Cat flinched. “But surely if you had reason to still suspect him—”
“He was the first person we paid a personal visit to, Sergeant...and for your information, he failed to mention any phone call.”
Why hadn’t Jay told them about the phone call? She struggled to keep her expression impassive. “The only reason I can think of that might explain why he did that is because he feels he could’ve saved her life.”
Bennett huffed out a laugh. “Oh, that’s why he’d keep the information from me, is it?”
Cat straightened her spine. She’d deal with Jay’s failure to tell the police everything he knew the minute she left the station, but there was no way in hell Bennett was going to dismiss her from Sarah’s case. “She never showed up at the place she asked Jay to meet her and he didn’t follow up with her. He didn’t do everything possible to contact her because it was the first time she’d gotten in touch with him in years and he assumed she changed her mind. He didn’t see it as important.” Cat swallowed the horrible taste in her mouth.
Another eyebrow lift. “Didn’t see it as important? Even when her body turned up at the bottom of his damn garden?”
Unease rippled through Cat’s bloodstream. “No.”
He shook his head. “Unbelievable. Then enlighten me, Sergeant. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t get one of my officers to track Garrett down right now and drag his ass into custody.”
What have you done, Jay? Why the hell didn’t you tell him? Cat steadfastly met his gaze. “Sarah said she needed his help and asked him to meet her at a bakery on the beachfront.”
“Marian’s?”
Cat nodded, marveling once again at the small-town intimacy. She couldn’t decide if it was nice or just plain creepy. “When he got there, Sarah never turned up. Now, of course, we know she was in trouble and maybe felt Jay was the only person to trust. He couldn’t do anything then, but he can now. He called me to help you with the investigation, sir, because he had no idea what else to do. So, I’d appreciate you letting me prove to you he’s innocent.”
“Innocent? So you want in on this case having already written off your friend as a suspect without evidence?” He smiled. “Well, of course you’re in. Why would I think it’s a bad idea you working on the case?”
Irritation at his sarcasm mixed with the harsh truth of his words. She wasn’t giving him the best first impression. She wasn’t acting like a damn cop. She closed her eyes. “Look, maybe I want to think him innocent but that will not undermine my determination to find the true killer. If it turns out to be Jay...I’ll prove it.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm.”
“They were best friends, I’m finding it hard to picture Jay choking the life out of her, but that doesn’t mean I won’t arrest him if he did. I’ll want him serving life behind bars as you will, believe me.” The horror of that reality beat through Cat’s blood turning it icy-cold.
“You never come across a friendship gone wrong in your career, Sergeant? A domestic dispute that ended in murder? Until I have cause to think otherwise, your friend Mr. Garrett will remain a suspect.”
She nodded. “I understand.”
He narrowed his eyes, carefully watching her. “How do you explain him not telling us about Miss Cole’s phone call? Doesn’t that strike you as unusual?”
Defensiveness for Jay rose up in Cat’s heart. Innocent until proven guilty. Whether misplaced or not was yet to be proven, but belief for him, in him, burned like fire in her blood. She tilted her chin. “I wonder whether you’d have believed anything he had to say considering his drug use. Maybe he assumed the same.”
Their gazes locked. After a long moment, Bennett turned his concentration to some papers on his desk. “Well, apart from the friendship blinding you to reality, you’re not giving me any reason to let you in. You didn’t know the victim when she died, you don’t know who she was seeing, what the drug connection is or what the hell she was doing at Clover Point that day.”
“Drug connection?” Cat’s gut twisted as a shot of adrenaline rushed through her. Jay mentioned the drugs as a possible rumor, nothing more. Now here was Bennett... “What drugs, sir? Sarah wouldn’t have taken drugs.”
He stared at her and a faint flush stained his cheeks. He brought his hands together on the desk. “Nothing was found in her system, but we’ve had mention of Sarah possibly handling drug money.”
“Handling...but that’s crazy.”
He leaned back in his chair and stared at her. “How would you know after a seven-year absence? You didn’t know Sarah at all anymore.”
Cat’s hackles rose like the hair along a dog’s back. “Excuse me, sir, but—”
“But nothing. Bloody hell, even I knew Sarah better than you. This is my case, my jurisdiction. Why—”
“You knew her?”
He met her eyes and something akin to loss or distress flashed across his face before he pulled it back into professional place. “Yes, I knew her. Who didn’t in Templeton? She was a lovely girl, one who should have been looking forward to getting married one day, not lying in a morgue waiting for someone to catch the bastard who did this.”
Cat closed her eyes. “I didn’t think.”
“Clearly. You come in here expecting us to be some kind of second-class police force because we’re close to the damn sea rather than in an office block. You’re not the first to make that mistake and you won’t be the last.”
She opened her eyes and met his. His gaze blazed with anger. Cat pulled back her shoulders, refusing to apologize for not understanding the complexities of this small town.
