Читать книгу Hometown Detective - Jennifer Morey - Страница 14

Chapter 3

Maybe they just liked each other?

Kendra rolled her head to the side to see Roman’s sleeping face not three inches from hers. She lay in the curve of his arm, with her breast, ribs, hip and leg pressed against him. Thankfully, she still wore her clothes and he his. But how in the world had the night gotten so carried away?

What the hell had she been thinking?

After arriving at the hotel room, Roman had taken care of her, all without infringing on her privacy. She almost liked him. The unpredictability caught her off guard. She hadn’t seen their connection coming. And she had completely forgotten he never answered her question about why he didn’t want to see his parents.

What kind of man was he? She knew nothing about him personally.

Easing away, she sat up, and then stood from the bed. Tiptoeing to the door, she quietly left the room. Finding a pen and notepad, she scrawled a note, her last-ditch effort to get him to change his mind about investigating Kaelyn’s death.

* * *

Standing outside Kaelyn’s best friend’s small two-story Victorian, Roman leaned against the trunk of a tree. He hadn’t given in to the nagging compulsion to investigate Kendra’s twin sister’s death. Yet. He kept telling himself that. Spending last night with her changed the dynamics. The note she’d left, too.

Now he felt something for her. He didn’t think he’d ever had so much fun with a woman before. Hanging with her had been like hanging with one of his buddies. Add the bonus of her hot body and he couldn’t stay away.

He should have left hours ago. He should be deep into investigating a real murder. Like a magnet, Kendra had kept him right here.

“My sister was murdered,” she’d written. “I’m going to talk to Kaelyn’s best friend in two hours. With or without you.”

Then she’d signed her name, a pretty scrawl.

Since that’s where he now stood outside waiting for her, he must have already given in. She’d baited him with that note, probably even planned a visit with the best friend on purpose, to draw him in. He felt the resolve settle in and take hold. Yeah, he wasn’t going anywhere. Even if he proved her wrong and Kaelyn’s death was suicide, he’d stay until the end. He’d investigate her case.

And yeah, he’d even started thinking of this as a case—but only because of what she’d brought to light about being in contact with her long-lost sister. Why had Kaelyn kept her reuniting with Kendra a secret? He had to find out.

He wished he could smoke.

Really. Why was he doing this?

Because she’d go forward without him. Her note told him that much.

Because in the off chance her sister had been murdered, she’d put herself in danger.

Because...

Because he cared.

A few minutes later, Kendra drove up and parked. She saw him before she got out, shock registering before she smiled. She smiled a lot. Her sunny disposition had infected him for sure.

He headed across the street.

“You’re going to scare her standing out here like a stalker,” she said.

“At least she’ll be expecting us.”

He experienced a flare of attraction when he noticed she wore another sexy pantsuit.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. “You look mad.”

Mad? Hungry might be a better word. “Don’t make me start smoking again.” Passing her, he walked to the house.

“How would I make you smoke again? You smoked?” She eyed him as though he didn’t fit the stereotype. “When did you quit?”

“Six months ago. I only want to smoke when I get agitated. You made me stay and take your case.”

“At least you’re calling it a case now.” She winked at him, infecting him more.

Stopping at the door, he rang the bell as he absorbed her beautiful profile, lips still curved smugly.

Blaire Bancroft answered the door. “Kendra.” She turned curious eyes to Roman.

“Hi, Blaire. This is Roman Cooper. He’s the private detective I hired to look into Kaelyn’s death. Would you mind telling him everything you told me?”

So Kendra had planned to trick him into coming here. Of course she would have already talked to her.

“Oh.” Her frown told Roman she didn’t understand the need. “Sure. Come in.”

Before arriving here, Roman had asked an analyst at DAI to look into everyone close to Kaelyn. Blaire and Kaelyn had gone to school together and had both married out of high school. Blaire had stayed in Chesterville. Her husband worked as a mechanic at a local garage and she stayed home with their kids. They’d waited and had them later in their thirties. Kaelyn had left town when her winner of a man dragged her to another town.

Roman entered behind Kendra, and then stood beside her in the small foyer. Blaire’s toddler played on an old, faded rug in front of a television in the small living room. The scuffed wood floor needed refinishing. Through a wide archway, the kitchen looked messy. Breakfast dishes remained on the table and the counters needed a scrubbing. Busy mom.

“How are you?” Blaire asked Kendra. “I hear your shop is doing amazing. I’ve been meaning to stop in.” She glanced at the toddler, who threw a stuffed monkey in the air and then sat transfixed by the Sesame Street episode. “I hate taking him in public, though.”

Kendra laughed a little. “I can see you have your hands full. We won’t take up much of your time. Roman just has a few questions for you.”

Roman loved how she unabashedly volunteered him.

“All right. Sorry for the mess. I was just about to start cleaning the kitchen. It took me a while to get him to settle down.” She thumbed over toward her child.

“How close were you with Kaelyn?” Roman asked, a standard first question.

Blaire glanced at Kendra as though surprised she hadn’t told him. “Very. We were best friends through school and after.”

“You remained close after school? After you were both married?” That would be important if Kaelyn revealed something no one singled out as significant.

“Yes. We talked on the phone a lot and I saw her when she came back to Chesterville, which she did quite often. Her husband only trusted her to go see her mom.” She shook her head with a slight roll to her eyes. “Weird that he’d let her do that but not go out with friends when she was home. Kaelyn must have been able to snow him for once. He must have believed her.”

“Tell Roman about how you suspected Kaelyn was having another affair aside from the one she had with Jasper,” Kendra said.

Blaire looked from him to her, taking some time to think. “I wasn’t really suspicious. One time, she came over and had to leave early. I noticed she seemed anxious. I thought she must have had another fight with her husband, but she said she had another stop to make before she had to get back to her mother’s. I asked her where she was going and she wouldn’t say. She just changed the subject.”

