoved him back.
“I’m a cop,” she repeated. “And I’ll do my best by you.”
“I’m the best!” he shouted as she stepped down, walked toward the doors.
“You’re nothing. You’re worse than nothing. But you’re mine.”
She walked out, into the night. She looked down at her hands, found them clean.
She woke in the soft gray light of morning in the warmth of her own bed.
“It’s all right,” Roarke murmured, drawing her closer. “You’re all right.”
“I’m all right,” she repeated. “My hands are clean.” She held one up, turned it in the quiet light. “My hands are clean.”
On a half laugh, she shifted, found his eyes open and on hers. “What are you doing here?”
“I live here.”
“That’s right. Me, too. But what are you doing here when the sun’s up? Why aren’t you conferencing with Zurich or buying a solar system?”
“I’m sleeping with my wife on a Saturday morning.”
“The day of the week doesn’t mean squat in your endless quest for world domination. Could be you’re slipping, pal. Then where will I get my coffee?”
“I can always buy a solar system this afternoon if it makes