You Really Got Me (30 page)

“He took me to his office, gave me a different jacket and hat and purse. He told me to put the jacket and hat on, and leave through the front doors. I was terrified. He was acting so strange. I had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know they were Natalia’s things. I put them on, and I walked out like he said. He told me to turn my face away from the security camera when I left. He said to go home and wait for him. So I did.”

She rose and trudged to a closet and pulled a plastic shopping bag down from a high shelf. With shaking hands, she held it to Kendall. “This is her stuff. Her purse and jacket and hat.”

Kendall didn’t even want to touch it, staring at the bag in horror. Dedra dropped it to the floor, paced across the room, hands pressed to her eyes. “It wasn’t until Tuesday that I heard about Natalia being missing. I had a bad feeling, but I…didn’t want to think about it. To think it had anything to do
with–
” Her voice broke again. “But then, when I heard the news reporters saying that the last place she’d been seen was the lab that afternoon, I…I…was sick. And afraid. I didn’t ask Wade. I didn’t want to know for sure. I still don’t know for sure what happened, but I’m so scared, Kendall.”

Oh dear God. Holy mother of fuck. Kendall’s mind spun around in circles with what she’d heard.

“Why?” she whispered. “Why would he kill her?”

“I…I’m not sure. He thought someone was stealing his research. I think he thought it was Natalia and Dr. Durban. He has a…a really bad temper. Maybe they got in an argument that day. I didn’t ask him. I knew he wouldn’t tell me, and anyway…I was afraid.”

“Dedra. My God. Why didn’t you tell someone this sooner? Why didn’t you go to the police?”

Dedra stared at her helplessly, tears dripping off her chin. “I was afraid,” she said again. “I have nowhere else to go. My parents…didn’t want me to study enology. They thought I was crazy. Then I wasn’t doing well in my courses, so Wade convinced me to drop most of them…if I went home, my parents would think I’m a failure.” She closed her eyes. “I
am
a failure. And besides…I love him, Kendall. I didn’t want to believe he could do something like that, and I didn’t want anything to…happen to him. He’s the only man who’s ever loved me. We’re getting married.”

Kendall stared at Dedra, her stomach queasy, a dark feeling settling over her as she absorbed Dedra’s words.

“You were protecting him,” she whispered.

Dedra bowed her head. “Yes.”

“Oh sweet mother of Jesus. Oh, Dedra.” Kendall covered her mouth with her hands.

She wanted to be furious at Dedra, to yell and scream at her. Had she not even thought about anyone else, about the impact this was having on other people, on Natalia’s family, on Kevin? How could she protect a killer?

But she couldn’t be angry at Dedra because she’d been doing the exact same thing. Protecting someone she loved. Kendall sat stone still, everything inside her squeezing so hard it hurt. What if Kevin had been the killer? What if she’d been protecting him when all along it had been him? She’d known it wasn’t, but what if it had? She’d be exactly the same as Dedra. Her skin crawled with cold realization.

“We have to go to the police,” she said, jumping to her feet. “Right now.”

“I was just going to the police station when you showed up,” Dedra whispered. She clenched her hands in front of her. “I was going to tell them the truth. I can’t do this anymore.”

Kendall gazed at Dedra. She swallowed through the aching knot in her throat and nodded. “That’s good.” She tried to take a breath, got a little air into her tight lungs. “It’s the…right thing to do.” She reached out for Dedra’s hand and clasped it in hers. Both their hands were icy. “I know it’s hard.”

Dedra’s mouth tightened. “No, you don’t.”

Kendall rose to her feet. “Yeah. I do. Come on. I’ll help you however I can. You just have to tell the truth.”

Dedra’s red-rimmed eyes gazed back at her. Then she nodded.

“Come on. I’ll take you there. Let’s go.” She took three steps toward the door, then turned back. She had to take that bag of clothes. It was evidence. To prove that Wade had done it. Not Kevin. Not Kevin. Dear God, not Kevin.

