The Perfect Liar (36 page)

Luke shook his head in disbelief. Kalyna hadn't even bothered to close it after snooping through his things. But at least that made one detail 266

very clear. She didn't have his other gun in the bathroom with her. He could see the black metal of the barrel in the drawer, along with the box of bullets.

So what now? Did she have her own gun? Or was she unarmed?

The bathroom door stood ajar. Edging over to it, he peeked around the corner, his hand gripping the handle of the gun he'd stuffed into his pants, just in case. But there was no need to draw on her. He could see no weapons in the bathroom, and her naked form was partially visible through the misted glass.

Stepping into view, he said, "What the hell are you doing in my shower?"

She yelped, obviously startled, then slid the door open to poke her head out. She didn't cover up but the sight of her did nothing for him.

"There you are!" she said in a relieved voice. "I wondered when you'd get home. Your mother called while you were gone. She wants you to call her at the school."

Kalyna knew his mother worked at a school? What other details had she learned? His mother had said she'd asked about Jenny..."Get out," he said.

She hesitated as if the coldness in his voice surprised her. "Right
now?
Don't be sil y. I've got soap in my hair."

"Rinse it and then get out. I want you to pick up your things and leave my apartment. And I don't want you to
ever
come back."

Her bottom lip protruded in an exaggerated pout. "Is that any way to treat the mother of your baby?"

"Being pregnant with my child--
if
that's the truth--doesn't give you the right to break into my apartment and go through my belongings."

Her gaze lowered to the gun in his belt. "What? Are you planning to shoot me?"

"If I hand you my other gun, wil you fire at me first?" he asked.

Her eyebrows drew together. "That's not very nice, Luke."

"You can't blame me for hoping."

"Someone's grumpy. What's the matter, did Ava kick you out of bed?"

Actually, she had--more or less. And it stil stung. But he wasn't going to give Kalyna any indication that she'd guessed right. "Why are you doing 267

this?" he asked.

"What?"

"This! Coming into my house! Sleeping in my bed!"

"It's not like I broke in. The door was open--"

"It was locked."

"No, it wasn't. I swear. Look around for yourself. There's no other way I could've gotten in."

Because he lived in a second-story apartment, he couldn't imagine that she'd come through a window. But he'd locked the door. He remembered doing it.

"When you didn't answer, I tried the door," she went on. "I got here so late I was sure you'd be here. I figured you were sleeping. But you weren't, so I waited. I don't see why you're making such a big deal out of it. I had a very long drive yesterday, and it was emotionally draining. I don't expect you to have any sympathy for me, but there's been a death in my family. A murder. Someone kil ed my mother yesterday, and I think it's someone I used to know. So forgive me if I didn't feel up to going once I arrived."

Leaving his gun in his waistband, he clenched his fists helplessly.

"Why'd you come here in the first place?"

"You asked me to. You wanted proof of the baby, remember?"

"And you have it?"

"Yes!"

Hell. The thought of having a child with her made him almost as nauseous as the way she was lathering her body with soap and rubbing her breasts.

"For God's sake, just finish showering," he snapped. "We'l talk when you get out."

Slamming the bathroom door, he stomped into his bedroom and removed the gun he kept in his drawer, as well as the bullets. Then he went to wait for her in the kitchen, where he could pour himself some coffee--and talk himself out of putting a bullet through his brain to avoid becoming a parent with someone who needed an exorcist.

The police arrived while Kalyna was stil in the bathroom. She could hear Luke talking to them, assuring them he had the situation in hand. Had 268

he called them? Probably. But he'd sent them away, too, so it didn't matter.

At least he was wil ing to hear what she had to say. At least he wasn't going to have her thrown out of his apartment before she could show him the results of her pregnancy test.

Taking extra care, she added mascara to her eyelashes. She wanted to look good, better than she ever had in her life. Everything she wanted rested on the conversation to come.

He waited for ten minutes or so, but then he threw the bedroom door against the wall. "What's taking you so long?"

