“Hmmm.” It was so strange to talk about myself with someone I used to know, someone who knew the old me better than most. “You think they got the right man?”
“You don’t?”
“I don’t know.” I was trying to play it cool, but it was more difficult than I’d expected. “Maura’s said some things that made me wonder if they got the wrong guy. Either way, the guy who did that shit to her is still out there, and that doesn’t sit well with me.”
“I can understand that.”
“You said you and this Matt guy were tight. Has he tried to contact you?”
“Nope.” He took a long drag off his cigarette. “Not a word.”
“When he went down for it, were you surprised? I mean, did you think he was capable of something like that?”
“No way.” He shook his head. “Not Coop. He wasn’t the type. Sure, he liked to fight, and he messed around with a lot of girls before he met Maura, but I can’t imagine him forcing himself on any of ‘em.” He chuckled. “Not that he had to. The girls loved him.”
I braced my elbow on the post and watched Jim carefully. “How about the other guys on your crew? Do you think any of them could have done it?”
He frowned at me. “Hell no. Why would you ask me that?”
“I’m assuming, if Matt didn’t do it, maybe someone set him up, someone close to him who might have had an axe to grind. That would narrow it down to his co-workers, friends, and the guys he fought against.” I couldn’t tell him I knew it was one of the guys on the crew because those were the only ones I’d confided in about what Maura and I did in the bedroom. “So you’re sure none of them could have been responsible? No one acted strange or said anything to you about Maura’s attack after Matt was arrested?”
The way he shifted in his seat and his eyes darted down the street told me he was hiding something. I wasn’t leaving until I found out what it was.
“No, uh, no one on my crew said anything to me.”
“But?”
He swiped a hand over his face before scratching his chin. “Shit, I don’t know if I should say anything about this. I could be way off base, but I’ve always felt like shit knowing Coop may have gone down because I couldn’t keep my big mouth shut.”
My heart raced, but I had to maintain my composure. Thankfully, the Aviator sunglasses shielded my eyes. I’d gone there praying to catch a break, but I wasn’t sure if it would really happen.
“What happened, Jim?”
“My neighbor dated Maura before she hooked up with Coop.”
Maura had told me about all of her exes, and only one came to mind as a possible suspect. “Your neighbor?” I looked up and down the street, wondering which house he may have lived in and whether he was still here. “Who?”
“Ben Lang.”
That was the name I’d expected to hear, and it still made my blood boil. He was Maura’s first, the man she’d been dancing with at the bar. “Yeah, Maura mentioned him. What was your take on the guy?”
“He was a little weasel.” Jim looked disgusted as he crushed his cigarette butt in a tin tray. “He thought he was all that ‘cause he was goin’ to an Ivy League school on a scholarship and dating one of the richest girls in town. ‘Course when Maura dumped his sorry ass for cheating on her, that all changed. I think he really thought she was gonna marry him and he’d have access to her daddy’s fortune.”
“He told you that?” I asked, clenching my jaw. “That he was using Maura for her family’s money?”
“Not in so many words, but the way he bragged about having an in with the old man told me all I needed to know.”
Maura had told me her parents liked Ben, that they approved of the relationship because even though Ben didn’t come from a wealthy family, they believed he was trying to better himself, improve his lot in life. They’d respected him for that. “Was he pissed when Maura dumped him?”
“Oh yeah.” He laughed. “He was madder than hell. The night it happened, he pulled into the driveway screeching his tires and got into a fistfight with his kid brother. The cops even showed up, but they didn’t haul either of them in.”
“Huh.” So the kid had a temper. Interesting. “How’d you know that was the night Maura broke up with him?”
“He told me the next day.”
“So y’all were close?”
“No. Like I said, I couldn’t stand him. But I sat out here a lot ‘cause the old lady wouldn’t let me smoke in the house. He wandered over sometimes, mostly to brag and rub it in that I was stuck in a dead-end job.”
“Sounds like an asshole.” I watched Jim light up another cigarette. “Did Matt know you lived across the street from Maura’s ex?”
“No, I didn’t think I should mention that to him.”
“Why not?”
