Finding Justice (17 page)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

C
AT
STARED
OUT
THE
CAR
window and swallowed the lump of
fear and anger stuck in her throat like a limpet to a rock. She had hurt him,
saying anything to throw him off the scent of how she really felt. He didn’t
deserve it but she was running out of ways to stop her feelings from gathering
momentum and making her believe her mum’s problem could be handled. That she
could be happy again.

She hadn’t come to the Cove for this—a relationship couldn’t be
on her agenda when her mum needed her the way she did. She’d come for Sarah, and
Jay needed to accept that and so did she. So, who was it running hand in hand up
the stairs with him last night and leaping onto his bed, embracing the moment as
if it was her last night on earth?

The remainder of the ten-minute journey to the station passed
in pregnant silence until Jay pulled the car into the parking lot and found an
empty space. He cut the engine.

“You’re right. We’re here for Sarah. Let’s focus on that for
the time being.”

Cat closed her heart as a heavy sense of loss weighed it down.
“The time being is not enough.”

“It is. For now.”

She met his eyes. “You’re not listening to me.”

“Because you’re not making any sense. Why is it so bad to enjoy
our time together while you’re here?”

“You want more than that.”

“I love you.”

Cat stared. Pain caught and pulled at her heart; the
reciprocating words danced on her tongue. Pursing her lips together, she trapped
them inside and unsnapped her seat belt. She dragged her gaze from his
beseeching brown eyes and pulled her handbag into her lap as guilt lurched
inside her.

“I can’t do this, Jay. I’ll end up hurting you.”

“I’ll take the risk.”

She shook her head and blinked back tears. “You’re lonely.”

“Aren’t you?” he asked softly.

She was. So much. “That doesn’t make this right. My life’s in
Reading, yours in the Cove. I can’t leave Reading and you can’t leave here.”

“Who says? If coming to Reading is what it takes, I’ll
come.”

Panic ripped through her. “No.”

“No?”

“No.”
Say something. Do something. He has
to stay away. For him, for me...for Mum.
“Just because you can’t find
a new woman in Templeton to seduce, it doesn’t mean you get to pursue the one
you had seven years ago.”

“You think that’s why I’m asking you to stay? Because I can’t
be bothered to find anyone else? It’s you. It’s always been you.”

She stared at him, her body leaning closer...

Sitting bolt upright, Cat fumbled for the door handle. She
couldn’t let this happen. She wanted him like she had before. Only this time,
that want might turn to need.

She yanked on the handle and leaped from the car. The cool air
was welcome against the steaming heat of her face. She flinched when his door
slammed shut. What was she thinking, sleeping with him last night? She hadn’t
thought. Her body had screamed for him as though she was dying and he was her
only hope of survival.

Not a single second of common sense had filtered through her
brain before or during—but after? After, everything came crashing in. He was a
suspect. Worse, she loved him, and feelings that strong were hard to fight. When
he had walked into the guest bedroom with a smile wider than the Sahara on his
face this morning, her bad decision slammed into her stomach like a boxer’s
punch.

“Go back to the cabin, Jay. I don’t want you here.”

“Cat, wait.”

She glared. “You’re a suspect. Don’t you get that? Go
home.”

She marched away from the car and stormed toward the station,
leaving him to do whatever the hell he liked. The last thing she’d come to the
Cove for was more emotional stress. She had it in sackfuls at home already. She
swiped at the tears that dared to fall. Damn him for making her think of the
life she might have lived if her dad hadn’t died and her mum hadn’t chosen to
slowly kill herself with the same thing that killed her husband.

“Cat—” Jay’s hand gripped her elbow like a vise, strong,
insistent and entirely capable.

She closed her eyes as the fear she didn’t have the inner
strength to fight him settled over her shoulders. “Jay, don’t. It’s not
fair.”

“Will you just look at me?” His tone was soft yet urgent. “The
last thing I want to do is upset you. All I want is for some good times to come
out of your being here.”

She turned around. “So do I, but this doesn’t feel like a good
time.”

“If Sarah hadn’t been killed, if I hadn’t been deemed a
suspect, maybe I would never have called you. But I needed your help. So did
she. Our friend is dead. Trying to lay her to rest is the hardest, cruelest
thing I hope either of us ever experiences, but it’s united us in a way nothing
else could. Why can’t you see that?”

