“Maybe he didn’t realize he had it,” Roman said.
He navigated to the photo album.
Kendra felt a pang of loss as she saw her sister’s last photos. Many were of her adoptive mom and dad and some selfies around Chesterville. A day of shopping. Dinner. Church. Hanging out at her adoptive mom and dad’s house.
Then a video clip. The image was black. Roman pressed Play and Kaelyn’s frightened voice began.
“He hit me again.” The video clip brightened and showed Kaelyn’s face, a cut on her lip. Kendra had to turn her back. It was too hard to see.
“I hate him so much,” Kaelyn said. “I can’t wait to get away from here. He threatened to kill me if I tried to leave him, so I have to be careful.” Kendra glanced sharply at Roman as Kaelyn continued. “He suspects nothing and I want to keep it that way. Kendra doesn’t know it yet, but she’s going to save my life. We talked about moving to Chesterville yesterday. She seems open to the idea. She’d have to quit her job but she’s smart and resourceful. She can get something going in Chesterville. I’m sure of it.”
Hearing the desperate hope in her sister’s tone, Kendra began to choke up with emotion.
She heard Kaelyn suck in a sharp breath. “He’s coming.”
The video ended.
Slowly, Kaelyn turned. Roman looked up at her.
“Sorry,” he said.
“That proves I was right,” she said.
“This is powerful evidence. It’s dated a week before she was killed and clearly shows she had plans to leave him and move to Chesterville. Nobody who planned to kill themselves would talk like that.”
“Thank you.” Now he was wholly and completely on her side. He had no more doubts that Kaelyn had not committed suicide. “What now?”
“Tomorrow morning we return this to the box and go talk to Alex.”
“In prison?”
“Yes.”
That should be interesting.
“Let’s go over the police report again. I’ll arrange to also get copies of her home phone records.”
Good. They’d be busy the rest of the night. Too busy for any more kissing.
* * *
The Harris Correctional Facility was old and gray and bleak. Couple that with darkening skies and the distant sound of thunder and the place could be in a ghost story. Roman held the door for her and they entered. By the time they left, it would be raining. Kendra had arranged for one of her employees to cover for her at her shop.
After a lengthy check-in, a guard led them to a room where Alex had been taken to wait for them. It was an open room with a few tables taken by other inmates with visitors. In an orange jumpsuit, Alex was cuffed to the table and saw them enter. Around six feet tall, he had silvering blond hair and buggy blue eyes. Not overweight but chunky at the middle.
“Who are you?” he asked as they reached the table.
Roman pulled out a chair for her and she sat as he took the seat next to her.
“Guard said you were some kind of detective,” Alex said to Roman. “You here to get me out of here?”
“No. This is Kaelyn’s twin sister, Kendra.”
Alex turned to her for a brief, uninterested inspection. “Yeah, I heard Kaelyn had a sister. She never told me about her.”
“I see from the police reports that you were out drinking with some friends the night Kaelyn died?” Roman asked.
“I stopped after work.”
He worked construction and his boss had confirmed he’d arrived early in the morning and worked a ten-hour day. The bar where he’d spent the evening had also confirmed he’d paid his tab at two in the morning.
“When did you find Kaelyn?”
“Late the next morning. I didn’t see her when I got home.”
“You didn’t care enough about her to look,” Kendra couldn’t stop herself from saying.
“I cared about her,” he shot back indignantly. “I had too much to drink. I slept hard.”
“Enough to threaten to kill her if she ever left you?” Kendra countered. She felt like gouging his eyes out with an ice pick.
“I never did that,” he sneered. He looked around for the guard.
“What if we said we have proof that you did?” Roman asked.
“Like what?” He seemed confident they’d find nothing.
“You threatened her more than once, didn’t you?” Roman asked. “We know you beat her.”
After a long pause, Alex finally said, “We had a few fights, but I loved Kaelyn.”
“I bet you did,” Kendra said. “Like a sociopath loves his victims?”
“Kendra.” Roman put his hand over hers.
“I did love her...and not like a sociopath. Why are you here if you already know I had an alibi the day Kaelyn killed herself?”
“She didn’t kill herself,” Roman said. “She had plans to move back to Chesterville. She was going to leave you.”
“What? No, she wasn’t.”
“She and I talked about moving closer together. We hadn’t solidified any plans yet, but it would have happened. That’s why she never told anyone about me. That was her way out.”
Alex stared at her. “You think I killed her?”
“You threatened to kill her. Did you hire someone to do it for you and make it look like a suicide?”
Alex scoffed. “I wouldn’t have needed anyone else to off her if that’s what I wanted. I didn’t kill my wife.”
Kendra held her tongue still. Roman didn’t say anything either and the message was clear for Alex, whose brow lowered over his eyes.
“I didn’t kill my wife,” he repeated.
“You didn’t,” Roman said, “but who did?”
“That’s your job, isn’t it, Detective?”