“Like I said, Coop was a hot-head. He was real jealous about Maura. I figured if he knew where her ex lived, he might come ‘round here makin’ trouble. I didn’t want to get caught in the middle of that shit.”
“Can’t say I blame you.” My cell phone buzzed, but I ignored it. Nothing could be more important than this. “So you mentioned saying something to Ben. What was it?”
“I got sick of him shooting his mouth off, saying he could have Maura anytime he wanted her. She was really into Coop. So I told him she’d done things with Coop she never woulda done with him.” He smirked. “I may have even told him that Coop had turned her into a dirty little whore, got her hooked on all kinds of crazy shit.”
I wanted to kick the shit out of him for saying those things about Maura. “You gave him details?” I kept my voice even and my breathing steady even as I clenched my jaw.
“Yeah. I told him some of what Coop told me, just to shut him up.”
“How did he react?”
“He was pissed.” He laughed. “I definitely got the reaction I was hopin’ for.”
I looked at the run-down house across the street. “Does he still live around here?”
“No, but he still lives in town. Last I heard, the bottle got the best of him. He’s working as a mechanic at Riley’s.”
“What happened to his fancy education?”
“He got kicked out of school not long after Maura was raped. I guess his grades were slipping or something. I don’t know. I didn’t talk to him all that much after Coop was arrested. Every time I did, I got the feeling he was digging, trying to find out what I knew about Coop’s case. Even if I had known anything, I wouldn’t have told that douchebag.”
“Well, thanks for the info, Jim.” I nodded at the envelope on the table. “I hope that’ll help you get back on your feet.”
“Thanks, man. Hey, it was nice meeting you.” He chuckled. “It’s not every day a fuckin’ billionaire swings by my place. You and Maura, huh? She was always a sweet piece of ass. I haven’t seen her in a while, but I’m guessing she still is if she turned your head. Hell, you could have any woman you want, huh?”
“I want her.” I glared at him, though he couldn’t see the warning behind my shades. “Only her.”
I walked away before he could antagonize me further. I already had half a mind to go over to Riley’s and feed that worthless piece of shit my fist, but I had to be strategic about this. I couldn’t raise suspicion. That would only prompt him to run before we had enough to go to the police.
No, it was time to pass this over to my investigator. He was a former cop, a well-respected lieutenant who’d gotten into private investigating when he retired from the force five years ago. He’d know exactly what he needed to do to build a case against the guy. The police would have no choice but to bring him in for questioning, and I had no doubt he would crack under the pressure. Jim was right about one thing. The guy was a weasel.
***
I sat across from Maura, struggling to find the words I knew would change her life.
“So you haven’t said what happened this morning,” she said, spearing a piece of spinach and chicken with her fork. “Did you learn anything from the guys on your old crew?”
“Yeah.” I wiped my mouth with a napkin before reaching for my water glass. “You remember Jim Martin?”
“I think so.” She bit her lip before asking, “Was he the guy who drove that blue Impala?”
“Yeah, that’s him.” I watched her reach for her wine glass, wondering how I could break the news to her that she’d willingly slept with the enemy. “Jim, uh, had some information that could blow this case wide open, angel.”
She lowered her glass slowly as her eyes met mine. “He did?”
“Yeah.” I inhaled deeply. “Did you know he lived across the street from your ex?”
“My ex?” She frowned. “Which ex?”
“Ben Lang.”
She smoothed the napkin in her lap as her eyes fell to her half-eaten salad. “No, I never went to Ben’s house when we were dating. I knew he lived in kind of a rough neighborhood. I assumed he was embarrassed to take me there.”
“You’re probably right.” I was trying to figure out how to tell her the role my actions had played in her attack. I still felt sick thinking about it. If I hadn’t told Jim what had happened between Maura and me, he never could have used it to light a fire under that sick bastard.
“Blaise, just tell me what you know. Please.”
She was pleading for answers, and I knew I had no choice but to give them. After all these years, she deserved to know the truth even more than I did.
“I told you that I’d shot my mouth off to the guys in the crew.” I covered her hand with mine. “Baby, you have to believe me when I tell you that was the single biggest mistake I’ve ever made. I feel like that set this whole thing in motion.”
“What do you mean?” Her blue eyes were wide, filled with disbelief and terror.
