Finding Justice (2 page)

The seconds passed like heartbeats before Jay spoke again.
“You’ll come? You’ll help me find the son of a bitch who did this?”

Her mum shot to the forefront of her mind on the eternal
elastic band connecting them. She snapped her eyes open. “I can’t.”

Panic poured through her veins. She couldn’t leave. She could
never leave. “You don’t understand—”

“Cat, please. We have to find out what was going on with Sarah
before she died. Who would kill her? Everyone loved her. You can’t think I would
do this. I loved her. You know that.”

Love. What was love to any of them?
Tears seared the back of Cat’s eyes as she strode from the bedroom onto
the landing. “You have to let the police do their job. Templeton Cove is miles
from my jurisdiction. There’s nothing I can do. I’d help if I could, but—”

“Cat, please. It’s my fault.”

Her heart turned over and she ground to an abrupt stop. “What
do you mean your fault?”

“I didn’t kill her, but I didn’t get to her quick enough to
save her, either.”

Cat looked over the banister at the open living room door. “You
were there?”

“No, but I should’ve been. I’ll explain everything. Just say
you’ll come. For me...for Sarah. Please.”

“Jay...”

The clink of glass against glass halted Cat’s words. Her mum
had obviously woken and was now wetting her dry throat. Squeezing her eyes shut,
Cat swore under her breath. Clearly, she’d missed another hidden bottle on her
daily sweep.

“Cat?” Desperation sounded in Jay’s voice.

She walked wearily downstairs. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I’ve got a
million and one things going on. Things I can’t just leave.”

She leaned around the living-room doorjamb and anger burned in
her stomach. Her mum downed a glass of vodka, the half-empty bottle swinging
from her other hand.

“Surely you’ve some holiday time due.” Jay pleaded into her
ear. “I’ve been distracted for too long. I owe it to Sarah to find her
killer.”

Cat balled her hand into a fist when her mum abandoned the
glass in favor of drinking straight from the bottle. She was due some time
off—time off from everything. She moved from the door and into the hall.

“Give me your number and twenty-four hours to see what I can
do.” She fought the tears of frustration stinging her eyes.

“You’ll come?”

“Yes, Jay. God help me, I’ll come.”

CHAPTER TWO

C
AT
JUMPED
WHEN
THE
loudspeaker announced the arrival of the train that would take her to
Templeton Cove. She glanced at her watch. Right on time. Which meant Jay was
already onboard. She tightened her fingers around the handle of her suitcase and
inhaled a shaky breath, immediately fighting the urge to gag. The smell of oil
and grease mixed with frying bacon and sugar-dipped donuts did little to settle
the lurching in her stomach.

Today had been chosen as “Mission: Templeton Cove” day because
Jay was passing through Cat’s hometown of Reading on his way back from a
business trip in London. It made sense for them to travel to the Cove together.
Or so Jay said, anyway. Cat felt no surer of that now than she had a week
ago.

She fought the self-doubt niggling her from every angle. How
could she possibly get on a train to Templeton Cove and leave her brother in
charge of looking after their mum? Her brother, who’d left home when their
once-attentive mother started coming home drunk seven nights a week reeking of
booze and cigarettes. Cat’s resentment burned. Would she ever forgive Chris for
leaving her alone to deal with the ensuing mess? She seriously doubted it.
Tilting her chin, she tried to ignore the tension pulsing at her temple.

She shifted from one foot to the other and hitched her tote bag
higher onto her shoulder. She must be either mad or desperate to be leaving him
in charge.

The train came into view. No going back now. This was it. She
was about to be reunited with one of the two people who’d made her summers from
the age of eleven to twenty the best of her life. The other was now dead.
Murdered. Cat swallowed. Possibly at Jay’s hands.

She bit her teeth together. No. She wouldn’t go there. Innocent
until proven guilty.

Cat pulled back her shoulders. She would find Sarah’s killer if
it was the last thing she did because no part of her believed it was Jay. It
couldn’t be him. She would spend however long it took proving her gut instinct
was right. This wasn’t about loyalty, this was about fact. Jay Garrett was no
murderer.

She stared at the purple-and-blue train as it rumbled and
squealed to a stop. Cat held back as the carriage doors opened and a deluge of
passengers spilled onto the platform. She watched with her feet welded to the
concrete as one person after another boarded ahead of her.

A week had passed since Jay’s initial phone call, and the two
of them had spoken half a dozen times between then and now. Despite her
insistence she was needed at police headquarters and there was no chance in hell
of her boss releasing her for a month, Inspector Harris did exactly that with
minimum resistance.

His comments about the bags beneath her eyes and unbecoming
weight loss hadn’t been strictly necessary, but Cat got the general idea.
Apparently, a little downtime away from the city was just what she needed. Her
nerves hitched and she shivered at the prospect ahead. Downtime was the last
thing looking for her friend’s killer would be.

