Page 7

7

K ai had been watching Lulu’s expression when she’d talked with Kenny at the auto body garage. When the man had mentioned that Lulu was fun , she’d flinched. Just a little. Most people wouldn’t have even noticed, but Kai had spent his years as an attorney studying body language.

Studying how people held themselves, where they put their hands, and other behaviors like that had given him an edge when it came to dealing with people. Were they lying? Were they telling the truth? Were they even listening?

She’d had a physical reaction to Kenny’s statement. Even Kai, who hadn’t grown up in Harper, and had only visited in the summer, knew that Lulu had a bit of a wild reputation. He’d always thought she was spontaneous and a little bit of a daredevil. He also didn’t think those were negative traits. Frankly, he wished he had more of that for himself. He was careful and watchful by nature, taking his time to make a decision.

It had made him a good student and attorney, and even a good journalist. But it made him wonder if perhaps he was…boring.

“Remember, if Jay says that you can’t be there when I talk to him, you can’t stay,” Lulu said as they walked up the driveway.

Jay Bradford lived in a small Craftsman-style home in a newer neighborhood on the east side of town. The lots weren’t large, but they were all neat as a pin and well cared for. Jay’s house was painted a dark green with bright white trim. Two rocking chairs and a small table sat on the front porch along with several potted plants.

“Got it,” Kai replied. “I won’t go if I’m not wanted. I do appreciate you bringing me along.”

“I’m probably crazy for doing it,” Lulu sighed as she knocked on the front door.

“Maybe you secretly like working with someone,” Kai suggested.

“I don’t think that’s it.”

“Or maybe it’s my charm and sense of humor.”

Luckily - for him - Lulu didn’t get a chance to answer. The door opened, and a resigned Jay Bradford stood on the other side. He had to have been anticipating this visit once he heard about the murder of his ex-wife.

“Hi, Jay. I can see that you heard about Dana. I’m so sorry for your loss. Can I talk with you? I have a few questions.”

Bradford nodded, and then his gaze rested on Kai.

“If you don’t want Kai here, it’s fine,” Lulu assured the man. “Kai’s working on an article for the newspaper about what happened. I thought it might be better if he heard directly from the people I interview. That way there won’t be any misquotes or inconsistencies. But it’s up to you.”

For a moment, Kai thought he was in, but then the man shook his head.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. This has been bad enough without being in the paper, too.”

“No problem,” Kai said. “I’ll wait out here.”

“This won’t take long, Jay,” Lulu assured him. “Just a few questions.”

Bradford opened the door for Lulu, and they disappeared inside, leaving Kai on the front porch. He settled into one of the rockers and pulled out his phone to check for any messages while he waited. He wanted to be inside, but he’d made a promise. Besides, he wasn’t sure that Bradford was going to say anything that would be so momentous that Kai would want to put it into an article.

He hadn’t sat very long when a car pulled up into the driveway, and a woman stepped out carrying her purse and juggling a bag from the local grocer. She didn’t notice Kai sitting on the porch until she was at the top step.

“Who are you?”

Levering from the chair, Kai held out his hand.

“Kai Oliver. You must be Allie. It’s nice to meet you. Can I take that bag for you? It looks heavy.”

She allowed him to accept the bag and place it on the table next to the chair, but she didn’t thank him or greet him. Instead, she looked at him suspiciously, her eyes narrowed as she took him in head to toe and then back up again.

“Why are you here? Where’s Jay? Does he know you’re here? You’re that guy that runs the paper, right? We don’t have any statements to make so you can leave.”

Allie hadn’t noticed Lulu’s official sheriff’s SUV parked in front of the house.

“Jay is inside speaking with the sheriff. And yes, he knows I’m here. And that’s fine if you don’t have a statement. That’s not why I’m here.”

Kai was far more interested in the investigation than a statement from the ex-husband as to how “devastated” they all were that Dana was gone. As far as Kai was concerned, those bogus statements were nothing more than filler in an article and about as meaningful.

Allie’s gaze went straight to the closed door, her face turning pale.

Interesting reaction.

“Jay is talking to the sheriff?”

“Yes, she had a few questions for him, of course.”

“Of course,” Allie scoffed. “There’s no of course. Jay hasn’t been married to Dana for two years. He never sees her, and he never talks to her. He doesn’t have anything to say.”

“He saw her last night at the sports bar,” Kai pointed out. “You were there, too.”

Allie’s head whipped around at his statement. Did she think no one had seen her there? The restaurant had been about three-quarters full. Lots of people had witnessed…whatever it was. He couldn’t call it an altercation, but it seemed more than a discussion.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I was there.”

“It wasn’t a big deal,” Allie said defensively. “But other than that, we never see her. That was the first time in months.”

