Out of Turn (42 page)

I frowned. Kade had said the calls Kandi had made were to an unlisted burner phone, untraceable. Now there were documented calls between the two of them? But I kept my mouth shut.

“Any calls the night of the murder?” Blane asked.

“Not that I’m aware of,” Jared said.

“You probably want to have that checked again,” Kade interjected. “I have it on good authority that not only is there a call from James to Kandi, there’s also the fact that the cell tower his phone used is within a half mile of Kandi’s house.”

Blane sent a sharp look Kade’s way but said nothing.

Jared’s expression was grave as he handed Blane a folder.

“The DNA tests are complete,” he said. “Unfortunately, there was nothing to tie James to the scene, but these came back positive.”

“What are they?” Blane asked, thumbing through the folder.

“The semen tested as a positive match for you.”

C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN

N
o one spoke. The look of shock on Blane’s face echoed, I was sure, the one on mine.

“Well, that sucks.”

I looked at Kade, thinking that was the understatement of the century. He seemed unfazed by the information, but the set of his face was grim.

“I managed to destroy the results,” Jared continued. “But when they can’t find them, I’m sure they’ll test again.”

“How did they get my DNA?” Blane asked.

“The Navy,” Kade answered, getting up and going to the sideboard to pour a drink. “I bet they took your DNA when you joined the SEALs, in case they needed to identify your remains at some point.”

Nausea rose in my throat at the thought of there not being enough of Blane’s body left to identify him while he was in combat.

“Fuck.” Blane’s hands were clenched in fists. “They would have needed a court order for that.”

“Maybe not if someone has friends in high places,” Jared speculated. “The point is, the results match you, not James. What are we going to do about it?”

“Why are you putting your job on the line for Blane?” Kade suddenly asked, taking a swallow of the scotch in his hand. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What’s in it for you?”

“Kade—” Blane broke in.

“No, it’s okay,” Jared interrupted. He addressed Kade. “Blane was deployed in Afghanistan at the same time my brother was there.”

“Your brother’s a SEAL?” Kade asked.

“No, he was in the Army. But he was part of a team that got trapped by insurgents. It was too hot—no one could get in to get them.” He tipped his head toward Blane, who’d gone to the window, his hands braced on his hips. “Except Blane here. He and another guy got in to where my brother was holed up and fought their way out. He saved my brother and two of his buddies.”

I glanced over at Blane, but he was looking out the window. He didn’t respond to Jared’s story, not that I thought he would, and the account of what he’d done didn’t surprise me.

“So now if he needs something, I’m here to do it,” Jared finished.

“Not if it costs you your job,” Blane said, turning around to face him.

Jared stood. “You let me worry about that. I’ll check into those phone records, but we need a break in this case—and soon.”

“Thanks, Jared,” Blane said.

Jared walked out, leaving me with Blane and Kade. Still reeling from the results of the DNA tests, I sat down heavily on the sofa.

“Kade, give us a minute, please,” Blane said, his tone filled with quiet resignation. His hands were in his pockets as he stared again out the window.

Kade tossed back the rest of his drink in one swallow, his gaze resting on me. “No problem,” he said, closing the door on his way out.

That’s when I remembered. Blane didn’t realize I knew he’d lied to the police about sleeping with Kandi the night of her murder. What I still didn’t understand was how the DNA matched. Blane had told Kade that he always used a condom.

Silence reigned for several minutes, and I didn’t break it. Blane had something he wanted to say, obviously, so I forced myself to wait and tried not to fidget. Finally, Blane turned and approached me, stopping a few feet away.

“When you and I broke up,” he began—which I thought was a nice way of saying,
When I accused you of cheating and dumped you
—“I realized after talking with Kade that I’d made a huge mistake.” He grimaced. “Though we didn’t really talk, I guess. More like he kicked my ass, which I deserved.”

Couldn’t disagree with that.

“I thought about what I’d said, what I’d done, and I knew I couldn’t take it back. You had to hate me. I’d lost the one person who loved me for me, and I couldn’t face it. So I threw myself into work, but I felt dead inside.”

A sob was building in my chest, but I held on, not knowing if I wanted to hear this or not.

“Kandi came by one night for some reason or other I don’t remember, and… I slept with her. I realize you know that she and I continued having this… relationship right
up until the night she died. And I know you heard me tell the cops I didn’t sleep with her that night—”

“But you did,” I finished for him.

His face was unreadable. “Yes.”

I bowed my head, unable to look at him. “And you didn’t use…” I couldn’t say the word. Had he lied to Kade? I had no idea why the thought of him not using a condom with Kandi bothered me so much, it just did. Maybe it was because he’d told Kade he’d only ever
not
worn one with me.

“I used a condom,” Blane said. “I don’t know—I guess maybe it broke or something. I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention.” He hesitated. “I’d been drinking that night. You and I had talked the night before and it was still… on my mind. I don’t think I was as considerate with her as I should have been.” His face was stark with grief.

“Are you saying you were using her that night to get back at me?” I asked. “Because you thought Kade and I were sleeping together?” The very idea that my actions had caused Blane to take his frustration out on Kandi made me ill. If I hadn’t slept with Kade, Blane might not have gone over there or had sex with Kandi that night. He might not now be the focus of a murder investigation sure to ruin his career, if not his life.

Blane’s smile was bitter. “Not such a hero now, am I.” The self-loathing in that statement was something I’d never heard from Blane before.

“This is all my fault,” I said with dawning horror. “All of it.”

“What? No! Don’t be ridiculous,” Blane said, walking over to me. “I’m not blaming you for my actions, Kat. I just wanted to explain—”

“That everything you did that night had nothing to do with Kandi and everything to do with me!” I interrupted, my voice shrill. “Tell me that’s not true.”

