The Perfect Liar (8 page)

"Then there's Technical Sergeant O'Dell," Jonathan went on.

She set Trussell's picture aside. "Who's Technical Sergeant O'Dell?"

"According to the bartender, Trussell was hanging out with him at the Moby Dick."

"What about him?"

"He says our supposed victim is nothing but a two-bit whore out to hurt someone. He was furious when I told him she's accusing Trussell of rape."

"Whores can be raped, too. They have the right to say no if they want to," Ava said, clinging stubbornly to her belief in Kalyna's tears, to her own determination to protect the weak and powerless. Because Bella was a stripper, no one would believe she'd been raped. It wasn't until two months after she'd kil ed herself that the truth came out. That was when the man she'd accused struck again--and strangled his next victim.

Bella had deserved more than she'd been given, more than instant acceptance of brief character sketches.

"O'Dell didn't go home with them, did he?" Ava said. "He can't know for sure what really went on."

"No, but he's pretty familiar with the defendant. He'l testify if this case goes to court. And he'l say Kalyna sidled up to the captain wearing a skimpy dress cut low on top and high at the bottom. That she kept bending over to give him an eyeful. That she repeatedly insisted he dance with her.

That she wouldn't let him out of her sight. What does that sound like?"

"It sounds like she was more interested in him than he was her."

59

Kalyna's version had the captain acting decidedly more aggressive. But that could be a matter of perspective. It didn't prove she was lying.

"She was pursuing him, Ava," Jonathan said. "Maybe she was even setting him up."

"Why would she do that?"

"There could be a lot of reasons. Revenge is one of them."

Ava didn't answer.

"She's part of his flying squadron," he continued. "Maybe she's got some sort of grudge against him."

"But look how handsome he is! Isn't it possible that she was honestly interested in him and had no idea he was dangerous?" she asked. "The fact that she was pursuing him is no excuse for what he did to her."

"Only the two of them know what really happened in those early morning hours."

"Exactly." She straightened a few things on her desk. "I wish he'd talk to me."

"You've tried to reach him?" Jonathan asked in surprise.

"I left him a message. Why?"

"Because there's no way he'l call you back. His lawyer would never let him. Surely you know that."

Bristling at his skepticism, she stiffened. "He could. If he's innocent, he
should.
"

"Why? You think he owes it to us to relieve our curiosity?"

"I'm neutral. I just want the truth."

Jonathan got to his feet and crossed to the desk. "Ava, you're not neutral, and he knows it. You're working for the victim--the alleged victim.

But whether the captain returns your call or not has no bearing on his guilt or innocence."

She sat up. "Maybe he thought he could get away with it because she
is
a whore and he can easily prove it. Maybe he considers her expendable." A cast-off--like Bella. "
Someone
beat her up, Jon."

Straightening, Jonathan folded his arms. "Why does it have to be him?"

"Because he left her place at 3:00 a.m., and she was admitted to the hospital thirty minutes later. The neighbor said Kalyna was hysterical, 60

completely out of it, when she knocked on the door. His was the only semen collected with the rape kit. No one else was seen entering or leaving the premises."

"Maybe she injured herself."

That was what Ava had been afraid he'd say. And, after talking to Maria Sanchez, she was more than a little worried that he could be right.

Damn, she didn't want an ambiguous case, a case that would force her to act on mere guesses. Those cases could haunt you for a lifetime....

61

"S
urprise!"

As Kalyna's sister opened the door, her eyes went wide. "Kalyna!"

she screamed. "What are you doing in Arizona?"

Kalyna dropped her luggage so she could return her hug. I came for a visit."

"Mom and Dad didn't say a word about it!"

"I didn't tell them. Where are they?"

"The hearse has been running a bit rough. They took it over to the garage to have it checked out."

"Mom
rode in the hearse?" Normally Norma wouldn't go near it, not since her own child had drowned at two and been transported in a similar vehicle. She avoided anything to do with her husband's business.

"No, Mom followed Dad over in the Oldsmobile," Tati clarified. "The garage is closed. They're leaving it there and dropping the keys in the slot."