She tilted her chin. She had to keep positive. Not only would
she find him or her, some time away from her mum could only be a good thing,
too. It would work out best for all of them. It wouldn’t hurt Chris to pick up
the slack for a while; he was as much their mother’s son as she was her
daughter. As much as it pained her to admit it, Cat was weakening under the
daily pressure of being her mum’s keeper. Finding Sarah’s killer was something
she had to do. She refused to turn away from either her or Jay when they needed
her most.

She stepped forward, gripped the bar at the side of the train
door and stepped aboard, heaving her suitcase in behind her. She’d figure out
what to do next about her mum’s addiction when she came home. For now, she had a
friend’s killer to find and a one-time lover to face.

She made her way down the narrow aisle toward carriage B, where
Jay had said he’d meet her. Her gaze wandered left and right, up and down. The
carriage was busier than she’d anticipated, and as she slowly made her way
through, finding a seat seemed a hopeless task. Jay had said he would find her,
not the other way around. She scanned the sea of faces as she continued down the
aisle, but no one looked remotely like Jay. Despite the time that had passed
since she last saw him, Cat felt sure she’d recognize him.

At last, she found two empty seats separated by a table just
wide enough to hold a couple of back-to-back laptops. She hauled her luggage
onto the rack above and sat down. Grateful for the window seat, she purposely
turned away from people walking backward and forward carrying steaming cups of
coffee and bottles of water. Chitchat was not on her agenda.

She pulled her cell phone from her inside jacket pocket and
looked at the screen. Was it pathetic to ring her brother already? She’d left
him and his fiancée with Mum less than an hour ago. Would he snap at her? Or
worse, beg her to come home? She stuffed the phone back into her pocket.
Checking in with Chris once she reached the Cove would be soon enough. Her
brother was twenty-nine, not nine.

The screech of the guard’s whistle hitched her nerves a little
higher. If anyone had been sitting opposite her, they’d think her a first-time
train traveler rather than a detective sergeant in the Thames Valley Police
Force.

The train eased forward, gradually increasing its speed. The
concrete-and-chrome chaos of urban Reading gave way to grass, greenery and
grace. The emerging English countryside had never looked so beautiful or full of
promise. She would take this time to recenter, to regain a sense of herself and
what she wanted. With a clearer mind, she could do more good for her mum.

Gripping the arms of her chair, she hoisted herself upward. How
was Jay meant to find her among all these passengers? She’d suggested they send
each other pictures via their phones but he’d laughed in that toe-curling way of
his, telling her he didn’t want to frighten her into not coming. Cat sank back
down into her seat and shook her head. It was like saying Brad Pitt could morph
into Frankenstein’s monster over a decade. Never gonna happen.

Jay had possessed movie-star looks even when they were kids. He
hadn’t been able to do anything to fend off the hormonal attentions of ripe
seventeen- and eighteen-year-old girls then, and she guessed it was likely the
same with lustful twentysomething ones today. Cat smiled. The truth was she’d
been one of those girls herself, once. And for one night, he’d been completely
hers.

Her smile dissolved. She’d been a different person then and no
doubt Jay had, too. Smoothing her trembling hand over her hair,
self-consciousness tripped along the surface of her skin. He was likely as
good-looking as ever. She grimaced. God only knew how much the problems of the
last few years had aged her.

Cat squeezed her eyes shut. What was she doing? Why was she
even thinking about Jay’s looks? He was a murder suspect. A murder suspect who’d
asked her to the Cove to find the real killer and prove his innocence, not
rekindle a twenty-four-hour romance. She’d agreed to this trip for exactly the
same reason.

The scrunching and scraping beside her announced company and
Cat stiffened when the musky scent of male aftershave wafted beneath her
nostrils. He moved around, lifting something onto the luggage rack, followed by
the whisper of a jacket sliding from his shoulders. Cat slowly opened her eyes
and surreptitiously watched her new carriage companion from beneath lowered
lashes. He stood a little away from her, patting his trousers before pulling a
phone from his back pocket.

Jay. Her heart picked up speed.

With his eyes on the BlackBerry in his hand, he slid into the
seat opposite her. She couldn’t see his face in its entirety, but what she saw
still looked good. He was tall and dark, with broad shoulders, and the complete
absence of a beer belly set Jay pretty high in her admiration of the opposite
sex. Especially considering the specimens she’d endured picking her mum up from
various dives.

He lifted his head. “Finished checking me out?”

Her mouth instantly curved into a wide grin. “Still as full of
yourself as ever, I see.”

He shrugged. “Hey, if a woman as gorgeous as you wants to take
a moment, that’s fine by me.”

Cat shook her head. “Idiot.”

They laughed and leaned across the table for an awkward
embrace. Cat resisted the urge to inhale the delicious scent of him and quickly
sat back in her seat. She must remain professional. As far as she knew, Jay
could have Sarah’s blood on his hands.

