"Interlude in Death" was originally released in the Out of This World anthology, which also included stories by Authors Laurell K. Hamilton, Susan Krinard and Maggie Shayne.
Plot Summary[]
From Penguin Group:
In early spring of 2059, Lieutenant Eve Dallas is called off planet to face a grueling ordeal - giving a seminar at the largest police conference of the year, to be held in a swanky resort. A resort which just happens to be owned by her husband, Roarke, of course.
Even though Eve can't quite see it that way, it's supposed to be at least partly a vacation. But work intrudes in the form of a bloody homicide, and Eve is off and running. The case is complicated by Eve's personal history with the victim - and by the killer's history with Roarke. As danger closes in and the body count rises, Eve must find a way to stop the cycle of violence and revenge, and shove the past back where it belongs.
Map[]
This story takes place entirely on the Olympus Resort, so there is no map.
Timeline[]
Approximate Story Start Date: Early Spring 2059
Setting: The Olympus Resort where all the gang are attending the Interplanetary Law Enforcement and Security Conference.
Day 1[]
Chapter 1[]
- Eve is drafted into attending the Interplanetary Law Enforcement and Security Conference off-planet, and giving a seminar.
Chapter 2[]
- Eve, Roarke, and the gang attend the conference’s cocktail reception.
- At the reception, Eve is approached by Bryson Hayes, adjutant to one of the guest speakers, former Commander Douglas R. Skinner. Hayes informs her that Skinner would like to speak with her.
- Eve meets with Skinner, who offers her Captain's bars in exchange for her helping him put Roarke away. (17)
- Eve promptly refuses, beating up one of Skinner’s bodyguards in the process.
Chapter 3[]
- First victim is found: Reginald Weeks, the bodyguard Eve had pounded on earlier, in the hotel stairwell, beaten to death.
- Darcia Angelo, Chief of Olympus Police, asks for Eve’s help in solving the crime. (25)
Chapter 4[]
- Eve starts to suspect Skinner. She and Roarke look into Skinner’s background.
- During her investigation of Skinner, Eve finds out that Roarke’s father, Patrick Roarke, was Skinner’s “weasel” in an illegal arms op. Patrick Roarke turned on Skinner, informed the arms cartel of the impending bust, and though the cartel was eventually brought down, 13 cops were killed, 6 wounded and Patrick Roarke slipped away. The first victim is the son of one of those killed. (35-36)
Day 2[]
Chapter 5[]
- Eve informs her team of Patrick Roarke’s double-cross of Skinner and informs them she's focusing her efforts on him. (42)
- Darcia Angelo arrives after the team breaks up, but it's unclear if Eve told her about the Roarke connection to Skinner. I assume so since Angelo seems to know about it later. But, I couldn't find that particular conversation in the book anywhere.
- Roarke visits Skinner and is told that since Patrick Roarke was trash, his son is too, and needs to be put away.
- Roarke tells Skinner to leave his family (i.e., Eve) alone. (“You step back from my wife. Step well and cleanly back, or you’ll find the taste of me isn’t to your liking.”) (44)
Chapter 6[]
- Feeney finds a lead on a Zita Vinter, whose father was was killed during the op that Patrick Roarke was involved in.
- Vinter is a security guard at the hotel, whose shift was at the exact time Weeks was killed. (50)
- Eve and Roarke pay Vinter a visit and are greeted at the door with a bomb.(55)
- Inside the room, they find Vinter dead of an apparent self-termination.
Chapter 7[]
- Peabody outlines for Detective Angelo why Vinter’s death was most likely not a self-termination, but a homicide. (58-59)
- Later, Eve and Angelo decide to question Skinner’s wife during a “Ladies' Tea.”
- Eve informs Mrs. Skinner that Vinter is dead, which upsets her, as Vinter was her and her husband's goddaughter. (64)
Chapter 8[]
- After the ladies' tea, Eve, Angelo, Peabody, and Mira go out for a drink.
- Angelo informs Eve that Skinner made references to her and Roarke during his keynote address. Peabody confirms. (67)
- Eve crashes Skinner's seminar on tactics and asks him some pointed questions that get him and his right hand man, Hayes, all riled up. (70)
Chapter 9[]
- Eve visits Skinner's wife. (73)
- During the course of that conversation, Eve realizes that Hayes is Skinner's son by a different woman.
- Mrs. Skinner hints that Hayes may have taken on the task of bringing Roarke to justice in order to prove himself to Skinner.