"Oh, right." Relieved to find her adoptive parents gone, Kalyna breathed a little easier. She'd have to face them eventually, but this would give her time to settle in before she had to answer their questions.

"How long can you stay?" Tati asked.

"I'l be here tomorrow and Saturday." As Kalyna dragged her bags into the foyer, she appraised the inside of the Victorian her father had bought when they moved to Mesa. It had once been a restaurant, but the conversion was a good one. The viewing rooms were in front; the embalming stations and the kitchen were in back. The walk-in cooler, where the corpses were stored until they could be embalmed, was downstairs next to the service elevator, along with the room she'd always shared with Tati. Her parents lived upstairs.

"This place hasn't changed a bit," she said. Even the selection of urns in the front parlor, and the caskets on display, were largely the same.

"Business has been slow," Tati admitted.

"Anderson Brothers Mortuary undercutting your prices again?"

62

"Yep."

"They can't do hair and makeup nearly as well as we can. They never could. Their stiffs look like...well, stiffs," she said, laughing at her own joke.

"I'm not as talented as you were, but...1 do my best. Anyway, I thought you were out of leave. I thought you used it all to go to Santa Cruz with those guys you met last month."

"I did, but something came up."

"What?" Tati watched as Kalyna fell onto the settee reserved for clients.

"You're not supposed to sit on that," she cautioned. "You know Mom and Dad won't like it."

"They're not even here." Kalyna propped up her feet, too, exploiting her new status as the world-wise wanderer. She'd broken free while her sister remained firmly under her parents' rule.

Tati frowned. "Why can't we just go in back?"

"Because we're as important as anyone else. Sit down." Kalyna waved at the one chair that was a real antique instead of a replica. "You work hard around here--a heck of a lot harder than Mom. Don't you think you've earned the right to sit in front if you want?"

Tatiana wasn't the type to argue. She perched on the edge of the chair Kalyna had indicated but looked uncomfortable. "Tell me what made it so you could come home," she said.

Eagerly anticipating her sister's horrified reaction, Kalyna lifted her chin. "I was raped."

The horror she'd expected to see didn't register on Tati's face. Tati didn't even seem surprised. "No, you weren't."

Her sister's skepticism caused a flash of irritation, but Kalyna tried to shrug it off. She was free of the air force for a few days--and the fake weeping and tortured expressions she'd had to conjure up since June 6.

Why let this get her down? Who cared what Tati thought? "It's true."

Planning to leave it at that, she leaned back and relaxed, but when her sister didn't respond, she couldn't help adding, "He beat me up and everything."

Tati peered at her more closely. "You look okay to me."

"Because it's been a few weeks, stupid! I didn't come home right 63

away."

"That's why they let you out of the air force? Because you were raped?"

"They didn't 'let me out.' My master sergeant wouldn't grant leave and he should have, so I left."

Tati's voice finally showed concern, but not the kind Kalyna had been hoping to elicit.
"That means you're AWOL!"

"So? They can't expect me to stick around after such a horrific ordeal." She hadn't given even Ogitani the chance to object to her departure. The prosecutor wanted Kalyna available at all times. But Kalyna had already spent hours and hours with her and, separately, with Ava, chronicling every detail of the supposed rape, and the constant pretending was growing tedious. She needed a break. She was afraid she might slip up under such intense questioning. Why not relax in Arizona?

"Who says they can't expect it?" Tatiana asked.

"I do! Besides, disappearing for a few days wil only prove I was suffering too much to stay."

"Once you sign on the dotted line, you belong to the air force, Kalyna.

They were very clear about that."

"The air force doesn't
own
you. I have more freedom there than I did here. At least I get to go out at night." She flipped her hair. "Anyway, I'm not worried. It's not a desertion unless I'm gone longer than thirty days."

"You'l stil get in trouble!"

"I'l get an Article 15 for being absent without leave." And, if possible, she'd figure a way out of that.

"What's an Article 15?" Tati said.

"In this case, most likely a forfeiture of pay, but it can be other things."

"Like what?"

