Gavin saw Moore’s eyes widen, then saw him blink rapidly as moisture pooled there. Whatever the man had felt for Laurel, it had been real.
“I was the one who wanted to keep it quiet,” Moore said. “I wanted to be the one to tell you, but I was afraid to.”
She was still stroking Cutter’s dark head as if it helped her think. She was processing it now, Gavin thought. Getting past the shock. “I told you I would love for you to find someone. You’ve been alone so long. But...”
“Not your best friend.”
“It would have taken time for me to get used to it.” Gavin could tell by her expression she was turning it over in her mind, looking at it from all angles. “But,” she added softly, her gaze seeming to turn inward, making Gavin guess she was remembering things, “maybe I should have known. Not just because she’d always had a crush on you, but looking back...she did drop some hints here and there. I just never realized it at the time.”
“You two were so close, she hated not telling you. I was the coward.”
Gavin could almost feel Katie leveling out. She was dealing with it now.
“Back in high school she used to joke that if she married you, she’d be my stepmother. We both laughed hysterically at that idea, so... I guess I never took it seriously.”
Moore was looking at Gavin now. “So do you believe me now? I would never have hurt Laurel.”
In that moment Cutter got up, crossed over to Moore, turned and sat. He looked at Gavin, in fact stared at him with that same intensity he’d seen before. Something flashed through Gavin’s mind, a memory of the first day Cutter had met the man, and the odd look that Gavin had categorized as a maybe. There was no reservation in the look the dog was giving him now. He might as well have been able to talk. It was almost as if he’d had the same instinct Gavin had, that he knew the man had been lying about something, but now that it was out, the animal sensed what was left was the truth.
In fact Gavin did believe Moore, now that he knew what the man had been hiding. But he also knew now what Detective Davidson had been talking about when he’d said they had something on Moore. “Some would say there’s more motive than ever. Who ended it?”
“I did. I thought it was best. She needed to find someone her own age.”
It sounded like the truth, Gavin thought. But if Davidson had found out, it would explain the police looking in Moore’s direction.
Katie was shaking her head, clearly still trying to wrap her mind around this. “I felt like Laurel was hiding something, but... So when I thought I was helping her get over Ross, it was really you? And when she said there had been cheating involved, it was her, not Ross? With you? That’s why you were so broken up about it, because—”
“When did you last see her?” Gavin asked, cutting off the flow of clearly distressed questions. He needed more answers before leaving Katie to deal with the personal fallout.
“About a week before she...died. She wasn’t happy about my decision.” His expression was bleak. “She wasn’t happy about anything at that point.”
Katie spoke again. “But Ross was—”
“One of the things she was unhappy about,” her father finished for her. “He wanted back in her life, but she was afraid he hadn’t changed. She wanted to meet, to ask one last time if I was sure.”
Gavin’s gaze narrowed. “One last time?”
“She was considering going back to him. I told her I didn’t think she should, that I—”
He stopped as Gavin’s phone beeped with an incoming text. He pulled it out, swiped the screen and glanced at the message. Timing, he thought, considering where his mind had just turned, what had clicked into place with Moore’s confession.
He looked at the man, who seemed relieved to have the truth out at last. At Cutter, who was still giving him that signal that Moore was now to be trusted. And finally he looked at Katie, who was looking back at him with only mild curiosity. As she might look at anyone, not someone who just one night ago had been naked in her arms, her name ripping from his throat as he drove into her body in a heat he’d never known before.
A flame of that heat singed him, and he had to steady himself to speak with a semblance of casualness. “I need to talk to someone, so I’ll leave you two to work this out.”
He rose, and so did Katie. “Who?” she asked.
“Someone I’ve been waiting to interview.”
She studied him for a moment as he got up. Cutter got to his feet as well, and before Gavin had even taken a step was headed for the door. Katie was right behind them.
“I’m going with you.”
“Don’t you think you need to stay with your father and talk?”
“No. Right now I need to see this through. To the end.”
Something in the way she said the words sent a chill through him. The end of what? The case? Or them? Had his lack of faith in her put the finish to both? He couldn’t blame her. He saw so clearly now that he should have trusted her, but hindsight wasn’t going to fix what he’d done. And he was shaken to the core by how the idea of losing her, what he’d found with her, nearly shoved everything else out of his mind.
She followed him outside and toward the cars.
“Katie, just—”
“No.”
The finality in her tone told him he would get nowhere arguing with her, and at the moment he didn’t have time to waste. If his hunch was right, he needed to get moving now. He’d just have to keep her out of it, somehow.
“I should drive,” she said as he reached for the keys to the rental.
His brow furrowed. “Why?”
She pulled out her own keys. “Because I know where we’re going.”
That stopped him in his tracks. He turned to stare at her. “What?”
“Tacoma, right? Ross?” She hadn’t seen the text. He knew she hadn’t. “Please,” she said scornfully at his expression. “He’s the only one you haven’t talked to yet, isn’t he?”