Finally.
She bent toward the mirror, causing the T-shirt she was wearing to ride up and give him a glimpse of her ass. "As you can see, I'm not dressed."

With a growl of impatience, he returned to the kitchen, which wasn't the reaction she'd been hoping for. But she stil had the document from the clinic.

"Come on!" he yelled back to her.

She threw on her jeans without underwear. Her panties were somewhere in Luke's bed. She could probably find them, but since her ploy to entice him back into the bedroom hadn't worked, she didn't want to take the time to look.

When she entered the kitchen, she saw him standing at the sink with a cup of coffee, scowling out at the parking lot.

"Would you like me to make you some breakfast?" She'd offered as sweetly as possible, but his glower only darkened.

"No. I want to see the proof you claim to have."

Silently, she padded over to her purse and pulled out the document she'd doctored at Kinko's. "Here you go."

She stood there while he examined it, but when he didn't react, she moved closer. "It's positive, see? It says so right here." She brushed up against his arm as she pointed and almost couldn't stop herself from slipping her arms around his waist. Just one embrace...

"I want a paternity test," he said.

She'd expected this and had an answer for it. "Of course. But we can't do that now, sil y. Not til the baby's born. Otherwise, there are risks.

I've already looked into it, since you said you wanted proof."

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"We have to wait nine
months?"

"Well...eight."

Shoving the paper aside, he sank into the chair she'd been using earlier.

"Don't you have anything else to say?" she asked.

His eyes cut to her, and she'd never seen him look quite so malevolent.

She pressed a hand to her throat. "Don't glare at me like that, Luke. It gives me the creeps. It's not
my
fault. The rubber broke."

"Sure it did," he grumbled, and picked up his coffee cup.

She studied the floor, trying to appear contrite. "There's something else you should know."

"What's that?" He didn't sound interested in any more news.

"I told Ogitani the truth. They're dropping the charges."

"And that's supposed to make me happy?"

"I thought it might." She didn't mention the charges that might be filed against her or that there was a detective from Mesa flying out to speak with her tomorrow. She'd deal with that later. One thing at a time....

"Without you, there wouldn't have been any charges," he said.

"I was hurt, Luke. Can't you understand that?"

He sat there for so long she didn't think he'd answer, but he finally said, "Maybe."

"I...I thought we had something together. I've cared about you for a long time, since the first few days after I got assigned to your squadron.

When you walked out on me that night, it felt like...like you'd just used me and tossed me aside. And it meant so much more to me."

His chair scraped the floor as he pushed it back, but he didn't get up.

Elbows on knees, he rested his head against the knuckles of both hands.

What was he thinking? She was pretty sure she was reaching him, but she couldn't be positive....

"I'm sorry," she went on. "I'm really and truly sorry. It was wrong of me to react the way I did. I know that. And then, once I'd said what I did to the doctors, they took it from there and the police came and the situation got out of control. I didn't know how to back out, so...so I stayed mad to keep from thinking about it."

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He hadn't showered or shaved this morning. When he rubbed his chin, she could hear the rasp of beard growth.

"I'm just asking for a little understanding," she told him, "for your help in getting through this pregnancy." She wanted to touch him so badly it was almost as if an invisible force kept drawing her hands to his hair. But she fought it, couldn't risk moving that fast. He was trying to be fair. She could tell.

"It's partly my fault," he admitted. "I should never have been irresponsible enough to do what I did." His gaze moved to the letter, then darted away. "Somehow we'l get through it."

"I really appreciate that," she said softly.

He took a deep breath. "And, if this is my baby, I'l do everything I can to support it. I want you to know that."

"Thank you." Her voice was a whisper now. "You're going to be a
great
father."

She thought the compliment might evoke a smile, but his head sank even lower as he covered his face. He wasn't watching her; he was somewhere inside himself. Kalyna lifted her hand. She was just about to risk placing it on his shoulder when a knock interrupted her. "Luke? Luke, are you there?"

It was Ava Bixby.

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W
hile she waited for the ATM to dispense the three hundred dollars she'd just pulled out of savings, Tatiana rubbed her sweaty palms on her shorts. She was going to do it; she was going to California to see Kalyna.

