Chapter Twenty
“The immaculate conception,” Kat mumbled to herself when she got into Ethan’s car after yet another time-wasting interview. The third one, to be exact.
The same answers over and over.
“Karen would never cheat on Greg.”
“Greg loved her. He would never have killed her.”
“The mother, now she was the one with the motive.”
And from what Kat knew, she agreed that the mother had motive. She still didn’t believe it, but she couldn’t cross it off the list. With a sigh, she started Ethan’s car. One more interview.
She glanced at the phone beside her, guilt rising, but she didn’t turn it on. Would they know by now? She glanced at the clock. Oh yeah. Definitely. And no doubt there’d be hell to pay. But it would be worth it. Even if she didn’t find anything useful.
Cursing the fact that she couldn’t use GPS, she pulled out the sheet of paper where she’d written down directions and held it against the steering wheel as she turned onto the street. She was heading to George Blake’s house, one of Greg’s roommates.
She made a couple wrong turns on the windy roads of the development and had to circle back, putting her behind schedule. All the homes looked the same, the exterior walls tan stucco, though the trim color varied from house to house. When she finally arrived at Blake’s house, he was walking toward his driveway. She parked behind him, blocking him in and quickly got out, meeting him just before he reached his car.
“Can I help you?” he asked, his tone impatient, not that it stopped him from giving her an appreciate look up and down, which Kat ignored. “I’m kind of in a rush.”
“This’ll only take a few minutes, I promise,” Kat said with a smile. “I’d like to ask you a few about Greg Radcliffe.”
He looked surprised. “Greg Radcliffe?” he repeated. “Has his case been reopened?”
“Some new evidence has come to light,” Kat evaded.
“What new evidence?”
“Another possible suspect.”
“Don’t tell me, his mother?”
“I really can’t say at this point. Do you have a few minutes?”
He glanced at his watch, then nodded, but didn’t turn back toward his house. “A few.”
They were going to do this here? In his driveway? She looked down the street. The houses were large and so were the yards. If Blake wasn’t concerned about being overheard, it didn’t matter to Kat. At least she wouldn’t be in the guy’s home alone. “You and Greg were roommates. Were you close?”
“We were. Greg was a good guy. Compassionate. Always helping people.”
“What about Karen?”
“I liked Karen. She was sweet.” Blake glanced at his watch. Pointedly, she noticed. “It was a tragedy, what happened to them. They didn’t deserve that. Neither one of them. I really need to go—”
“I know about the affair. So why don’t you just answer a few questions, and I’ll be out of your hair.”
Long minutes past before George finally spoke. “What do you want to know?”
“Who was she cheating with?”
“I don’t know. The second Greg left, she turned up at party, cozying up to another guy.”
“Where was Greg?”
“Out of town. It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. He’d already left for the holiday. There were a ton of parties on and around campus. It was the last break before finals began. Everybody was out having a good time. Even her.”
“She left with the other guy?”
“Yeah, but I don’t know who he was. A jock looking guy. Maybe someone from the football team.”
He was lying. She knew it but didn’t press the issue. Not yet. “Did you see her before she was with him? With girlfriends, maybe?”
“I only noticed her when I went to get another beer.”
“Did you tell Greg?”
“Not right away. I was drunk, couldn’t be sure. I graduated in December, wasn’t on campus anymore, but I ran into him at a bar about a month later. He was with his friend, drowning his sorrows about their break up. It was pathetic, so I finally asked why he was still mooning over a girl who’d cheat on him.” He shook his head. “Apparently, she never told him. He went nuts, tried to say she’d never do anything like that. He ran out of there so fast, his friend with him. Next I heard, they were back together. Greg and I never really talked after that. We’d say hi if we saw each other out, but…” he shrugged. “You know how it goes.”
“You know they had a baby.”
“Yeah, I heard. I always wondered if it was his.”
“Who was his friend?”
“Thomas O’Rourke. They were best friends. Maybe you should talk to him.”
If only she could, Kat thought as she backed out onto the street a few minutes later. An affair. Karen Young had had an affair. She wasn’t sure why that came as a surprise. Maybe because she had started to think Anne Radcliffe was lying.
She drove out of the development, keeping an eye on her rearview mirror, Blake’s sleek black Jaguar behind her, breathing a sigh of relief when he turned in the opposite direction as she did.
Stopping at a convenience store, she went inside for coffee, bolstering herself before she turned the phone back on. As she expected, it nearly exploded with texts and voicemails, which she ignored, instead calling Ethan.
“Seems our phones got switched this morning,” Ethan growled into the phone.
“Yeah, I just noticed—”
“Save the bullshit, sweetheart. What the hell are you doing?”
