“Hold up for a second. I should have said this before. I want to thank you both for your work on this case and for your discretion.”
Duncan tipped his head to Eve. “Thank her. I had nothing to do with it.” And before Lansing could argue the point, Duncan walked into the squad room, leaving the two of them alone.
Eve turned to Lansing. “The other day you said you’d always have our backs. Did you mean it?”
“Of course I did.”
“So why isn’t the department defending me in the wrongful death lawsuit?”
Lansing looked around, then lowered his voice to answer. “The department is behind you on this. I argued vehemently that we shouldn’t settle, that the son of a bitch was corrupt and a disgrace to the badge, and that representing you was the right thing to do. But in the end, it’s the County Counsel’s decision. I have no authority. They’ve settled a lot of cases that I wanted to fight in court.”
Eve didn’t believe him, but she knew it was true that it was the County Counsel’s decision, not his. “I feel like I’m being sacrificed.”
“You’re not. You’ll have the full weight of the department behind you.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“We’ll say you did nothing wrong.”
She looked him in the eyes. “So what I did was in policy?”
He shifted his gaze. “No, I wouldn’t say that. I’d say that you were diligently investigating a case and that your only motivation was uncovering the truth and getting justice for the victims.”
Now she had her answer. She was being sacrificed. “But you don’t condone my methods.”
He looked around again. “This really isn’t the time or place to discuss all the details. This will be settled before the case goes to court.”
“I won’t settle,” she said.
“Then I’m sure the jury will rule in your favor. The public loves you.”
He patted her on the shoulder and walked out. Eve didn’t feel reassured.
Eve spent the evening in her hotel room reading the Ronin script, which was an unsettling and surreal experience. There was nothing that could have prepared her for reading a fictionalized telling of her recent life, one that set her up as some kind of iconic detective hero.
The first time she read the script, all she noticed were the liberties that Simone Harper had taken with her life and with real events. But Eve knew some of that was inevitable when trying to compress months, and a lot of dull investigation, into an entertaining forty-four-minute show.
The second time she read it, she tried to accept that it wasn’t a documentary and judge if the story, in general, was true to how events actually played out. But she still kept bumping on the character of “Eve Ronin.” This Eve Ronin wasn’t her but some idealized and yet also deeply flawed and somewhat unlikable version of herself imagined by someone else.
Was this how people saw her? God, she hoped not, because this was not the woman she wanted to be. But at least she wasn’t portrayed as a martial arts superstar with blonde hair, big boobs, and a sports car. The question she had to ask herself was not whether this was a good series character but if this characterization of her was one that she could live with.
It wasn’t the character’s inexperience or procedural mistakes that bothered her, even if they weren’t factually correct. What bothered her was the heroine’s political gamesmanship and, in particular, her ridiculous heroism, blindly running into danger without a second thought. This Eve Ronin felt no fear. Her heroics seemed overwrought, as if written for a bombastic orchestral score. All of that would have to be toned way down. But, overall, after four readings, Eve wasn’t as troubled by the script as she thought she’d be. She could work with the writer on a rewrite that might not be an accurate reflection of who she was, or aspired to be, but at least would be an image she could live with, if not necessarily live up to.
Eve called Linwood’s mobile number, which she found on her phone from the multiple times he’d tried calling her after the shoot-out story broke. He answered after one ring.
“Stop hounding me with all of these calls,” he yelled. “You’re not my only client.”
“I’ve only called twice in the last two days.”
“I’m being sarcastic. Where’s your sense of humor? That’s two more times than you’ve ever called me before. I’m in shock. Have you read the script?”
“I have and I think it’s okay for now.”