Cat opened her mouth to protest but he pressed his hand to his
chest, imploring her.

“If you don’t want me, I’ll back off. But just promise me
you’re turning away because you want to and not because of something else.”

His pain and sincerity came off in waves. Another piece of
Cat’s heart splintered for Sarah, the girl who’d made her laugh until she
thought her stomach would split wide open. “I miss her so much.”

His gaze ran over her face, lingered at her lips. She hadn’t
answered his question. She knew it and so did he. After a moment, he took her
hand and pulled her into his arms. “Me, too. I know she’s watching our every
move, willing us on, not just in the investigation but in us, too.”

Cat closed her eyes and slumped against him. “Then why won’t
you just enjoy the time we have instead of pushing me for more?”

He eased her back. “Because I want more and so do you. I see it
in your eyes and I felt it in every part of you last night. Whatever problems
you’re dealing with at home, I can help. I won’t turn away.”

She stared. He was still a suspect; did he not see that? Did he
not understand what they had done? What
she
had
done? Cat’s heart picked up speed. If Bennett or Harris were to find out...

He smiled and brushed the hair from her eyes. “Good, no answer.
That means there’s hope you understand I’m talking sense. When you left that
last summer seven years ago, I didn’t think I’d never have another lasting
relationship or not think of you when I kissed another woman, but that’s exactly
what happened. So if you can’t give me more, I’ll learn to live with it, but
while you’re here, we’re going to make some memories. Good ones.”

She shook her head even though her heart longed for his. “It’s
a bad idea.”

“Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it then.” He took her hand,
raised it to his lips and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

The silence pressed down on her chest as their eyes locked and
his hungry, sexy gaze bore into hers, trapping her like prey. The scent of his
aftershave and that tanginess that was strictly Jay whispered between them. His
lips brushed hers and Cat leaned into him wanting more, her eyes closed...

“No.” She snapped her eyes open and pushed her hand against his
chest. “Go home. We’re not doing this here. I’ll come back to the cabin after
I’ve spoken to Bennett.”

He raised his hands. “Fine. Fine. You deal with Bennett. Show
him the letter. Do what you have to for Sarah. After that we’ll go and see
Marian and George. I’ll be here in an hour to pick you up.”

“No. If Bennett sees you here—”

“I’ll park along the road and you come find me. Then, when
we’ve done everything we can for Sarah today, you and I are going to talk about
us.”

Frustration burned and yearning for his kiss grew. “Fine.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. “See you soon.”

Cat stared after him as Jay headed back to his car and slid
into the seat. The engine roared to life and he left the parking lot, leaving
her feeling more alone than she’d felt since she arrived in Templeton. Drawing
in a breath, she turned and headed toward the open double doors of the station.
She needed to focus. She pulled the copy of Sarah’s letter from her bag and
tilted her chin. Police work. That she could control. That she knew how to
handle.

“Well, good morning, Sergeant.”

Cat halted at the sound of Inspector Bennett’s voice a few feet
away. She plastered on a smile. Crap. Had he seen Jay? “Good morning, sir.”

“I assume you’re here to see me?”

She straightened her spine and dismissed the lingering tension
left by her argument with Jay. “Yes, sir. I’ve brought something to show you.
Something I hope will further the investigation.” She held up the letter. “This
came to my home address in Reading.”

He glanced at the letter. “What is it?”

“A letter from Sarah.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “She wrote to you?”

“Yes, sir. The day she died.”

Color seeped up from the collar of his pristine white shirt to
his already ruddy cheeks. Cat cleared her throat.

“Sarah asked me to come here before Jay did. She knew she was
in serious danger and implicates her killer as being her lover. The thing that
makes Sarah’s letter so vital is the way she talks about him. He’s local, sir,
which means there’s a big possibility he’s still in the Cove, rather than
halfway around the world.”

A muscle jerked and jumped in Bennett’s jaw. “And you’ve held
on to this letter since you saw me three days ago?”

Cat met his cool gaze. Whether he was angry at her for
withholding the letter or the fact that not only Jay but now Sarah wanted her
there, she couldn’t be sure.

