You Really Got Me (7 page)

Detective Janko once again left, leaving Jason to speak to her. “Is everything okay?” she asked, trying to keep her hands relaxed.

He didn’t reply directly to that. “Were Kevin and Natalia getting along okay recently?”

She frowned. “Of course. Why would you ask that? They’re in love. They’re getting married.”

“Weddings can cause a lot of stress for people.”

Kendall rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. But I don’t think those two were all that stressed, since I’m the one who was doing all the work.” She paused and wrinkled her nose. “Um. That sounded a little bitter, didn’t it?”

Again he didn’t answer her, though a smile flickered on his mouth. He knew how much she’d put into the wedding. “Natalia’s roommate told us that they’d been having some disagreements lately.”

Kendall stared at him. “Oh. I…I…”

“She wasn’t sure what it was all about, but she mentioned a night last week when they’d all been at a party. Natalia had thought Kevin was too drunk to drive and had tried to stop him. He apparently got pretty angry. Got pretty physical.”

Her insides went cold. “What are you saying? Are you trying to say he hurt Natalia?”

He regarded her somberly.

“Jason. He would never hurt her,” she said, frowning. “Yes, Kevin sometimes drinks too much…” Her fingers curled into her palms. “But even when he was drunk, he wouldn’t hurt her.”

“You weren’t happy about this wedding.”

She stared back at him. She’d shared some of her feelings about Kevin and Natalia getting married with him. Again her mind turned over and over, until she finally spoke. “You know I thought they were both young to be getting married. I told Kevin that when they got engaged. But it was their decision and they obviously would get married whether I approved of it or not, so I really had no choice but to support them.” Her eyes widened as a thought struck her. “You’re not trying to imply that I’d do something to stop the wedding…?” She set her hand on her throat, her stomach contracting as she stared at Jason. “Jason…”

“I know you don’t really like Natalia.”

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. Where was he going with this? “It’s not that I dislike her,” she snapped. She and Natalia were very different, and Natalia’s insistence on a huge lavish wedding had always concerned Kendall. Just a bit. Not that that was bad. “Jason…why are you asking me these things?”

Did he seriously suspect her of doing something? Not only was that ridiculous, it…hurt. That he would think that of her. Sweet mother of hell, this was the man who’d thought they were meant to be together. Anxiety gripped her. She was screwing up. “I swear to you I have no idea what happened to her.”

“Take it easy, Kendall. Nobody has said you do.”

Shit. She was getting all defensive about nothing. Her nerves jittered, and she lifted a shaky hand to push her hair back, hoping he didn’t notice how rattled she was. “I want you to find her,” she said quietly. “Even if she’s changed her mind about getting married.” Their eyes met in a magnetic linkage. She hated to ask for help, from anyone, about anything. But… “Please, Jason. Find her. My brother loves her.”

He nodded again, and something glinted in those midnight blue eyes, a flash of compassion and understanding that had her drawing in a quivery breath. Did he believe her? Did he believe Kevin? And what had Kevin and the police talked about?

“A newspaper reporter called here asking questions about Natalia,” she said.

“What did you say to them?”

“Nothing. I told them I have no comment, but really it’s the truth. I don’t know anything I could tell them other than what everybody already knows.” She searched his face, that strong handsome face, and asked, “Is there anything else you can tell me?”

“I will tell you whatever I can, when I can,” he promised, and she believed him and breathed a little easier. He stepped closer and lifted a hand to curve around the side of neck. She immediately went very still and heat curled inside her. His warm, strong fingers slid into her hair, his thumb resting just in front of her ear. Oh God. She wanted to melt into his touch. “We
are
working on it.”

“I know.” She gave a jerky nod. “I know, and thank you.”

“I’m holding a press conference later this afternoon.” He dropped his hand and regret pulsed through her. “I’ll tell them what I can and hopefully that will keep them off your back.”

Not freakin’ likely. She didn’t say it, but she knew what the media was like, determined to get a story even if there wasn’t one, digging for any dirt they could find and sensationalizing it. She knew only too well. And they’d go crazy with someone like Kevin being jilted days before his wedding.

She nodded. Jason was new to Las Colinas, hired only a year ago to run their police department, but he was a former FBI special agent with good experience and had won the respect and confidence of people in town. His air of authority and confidence reassured her that he’d find Natalia and the truth about where she’d gone.

But she was sensing that Jason’s concern about Natalia had deepened too.

Kevin disappeared after the police talked to him, didn’t come home for dinner and Kendall was worried sick. When he walked in later that evening, her stomach tightened even more. His hair stood up in all directions, his face was drawn and pale, his shirt rumpled.

“Where have you been?” she asked, resisting the urge to shout at him.

“Out.”

“What did the police want earlier?”

“Same old questions.” He didn’t look at her.

She bit her lip, her heart heavy and cold in her chest. “Kevin. You have to tell me the truth.”

“I have.”

The outrageousness of that had her jaw dropping. “You haven’t told me a goddamn thing. I lied to the police for you, but I don’t even know why!”

He said nothing.

“Did you and Natalia have a fight?” she asked, remembering Jason’s questions. “That night I picked you up?”

His face flushed and he grimaced. “No! Jesus, Kendall. I swear to you, I don’t know what happened to her! I don’t want to talk about where I was, okay? It’s not going to make any difference in whether they find her, because I had nothing to do with it. Fuck! Natalia’s gone.” He stared at her with red-rimmed eyes brimming with despair, and her heart softened. She covered her eyes with one hand, unable to face the misery and grief on her brother’s face. She loved him so much, despite his faults. He was her only family. He was all she had.

“Where were you tonight?” she asked finally.

