The Perfect Liar (25 page)

Ava's heart dropped to her knees. "You don't mean my
house."

"It's a house
boat
, right?"

"But...you've never borrowed it before." He couldn't be serious. She needed her house right now. It was her haven, her place to recover after trying to drink away her fascination with Luke. "What do you want it for?"

"I'm taking my new girlfriend and her boy fishing." He winked at her.

"Gotta get in good with the kid, you know?"

The excess gel and cologne should've warned her. Her stepfather was on the make, hunting for another woman to take care of him, and he'd found a new target.

Ava felt sorry for the poor, unsuspecting soul. "But I was planning to hang out at home. It's Sunday."

"Liz doesn't have to work
because
it's Sunday. This is the perfect time."

For him, maybe. "I--Dad didn't tell me. I haven't even showered. And I have company."

Pete favored Luke with a knowing grin. "Come on, Geoffrey's not company. You've been together for over a year." He lowered his voice and nudged her with his elbow. "And so much for acting like you two don't get it on."

His chortle grated on Ava's nerves. She could tell Luke didn't like it, either. He stood a little closer, as if he wanted to interrupt but was too polite to get involved.

"Stop it, Pete."

185

He ignored her. "I'm actually kind of glad to see it," he confided to Luke. "Her dad and I've been worried she might be frigid. You're the first--"

"Are you for real?" Ava cried. "I can't believe you show up at dawn and start telling my...my boyfriend, who isn't really my boyfriend by the way, that--"

A car door slammed by the pier and what she was about to say was lost as Pete whipped around to stick his head out the open door. "Oops.

There she is. Now smile and be nice, Ava. I'm trying to make a good impression," he said, and hurried out to meet his new love interest.

Ava turned to Luke. "There are days when I almost understand why my mother did it." Now that he knew about Zelinda, she needed to cover for it, make light of it, but he didn't follow up on the comment. He didn't even return her smile. He seemed angry as he jerked his head toward her room.

"Get dressed. I'm taking you to breakfast."

186

E
xhausted from her long night and an energetic early-morning interlude with Jerry, who was now driving, Kalyna was asleep in the bed at the back of his cab when her phone rang. She roused herself to glance at the screen, saw that the call was coming from the mortuary and silenced it.

She couldn't use her cell phone. She'd seen enough true crime shows to know that the police would be able to locate her via a method called triangulation if she did. She should actually turn it off. She wasn't positive, but she suspected they could track down any phone that was on.

But as she lay awake for several minutes afterward, she realized that it was too soon for the police to be involved. More likely, Tatiana or Dewayne had just stumbled on Norma's body and were trying to piece together what had happened. And even if she was wrong and the police had already been called, she was traveling in the cab of a semi. If she tossed out the phone, they'd never find her.

Entering the code to reach her voice mail, she listened to her sister's panicked message.

"Kalyna, where are you? Please, call me. Mom's dead. We just...we found her on the kitchen floor. I'm hoping she had a heart attack, that you had nothing to do with this. But her purse is right here, and all her stuff's scattered beside her. And Dad is...Dad's on the phone to the cops. I--I don't know what to think." She broke into a sob. "I'd assume somebody hurt you, too, but your bags are gone, and so is your car."

Kalyna considered her options. She could remain silent, get rid of her phone and let the police start searching for her. Or she could call her sister back and throw up a few smoke screens.

She decided to go with the smoke screens.

Tatiana answered on the first ring. "Kalyna?"

"I got your message. What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Tati wailed. "Dad thinks you kil ed Mom. But you didn't, did you? Someone else must've done this."

187

"Mom's
dead?"

Tati gulped for the breath to speak. "You didn't know?"

"How would I? I couldn't sleep. I was too worried about getting back to the base, so I left around midnight. Mom and Dad were in bed as far as I could tell."

Her sister paused, sniffed and sounded more hopeful. "You left before it happened, then."

"Unless she was lying there and I didn't see her. I didn't turn on any lights. I didn't want to wake anyone."

"Thank God. It must've been a robbery."

"I guess so. I feel terrible. Mom and I didn't get along, but...I never would've wished for something like this."