Kai didn’t want to argue with a woman who was upset. Allie was biting her lip and shaking her head over and over as if trying to negate whatever was happening inside her head.

“The problem is Dana.” Allie dropped her purse next to her grocery bag. “She’s the one that can’t let go of Jay. She’s the one trying to get back together with him. And after what she did, too.”

“What did she do?”

Allie’s eyes widened as she threw up her hands.

“Cheating on Jay, that’s what. She and that Glen Foster. Everyone knows they were having an affair. She skanks around town and then comes crawling back to Jay like he could ever forgive her. She had to be crazy to think that he would.”

“It certainly makes your life easier if she’s gone.”

“Few people are going to mourn Dana,” Allie spat out, her lip curled in derision. “The world is a better place now.”

Kai leveled his gaze at the furious woman standing in front of him. She’d basically just admitted that she was happy as a clam that Dana was gone and no longer some sort of threat to Allie’s relationship with Jay.

Allie seemed to realize it, too, as she quickly began to backpedal.

“I mean…I didn’t want her dead or anything. I’m not that kind of person. I’m not violent in the least. I can’t even kill a fly.”

“But you’re glad she’s gone.”

“Not—not in that way,” Allie replied with a shrug. “I didn’t want her dead, alright? I just wanted her out of our lives. She was nothing but trouble. If she was murdered, it was probably for a good reason.”

Christ, this woman was cold as ice. Someone was dead, and she was busy blaming the victim.

“The sheriff is probably going to ask where you were last night,” he said. “She’s going to ask about an alibi.”

Because it was clear Allie had motive. She had hated Dana Cartwright.

“I don’t need an alibi because I didn’t do anything wrong,” Allie said with a smug smile. “Jay didn’t do anything, either. We were together all last night. He spent the night at my house. So the sheriff can go bother someone else and leave us alone. Jay will set Lulu Reilly right.”

That brought up an excellent question…

Just what was Jay inside telling Lulu right now?

“I loved her. I loved her for a long time.”

Jay Bradford was a man in mourning. He might not have been with Dana Cartwright anymore, but he was sad about her passing. His eyes were red-rimmed, and they had a faraway look in them as if he was remembering images from their past.

“And then you stopped?”

“It’s not that I stopped,” Jay explained. “It was that I had to move on. No matter what we felt for each other, we weren’t good together. We brought out the worst in one another. We couldn’t live together. We were just too different. It was sad, but we needed to stay apart for our own well-being.”

“Did you keep in touch? Talk now and then?”

“Sometimes, although there was nothing formal. If either of us had good news, we might call to let the other know. Dana was very close to my family, and I know they kept in touch, too.”

“What about last night at the sports bar?” Lulu asked. “What was going on there?”

Jay groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. He closed his eyes for a long moment before replying.

“It got all blown out of proportion. My sister got accepted to go back to school, and she told Dana a few days ago. We were both at the restaurant last night, and while Allie was in the ladies’ room, Dana stopped and talked to me about it. Just to say that she was really happy to hear about it. That’s all it was. Allie came back to the table, and she wasn’t happy to see Dana. She said something nasty, and I went after Dana to tell her to ignore Allie. Glen joined in, and told Dana that Allie was being a bitch. That’s all that happened.”

It was “almost” all that happened.

“I saw Allie come and pull you away,” Lulu said. “She said something else to Dana. What did she say? Because Dana looked like she was about to cry.”

“Allie didn’t mean it. She was just caught up in the moment.”

“What didn’t she mean?”

Jay didn’t want to tell her, that was easy to see. It made Lulu want to know even more what Allie had said to Dana last night.

“She didn’t mean it,” Jay repeated. “It all got blown up, and it sounds worse than it actually was.”

He wanted to dance around? This was murder. Lulu didn’t have the patience.

“Glen Foster is my next stop,” she warned him. “He heard what Allie said. He’ll tell me. And then you and I, and probably Allie, will have to have another conversation. We can do that, or you can just tell me. Either way, there were witnesses, Jay. People saw and heard what went on. I’ll find someone who will tell me.”

Jay’s head fell forward, and his fingers scraped through his hair, making it stand on end.

“She said that if Dana didn’t stay away from me, she’d kill her.”

The words were muffled, and Lulu couldn’t see his face, but she could make out the words just fine.

“Allie threatened Dana with bodily harm?”

“No,” Jay said as his head jerked up, his eyes wide with alarm. “No, she was just mad. She’d never hurt Dana. Once I calmed her down, everything was fine.”

“Where were you and Allie last night?”

“After dinner, we went to see a movie in Springwood. After, we went to her house, and I stayed about an hour. I drove home about ten-thirty or so.”