Was he taunting them or did he really think Roman should do his job and catch Kaelyn’s killer? He hadn’t lost his temper when Kendra had shot her retorts. Maybe jail had taught him to control it. Or maybe he controlled it to hide his guilt.
“In case you feel like talking.” Roman handed the man his business card.
Alex took it as Roman stood and offered his hand to Kendra. She thought he didn’t do it on purpose. She gave him her hand and stood with him.
“This was a waste of time,” he said as they headed for the exit. “He’d never admit to killing Kaelyn or arranging for her to be killed, but I hoped he’d slip up somewhere.”
He hadn’t. Career criminals learned how to deceive to avoid prosecution. Alex didn’t have a long sentence right now but if he were convicted of murder, he’d never get out.
As they were escorted to the next door, Roman let go of her hand. She’d enjoyed the brief contact but probably best to avoid much more of that.
“Do you think he’s telling the truth?” she asked.
“About not killing her? Yes.”
He did? Could he read people that well? “But did he pay someone to off her?”
“Exactly.”
At the exit, she saw the torrential downpour and remembered she hadn’t brought a jacket or an umbrella.
“You wait here.”
He was really treating her like a lady. She almost stopped him out of fear of what it would do to her heart, but he had already pushed open the door and jogged out into the parking lot. She watched as he disappeared among the vehicles. Thunder rumbled. She could hear the patter of rain through the glass, some rainwater splashing up to distort her view.
Roman’s rental appeared and she went through the door, running to the passenger side. She opened the door and all but dived inside, slamming the door shut. Even that brief amount of time had gotten her drenched. She looked over at Roman. His black hair was dripping and his clothes were soaked through.
She smiled first before a laugh broke free. He chuckled with her and drove from the lot.<
br />
* * *
Back at his hotel room, Roman buried himself in the police reports. He’d gone over all the photos and everything written about Kaelyn’s death. Something had always bothered him about the way her body had been found. She hung from the main bathroom light fixture, a stool below turned over. Alex must have gone to the master bedroom and hadn’t gone into the main bathroom—if he was telling the truth.
Hearing Kendra shift on the chair she’d chosen when he’d brought her here, he looked up. She’d curled up with a book and every once in a while looked out the window at the rain. The storm wasn’t moving fast. Her appreciation for such a simple thing went against his initial impression of her as an ambitious go-getter who’d set up a cushy life for herself. When he began to think he had her figured wrong, he felt unease chase through him. She had come from a rough upbringing and made a life for herself. He had to respect that. She could have turned to crime instead of fighting to get away from a lifestyle that bred that kind of living. Instead, she’d made the right choices.
He had no illusions about how harsh reality could be, but that probably wasn’t the only issue he had with women who never experienced a bad day in their lives. In fact, he wondered if his relationship with the CEO had more to do with his reluctance to give romance another try. His work made finding and maintaining a real relationship difficult. If all he could have was something fake like what he’d already had, then he’d rather not get involved. He dated now and then, long enough to satisfy needs, but he’d never considered getting serious again.
Maybe his penchant for all things real boiled down to that. He wanted and needed something real with a woman. What if he could have that with Kendra?
She didn’t seem the trusting kind. She’d been burned before. Knowing the hours he’d have to work, would she ever be able to trust him? That seemed like a mess he’d be better off avoiding.
Just then, she looked from the window to him. That same spark warmed the energy between them.
“Find anything?” she asked.
Yes. Stay focused on the investigation. “Other than the fact that I don’t think your sister died where she was found?”
Instantly, Kendra uncurled her legs and stood to come to him. He quickly minimized the photo he’d had up on one of his screens.
She stood so she could see his computer screens. “Why?”
“The photos are gruesome, but I’ve studied them for a while now. At first glance the marks on her neck appear to match like the coroner reported, but if I look closer, I don’t think they do.” He picked up his pen and on his notepad, drew a crude neck with a rope line. Then he shaded an area below and along the side of the neck. “There are red marks that fall below the rope. The tension makes the rope tighten on an angle if someone hangs themselves. But the marks are more horizontal, as if someone strangled her from behind.”
“Wouldn’t her movements as she hung herself cause those?”
“Maybe, but they seem more severe than I’d expect if the marks were caused by the rope rubbing as she hung herself.”
“Okay...that’s good. What do we do with that?”
“We talk to the coroner.” He checked his computer for the time. “It’ll have to wait until morning.”
Kendra straightened, looking wary and stiffer than when she’d first approached.
“Also, I don’t like where the stool is lying,” he went on, knowing the cause of her discomfort was anticipation of the time they’d spend alone together. Or maybe she didn’t want to go home.
“What about it?”
“It’s right under her feet. If I was going to kill myself by hanging, I’d kick the stool out of the way. The photos look like the stool was placed there, not kicked over.”
“Placed right under her feet.”
“Yes.”
“That’s brilliant, Roman. We have enough to get a warrant and recover the phone now.”
“Possibly. Let’s convince the coroner first.”
“Okay.”