“Getting my nails done?”
“Get your ass to the courthouse, Katherine. And I mean right fucking now.”
Katherine. Only the second time he’d ever called her that. “Come on, Ethan,” she pleaded. “I have to—”
“Now,” Ethan interrupted. “If you’re not here within an hour, I’ll call The Devil, who’s been blowing up your phone, by the way, and have him pick you up.”
“No.”
Kat could almost feel Ethan’s anger coming through the silence that suddenly filled the line. “Excuse me?”
She resisted saying something childish, although ‘you’re not the boss of me’ was on the tip of her tongue. But she was sick and tired of overbearing men. Yeah, she got it, they were trying to keep her safe, but she was a trained investigator for crying out loud. Didn’t matter that she’d resigned from that position. “I said no. I’ll see you later.”
“Don’t you dare—”
Hang up? Too late, she thought, powering off the phone before he could threaten her again, knowing he wouldn’t be able to track her. She’d worry about the consequences later. For now, she had to get back to New York and try and make a dent in the rest of the interviews she had scheduled.
It took her almost twice the amount of time. Just in case they’d managed to track her, she’d taken long, winding back roads. Finally arriving back in the county bordering hers, she debated her next step after crossing out the last two interviews on her list. Another one of Greg’s roommates, but they’d only been roommates since January, apparently taking Blake’s spot. He didn’t really know Greg or Karen. And the last one, the man’s ex-wife had answered the door, telling Kat if she found him, he owed a mountain of back child support payments. And then she’d slammed the door in her face.
Pulling into a fast food restaurant, she went in, bringing her laptop with her. She opened it up after ordering a milkshake, connecting to their wi-fi before skimming through the documents she’d scanned into her computer yesterday. Before Alex had come to take them away. Because she’d known it was coming. And it felt pretty damn good outsmarting Alex.
She wanted to interview Jessica Adams again. Not smart, at least not today. Instead she made a list of people she still wanted to contact. Because she had a feeling this would be her last day of freedom for a while. Searching Donna Henderson, the one died a couple weeks ago of a heroin overdose, Kat found the obituary. She was survived by her three children, two sons and a daughter, along with a few grandchildren. Finding the restaurant’s website, she wrote down their number, intending to make a reservation for the day after tomorrow.
Because tomorrow, she’d be at the senator’s party. Which reminded her that Genevieve Harrington hadn’t called her back. She Googled Channel 6 News and sent off a quick email when she couldn’t find a direct number, marking it urgent. And lastly, she dealt with the picture.
When she was done, she glanced at the time, wondering if she should just go home and face Stephen’s wrath or go to the courthouse and face Ethan’s. Who would be the lesser of two evils?
Neither, she decided. And she’d rather get it done and over with. In the courthouse parking lot, she turned on Ethan’s phone, once again ignoring the texts and voicemails. She called Angela Jones to ask about any parties Karen may have went to. Angela told her Karen didn’t go to parties that often because her mother had died from a drug overdose. And she’d never go alone.
She hated phone interviews, Kat thought when she hung up. It was so much easier to brush off the questions. She called the restaurant and made a reservation, then she called Jen.
Next, she called Jen.
“Hi, Ethan!” Jen answered on the first ring.
“It’s Kat. I have Ethan’s phone. Long story. I hate to rush, but I need a favor.”
“Anything.”
Over the next ten minutes, she outlined exactly what she needed from Jen. When she was done she was met with silence on the other end of the phone. “Say something!” Kat finally said.
“You sure about this?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. Just wait for my go ahead. And I gotta go. Ethan’ll be sending out the cavalry any minute.”
“No way. You want that favor, you better fill me in.”
In between finishing her milkshake, she filled Jen in on everything between her, Stephen and Ethan. But hearing it all spelled out made it sound so…sordid, she thought.
You’re just like your mother, you know.
Out of nowhere, the judge’s words came back to her. She glanced out the windows, suddenly feeling watched but nobody seemed to be looking in her direction. The hair at the back of her neck began tingling, and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to be inside the safety of the courthouse.
“What?”
“I…I’m just like my mother,” she repeated as she got out of the car and locked it, still scanning the area. And that ended so well, hadn’t it?
“No you’re not! And it’s not the same thing. At all. Besides, Stephen and Ethan aren’t going to kill each other.”
Kat cringed. Sometimes, she wasn’t so sure.
“You’ll figure it out. Just give yourself some time. You’ve been in love with Ethan since you were seventeen, Kat.” Jesus, was it that obvious? “And Stephen, you’ve been mooning over him for the past month. How do you feel about him?”