She fisted the thin plastic and lifted the bag, turned to the door just as it opened and in walked Wade Krayton.

As they drove along Salinas Street back toward the police station, Jason mulled over the information he’d just learned from Dr. Durban, staring out the side window and not really seeing anything. His body hummed with adrenaline. Then his cell phone buzzed. He pulled it out and opened it. “Chief Holloway.”

“It’s me,” Cade said. “We picked him up again.”

“Thank Christ.” Relief swept through Jason, along with a renewed sense of urgency. “Where is he?”

“Back home. We’re there now.”

“Good. Stay on him. Stick to him like shit on a shoe.”

“You got it, Chief.”

Jason clicked his phone off and covered his eyes briefly.
Please, let things go right from here on in
. He relaxed a little into the seat of the car. They had him. They were getting the warrant. This was all going to be over soon.

His phone buzzed again.

“Chief.” It was Nicki Barden, her voice sounding strange. “We’ve got a problem.”

Shit. What now? Jason rubbed his forehead. “What is it?”

“We just got a nine-one-one call.”

“Yeah.” He frowned.

Nicki paused as if having a hard time talking. “It came from Kendall Vioget’s cell phone.”

His heart landed in his throat and panic flashed over him. “What?”

“Yeah. Jesus, Chief. We tracked the phone to Wade Krayton’s place. She hasn’t said a word, but the operator can hear the conversation in the background. We think he’s holding Kendall and his fiancée hostage.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Jason’s entire body went cold, then hot, then cold again. He could not have just heard that.

“What the fuck?” His voice grated the words out. “What did you say?”

“You heard me. I have no idea why. We’re on our way there.”

“Hostage?” That word alone sent chills sliding down his back. A memory flash seared his brain.
Stephanie. Hostage
. His heart raced so fast he was afraid it was going to explode out of his chest.

“Yeah.”

“SWAT team in Santa Barbara,” he said automatically.

“It’ll take them at least an hour to get here.”

“They’re all we’ve got. Just a minute.” He lowered the phone and barked at Paul, “Pull over. We have to get over to Wade Krayton’s place. Now.”

Paul had evidently been listening to his side of the conversation. “Where is that?” he asked.

“Address,” Jason snapped into the phone.

“Four eighty-five Juniper Street.”

Jason relayed that to Paul, who’d already sharply braked and pulled over. He stepped on the gas again, and took the next right turn with a squeal of the tires.

“They’re not all we’ve got,” Nicki said to him. He blinked. What…? Oh yeah. The SWAT team in Santa Barbara. “We’ve got you.”

Oh fuck. Fuck, no. He closed his eyes, pain shafting through him. He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t. After what had happened last time…Jesus.

Sweat broke out on his forehead even in the air-conditioned car, stung his underarms, dampened the back of his shirt.

“No,” he finally gritted out. “No.”

“Chief. There are two women in there. One of them at least, completely innocent.”

“What the fuck is she doing there?” he roared into the phone. Then to Paul, he snarled, “Drive faster, for chrissake!”

“She apparently watched the surveillance video after she finished giving her statement. It wasn’t Natalia on the video, it was Dedra.”

“
What
?”

“Kendall recognized her. They thought she was nuts at first. Then it made sense, but she’d already shot out of there like a bat out of hell.”

More curses ran through his head.
Fuck, fuck, fuck
.

“He has a weapon?” he asked.

“Yes. They heard her mention a gun. They’re listening to everything that’s being said in that apartment, but she’s not talking to them. He must not know her cell phone is on.”

Damn. Admiration rose in him along with his alarm and, oh yeah,
fury
that she’d been so stupid as to go there.

“Is Cade there?”

“Yeah. When we told him what was going on, they went to the door, to try to gain access. Krayton told them he had a gun and wasn’t coming out.”

Las Colinas wasn’t a big city, and it took only five minutes to get to the street where Wade Krayton lived. Already patrol cars had been parked at either end, blocking the street, lights flashing in the late afternoon. Officers were busy evacuating bewildered neighbors from their homes. Curious onlookers huddled at either end of the short block.