“Not at all, sir. She wrote it the day she died but it wasn’t
posted until five days ago, which means someone else put it in the mailbox to
me, not Sarah. Whoever that someone is would have expected me, or at least
waited to see if I arrived. Clearly, they had no choice but to mail it and
ultimately facilitate my coming here, or else risk being traced as a possible
suspect. I think someone else as well as the killer knew about this letter and
feared a paper trail leading us to his front door.”

“Hmm.” He took the letter from her hand and his brow furrowed
as he read the spidery script. “When did you get this?”

“This morning. My brother read it to me over the phone last
night and then emailed me a copy.”

He closed his eyes. “Jesus, Sergeant. Your brother has read
this?”

“He rang me from Reading telling me a letter arrived and
possessed the intelligence to realize if the letter wasn’t from Jay, it could be
from Sarah.”

He sighed. “All right, all right. It’s good he did.” His gaze
turned to the letter once more. “Well, we certainly haven’t identified any
boyfriends or close friends who could possibly be a person she would ‘leave the
Cove tomorrow for.’”

“Sir, I understand your feelings about Jay Garrett being
involved, but whether we like it or not he’s involved by Sarah’s invitation. He
has an alibi for the time of her death and I believe he can help. Why else would
she want the two of us here if the path to her killer wasn’t in some way
connected to us? She wanted our help. That must mean something to her and the
killer.”

Bennett snapped his gaze to hers, his face a closed mask.
Unreadable even to her, a trained detective. A civilian under arrest stood no
chance if he chose to turn up the heat. No doubt they would be quivering in a
molded plastic chair, but Cat dealt with scarier threats at home every day and
Jay was standing up to demons that belonged in hell. Bennett would be a walk in
the park...she hoped.

“Yes, Jay Garratt and his alibi,” Bennett murmured.

Cat frowned as Bennett’s face twisted with derision. “Sir?”

“We’ll get back to that in a second, Sergeant. First I want to
talk about what Miss Cole says in this letter implicating a lover. She had sunk
to such a low point in her life that she was involved in drugs. Since when have
you ever known a woman like that to have a regular boyfriend?”

Where was he going with this?
“Well, I—”

“There is no lover. If she was having sex, the man either paid
her or owned her.”

Annoyance stung Cat’s cheeks. “I disagree. Sarah was sober
enough to write me. If she says she had a lover, I believe her. One way or
another, we need to pursue this. I’ll ask around, see what I can find out and
let you know if and when I discover anything.”

“She admits to taking money.” He rubbed his hand along his jaw.
“Even says it’s somewhere on Cowden Beach.” His eyes met hers and Cat resisted
the urge to shiver. They were ice-cold. “Do you think she’s serious when she
says the name of the person she thinks capable of killing her is with the money?
That seems a very dangerous and stupid thing to do. Sarah Cole never struck me
as either.”

Cat stared. “Why would she say it if it wasn’t true?”

He shook his head. “It makes no sense, so I’m still going to
work on my theory Miss Cole was a runner for someone. The problem is, despite
bringing in every user and dealer we know of in the Cove, none of them are
squealing. Believe it or not, whatever their social differences, they liked her.
It seems the whole damn town did, yet no one is bringing us any evidence to help
find the son of a bitch who killed her.” His jaw tightened and he nodded toward
the station. “I’m going inside to get a team down to the beach as soon as
possible. I will speak to you again later.”

He moved to walk away and Cat took a step forward. “Sir?”

He turned. “What?”

“What about Jay?”

His mouth curved into a wolverine smile. “Ah, yes, Mr. Garrett
and his rock-solid alibi.”

Cat swallowed as trepidation tiptoed over the surface of her
skin but she kept her lips tightly closed.

“Garrett is an ex-addict who was hauled in and out of the
station several times before his father swooped in, cleaned him up and then
passed him a thriving business out of the kindness of his heart.” He narrowed
his gaze. “The
gentleman
you have decided to bring
in on an official investigation now lives in a five-bedroom luxury cabin at the
top of a hill that happens to have a full, unbroken view of the forest where
Miss Cole was found strangled.”