“That’s not it at all. I have the utmost respect for any headquarters, wherever they might be. But I’m here for Sarah. I want to help. I have to help.” Cat leaned forward. “Sarah was killed in cold blood. I’m a cop. How can I walk away and do nothing?”
His gaze wandered over her face and Cat practically heard the cogs working in his brain, the good cop/bad cop playing out in his mind. He had to let her in. If she didn’t know how far along the police were with the investigation, it could easily add a week, maybe more to her and Jay’s efforts as they went over ground the Templeton team had already covered.
“Why should I trust you’ll share what you learn with me?” Bennett stared. “You’re cozying up with a suspect, for crying out loud.”
“A suspect you clearly don’t have enough on to charge. I can help. I know I can. Jay provided an alibi, why do you still suspect him?”
He narrowed his eyes and curled his lip back from his teeth in blatant distrust. She suppressed the shiver that ran up her spine. Bennett was no pushover. She had to get in on the case.
“The only thing I can give you is my word and my honor as a cop.” Cat pressed a hand to her chest. “I won’t do anything to jeopardize your trust. I wouldn’t dare, judging by the way you’re looking at me right now.”
A glimmer of a smile brushed over his lips and then vanished. “What if you find out Sarah had a whole other life going on, a life where she was in trouble up to her eyeballs? What then? Would you cover it up for her sake? Her parents’ sake?”
Cat frowned. What the hell was he suggesting? “Of course I wouldn’t. Sarah was a grown woman. A responsible woman. If she was involved in something illegal, then she clearly made some wrong choices along the way, but whatever she was involved with, good or bad, I’ll never believe she deserved to have the life wrung out of her.”
This man was capable of cold, hard policing. Their eyes locked. “Am I in?”
Bennett swiped a hand over his face and looked at her again. His exhaustion showed. For all his front, it appeared he was as invested in the investigation as she and Jay were. Living in a small town had its downside with regard to interference and gossip, but it also brought with it a community that would wrap its arms around you or fight in your corner whenever necessary.
“You have friendship, nothing more.” Bennett interrupted her thoughts. “I need more than that to include you in this.”
Irritation prickled along Cat’s skin. She refused to let this golden opportunity slip from her grasp. If he wanted to play hardball, that was fine. She could show the same kind of ruthless challenge.
She stood and planted her fists on her hips. “Fine. Yes, Sarah was a good friend, but first and foremost, I’m a cop with an unblemished record. Every murder case I’ve worked on, I’ve pinned the killer. Every burglary, I’ve gotten the intruder, every rapist...” She paused, shook her head. “You get the idea.
“I loved Sarah, and there is no way I’m walking away from her. I will find who did this, sir. That I promise you.”
He glared. “If I say you’re out, Sergeant, you’re out.”
“If this was one of your close friends we were talking about, one who was strangled and left to rot in a forest that happened to be situated in another jurisdiction, would you take no for an answer by the SIO and walk away? Walk away and keep your promise to mind your own business?”
His ruddy cheeks turned scarlet and his eyes flashed with intelligence. The minimum Cat wanted was a look at the board. Her mind whirled, scrambling for the right thing to say to him, the words that would be her gateway in.
“Sir—”
“Shut up, Sergeant.”
Cat flinched.
He leaned forward on his elbows and clenched his hands tightly together. “You’re in, okay? I decided you were in the moment you said you knew the victim, but I wanted to see how much fire you had in your belly first.”
“What?” Cat dropped her hands from her hips.
“You heard me. If it was just a flicker, no chance. But you have a damn inferno burning inside you and if I don’t let you in, I might well have a cop meltdown on my conscience as well as a murder.”
Cat pushed out her held breath in a rush and smiled. “Thank God for that. I was running out of ideas.”
A small smile lifted his lips. “If you’re as good at policing as you are loyal to your friends, I think you’ll be useful, but I refuse to put my own neck on the line justifying your involvement without knowing I can trust you first.”
Cat’s smile dissolved and she gave a curt nod. “Absolutely.”
“Good. Then in that case, I want Garrett to know none of this. He’s a suspect and until either of us proves otherwise, he’ll remain one. Understood?”
Cat swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Are you staying at his home while you’re here?”
“Yes, sir.” Cat kept her face impassive, wondering where Bennett was going with this. Would he want her to move out of Jay’s?
“You’re to stay there. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer.”
“Jay will never be my enemy, sir.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Really? Not even if he killed Sarah Cole?”
Damn it. Why had she said that? She pulled back her shoulders. “I mean if Jay did this then my heart will be ripped out because I would have lost two friends that mean the damn world to me.”
He studied her and Cat stood immobile. He had to believe her. He had to understand....
At last, he nodded. “Right. Now we’re getting somewhere.” He pushed back his chair and stood, coming around the desk to stand in front of her. “I’ll let you see the board and relay all the information we have so far. In return, you’ll tell me anything and everything you think, feel or find out about this case from here on in. Me first. Not another officer. Not another civilian. Do I make myself clear?”
Excitement churned like a million jumping beans in Cat’s stomach and her hands shook. She was in. She was really in. She nodded and couldn’t quite stop her smile. “Yes, sir.”