She had to do something. Mark nearly had the police convinced that he wasn't the one who'd kil ed their mother. He came across as so sincere with all his claims of loving Kalyna, of being wronged by her, that he'd nearly convinced Tati, too. That photo had really thrown her. But she refused to let him persuade her. Now that she'd had more time to think about it, she remembered how creepy he was. He was a decade older. It was partly his fault Kalyna had gotten into so much trouble in her teens.

And that hitchhiker? There was no way Kalyna could kil another person, especially at such a young age.

Unfortunately, Detective Morgan didn't seem to view Mark's story with the same suspicion. He was suddenly talking as if it had to be Kalyna. Mark had allowed the police to come in and search the moment they knocked on his door, and because they hadn't found anything belonging to Norma, they were turning their sights elsewhere. Tati had heard Detective Morgan tell her father just an hour ago that he'd contacted the base and asked security to be on the lookout for Kalyna. The second she showed up for work, they'd nab her and hold her until Detective Morgan could arrange a flight out to California to question her.

Tati had to warn her. She'd tried to do it by phone--but Kalyna wasn't answering and, thanks to all of Tati's previous messages, her sister's voice mail was full.

"She didn't do it," she muttered to herself. Tati knew her sister had emotional problems. Kalyna had always been different--impatient to get what she wanted, careless about her mistakes, quick to blame others for whatever went wrong in her life. She could be disappointing and difficult to deal with. But she was the only blood relative Tati knew. Tati didn't want to lose her, especially now that Norma was gone.

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The whir of the cash machine stopped. She grabbed the bil s, before she could change her mind, and shoved them in the pocket of her shorts while hurrying back to the Oldsmobile. She'd had to take her father's car because she didn't have a vehicle of her own. But she couldn't drive the Olds al the way to California. The hearse was stil in the shop; Dewayne would be left without any transportation. So she'd park his car at the airport, where he could have someone help him pick it up. She'd fly to Sacramento, then rent a car.

Doing it this way was costing her almost every penny of what she'd saved so far for the cruise she and her parents had planned to take next summer. It was to be their first family vacation. But her mother was gone, and this was more important, anyway. She owed it to Kalyna to have enough faith to track her down and save her from herself.

Tati hoped she wouldn't miss her mother's funeral in the process. She figured she'd be okay, as long as she could make it back by Wednesday.

They hadn't even done the autopsy yet.

The entire car shook as the engine roared to life. Her father was so proud of his eight-cylinder. He was a simple man, a man who worked hard and had few pleasures. Life hadn't been easy for any of them. Why couldn't Kalyna understand that? Why did she think she was the only one who'd suffered?

Being careful not to scratch the car on either side of her, Tati backed out of her parking space and headed toward Sky Harbor International Airport. She didn't want to make this trip, especially alone. She didn't get out much, even around town. And she knew her father wouldn't be pleased when he learned what she was up to. But Kalyna couldn't handle this situation as carelessly as she'd handled problems in the past. This was serious. If she wasn't careful, she'd go to prison for the rest of her life for a crime she didn't commit.

A Verizon store came up on Tati's right. Tempted to stop, she slowed down. She didn't have a cell phone. She'd never been able to justify spending the money. The landline at the mortuary was adequate for someone who worked the hours she did. But now that she was flying to California, she should have some way of staying in touch with her father and Kalyna--if Kalyna ever picked up--shouldn't she?

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She thought so, but...how long would it take to buy a phone? If it was more than a few minutes, she'd miss her flight.

A car honked behind her. Then the impatient driver swerved around her, making a rude gesture. She had to make a decision; she was holding up traffic.

Giving the Oldsmobile some gas, she passed the store. She could get by without a phone for the time being. It wasn't as if she needed help finding Kalyna's apartment. Using the address her sister had dictated to her after Christmas, when Kalyna had called to have Tati mail the hair dryer and shoes she'd accidentally left behind, Tati had downloaded directions from MapQuest before leaving the house.