His appreciation for her quick deduction warred with the sting from the tone of her voice. For one of the few times in his life he was unable to think of a word to say. Instead he gave a half shrug and walked to the passenger side of her car. Without comment, Katie unlocked the car, and even opened the back door for Cutter to jump in. The dog did so without hesitation.
She drove, as he would have expected, with calm efficiency.
And in total silence. Which he probably should have expected, given what she thought of him at the moment.
In his mind he turned over a hundred ways to try to talk to her, but none of them seemed likely to earn him anything but more scorn. He knew now—too late—that Katie Moore was exactly what she seemed to be. Smart, kind and completely honest.
Cutter gave a low sigh from the back seat. Gavin glanced back at him, and saw that look of disgust again. He was beginning to give up on trying to rationalize the dog’s traits in any ordinary canine way.
Her silence began to wear on him, and since he couldn’t think of a damned thing to say, he took out his phone and called up the images of the notes he’d made on Ross Carr; he might prefer to make his notes by hand, but carting around reams of paper was another matter. He read through them, this time with a fresh eye, refocused thanks to what he’d just learned.
For the sake of completeness he added Quinn’s text to the file. Brett Dunbar was true to his word, as usual, and the moment he’d heard from his friend in Tacoma that a unit had reported Carr had returned home, he had sent the information on. Quinn in turn had sent word to Gavin, and added that he and Rafe would be heading that way, just in case. Gavin knew Quinn hadn’t liked Carr’s disappearing act, any more than he had.
As they drove, the inkling of a suspicion that had come to him during Moore’s revelations grew. He turned it over and over in his mind to inspect all sides. B
y the time they were nearly there, he wasn’t much liking the conclusions he was drawing.
When they finally got off the highway, Katie drove so confidently he belatedly realized she knew where she was going because Ross Carr’s house had once been Laurel’s, as well.
“I need you to stay in the car when we get there,” he said. They were the first words he’d spoken in nearly an hour.
“I’m not—”
“You’ve seen how I work. I need to talk to him cold.”
She hesitated, and he saw her forefinger tap on the steering wheel. “All right,” she said after three taps.
“Thank you.” God, the formality was clawing at him, but he didn’t know what else to do. And for a man used to always knowing what to do, it was an unsettling feeling.
She continued on through three more turns, then slowed after the last one. “Up here on the right, by that car with the trunk open,” she said.
He nodded, glanced at the house the vehicle was parked in front of. He saw someone coming down the walkway, a large box in his arms, apparently heading for that vehicle.
Cutter was suddenly on his feet in the back seat, a low growl issuing from his throat.
“Wait, that’s Ross,” Katie said. “Is he packing? Moving?”
Gavin glanced at Cutter, who was pawing the door madly, wanting out. He looked back as the man set the box he’d been carrying in the trunk, then turned.
His size. Build. Way of moving. The knit hat, cuff now rolled up on his head, but still black with bright red trim on the edge. Cutter’s reaction.
All that made him certain.
Ross Carr was the man with the knife.
Chapter 36
Ross spotted Cutter first. Even from here Katie could see his eyes widen. Gavin had let the dog out first, snapped an order for Katie to stay and headed after the dog at a run.
Ross darted back toward the house, vanishing behind the section that jutted out toward the road, where Katie knew the living room was. Cutter raced across the yard, disappearing in turn around the building. Gavin wasn’t far behind. And then...
Nothing.
She rolled down her window. Silence.
Her mind was racing. Of course Ross would run from an oncoming, growling dog. Anyone would. The question was, why was the brilliantly clever, normally very sweet Cutter bent on mayhem against Ross? He’d never met him, why would he—
It hit her then.
Maybe Cutter had met Ross. That night outside the library.
Her breath caught. And now her thoughts were tumbling. Had it been Ross who’d attacked Gavin? Had he been here all along, not in San Diego? Had he even perhaps been the one to steal her father’s car and try for Gavin again after his knife attack had failed? But why? Why would—
Again it clicked into place, the reason for the way Gavin had reacted to the news that Ross was home.
What if Ross had found out about Laurel and her father? He’d always been able to lure Laurel back from her efforts to leave him, but there had never been a third party involved before.
She couldn’t bear it any longer. Her thought process had taken only seconds, but it felt like she’d been sitting there, doing nothing, for an eternity. She grabbed her phone, keyed in 9-1-1 but didn’t send it. Then she got out of the car and headed for the house.
When she rounded the corner, she heard a shout. In a corner near the door, she saw the two men on the ground. Gavin nearly had Ross pinned. Ross threw a wild punch that Gavin easily dodged. And then Cutter darted forward, fangs bared and growling fiercely. He went for Ross’s leg, catching his ankle. Ross screamed, kicked. Cutter held on. His growl scared even her.
And then Gavin had him, his forearm locked around Ross’s neck. She ran forward.
“Get him off me!” Ross screamed again.
“You’re lucky it’s not your throat,” Gavin snapped out. He gave Katie a warning glance, and she stayed carefully out of Ross’s reach.
“Just get him off!” Ross begged. She saw now why police K-9s were so effective. A determined, fierce dog could clearly be terrifying.