He glanced toward the window. “I don’t want that lot out there knowing who you are or what you’re doing. You’re the victim’s friend and a police officer. Nothing more. Anything you want to talk about concerning this investigation, it goes no further than me and you.”
“And Jay...Mr. Garrett is still a suspect? Even with an alibi?”
“Yes.”
Cat stared. “Why?”
“Gut, Sergeant. There’s a lot to say about an inspector’s gut.”
Cat swallowed. The determination in Bennett’s glare could not be ignored. He knew more about Jay than he was telling her. She resisted the urge to grab his lapels and demand to know why Jay’s alibi was in doubt. Why Bennett hadn’t crossed him off as a suspect. Instead, she nodded.
“Fair enough.” Unease rippled through her. It had to be more than Bennett’s instinct keeping Jay in the frame. Was she not seeing the facts? Addicts were the best liars in the world. Cat swallowed. Everything had just grown ten times worse.
“Right, let’s get on with it.”
She tilted her chin. “Yes, sir.”
Cat followed him to the door and they walked out into the noisy humdrum of the working police station. Ringing telephones, chairs scraping tiles, the odd shout above muted conversation filled the room. Cat drew in a breath, inhaling its familiarity like a lifeline. Her work was the only thing that kept her going in the long, alcohol-dominated years of her life. Her time in the Cove was work. Jay’s face appeared uninvited in her mind’s eye. Work. Nothing more. Nothing less.
“You’ve got three minutes to take it in,” Bennett said under his hushed breath. “Then you disappear.”
She nodded.
He led her to the board and stood silently beside her. Cat shut her eyes, drew in a shaky breath and then opened them.
Sarah’s body lay on the dark, almost black, foliage covering the ground, her skin stark white in death. One arm was thrown above her head, her legs were apart. Cat blinked against the hot tears pricking her eyes like sharpened needles. Sarah wore a white blouse and black skirt that had ridden—or been forced, high onto her hips revealing a flash of white panties. A set of silver bangles glinted at one wrist, a black wristwatch was on the other.
Cat’s gaze flitted back and forth over the photo. To the left of it was the map of Clover Point and its immediate surrounding areas. The lake and adjacent roads could easily have served as escape routes and were marked in red on either side. A close-up picture of the log cabins closest to the forest had been blown up and pinned beside the map.
Cat leaned closer to Sarah’s picture and concentrated on memorizing every tiny detail. The picture of her friend could be deemed seductive if it wasn’t for the dark purple bruising around her neck and uneven line of dried blood beneath her left nostril. The killer, or Sarah, had closed her eyelids, leaving her looking as though she slept in peaceful slumber. Her blond shoulder-length hair was spread around her like a golden halo.
Several feet of area surrounding the body had been photographed. There wasn’t a lot to see apart from trees and foliage. Cat closed her eyes, the familiar prickling skittered across the back of her neck. A new case. This time murder. This time personal.
Sarah would have known Jay’s cabin was just a few hundred
feet away, which meant she was more than likely hoping to meet him. After not turning up at the bakery, had she been planning to drop by? Or run to his cabin for help?
Even in her current state, Sarah’s beauty shone through. High, defined cheekbones, strong jaw, flawless eyelids covering vivid blue eyes and full, full lips that every boy this side of the Atlantic wanted to kiss when they were teenagers. Cat opened her eyes.
“Okay. I’ve seen enough.”
Half an hour later, Cat stepped outside into the bright midmorning sun and hurried down the stone steps in front of the station. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she rushed across the parking lot, praying her tears didn’t break. Her heart ached for her dead friend and her mind reeled with the information she’d gained at the tongue and allowance of Inspector Bennett.
The man was a cop; there was no doubt about that. Steady, distant and professional, yet when he said he knew Sarah, it meant the case was personal for him and all the other officers involved, too.
“Cat?”
The sound of footsteps to her side had her turning. Her stomach tightened at the sight of Jay’s concerned expression as he hurried toward her.
“What are you doing here?” She resisted the urge to fall into his outstretched arms. Suspect. Liar. Lover.
“You told me your meeting was at nine o’clock. Where else would I be? Are you all right?” He cupped a hand to her elbow and stared into her face, his brown eyes questioning and dark with concern. “I’d hoped you’d want me to come here with you. What time did you leave?”
Why didn’t you tell him about the phone call, Jay? What else are you hiding? “Early. I didn’t want to wake you.”
He continued to stare, a muscle jumping in his jaw. She’d pissed him off. Instead of berating her, he gestured toward his Mercedes glinting like liquid silver in the sunlight.
“Let’s get in the car. You’re shaking.”
He slipped his arm around her shoulder and Cat leaned into him. She couldn’t help it. Just for a moment, she wanted to feel his strength against her. Wanted to remember him as he was seven years ago and not as a man she could never love again. Not as a possible killer. He led her to the car and helped her into the passenger seat.
Finding Justice Page 8