“Out.”

She hissed out a breath. “Kevin!”

“Oh, Jesus. I went to talk to Laurel.”

Kendall frowned. “Natalia’s roommate?”

“Yeah. Just to make sure she didn’t know anything about where Natalia’s gone.”

“I’m sure the police have talked to her.”

“I know.” He rubbed his eyes. “But I had to try. I drove around for a while too, trying to imagine where she might go. I have no clue where to look, but…I…I had to look. Trey came with me.”

His best friend, who was to be the best man at the wedding.

“Oh, Kevin.” Her heart squeezed painfully.

He turned and left the room, and she too dragged up to her bedroom. She sank onto the edge of the bed in the darkness. They had to find Natalia. They had to.

Her cell phone rang from the dresser across the room, and she rose and hurried over to it. When she saw the number displayed, she quickly answered.

“Kendall. It’s me. Erin.”

“I know.” She leaned against the dresser and closed her eyes at the sound of her best friend’s voice. “Hi, Erin.”

“What the hell is going on there? I just saw the news about Natalia.”

“Yeah. Well, then you know as much as I do.”

Erin was the one person she didn’t mind hearing from, even though she was asking the same questions as everyone else. She and Erin had met when they were both sixteen and Erin was spending the summer in Las Colinas working on her grandmother’s lavender farm for a summer job. She’d come back a few summers after that, and she and Kendall had kept in touch and visited each other whenever they could.

“Seriously? She just disappeared? Right before the wedding?”

“Yeah.” Her throat got tight at talking to her best friend. “It appears that way, but we can’t find her and everyone’s worried sick.”

“What are you going to do? About the wedding.”

“I don’t know.” Kendall rubbed her forehead. “I suppose if Natalia doesn’t show up soon, we’ll have to cancel it.”

“Oh Jesus.”

“I know. God, this is such a mess.”

“Do you want me to come?”

“No, of course not. There’s nothing you can do. The police are looking for her. I’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.”

“Well, I’ll be there this weekend anyway. I was planning on driving up Friday night.” Kendall had invited her best friend to the wedding, of course. Erin had known Kevin as long as she’d known Kendall, although he was a few years younger than they were.

“I’ll call you if we cancel the wedding.”

“I’m coming anyway,” Erin said firmly.

Kendall sighed and nodded even though Erin couldn’t see that. “Okay. Thanks, Erin.”

“Call me if you want me to come sooner. Or if you hear anything. Or if there’s anything I can do, or even if you just want to talk. Okay?”

“I will.”

“No, you won’t.” Erin’s voice held amusement but also censure. “I know what you’re like. You have to do it all yourself. But I’m here for you, hon.”

Kendall’s chest tightened at Erin’s words. Erin had been there for her through tough times before. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“Love you,” Erin said.

“Love you too.”

Kendall ended the call and laid her phone on the dresser. Erin had a busy, fast-paced life as an attorney in Los Angeles, working in her father’s law firm. Her dad was semi-retired now, and Kendall knew that Erin was taking over a lot of high-profile cases for him. It was what she’d always wanted. She was so smart and ambitious.

Despite assuring Erin she didn’t need her to come, Kendall did wish her best friend was there, so she could spill everything to her, everything she was keeping bottled up inside, her doubts and fears and worries…and how much she missed Jason Holloway.

As Jason finished stripping paint off the remainder of his banister that night, he had a lot to think about. The Natalia Debarros case was at the top of his mind, for sure. A missing person who had disappeared off the face of the earth a week before her wedding. Not a sign of her anywhere since she’d walked out of that lab last Saturday afternoon.

He also couldn’t stop thinking about Kendall. Seeing her again had only reminded him of the intense connection they’d had. He’d sensed early in their short relationship that she needed the emotional release he could give her, and he’d found himself with a deep, hungry need to do that for her. He understood that she’d have doubts. He could even understand that she might not completely trust him since they were still getting to know each other. But she’d freaked way the hell out and that had only reinforced his decision that he was better off keeping that part of himself deeply buried.

He should leave her alone. He still wasn’t even sure
himself
that he could be trusted.

But seeing her looking so lost and vulnerable aroused every protective, dominant instinct inside him. He wanted to take care of her.

His mind continued to churn as he reached the bottom of the stairs and got to work on the newel post. The chemical smell of the heat and melting paint started to give him a faint headache.

The need to care for Kendall and protect her warred inside him with the need to find out the truth and solve this mystery. His jaw tightened, remembering Kevin Vioget and the fact that he’d had a loud, violent argument with his fiancée only hours before she’d disappeared.

He knew only too well the stats, because he’d lived it. A huge percentage of homicides were committed by friends or family, women most often killed by husbands, boyfriends, fiancés. He’d be lying if he said Kevin Vioget wasn’t at the top of his list of suspects, if something had in fact happened to Natalia.

But goddammit, he was
Kendall’s brother.

He knew Kendall’s feelings about Natalia Debarros were lukewarm at best, but he sensed her distress and concern were genuine. Another thing he knew about her was how loyal she was to her brother.

But t
he thing that was really bugging him was his gut feeling that both Viogets were lying about something. And the fact that they had nothing–nothing!—to go on to try to locate Natalia. Shit.

He shut off the heat gun just as Denny walked in his front door without even a knock. Jason shook his head but smiled. “You get here just as I’m finished?”

Denny grinned. “I do have great timing, I’ve been told. Time for a brewski?”

“Yeah, I could use one.”

Once again, Jason cleaned up his tools methodically before moving into the kitchen.

“What’s happening with that missing girl?” Denny asked, taking a seat on a stool at the island.