The Perfect Liar (Last Stand 5)

Silently, she padded over to her purse and pulled out the document she'd doctored at Kinko's. "Here you go."

She stood there while he examined it, but when he didn't react, she moved closer. "It's positive, see? It says so right here." She brushed up against his arm as she pointed and almost couldn't stop herself from slipping her arms around his waist. Just one embrace...

"I want a paternity test," he said.

She'd expected this and had an answer for it. "Of course. But we can't do that now, sil y. Not til the baby's born. Otherwise, there are risks.

I've already looked into it, since you said you wanted proof."

"We have to wait nine months?"

"Well...eight."

Shoving the paper aside, he sank into the chair she'd been using earlier.

"Don't you have anything else to say?" she asked.

His eyes cut to her, and she'd never seen him look quite so malevolent.

She pressed a hand to her throat. "Don't glare at me like that, Luke. It gives me the creeps. It's not my fault. The rubber broke."

"Sure it did," he grumbled, and picked up his coffee cup.

She studied the floor, trying to appear contrite. "There's something else you should know."

"What's that?" He didn't sound interested in any more news.

"I told Ogitani the truth. They're dropping the charges."

"And that's supposed to make me happy?"

"I thought it might." She didn't mention the charges that might be filed against her or that there was a detective from Mesa flying out to speak with her tomorrow. She'd deal with that later. One thing at a time....

"Without you, there wouldn't have been any charges," he said.

"I was hurt, Luke. Can't you understand that?"

He sat there for so long she didn't think he'd answer, but he finally said, "Maybe."

"I...I thought we had something together. I've cared about you for a long time, since the first few days after I got assigned to your squadron.

When you walked out on me that night, it felt like...like you'd just used me and tossed me aside. And it meant so much more to me."

His chair scraped the floor as he pushed it back, but he didn't get up.

Elbows on knees, he rested his head against the knuckles of both hands.

What was he thinking? She was pretty sure she was reaching him, but she couldn't be positive....

"I'm sorry," she went on. "I'm really and truly sorry. It was wrong of me to react the way I did. I know that. And then, once I'd said what I did to the doctors, they took it from there and the police came and the situation got out of control. I didn't know how to back out, so...so I stayed mad to keep from thinking about it."

He hadn't showered or shaved this morning. When he rubbed his chin, she could hear the rasp of beard growth.

"I'm just asking for a little understanding," she told him, "for your help in getting through this pregnancy." She wanted to touch him so badly it was almost as if an invisible force kept drawing her hands to his hair. But she fought it, couldn't risk moving that fast. He was trying to be fair. She could tell.

"It's partly my fault," he admitted. "I should never have been irresponsible enough to do what I did." His gaze moved to the letter, then darted away. "Somehow we'l get through it."

"I really appreciate that," she said softly.

He took a deep breath. "And, if this is my baby, I'l do everything I can to support it. I want you to know that."

"Thank you." Her voice was a whisper now. "You're going to be a great father."

She thought the compliment might evoke a smile, but his head sank even lower as he covered his face. He wasn't watching her; he was somewhere inside himself. Kalyna lifted her hand. She was just about to risk placing it on his shoulder when a knock interrupted her. "Luke? Luke, are you there?"

It was Ava Bixby.

Chapter 29

While she waited for the ATM to dispense the three hundred dollars she'd just pulled out of savings, Tatiana rubbed her sweaty palms on her shorts. She was going to do it; she was going to California to see Kalyna.

She had to do something. Mark nearly had the police convinced that he wasn't the one who'd kil ed their mother. He came across as so sincere with all his claims of loving Kalyna, of being wronged by her, that he'd nearly convinced Tati, too. That photo had really thrown her. But she refused to let him persuade her. Now that she'd had more time to think about it, she remembered how creepy he was. He was a decade older. It was partly his fault Kalyna had gotten into so much trouble in her teens.

And that hitchhiker? There was no way Kalyna could kil another person, especially at such a young age.

Unfortunately, Detective Morgan didn't seem to view Mark's story with the same suspicion. He was suddenly talking as if it had to be Kalyna. Mark had allowed the police to come in and search the moment they knocked on his door, and because they hadn't found anything belonging to Norma, they were turning their sights elsewhere. Tati had heard Detective Morgan tell her father just an hour ago that he'd contacted the base and asked security to be on the lookout for Kalyna. The second she showed up for work, they'd nab her and hold her until Detective Morgan could arrange a flight out to California to question her.

Tati had to warn her. She'd tried to do it by phone--but Kalyna wasn't answering and, thanks to all of Tati's previous messages, her sister's voice mail was full.

"She didn't do it," she muttered to herself. Tati knew her sister had emotional problems. Kalyna had always been different--impatient to get what she wanted, careless about her mistakes, quick to blame others for whatever went wrong in her life. She could be disappointing and difficult to deal with. But she was the only blood relative Tati knew. Tati didn't want to lose her, especially now that Norma was gone.

The whir of the cash machine stopped. She grabbed the bil s, before she could change her mind, and shoved them in the pocket of her shorts while hurrying back to the Oldsmobile. She'd had to take her father's car because she didn't have a vehicle of her own. But she couldn't drive the Olds al the way to California. The hearse was stil in the shop; Dewayne would be left without any transportation. So she'd park his car at the airport, where he could have someone help him pick it up. She'd fly to Sacramento, then rent a car.

Doing it this way was costing her almost every penny of what she'd saved so far for the cruise she and her parents had planned to take next summer. It was to be their first family vacation. But her mother was gone, and this was more important, anyway. She owed it to Kalyna to have enough faith to track her down and save her from herself.