“Can anyone corroborate that?”

“People saw us at the movie,” Jay replied. “But after that, no. I did call Glen when I got home if that helps.”

“And you stayed home? All night?” Lulu pressed. “No runs to the convenience store? No late-night wandering?”

“No, after talking to Glen, I went to bed. I had to be up early this morning.”

“And Allie? Did you talk to her after you left her house?”

“I sent her a text when I got home. She likes me to do that. And she sent me a ‘good morning’ text this morning about seven which I answered.”

Lulu would check with Jay’s neighbors as to when he came home. They might remember, especially if they were the type in everyone’s business. She’d also check for doorbell video.

For Jay and Allie. Right now, the girlfriend had to be on the top of Lulu’s suspect list. She’d threatened to kill Dana just hours before the actual murder.

Could it be this simple? Ask a few questions and get a suspect. It seemed almost too easy, but then she remembered her dad and uncles talking about how most criminals weren’t brain trusts.

Next stop? Allie.

But Jay wasn’t off the list yet. Despite acting reluctant, he’d thrown his girlfriend under the bus when questioned. He’d folded pretty darn quickly, too.

Was Jay using his girlfriend to cover for himself? Or was he the innocent boyfriend caught in the middle of his ex-wife and his current partner?

Lulu didn’t know what to expect when the girlfriend Allie stepped into the house, but the woman was already mad as hell. She hadn’t even asked a question yet. Had Kai said something to her while he was waiting on the porch? Did he routinely piss people off wherever he went?

She’d have to keep an eye on him.

“I can’t believe you talked to her,” Allie berated Jay, tossing a bag of groceries on the kitchen table along with her purse and keys. “Are you crazy? She wants to put you in prison. That’s what cops do. They twist your words all around until you’re behind bars.”

“I’m not looking to put innocent people behind bars,” Lulu said, her tone firm. “What I am interested in is finding the truth.”

“The truth?” Allie spat out. “I seriously doubt that.”

“Honey, calm down,” Jay said, reaching out to pat his girlfriend’s shoulder, but she shrugged him off. “Lulu just asked me a few questions about Dana. That’s it. She has a few questions for you, too. Just talk to her, and then we can all move on from this.”

“Talk to her? I’m not talking to her,” Allie replied, her voice going up an octave. “Not without my lawyer there. She wants to put you or me into prison for that slut. Who cares who killed her? I don’t, and you shouldn’t either.”

What a sweetheart. A people-kind of person. What does she do for a living? Foreclose on homes?

“You’re not helping yourself here,” Lulu said. “I only have a few questions. We don’t need this to become adversarial.”

“I don’t care,” Allie shot back, her face red with anger. “You need to leave him alone. You probably want him for yourself. I’ve heard about you. You’re not any different than Dana?—”

Jay managed to place his hand over his girlfriend’s mouth, effectively shutting down whatever was coming next. But Allie had already made her point and thrown down the gauntlet. This couldn’t be a friendly discussion. She wanted to do battle.

Okay, we can do that.

Jay looked mortified at Allie’s behavior, but Lulu didn’t hold him responsible in the least. This wasn’t his fault. Allie had made her choices, and this was what she wanted. She thought her remark would get under Lulu’s skin. She wanted to inflict a hurt.

In Lulu’s experience, when someone lashed out like that it meant they were hurting deep inside. Whether they hated themselves or whatever their psychological wounds were, they wanted company in their pain, afraid that someone might hurt them even more.

But just because she sympathized with Allie, didn’t mean that the woman was going to find her behavior a winner in this scenario. It only meant that Lulu wasn’t planning to get down to her level and go personal. She was going to be the professional in this situation.

“I’m so sorry, Lulu. Allie tell her you’re sorry. She doesn’t know what she’s saying. She and I have both been so thrown by what’s happened,” Jay moaned. “Please don’t listen to her. She just needs some quiet time to calm down.”

“Absolutely,” Lulu finally said after a long silence. She’d weighed her options and decided how to move forward. “I’ll see both of you at nine tomorrow morning. Bring your attorneys, if you like. If you don’t show up, a deputy will be sent to escort you. Do you have any questions?”

Allie opened her mouth, but Jay elbowed her and shook his head.

“No questions. We’ll be there.”

From the nasty expression on Allie’s face, these two were about to have a big argument as soon as Lulu and Kai stepped out of the house.

But it did beg the question…just why was Allie so determined not to talk to the police? Did she have something to hide?

If she did, Lulu was going to find it.

Allie hadn’t closed the front door fully, and Kai had heard it all.

Lulu should have bitch slapped that woman for saying what she did, but she’d remained calm and cool. Kai admired her self-control because he’d almost done it for her, but had held back since he didn’t want to go to jail. And he had no doubts that Lulu would love putting him in handcuffs.