“Listen to me—” he began.

I jumped to my feet and headed for the door. I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt as though it was wrapped in tight bands that squeezed the air out of me. It was my fault. Kandi was dead, Blane’s life was ruined, all because of me.

Blane made a grab for me, but I tore my arm away and threw open the door. “Kat, wait!” he called.

Kade was standing in the hallway near the front door, sorting through a stack of mail. He looked up when I hurried toward him.

“Keys,” I gasped. I just needed to hold it together for a few more moments, just until I was alone. “Please.”

His blue eyes were intent on mine, seeing way too much as he handed me his car keys without a word.

I felt Blane’s hands settle on my waist.

“Don’t leave,” he said.

“Let me go.” I tried to twist away, but he held me even tighter, pulling me in to him.

“You can’t leave like this,” he said, and I could hear desperation in his voice.

I fought now, self-preservation kicking in. “I said,
let me go
!”

I was suddenly free and I stumbled forward a couple of steps.

“She wants to go, so let her go,” Kade said, his voice like steel.

“Don’t get in my way, Kade,” Blane threatened, trying to push past him.

“What the fuck did you do now?” Kade retorted, blocking Blane’s path to me. “For you supposedly being the responsible one, I seem to be cleaning up a lot of your messes, big brother.”

“Out of my way!” Blane shoved Kade, who didn’t budge.

“You want her, you’re gonna have to go through me.”

I jerked open the front door and glanced back, but Blane and Kade were locked in their own battle of wills as they stood nose to nose. My vision blurred and I turned away. Moments later, I was in Kade’s Mercedes, speeding away from Blane’s home.

For a while, I just drove and didn’t pay a lot of attention as to where. I kept replaying the conversation between Blane and me over and over inside my head.

Now that I’d had some time, I realized Blane hadn’t been blaming me, but that didn’t make me feel any better. I was angry at Blane for how he’d treated Kandi, when I thought I’d never have any reason to sympathize with her. Was it a relationship she’d gone into with her eyes wide open? Yes, but that didn’t lessen the fact that Blane had taken advantage of her affection, using her to salve his own emotional wounds.

I drove until there was nothing but countryside around me and the road was a narrow path winding through trees, their branches overhanging and shading it. On a whim, I pulled onto a dirt path and turned off the car.

I untied the scarf from my neck, got out and started walking, realizing before long that the pumps I wore were ill-suited to hiking. Reaching down, I took them off, leaving them where they lay.

The grass was cool under my feet, the feel of the earth against my soles taking me back to when I was young and my mom never could get me to wear shoes outside in the summer. Even after the time I’d stepped on a bee, I still regularly ditched my shoes to feel the warmth of the sun-kissed ground between my toes.

I stumbled upon a clear glade among the trees, spots of sunshine breaking through the clouds to dapple the ground. The grass hadn’t grown very high, so I sat down. I had a passing thought that I was getting the nice dress I wore dirty but couldn’t bring myself to care enough to get up.

It wasn’t as hot as it should have been for July, and it was even nicer in the shade. I was glad for the brief respite from the Indiana summer sauna.

I closed my eyes, deliberately bringing to mind happier times when my parents were alive. I knew back then that my dad had wanted a son, but I never felt he was disappointed that he had a daughter instead. One time when I was still small, I’d asked him if he wished I was a boy.

“Turns out, I’m more of a girl daddy than a boy daddy,”
he’d said with a smile as he hoisted me in his arms.
“God knows best, sweetheart, even if we don’t always see it right away.”

The sounds of the country calmed me. The breeze rustled the leaves on the trees, birds chirped nearby, and I could hear the distant buzz of a bee or two.

I lay down on the grass and stared up at the sky. The clouds were breaking up, their white, cottony shapes drifting by as the sun moved slowly overhead.

I must have dozed off, because the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to see Kade standing above me.

“A princess asleep in the forest?” He held up my shoes, dangling from his fingers. “Shall I call you Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty?”

I smiled, my heart leaping in my chest to see him, but I wasn’t surprised that he was there. I’d known he’d find me, as he always did.

I sat up, running my fingers through my hair in case there were any leaves or grass in it. “I don’t feel much like either at the moment,” I said.

“That’s all right,” he said, sitting down next to me. “After all, I’m hardly Prince Charming.” I noticed he hadn’t even bothered to change his clothes before coming after me.

“How’d you find me?” I asked.

He cocked an eyebrow. “You seriously think I wouldn’t have a way of tracking my brand-new car?”

I laughed lightly. Of course. Should’ve known. He was close enough that I could lean my head against his arm, strong and solid beneath my cheek.

“How’d it get to this point?” I asked after a while.

Kade’s sigh said he knew exactly what I was talking about. “Who the hell knows?” he said quietly. “It just… did.

“I gave Blane the DVD Tish brought,” he continued. “Thought we’d use it as blackmail rather than you going to the cops.”

“Will that work?”

“James values his reputation more than he wants to put Blane away. I think it will.”

“Can’t we get more evidence for what he did to Kandi?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I added the phone records, that will help, but I don’t know if we can do any more without dragging Blane into it again. If James will drop the charges, that may have to be enough.”

That made me sad. Kandi wouldn’t see justice for what had been done to her.

“Blane’s not going to go see James himself, is he?”

Kade shook his head. “Nah. I’ll go see Junior later.” He turned and looked down at me. “I wanted to check on you first.”

“I’m fine,” I said.

His smile was without humor. “Of course you are.”

Just then, I spied a basket sitting on his other side. “What’s that?”

“I thought you’d be hungry, so Mona packed some food. She insisted on putting it in an honest-to-God basket.”