Kaelyn must not have shared the part about the second lover with anyone. Roman supposed he should have sat down with Kendra before coming here and allowed her to explain all she knew so far. Or make sure she did. She’d held out on him, probably for this reason, to get him here and to get him much more curious about the case.

What about Jasper? Kaelyn must have known Jasper could take care of himself. But then, she must have been having this affair here in Chesterville at the same time, so why tell him? And if her husband didn’t trust her with anyone but her mother, she must have been very sneaky to avoid detection.

“When did you last see her?” Roman asked.

“Oh, about two weeks before she died. I spoke with her the day before, though. She told me Jasper broke things off and she was pretty upset over that.”

“Did she talk about her husband?” Roman asked.

“No, not that time.”

“But she did previously,” Kendra said, guiding the direction of the questioning.

“The time before that, when she came to Chesterville, we met for lunch and she had a bruise on her lip,” Blaire said. “I had already suspected her husband was knocking her around. She tried to cover the bruise with makeup but I noticed. I’ve never seen her so low as she was then. She talked about wanting to close her eyes and not wake up so she wouldn’t have to go home to him. She scared me. I didn’t want to leave her alone, but she insisted.”

“Don’t you think it’s possible her husband killed her?” Kendra asked.

“Oh, I’m sure he would have, eventually.”

“Did she ever talk about leaving him?” Roman asked.

“Well, sure. All the time. But it was more like a daydream. I think she was too scared to try.”

“Jasper told her he’d help,” Kendra said.

“And he also told her he wouldn’t be with her. If she was having an affair with someone else who frightened her as much or more than her husband, she didn’t have much to look forward to.”

Roman agreed that only supported her suicide. “You think she killed herself?”

“It’s what the police think. She wasn’t happy. She never talked to me about killing herself but I can see how she’d be driven to that point.” She looked harder at Kendra. “Do you really think she was murdered?”

“I think it’s a definite possibility,” she said. “Whenever I talked to her or when I saw her, she didn’t seem like someone who was about to off herself.”

“Maybe she didn’t want you to worry,” Roman said.

He earned a glower from her.

“Thanks for talking to us, Blaire,” Kendra said, then turned to him again. “Let’s go.”

“Did Kaelyn ever mention she was talking with her twin sister?” Roman asked Blaire.

Blaire shook her head. “I was as shocked as everyone else when Kendra came to town.”

He could tell his question irritated Kendra. He’d had to ask to confirm what she’d told him.

Out on the street, Kendra headed for her car. “Don’t say it.”

Roman walked beside her. “I wasn’t going to say anything.”

She eyed him as he walked next to her.

“I wasn’t,” he repeated. “In fact, I was going to suggest we call her coworkers.”

“What about her sleazy husband?”

“He’s in jail. Just found that out this morning. Arrested for embezzlement.”

“The streets are cleaner.” She reached her car. “Where’s your car?”

“I left the rental at the hotel. Took a cab here.”

“Get in.”

He did. “The husband has a tight alibi the day Kaelyn killed herself.”

“Stop saying that. Kaelyn was murdered.”

Roman sighed. This was going to be a long day.

“I didn’t tell you this yet, but Kaelyn slipped once when we were talking on the phone. She said she met someone in Chesterville and she called him Bear.”

“So you knew she was seeing someone.”

“No. She said she met someone and she called him Bear. She backpedaled when I questioned her and wouldn’t say more.”

* * *

Kendra contained her frustration after talking with a few of Kaelyn’s coworkers. All of them corroborated what the police had surmised. Kaelyn had been unhappy and depressed before her death. Having Roman with her to do the questioning hadn’t gotten her anywhere. She felt his doubt oozing through the air between them. The only reason he’d stayed was because of her secret relationship with Kaelyn, and maybe their night together. Would he ever be swayed?

Now they walked along Main Street not far from her shop and the pub. Ahead, a throng of people caught her eye. They’d have to cross the street to get around them. A camera crew lingered among them in front of the courthouse.

“What’s going on there?” Roman asked.

“I don’t know.” Kendra was active in her community but wouldn’t call herself up-to-date on everything going on in town.

People had gathered on the steps of the courthouse. What they hoped to see, Kendra couldn’t be sure. But then a couple stepped out of the building. The man, tall and muscular with slightly graying dark hair, wore slacks and a vest over a white dress shirt. Not much shorter, with blond hair and a black dress, the woman wore expensive jewels, like Christmas ornaments, and a fitted black business dress with black high heels. Her blond hair was shoulder-length and styled in a perfect, swooping bob.

She stopped with Roman at the crowd of onlookers.

“Who are they?” Kendra asked.

A woman next to her said, “That’s Hudson Franklin and his wife, Melody. Hudson is the county prosecutor. He’s prosecuting a new case.”

Melody waved to the crowd as though acting. Her husband kissed her cheek and she smiled at him, much more genuinely. The two seemed to have real feelings for each other.

Someone broke from the crowd, rushing for Melody and Hudson.

“You sent an innocent man to jail!” the man hollered, feverish to reach them. “All you care about is winning trials!”

Melody’s smile vanished and she shrieked, startled and frightened.

Two beefy security guards blocked the stranger just in time and Hudson swept Melody away, letting the guards flatten the man onto the concrete sidewalk.

From behind the couple, a big, dark blond–haired man rushed forward. “Mother! Are you all right?”

Shaken but safe now that the man had been subdued, the blonde faced the man. “Thank you, Bear. Yes, I’m all right.”

As she watched Melody lean away from the man’s embrace, Kendra felt a cold chill race through her, prickling her scalp and arms. When Kaelyn had slipped when talking about her second lover, she’d called him Bear.