Stop with your dirty mind. Don’t think about her doing that.

Clearly, he needed to get out more. Go on a date. Have sex. Thinking kinky thoughts about the new sheriff was a terrible idea. He didn’t even really know her. Seeing one another briefly during the summer didn’t count toward any sort of friendship.

He hadn’t socialized all that much since he’d moved to Harper, to be honest. He’d been busy settling in, decluttering his grandpa’s house, making changes at the newspaper to perhaps make it at least break even. He didn’t hold out much hope of it being hugely profitable. But he’d kept busy, ignoring any need for human companionship and contact. He’d told himself that it could come later. Later…when he had more time.

Was it later now? Was Lulu sashaying unexpectedly into his life a message from the universe?

We’re putting this incredibly gorgeous and sexy woman in your path. What are you going to do about it?

For the moment, he wasn’t going to do anything. Impulsively jumping into asking a woman out wasn’t part of his personality, no matter how much he might wish it was. He was the cautious type, taking his time and surveying the landscape. He’d weigh his options, not rushing into any decisions.

And the majority of the time, that strategy had worked for him. It helped him at work and in business, not making crazy bonehead decisions on the spur of the moment. His friends and co-workers had called him “savvy and sharp”, “intelligent”, and “wise.” They’d come to him for advice often, acknowledging his expertise. It wasn’t a terrible way to live.

But it had also kept him from doing some things that, looking back, he’d wished he had. Opportunities didn’t always last forever. They came and went, and if he didn’t jump in time? They were gone, most never to return. He didn’t like being the guy with regrets of the road not taken.

He’d told a buddy about his dilemma, and his friend had given him a short and succinct answer.

“Dude, your problem is you think too damn much. Relax and enjoy the ride.”

Kai’s friend wasn’t wrong. His brain was difficult to turn off, if not impossible. It made sleep sometimes elusive, too.

Lulu turned out of Jay Bradford’s neighborhood and headed toward town.

“You haven’t said much.”

“I’m wondering how you didn’t smack some sense into her,” he replied.

“Because I’m not that kind of cop. Or person. Besides, she already seemed over the top upset, and I didn’t want to make it worse.”

“I feel for Bradford. He’s got his hands full with her. She seems…what’s the word I’m looking for…paranoid? Yes, paranoid about his fidelity. Whether he’s done anything for her to feel that way, I don’t know.”

“She’s seeing boogeymen behind the couch,” Lulu agreed with a smile. “I don’t want her man, but she wasn’t in the mood to hear that. But it makes you wonder what fantasies she’s built in her head about Dana.”

“She said she hated Dana when she and I were talking,” Kai replied. “She didn’t bother hiding it either. She told me that Dana had cheated on Jay with Glen Foster.”

“There was a rumor around town about that, but I never saw any proof. There are rumors about a lot of things, and most of them don’t amount to a pile of spit. Did she say anything else?”

“She said that she had an alibi. She and Jay spent the night at her house.”

“That’s interesting,” Lulu replied with a shake of her head. “Jay has a very different story. He said that he left Allie’s house about ten-thirty. He had to be up early for work.”

“Who do you believe?”

“At this moment? Neither of them. They could both be liars,” Lulu shot back. “I don’t believe an alibi until I can confirm it.”

“You’re a very cynical person, Lulu. Did anyone ever tell you that?”

“Not really. I think I’m just being a realistic investigator. I need evidence to prove someone is a killer - or that they’re not - so I’m looking for more than what someone said when I questioned them. I need facts. Provable facts.”

“Can I ask what else Bradford told you?”

“If I tell you, you can’t print it,” Lulu warned. “Because it’s inflammatory, and right now I don’t know what’s true and what’s not. I don’t want anyone’s life getting ruined because of this investigation.”

“Promise,” Kai said. “I won’t print it.”

“Jay said that Allie threatened Dana’s life. However,” she said with a hard tone. “I don’t know if he was telling the truth. He said she didn’t mean it, and it sounded like she might say stuff like that all the time. He also didn’t stonewall me much, almost immediately throwing his girlfriend to the wolves.”

“Are you the wolf in this scenario?”

“I am. Anyway, that’s why I want to talk to Allie. She needs to speak for herself. When she’s calmer.”

“Can you make her show up tomorrow for questioning?”

“I can make her be there, but I can’t make her answer any questions. She has the right to remain silent, and I respect that.”

Kai had the distinct feeling that Allie wasn’t going to cooperate in any way, shape, or form. But the woman did appear to have a strong motive and opportunity.

Was Dana killed because she was a romantic rival for Bradford’s affections? It was a theory that needed to be investigated.