Paul pulled up with another screech of the tires, and Jason was out of the car before he’d even come to a complete stop, out and running.

His mind was a buzz of total panic, his vision blurred, his body tight and stiff.
Get a grip, get a grip.
He had to calm down and get control here. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Kendall was in there. This could not be happening. Not again. It couldn’t be real.

“Have you made contact with him?” he demanded of his deputy chief Larry Minish standing near a patrol car.

“No. Nobody answered the land line. We just got his cell phone number.” He handed the piece of paper with the numbers on it to Jason and met his eyes.

Jason made no move to take it. His gut churned and his mouth was as dry as the Santa Ynez valley in summer.

They knew his background. They expected him to do this. Larry knew what had happened, the fucking
disaster
that had happened, he should
know
he couldn’t. And yet Larry still waited, ready for Jason to take the number and try to contact the HT.

The tremor in his hand as he took the paper unnerved him. Larry held his gaze. “You can do it,” he said quietly.

Kendall.

Her beautiful face appeared in front of his eyes, her elegant cheekbones, deep, dark eyes, lush mouth, shiny hair. He closed his eyes against the sight, but it stayed there in his mind’s eye.

He couldn’t do it. If it was just Krayton and his girlfriend in there, maybe…but with Kendall in there too? His feelings were way too involved. Just like with his sister, it made it too personal, too intense. He’d fall apart, lose control and blow the whole thing. Again. Christ!

He was in love with her.

His heart constricted painfully in his chest, his breathing grew shallow.

Somehow through all this shit, he’d fucking fallen in love with her. She was so important to him, it was freaking him out, his heart jack hammering, his muscles jumping and twitching beneath his skin, more sweat trickling down his back beneath his shirt.

Last night, when she’d looked at him with such cold loathing, he’d believed any chance they could ever be together was done. He knew she blamed him for what had happened. And yet, when she’d confessed to him this morning, he’d felt a glimmer of hope that maybe she could forgive him.

Despair grabbed him by the throat and squeezed. It didn’t matter. If she lived through this, they still might never have a chance at something—but if she didn’t live through it—she would never have a chance at anything. With him, without him. He had to get her out of there alive.

But he was terrified of screwing up. Of not being able to protect someone he loved. Again.

Kendall stared at the gun in Wade’s hand, her chest and throat tightening so she couldn’t breathe. She and Dedra sat side by side on the couch, while Wade paced the living room in front of them.

Wade had walked in, taken one look at the bag of clothes in Kendall’s hand, the terrified expression on Dedra face, and had apparently known what had happened. The gun had materialized in his hand, sending Kendall’s heart into an arrhythmia that she still hadn’t recovered from.

This man was a killer. He’d killed Natalia. She had no idea why, but he had.

He’d shoved her and Dedra onto the couch, told them to sit still and shut up. And then she’d managed to make the phone call. She’d managed to hit the speed dial number for nine-one-one she’d programmed into her cell phone. She couldn’t speak, but hoped somehow the system would identify her phone, and possibly her location. She was pretty sure that was possible.

“Wade, what are you doing?” Dedra asked. “Where did you get the gun?” She was crying again, her voice wobbly, her nose running.

“Shut the fuck up!” he yelled at her. “Never mind where I got the gun!” His yelling at Dedra probably kept him from hearing the faint voice of the operator asking over and over “What is your emergency?” as Kendall kept the phone and the line open. If she got even the briefest chance she would speak into the phone, but she couldn’t take a chance with that gun in his hand.

Her cell phone sat beside her on the cushion, tucked against her hip, not visible to him. If she talked to him, and talked loud enough, whoever was at the other end could hear it. Nerves had her palms sweating, her heart thudding in a painful, unsteady beat. Adrenaline sizzled through her veins, urging her to flee, but of course she couldn’t. Her eyes tracked Wade’s movements back and forth across the small room.