"Of course not."

If someone else had done it, that person would've needed a way in, so Kalyna supplied this information seamlessly. "I did find it a little odd that the house wasn't locked up...."

"It wasn't?"

"I must've forgotten when I came in from the car. I feel
so
bad."

"It wasn't locked when we got up, either."

"See? I'm terrible about being cautious. I never dreamed anyone would break in. To a mortuary? Give me a break!"

"Some people wil break in anywhere."

"I'm surprised I didn't bump into whoever it was. Was Mom shot or--"

"No, not shot. She wasn't stabbed, either. We don't really know what kil ed her. Maybe she hit her head when she fell but Dad thinks she was strangled. She's all...blue, Kalyna. And her money's gone."

"Why would I take her money? That should've told you it wasn't me!"

"That's what I said to Dad. I told him you had plenty of your own money when we were at the mall yesterday. And you wouldn't take her wedding ring. What would you want with that?"

Kalyna held her hand in front of her to admire the sparkle of that square-cut diamond. She wasn't sure how much she could get for it, but she planned to visit a pawn shop as soon as possible. "Who could've kil ed her?" she asked.

Tatiana lowered her voice. "I think it was Mark."

188

"Mark who?"

"Mark Cannaby."

Kalyna shoved herself into a sitting position. "Mark hasn't worked for Mom and Dad in a long time. They fired him before I went into the air force.

We don't even know where he is."

"Yes, we do. He's running the cemetery. He's been doing that for over a year."

For once, knowing Mark as wel as she did might be an advantage.

"Have he and Mom been having problems?"

"She's hated him ever since she caught him...you know...with that corpse. She says he's a necrophiliac, that he shouldn't be free to circulate in society. Two weeks ago, she ran into the woman he's dating at church and told her all about him. He wasn't happy when he found out. He called here a few times and left some threatening messages, telling her she'd better mind her own business and stay out of his."

Kalyna smiled as she considered this. Poor Mark. "I guess he decided to get even."

"That's what I'm thinking." Tati broke into tears again. "It's so sad to imagine her gone. I--I can't believe it."

"Tati, I have a terrible confession to make," Kalyna said.

As the silence stretched on, Kalyna could sense her sister's fear.

"What's that?"

"I'm not sure I should tell you. I've kept it secret for so long. But you're right. It has to be him. He's the only one I know who's capable of murder."

"I don't want to think that of him, but--"

"I can almost guarantee it. He kil ed a hitchhiker once, Tati. Then he stuffed her body in the crematory."

Tatiana gasped. "How do you know?"

"Because he--he made me help him." She added a quaver to her voice. "He told me he'd go to Mom and Dad and tell them I was having sex with him again if I didn't. After that, I was afraid to tell anyone--I was afraid he'd blame it on me. Mom and Dad have always thought the worst of me, and I was terrified they'd disown me. But now that he's done this to Mom...I don't have any choice but to speak up."

"No, of course not! But how do we prove he kil ed this hitchhiker?"

189

"The girl's name was Sarah. She was about fourteen. The police wil probably find her listed as a missing person. I think she said she was from New Mexico. I--I have her necklace. Remember that floating diamond on the gold chain that I kept in the bottom of my jewelry box?"

"The one you said the quarterback gave you?"

"That's the one. It belonged to her. I've hung on to it in case this ever came up, so I'd have proof she existed."

"I wondered why you never wore it. Why you wouldn't let me wear it, either."

"Now you know."

"Oh, God, this is even worse than I thought," Tatiana cried. "But at least it wasn't you, Kalyna. That--that really scared me."

Kalyna feigned a few tears of her own. "How could you ever believe I'd do such a thing?"

"I didn't, not really. I mean, I was just so shocked. It looked like...well, you know how it must've looked. But I knew you were planning to head home early. You often have difficulty sleeping. And Mark was so angry about what Mom did...It all makes sense now."

It did make sense. Perfect sense. Kalyna reveled in her good fortune.

She'd blame both murders on Mark and walk away scot-free.

"Are you coming back?" Tati asked.