"Like a reduction in my rank. But that's not going to happen. It's a few days. No big deal. And it's my first infraction." For being absent without leave. She also had an Article 15 for failing to obey an order to report in before departing work, but that was because her superior officer hated her and went after anything he could.

"Why risk it? Why not stay if you're supposed to stay?"

"Don't worry about it. I'l take care of it." She scowled. "What's your 64

problem, anyway?"

Tati blinked. "I don't know what you mean."

"You're acting like Mom and Dad. And you look like hell. Why'd you let yourself gain so much weight?"

Her sister winced. "I haven't gained
that
much."

"Yes, you have. You're frumpy. It's disgusting. And your hair!" Her twin's appearance was like gazing into a mirror and seeing the worst possible version of herself. She couldn't imagine Captain Trussell ever being attracted to a woman who looked like Tatiana.

But we're not the same.
Kalyna tanned, weight trained and ran. She had her nails done every week. She was assertive and friendly, not shy and unassuming. And she no longer smelled like formaldehyde. Maybe she wasn't as attractive as she'd always dreamed of being; she had to deal with her own limitations. But very few men turned her down. She knew how to make the most of what she had. After weeks of fantasizing about him, she'd gotten Captain Trussell, hadn't she?

"Did they catch the guy who raped you?" Tatiana asked, changing the subject.

"They did. They're bringing him up on charges. We'l be going to court soon."

Suddenly acting self-conscious about her appearance, Tati tugged her skirt down so it covered more of her. "You're not afraid to testify?"

"Not in the least. I'm looking forward to it."

"What if he gets out and comes after you?"

Kalyna examined her recent manicure. "He won't."

"How can you be so sure?"

Because Luke wasn't violent, the way she'd claimed. He was one of the most honorable men she'd ever met, and by far the best pilot. "I know how to protect myself."

Tati didn't state the obvious--that she hadn't done a very good job of it so far if she'd been beaten and raped. "How'd it happen?"

Kalyna was tired of telling the story, tired of worrying about how she was coming across. Her sister already doubted her, so she preferred not to discuss it anymore. "I don't want to talk about it." Kalyna shrugged. "It happened, and I'm dealing with it. That's al ."

65

Tati made no comment.

"So what
have
you been doing around here?" Kalyna asked.

Her sister jerked her head toward the back, where they did the embalming. "Guess."

"God, I'm so glad to be out of here. You should've come with me.

California's amazing!"

Tatiana shifted her gaze to the flowered rug covering the hardwood floor. "You know the military won't take me."

"You could've gotten a job, lived with me."

"A job doing what?" her sister countered.

"Anything! Maybe you wouldn't have been surrounded by men who are all in great physical shape the way I am, but it'd be better than working like a slave for Mom and Dad. They're using you. That's all they've ever done. You're wasting your life."

"I'm not wasting my life! Dad needs my help." She stood as if the mention of Dewayne made it impossible to continue disobeying his orders by sitting on the antique chair. "He can't run this business by himself. And I'l be compensated. When he retires, I'l take over. He told me that."

"That could be twenty years, Tati. Do you plan to scrub stiffs for the next two decades? And what if he dies before Mom? How wil you put up with the old bitch?"

"She's not a...a bitch. Anyway, I'l cross that bridge when I come to it."

Thinking she heard a car pull up, Kalyna checked the driveway, but they were stil alone. "Don't you want to get out of this place, meet a man,
have sex
?" she asked.

Her sister's cheeks flamed bright red. "I'd like to fall in love and start a family, but--"

"Ugh!
You're such a loser. You can't sit back and wait for Prince Charming to sweep you off your feet. Since when has
anything
we've ever wanted come to us? You have to go out and get it."

"And be raped, like you?"

Tati was finally showing some spirit, but Kalyna couldn't allow her sister to think the decision to leave had been a bad one, couldn't have her gloating that she'd been wiser to stay. "If you could see the guy who raped me, you'd stand in line to be with him," she said with a taunting smile. "He's 66

the most gorgeous man I've ever seen. And it wasn't as if I didn't have fun."