He made her feel alive. And there was no doubt she wanted him with every fiber of her being. Was that the same as love? Or was she confusing desire for love? What would happen when the passion faded? “I—” Want him desperately, Kat thought. “I’ll call you back later. I’m about to face one of them.”
“Good luck.”
Kat tried to smile as she hung up, but the fear that she was being watched wouldn’t leave. The media was out in force, milling like ants all over the courthouse steps. At least the picketers demanding Stephen’s job seemed to have given it a rest. For the moment.
Grabbing her sunglasses from her bag, she crossed the street. There was no way to avoid the press. Unlike the last time when she’d been able to slip by, it seemed as if they were ready for her, ambushing her before she’d even finished crossing the street, firing question after question. But it was the last one that she heard above all the others.
Are you pressing charges against the Chandlers?
“No comment,” Kat repeated as she ran up the stairs. Or tried to. Before she knew what was happening, they’d circled like vultures, leaving no escape. “Let me through,” she demanded, forcing her voice to sound firm and in control. But inside she was trembling, transported back six years as cameras were shoved in her face, her ears buzzing. It was too much, especially after last night’s video.
And just as she felt everything go black, Ethan was there along with a deputy from the sheriff’s office, clearing a path. The media went crazy, firing more questions at Ethan, each reporter louder than the last. More reporters swarmed the cavernous lobby of the courthouse, but Ethan whisked her into a conference room, shutting the door behind him.
Silence. Blessed silence.
“I told you to use the sheriff’s entrance,” Ethan said softly, looking concerned.
“When?”
“I texted after you hung up on me.”
“Oh.” She hadn’t checked the texts.
“You alright?”
She took a deep breath. “I will be. Just give a minute.” She was shaking, she realized. She’d forgotten how bad it could get, being hounded by the press.
“Unfortunately, I don’t have a minute. I need to be in court.”
Kat nodded. Her fingers still trembled as she reached into her bag and pulled out Ethan’s phone. He took it, giving hers back, but they didn’t switch the cases as she’d done this morning.
“Not cool, what you did today.” He paused, glancing up at the camera in the corner. “On so many fucking levels.”
Kat shrugged. “What else was I supposed to do?”
“Damn it, Kat. Alex is ready to throw your ass in jail,” he hissed.
Kat finally looked up at him, taken back by how pissed off he was. He looked…intimidating. She didn’t think he’d ever looked so pissed. He towered over her with his hands on his hips, glaring at her.
“You want to explain where you were?”
“Not really.”
Her answer only seemed to piss him off more. He opened his mouth, interrupted when the door opened. And Kat nearly groaned when Alex walked in. “You’re needed in court,” he said to Ethan, ignoring Kat.
“We’ll finish this conversation tonight. Make sure you’re home.”
“Oh, she will be,” Alex answered for her.
“The Devil, Katie? Really?” Alex said the second they were alone.
“It seemed fitting.” She’d changed his name in her phone. Childish, she knew, but whatever. “It was either that or The Warden.”
He looked her over and his expression seemed to soften. “They got you?”
“I’m fine.”
“You won’t be.”
And with that ominous statement, he grabbed her hand, leading her out of the courthouse using the sheriff’s entrance. Which held the county jail across the alley. And her heart stopped in her chest. Was he really going to arrest her? She dug in her heels, forcing Alex to stop. He looked back, his expression filled with confusion. But it didn’t take him long to figure it out.
“I’m not arresting you, Katie.”
And slowly her feet began to move. He kept his grip tight on her hand, no doubt worried she’d run, pulling her into the far corner of a café. “You’re taking me to lunch?”
Alex ignored her, plopping her into a chair before he went to the counter, coming back a few minutes later with two coffees and two cookies the size of her head. He pushed one of each over to her.
“What are we doing?” she asked.
“Waiting for Stephen, but it’ll be a bit and I don’t trust myself to be alone with you right now.”
Guilt started prickling up her spine as they sat there in silence. A silence that stretched taut until she thought she’d burst. Finally, she felt Stephen’s presence and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Alex,” Stephen said. He sounded pleasant enough, but she didn’t glance up at him, was too worried about what she’d see. Alex stood, whispered something to Stephen before he left.
“You get off having me under your thumb?” she asked, finally looking up when Stephen didn’t sit in Alex’s vacated seat.
He leaned down, placing his mouth against her ear. “I get off when I’m buried deep inside you.” And when she sucked in a breath, he laughed, standing back up. “But yes, I feel better when I know you’re safe,” he said seriously, his tone and the look in his eyes taking the bitchiness out of her. “What was so important about going off the grid today?”