"I can't come right away, but I'l see if I can get leave," Kalyna said.

After she'd protected her interests in Fairfield. "I'm already in enough trouble."

"The police wil want to talk to you."

"They'l have to call me."

Kalyna heard voices in the background. "I've got to get off the phone," Tati whispered. "The police are here."

"Let me know how it goes," Kalyna said, and hung up.

"Who was that?" Jerry called from the driver's seat.

"My sister. There's been an accident in my family. Can you let me out at the next stop?"

He tilted up his hat. "Of course. But wil you be okay if I do?"

"I'l be fine. I have to go back and get my car." Now that Mark was going to take the fall for her, she had no reason to give up such a 190

convenient mode of transportation.

"How wil you get back? You've got your luggage, too."

"Are you kidding? The same way I got here," she said with a laugh.

Luke chose his favorite breakfast place--Hog Heaven in Davis.

Slightly west of Sacramento, Davis was a college town and had several mom-and-pop-style restaurants. Because he came to Hog Heaven fairly often, he was recognized by the hostess, who greeted him with a warm smile.

"Hi, Captain. Welcome back. It's been a few weeks since we've seen you."

"Too long," he said. "I'm craving one of your famous omelets."

"I'm sure we can cook one up for you." Her gaze shifted to Ava and a hint of surprise registered, probably because he generally came with a group of friends.

"Right this way," she said, and he motioned for Ava to precede him.

Ava had combed her hair and donned a pair of sunglasses but wasn't wearing any makeup. Luke didn't mind. She had pretty skin, an expressive mouth and he liked her "just tumbled out of bed" look. He wasn't too impressed with her clothing, however. She'd put on the most godawful pair of shorts and blouse he'd ever seen. The shorts rode high on her waist and went to her knees and seemed to be made of the same wrinkle-free material his mother admired. Somehow she'd taken a popular style--he'd seen a lot of women wear shorts the same length--and made it...frumpy.

Even worse, her top had a ribbon threaded around the neck that would've been more fitting on a kindergartener. Luke doubted there was another guy in the place who'd give Ava a second look in that getup. But he'd seen her wearing only a pair of panties and a sweatshirt--and if he'd witnessed a more tantalizing sight, he couldn't remember it.

"Wil this table be okay?" The hostess touched his arm to gain his attention, and he realized she'd just caught him staring at Ava's behind.

Grinning to cover the gaffe, he said, "It's fine," and slid into the booth.

Ava sat across from him and immediately stuck her nose in a menu.

Since her stepfather had shown up with his new girlfriend, she hadn't said much. She'd insisted on bringing her briefcase and a stack of files, but he 191

wondered where she expected to work.

"You might want to take off those sunglasses," he said.

She didn't glance up; neither did she remove them. "I'm perfectly capable of deciding when to take them off, thanks."

Chuckling at her stubbornness, he opened his own menu. Poor Ava.

She had a lousy family situation. She couldn't dress worth a damn. She couldn't flirt any better, at least not when she was sober. And she couldn't completely hide the vulnerability beneath the dark glower that'd descended when her stepfather motored off with her houseboat.

"So maybe we should talk about it now and get it over with," he said.

This time her gaze lifted. "Talk about what?"

"Your stepfather. Your mother."

The waitress came with two glasses of water; Ava didn't respond until she'd walked away. "I don't want to talk about them. What makes you think I want to talk about them?"

"I'm just saying that once we lay it all out, we won't have to avoid the subject. Then we can forget about it."

"We don't need to lay it all out. This is a business relationship. Once your case is resolved, I'l probably never see you again."

Why was she always reminding him of that? He wasn't interested in her. He'd told her as much, and he'd meant it. Sure, there were moments when he was tempted to take on the challenge she posed, to prove she wasn't as aloof as she pretended. But those thoughts usually centered on getting her naked, and he knew that wasn't an honorable goal.

"I don't see any reason we can't be friends," he said.

"I'm not in the market."

"I said
friends.
"

"I know." Turning her menu so he could see the front, she pointed to a picture of an egg scramble. "Have you ever had this? It looks good."