- Eve asks Angelo to pick Hayes up for questioning.
- Before they can pick Hayes up, he bolts. (78)
- A heated chase ensues through the hotel lounge, where Eve leaps over the bar, sending expensive bottles of liquor crashing, through the kitchen where laser blasts set off a fire and kill a droid.
- Hayes eventually escapes out a back door, blasting the locks to seal them so he can't be followed.
- A manhunt ensues for Hayes.
Chapter 10[]
- Since Eve is unable to host the seminar she was scheduled for, she orders Peabody to do it for her. (83)
- In the process of looking for Hayes, Eve and Roarke cover just about every square inch of the Olympus Resort.
- At 3 a.m. they give up and go to bed.
- Roarke dreams about having found his father dead. (84)
Day 3[]
- The next morning, Eve and Roarke discuss Roarke's father. Roarke wonders who it was that killed Patrick Roarke.
- Eve calls Darcia Angelo to get an update on the manhunt for Hayes. He's still at large.
- They decide to go talk to Skinner and see if he might know where his son is.
- Skinner doesn't know where Hayes is, but tells them he feels that Hayes might try and assassinate Eve instead of Roarke, "to take away what his target cherishes most." (87)
- After saying this, Skinner collapses. Eve calls Dr. Mira.
- Eve decides then that she will give her seminar after all, to try and draw Hayes out.
- Right after Eve says this, Hayes appears in the corridor of the hotel.
- Eve and Roarke chase after Hayes.
- They catch him in a stairwell.
- Hayes tells them they were to be his last gift to his father. Roarke in a cage, Eve in a coffin. Then Hayes asks Eve, "Why the hell aren't you where you're scheduled to be?"
- Eve makes the connection that Hayes meant to hit her at her seminar. Realizing Hayes likes explosives, Eve is now fearful for Peabody's life, and races to the conference room.
- Entering the conference room, Eve manages to knock Peabody away from the podium which has been rigged with explosives. Roarke is right behind Eve and throws his body over both she and Peabody a second before the podium explodes.
- Peabody has a slight concussion and passes out.
- As the med-techs take care of Peabody, Angelo walks in and tells Eve and Roarke that Hayes is in custody, and will more than likely end up in a psych hospital rather than a jail cell.
- Eve and Roarke start to leave the conference room and are met by Mira who tells them that Skinner has died.
Memorable Quotes[]
"Interlude in Death", page 90:
- Eve: "You okay?"
- Peabody: "Think so. 'Cept you have two heads, Dallas, and one of them is Roarke. It's the prettiest."
Character List[]
List of Main Characters Appearing in this Book[]
List of Secondary Characters Appearing in this Book[]
List of Recurring Characters Appearing in this Book[]
List of Minor Characters Appearing in this Book[]
List of Peripheral Characters Appearing or Mentioned in this Book[]
- Leward
- Patrick Roarke
- Silas
- Richard Troy
- Carl Vinter
- Marshall Vinter
- Zita Vinter
- Reginald Weeks
- Thomas Weeks
Deaths[]
| Victim | Cause of Death | Weapon | Perpetrator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reginald Weeks | bludgeoned to death | metal bat | Bryson Hayes |
| Zita Vinter | suicide drugs | drugs in wine | |
| Ret. Cmmdr. Douglas Skinner | suicide | drugs | voluntary suicide |
Trivia[]
Template:InterludeTrivia
- We learn Roarke's ID number is 151 Level A on his Olympus Resort.
Other Covers
| US Cover for the 3 Anthology Titles | US LP Cover for the 3 Anthology Titles | German Cover for the 3 Anthology Titles | German Book Club Cover for the 3 Anthology Titles | Hungarian edition cover | 
|
Brilliance Audio unabridged for the 3 Anthology Titles |
| US Cover for the 3 Anthology Titles | US Large Print Cover for the 3 Anthology Titles | German Cover for the 3 Anthology Titles: "Midnight," "Interlude," and "Haunted" | German Book Club Cover for the 3 Anthology Titles: "Midnight," "Interlude," and "Haunted" | Hungarian edition cover | Brilliance Audio unabridged edition cover | Brilliance Audio unabridged: "Midnight," "Interlude," and "Haunted" |
YANNI[]
- Darcia's Hair Color:
- The first description is of a statuesque brunette, but later in the chapter she flips her mane of glossy black hair[1]
Footnotes[]
- ↑ Interlude in Death, Chapter 3
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