The Perfect Liar (Last Stand 5)

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."

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, completely out of it, when she knocked on the door. His was the only se**n 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....

Chapter 7

"Surprise!"

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?"

"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.