“Nothing.” She took a sip of her coffee, watching him. He was taking this rather well. Better than she expected. Especially since she could still tell he was pissed. “Do you want coffee?” she offered, giving him a brilliant, albeit somewhat nervous, smile.
He growled. Actually growled. “We’re leaving.”
And if it wasn’t for the other customers whose attention was suddenly focused on them, Kat knew he would have dragged her out of there. “I’m sorry.” For forcing him to come in here, where people would recognize him, talk about him after they left. And she was suddenly aware of the silence. She crumpled her cookie wrapper into ball, shoving it inside her empty coffee cup. Standing, she pasted a smile on her face as she looked up at him. One she hoped didn’t look false. “I’m ready.”
With his hand on the small of her back, he walked her out of the café, leading her to his mother’s car. She glanced across the street where she’d parked Ethan’s car, hoping they weren’t going to take the keys away from her. Still, she got in when Stephen opened the passenger door, knowing they were being watched. And she swore she could hear the fake clicks of camera phones every damn step of the way.
“What the hell?” Stephen hissed as soon as they were on the road. “Do you realize the hell you put me through. Put us all through? I was worried every fucking minute of the day that something was happening to you and I had no fucking idea where you were!”
“I can take care—”
“Really, Kat? What you did today was irresponsible and unprofessional. How many houses did you go to? How many people did you talk to, any one of them a possible killer? You went without backup, without a weapon, without anybody knowing where you were!”
Kat cringed. When he put it like that. “You’re right. I didn’t look at it that way. I won’t do it again.”
Stephen looked over at her in shock as he stopped at the sign. He didn’t trust her, she could tell. Not that she blamed him.
“Do you not trust my brothers to get me out of this?” he finally asked as he turned onto Route 23. “Because I can’t imagine why else you’d go off like that.”
“Of course I do.”
“Then what the hell was today all about?”
Proving Emma wrong…about everything. Finding Emma’s killer so Stephen wouldn’t end up in prison for a murder he didn’t commit. Even though she’d told them everything yesterday, she wasn’t sure Alex would follow up, because she didn’t know what they were investigating. So what if the leads he was following turned out to be wrong?
And what if hers were wrong? Today she’d felt like she was on a wild goose chase, basically learning nothing apart from Karen’s affair. Pulling Alex and Xavier from their own leads could end up in a disaster. With Stephen paying the ultimate price. “Nothing.”
Stephen pulled into a parking lot and shut off his mother’s car, turning toward her. He sighed, the sound heavy. Exhausted. “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“Then don’t.”
He glanced over at her. “Maybe if I explain…You were nearly killed six weeks ago. And honestly, we all feel a little responsible for that.” He held up his hand before she could interrupt. “Feel responsible for you. Whether it makes sense to you or not, that’s how it is. And now you’ve been pulled into another screwed up investigation because of us. Because of me. Just stop and think about how we’d feel if something happened to you.”
And that put everything in a whole new perspective. She couldn’t find words, but the lump in her throat wouldn’t allow her to say them anyway, so she just nodded when she couldn’t take his piercing gaze any longer.
“And one more thing…”
What now? She glanced back at him again when he didn’t continue.
“About this morning.”
Oh God. She didn’t want to think about this morning, waking up in between Stephen and Ethan. She’d shoved those thoughts away all day. Ruthlessly.
“You left me in bed with another man!” he hissed.
Kat laughed. She couldn’t help it. Laughed until tears filled her eyes, imagining the shock and disgust they must have both felt.
“It isn’t funny.”
“Oh my God, it really is,” she managed to gasp. She wiped her eyes, still couldn’t stop laughing. “I wish I could have seen it.”
Stephen shivered in horror, but apparently her laughter was contagious because he smiled at her. “Don’t ever, ever do anything like that again.”
“Hey, I had no part in that—”
But Stephen was listening anymore. He got out of the car and went around to open her door. She finally became aware of their surroundings. They were in a restaurant’s parking lot, still pretty empty at this hour. “What are—”
“Dinner. It’s finally occurred to me we’ve never even gone on a formal date.”
Kat choked back a smile. A date. With Stephen Chandler. This beautiful man who stole her breath and set her body on fire. “It can hardly be considered a date when I’m your prisoner.”
Holding his hand out to her, he said, “Miss Collins, I would be honored if you’d have dinner with me.”
Kat put her hand in his and stood. “You didn’t phrase that as a question.”
“That wasn’t cheesy enough for you?”
“You didn’t ask!”
“Would you please do me the honor of having dinner with me?”
“Better, but—”
“Kat,” he growled. A sexy growl this time, sending a shiver through her.
She stood on her tiptoes, a smile on her face as she pressed her mouth to his. “I’d love to.”