“Well, you’re certainly growing old gracefully.” She forced a
wide smile.

His gaze traveled languidly over her face. “So are you. I can’t
believe this.” He swept the dark brown, gorgeously floppy hair back from his
forehead. “I only moved seats because the man opposite thought it was all right
to start trimming his nasal hair right in front of me.”

Cat laughed. “No, he did not.”

“He did. And yes, I took a picture and Tweeted it.” He winked.
“Only joking. You look fantastic.”

She smiled, knowing full well she looked the complete opposite.
“Thanks. You look pretty good, too.”

Their eyes locked. His intense gaze reflected thoughts that
were inexcusable yet totally flattering. Heat burned on her face and in other
places. Jeez, the man hadn’t lost any of his invisible pull, that was for
sure.

She cleared her throat. “So, I’m here. Have you spoken to
Sarah’s parents? Do they know I’m coming to town?”

He leaned back in his seat, all humor vanishing from his gaze
as his jaw tightened. “No. They won’t see me or answer my calls. Not that I
blame them. Would you if I was accused of killing your daughter?”

Cat swallowed. “No, I don’t suppose I would.”

“You have to help find the guy who did this, Cat. I would never
hurt Sarah. We have to make her parents believe it, too.”

She stared at him. Nothing but sincerity shone back. She looked
to the window. “If my boss finds out I’m at the Cove poking around in a case I
have no business poking around in, he’ll kick my butt into next week.”

“You have no idea how much it means to me you’re here.”

Cat turned. There it was again. The subtle change of tone in
his voice. During their phone calls over the last week, his voice would be
filled with his smile, oozing charm and good cheer, like liquid honey down the
telephone line. Then it changed to something so somber and sad, she swore she
heard his heart breaking.

Cat leaned forward and resisted the temptation to take his hand
in hers. “Hey, I came because I wanted to, okay? One way or another, I’ll find
her killer and bring him or her to justice. I promise.” She glanced at the
people sitting across the aisle. “But now is not the time to be talking about
this.”

He nodded. “I know. I just... This isn’t right, Cat. The police
are wasting valuable time.”

“And I’ll try to put that right but you have to be honest with
me...about everything.”

He frowned. “Of course.”

“I need to know everything you know.”

He glanced toward the other passengers. “You will.”

“Good.”

A deep sense of foreboding slipped over her shoulders.
Something wasn’t right with him. Something deep. Forcing herself into cop mode
rather than friend mode, the investigating officer in her rose to the surface,
prickling the hairs at the back of her neck.

“So is there anything more you’re not telling me?” she asked
quietly.

A muscle leaped in his jaw. “What makes you ask that?”

Defensive. Coldness stole the warmth from his eyes. Cat
frowned. “I can tell by the way you’re looking at me. You want to tell me
something but you’re not sure how...or if you should. Am I right?”

Their eyes locked before he looked to the window. “I’m
struggling with the fact that I have no clue what was going on with Sarah before
she died. If I knew that, maybe she wouldn’t be lying in the morgue right
now.”

Cat studied his profile. Watched for the tell-tale signs of
darting eyes and shifting shoulders. Signs that he was uncomfortable, lying,
hiding from her scrutiny. All she saw was the slumped shoulders of
sadness...worse, failure. She swallowed her burgeoning sympathy.

“Why didn’t you know? You and Sarah were friends. Good
friends.”

He dropped back in his chair, closed his eyes. When Cat had a
perpetrator in the interview room who did the same thing, she referred to it as
“closing the curtains.” She pursed her lips together to stop herself from
talking. He needed to fill in the gaps. If she stormed in with a load of
uneducated guesses, she could easily end up with nothing but a sticky mess of
misunderstandings and excuses.

He blew out a heavy breath and opened his eyes. “Let’s just say
I’ve been busy. Busy at work. We lost contact.”

“You and Sarah?” She shook her head. “That’s impossible.”

“Friends grow apart.”

She stared. Her gut knotted. He was lying. “Well, if that’s the
case, why are you looking as though you should be hung, drawn and
quartered?”

His gaze darted over her face and the skin at his neck shifted.
“I haven’t taken a lot of notice of what was going on around me for the last few
years. Things I should’ve cared about. Friends, especially.”

“Why not?”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “What is this, Cat?”

“This is me investigating my friend’s murder. What you asked me
here to do. If you don’t like it then I don’t understand why you made that phone
call in the first place.” She leaned forward, kept her voice low. “I’m a cop,
Jay. I view everything and everyone with suspicion until the right person is
under arrest.”

“Including me.”

Guilt scratched at her heart and she slammed the door on her
love for the man sitting in front of her. “Including you.” She swallowed. “This
time last week I was dealing with my own work...and other stuff. Now I’m on a
train with one friend I haven’t seen in far too long, and another is dead.”