“In the meantime, what do you want to do? Are you going home tonight?”
With that question she grew even warier. He hadn’t meant it the way it sounded.
“Um...yes, I was planning on going home at some point. I suppose now is as good a time as any. You’ve found something we can go on and we can’t talk to the coroner until tomorrow.”
She was babbling.
“Unless you want to play some more pool and have dinner?” As soon as he asked, he wondered why. What was he doing to himself by letting his attraction get carried away?
She hesitated as though considering saying yes. Excitement revved him up for a few seconds, but then her eyes lowered and lifted as though she was coming to her senses.
“I’ll be back for the call with the coroner tomorrow morning.”
Disappointment rushed forth before relief. Any more personal time with her and he might let nature take control.
Chapter 10
Kendra told herself she didn’t dress up for Roman. She liked putting outfits together, that’s all. The white, sleeveless sundress fit to her waist, and then flowed to her calves. She also wore handmade, blue-stone-accented necklace, bracelet and earrings. Her sandals were higher than she normally wore. The reward came when Roman first saw her. He opened the hotel room door after she knocked and his eyes caught sight of her dress and roamed all over her, lingering on the scooped neckline.
“Come in.” He stood aside.
Kendra walked past him, smelling his aftershave and a man fresh out of the shower. He wore light blue jeans and a navy blue short-sleeved button-up, exposing strong, lightly haired arms. She dumped her purse on the small table and saw he had files and a notepad cluttering the desk, his cell phone on top of the latter.
“He should be calling in a few minutes,” Roman said. “Would you like some coffee?”
“I had some on the way over.”
“Everything all right at your shop?”
She didn’t have a big staff and she rarely missed a day, something he must have picked up on. “My manager and Raelyn are opening my shop for me today. Raelyn is learning fast.”
“That’s nice. Is she working full-time now?”
“Just about.”
This felt like small talk. The way she’d left last night must have sent the message she’d intended. She didn’t want to be involved with him personally. The attraction still burned, however. She liked to tell herself his pessimistic outlook on life made them a bad match, but her heart felt differently. He wasn’t as pessimistic as he tried to convince everyone. If he could figure out how to overcome that, she couldn’t think of a single thing about him she wouldn’t like, or love. That’s what frightened her most—the degree of her attraction. It had developed its own energy, an unstoppable one. Why her feelings threatened her she’d love to know.
She kept going back to that time he’d said his relationship with the woman who had the child hadn’t worked because it hadn’t been real. Maybe that’s what threatened her. The intensity of their attraction had the makings of something real and she’d already thought she had that before and ended up completely wrong. She didn’t trust herself any more than she trusted men. Could she make a decision she could rely on? If she chose to get involved with Roman, would that be good for her or would she end up in another painful situation?
Pulling a chair from the table over to the opposite side of the desk, she sat and busied herself with moving a pen and the notepad, tidying them up. Unnecessary but better than engaging with him while they waited.
After a few minutes, he asked, “You okay?”
She looked up as he passed her to take the seat across from her. “Yes.”
“You seem...quiet today.”
“Am I normally a chatterbox?” She went with humor to skirt that question, toying with the pen on the desk.
He leaned back, studying her like the detective he was. “Why did you leave last night?”
“Instead of playing pool and having dinner?”
“Everyone has to eat.”
“It was getting late.”
“That sounds like an excuse. I didn’t mean to ask you out on a date. But I suppose I did. Are you uncomfortable with that?”
Was he seriously contemplating taking this to a much more personal level? “Are...are you asking me to date you?”
“One date. It’s not like we have to commit to each other. It’s too soon for that, isn’t it? We’re both obviously attracted to each other. Why not see where it goes?”
She couldn’t believe he was suggesting this. She appreciated his directness, and his lack of fear in confronting the feelings they had, but did she want to date him? “I...” She had no words. She felt so undecided. Yes, she was attracted to him, but should she put her heart out for him? “I thought I was too sheltered for you. Not...real.”
“When I first met you, I thought you were like my last girlfriend, but you’re different than her.”
Should she be insulted? Did he stereotype that much? She put her elbow on the desk, still holding the pen. “You thought I’d act my way through a relationship with you?”
“I’m always careful. I try very hard to avoid getting myself into another relationship like my last one. No one gets hurt that way.”
Now he thought she was different and wanted to give her a try? He was rotten at making a girl feel special. Well, at least when it came to his baggage. “What has you so afraid of falling in love?”
His head sort of flinched with the unexpectedness of her question. “I’m not afraid. Just cautious.”
“Afraid.”
“I just think the odds are against most people and I try to be as sure as possible when I start seeing someone. The early stages are the most important. No one is too invested if it doesn’t work out.”
She lowered her hand to the desk, letting go of the pen. “Early stages don’t need all that precaution. No one gets hurt whether you dive right in or wait to learn more about the person. Isn’t that what first dates are all about?”
Hometown Detective (Cold Case Detectives Book 6) Page 10