“Jim told your ex about… us.” When she shot me a questioning glance, I sighed and withdrew my hand as I leaned back in my seat. “He told him details about what we’d done.”
She covered her mouth with her hand as she shook her head back and forth, her eyes filling with tears.
The waiter chose that moment to approach our table, but I quickly waved him off. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. You have to believe me. If I’d known—”
“Ben did this? He was the one who raped me?” Her words were barely more than a whisper, her voice clogged with emotion.
“It looks that way.” I closed my eyes, unable to watch her beautiful face crumple.
She lowered her head into her hands. People turned to stare at us, so I pulled a few bills from my wallet before standing.
“Let’s get out of here, angel. We can talk more outside.” I helped her get to her feet and clamped my arm around her waist as I led her outside.
“I can’t breathe.” She bent over as she gasped. “Oh God, I think I’m going to be sick.” She slapped a hand over her mouth.
“It’s okay,” I said, guiding her to my car where we would have some privacy. I opened the passenger’s door for her.
“No!” she cried. “I can’t get in there. I told you, I feel sick.”
“I don’t care. Just get in.” If she got sick in the car, I’d have it cleaned. The only thing that mattered to me was making her feel safe.
She sank into the seat, and I closed the door. I glanced at her through the windshield as I made my way around the front of the car. She was sobbing uncontrollably, her whole body shaking.
As soon as I got in, she said between broken sobs, “The whisky. The cigarettes. It all makes sense now. That’s why he whispered, because he knew I’d recognize his voice.”
I pulled her into my arms, resting her head on my shoulder. “Sssh, it’s gonna be okay, angel. That son of a bitch isn’t gonna get away with this. I swear to you, I’ll make him pay for what he did to you.”
“And to you.” She clutched my shirt. “Oh God, I sent you to prison for a crime he committed. I ruined your life. It’s all my fault. I slept with him. I—”
“Stop,” I said gently, stroking her hair. “Just stop. I won’t let you blame yourself for any of this. He did this. He’s the one who deserves to be punished.” I held her for what seemed like hours, just letting her cry.
Eventually her tears stopped and her breathing returned to normal. “What now?” Her voice was small as she looked at me. “Do we go to the police?”
“Not yet. We need more evidence. I put a call in to my investigator on the way over here. He’s on it. He’ll build a case, then he’ll go to the police when he’s convinced he has enough for them to press charges against him.”
“He still lives here, you know.” Her voice trembled as she clutched her stomach. “Oh God, I take my car to Riley’s for service sometimes. They’re the only ones in town who can service my Audi without voiding the warranty. I could take it to the dealership, but they take forever. I can’t be without my car that long.”
She was babbling, but I let her talk and process her thoughts.
“I see him sometimes, through the glass. I don’t have to talk to him because he’s always in the bay working on a car. I just deal with the clerk at the service desk. But sometimes I catch him looking at me, and it’s so… unnerving.” She shut her eyes. “God, why didn’t I think of him?”
“You had no reason to,” I said, rubbing her back. “I was the last person to see you, the one you’d been arguing with. I was the jealous one with a legendary temper. Of course the cops were gonna try to pin it on me. I was the logical suspect.”
She looked at me. “Do you think he followed us to your place from the bar?”
“He must have.”
“I guess I didn’t notice because he was driving that white van.” She rubbed her face. “It was his dad’s. He picked me up in it once when his car was in the shop.”
All of the pieces were falling into place. I knew it wouldn’t be long before my guy had enough to go to the police. My cell phone started ringing. It had been buzzing incessantly all morning. A quick look at the call display told me it was an unknown caller.
“I’m sorry, angel. I should get this.”
“It’s okay,” she said, sitting up. “Get it.”
I connected the call as she reached into her purse for a tissue. “Hello.”
“Blaise? Please.” The female on the other end was sobbing, making it difficult to understand her. “Help me.”
“Who is this?” The pounding in my ears almost drowned out her plea. Almost.
“It’s Lana.”
Her tortured cries sent a chill down my spine. “Sweetheart, you have to calm down. Just tell me what happened.”
“Blaise, I’ve been raped.”
Chapter Five