Gavin ignored Ross’s plea. “I know you faked being in San Diego and came back here. I know it was you with the knife. And then the car. You clearly wanted me off this.”
Ross paled at each statement. He twisted harder, trying to escape both Gavin’s hold and Cutter’s teeth. He failed at both.
“There’s only one reason I can think of to make you go through all that.”
“You did it,” Katie said, barely managing to speak past the tightness in her throat. “You killed her, didn’t you?”
“Stop, Katie.” Gavin’s order was remarkably calm, considering.
“But—”
“Don’t ask him anything. That’s for the police. After he’s been read his rights. We don’t want him to wiggle out of this, do we?”
She let out her breath. She realized then that Gavin never had actually asked anything; he’d only stated what he knew. But he hadn’t needed verbal answers. Ross’s face said it all.
“Cutter, release,” Gavin said. The dog let go, but didn’t look happy about it. But Gavin’s sharp command of “Guard” seemed to cheer him up. Gavin backed off Ross, but remained crouched beside him. “If you move, he will go for the throat this time.”
As warnings went, it was immensely effective; Ross was staring at the dog in near terror. Gavin looked up at her then.
“Why don’t you make that call?” he suggested. “And then call Quinn. Never mind. They’re here.”
Katie spun around and indeed saw Quinn coming around the back corner of the house. He took in the situation quickly, then called out, “Clear!” Then Hayley came out from around the other side of the house, while a second man unexpectedly appeared above her on the roof. She recognized the other Foxworth operative she’d met, Rafe Crawford, as he slid a weapon into a holster, then tugged his jacket over it before he dropped down to the ground. Quinn was armed as well, Katie realized. And even Hayley? She saw the other woman slide something into her belt and had her answer; Foxworth had come prepared for anything. Unnecessarily, but still comforting.
Gavin stood up then. Cutter greeted his teammates with a brisk bark, but his eyes never left his assignment.
Katie felt a sudden wave of reaction, as if the ground had rippled under her feet. If not for Gavin jumping to her side, throwing an arm around her to steady her, she very probably would have ended up on the ground beside Ross.
It was over.
* * *
“So that’s it?” Katie asked. “He found out about Laurel and my father and killed her for it?”
“That’s his story,” Quinn said. “In his mind, they hadn’t split yet, so she was cheating on him.”
They were gathered at Foxworth once more, the five of them plus Cutter, who, after obtaining another carrot snack for a job well-done, settled before the fire to happily crunch. Katie herself had been unable to settle; there was too much turmoil in her head and heart. So she’d been pacing the floor since they’d arrived after turning Ross and their information over to the police, who went into action quickly and efficiently. The Foxworth name garnered respect in all corners, it seemed.
“But his alibi,” Katie began.
“He drugged the woman,” Hayley said in disgust. “But a small dose, so she would only be out for a while. Just long enough for him to sneak out, borrow another partier’s motorcycle, leaving his car unmoved, get to Laurel and get back with no one the wiser.”
“So they all assumed he was with the woman the whole time?”
Quinn nodded. “And she thought she’d just gotten drunk. When she passed out he was with her, when she woke up he was with her.”
“And keeping her around was insurance,” Rafe said sourly from where he stood by the
fireplace.
“He manufactures this alibi, and it holds,” Hayley said. “So he thinks he’s going to get away with it.”
“Until,” Quinn said with a grin, “the famous Gavin de Marco shows up and starts poking into things.”
Katie stopped her pacing on those words, saw Gavin grimace, but he didn’t speak. In fact, he hadn’t said anything since they’d begun to lay it all out.
She looked at Quinn. “And then he decided to try and pin it on my father?”
Quinn nodded. “One final bit of revenge.”
She shook her head slowly. “It could have worked.” She looked back at Gavin. “If you hadn’t been here, hadn’t taken this on, it could have worked.”
Gavin wouldn’t look at her. “Thank Cutter. He brought it—and you—to Foxworth.”
“Oh, I will,” she said with a glance at the dog. “Carrots for life, m’boy.”
The dog gave a happy bark, so far removed from the ferocious, intense working dog she’d seen, it was hard to believe it was the same animal.
The Foxworths exchanged glances, and then Hayley said brightly, “We’re going to go up and finish off our reports. There’s more coffee on if you need it.”
Cutter did not head up with them, but stayed where he was. He was still Gavin’s self-appointed guardian, it seemed. And Rafe lingered for a moment, looking at them both. She saw Gavin lift an eyebrow at him.
The dark, intimidating man shrugged. “Just thinking. You hate liars, now she hates the results of lying. So you’ll probably never lie to each other.”
Katie’s breath caught. He’d said that like he expected she and Gavin to...what? Be together? The unlikeliness of that jabbed at her. She watched as he went out the patio door and headed toward the warehouse building.
Cutter did not follow him, either.
She was unable to keep still. She was relieved that her father had been exonerated, but a sour taste remained when she thought of how he had lied to her all this time. Her own father, the man she’d relied on her entire life and would have sworn she knew inside out.
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