Watch Me (10 page)

Amy flicked a speck of lint from her uniform. “Are you saying your stepfather will back you up?”

A second’s hesitation revealed Cain’s lack of confidence in his stepfather’s support. “Unless he’s a liar.”

“That’s pretty funny, coming from you.”

“What’s funny about it?”

“You told me you didn’t have sex with Sheridan in high school. You said you didn’t sleep with her.”

Cain’s mouth formed a grim line, and Sheridan’s heart began to pound. This wasn’t something she wanted dragged out.

“Do you still hold to that?” Amy challenged.

He managed a stubborn nod.

“Then what do you make of this?” She pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and flattened it out on the dresser before handing it to him. He read it aloud.

“A few weeks after Jason died, I was lying on my bunk bed, with Owen in the top bunk above me, and we were talking about girls. He said he knew all about sex. I didn’t believe him. He’d never had a girlfriend, and he was only fourteen. So I told him to quit acting like a dork. That’s when he told me he’d watched Cain—”

Cain stopped, but Amy finished for him, as if she’d memorized every word. “—having sex with a girl at a
party. And that girl was
Sheridan Kohl
.” She smiled gleefully. “Robert signed it. It’s a legitimate statement.”

Sheridan’s body grew so warm she thought she might spontaneously combust. Owen
had
told someone. He’d told Robert. And now Robert was telling everyone else.

“Amy, what’re you doing?” Cain’s voice was low, his words more of a warning than a question.

Her eyes narrowed with jealousy and hatred. “Why’d you lie?”

“Because I didn’t want it to hurt her. Don’t you understand that?”

“You don’t care about hurting anyone.”

“It was a one-time encounter. It had nothing to do with Jason’s death.”

“Don’t kid yourself. It gives you the best motive we’ve found so far.”

She reached out to grab the paper, but Cain held it away from her.

Her laugh sounded brittle. “Fine. Keep it. I don’t need it. I can always get another one.” She turned on Sheridan, mouth twisted in a sneer. “You don’t deny it, do you?”

Sheridan wanted to, but doing so would be useless. She was sure her face had already betrayed her. “No.”

K
aren Stevens sat across from John at Ruby’s Hideaway Steak & Seafood, which was the nicest restaurant in Whiterock. With the dark paneling and dim lighting, she could barely make out the expression on his face, but she thought he looked a bit pale.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

He glanced up from cutting his meat. “No, why?”

“You seem…withdrawn these days. Restless.” She knew it had to do with Cain and that rifle being found in his cabin, because that was when John had grown so reserved. The rifle incident had dredged up the pain of losing Jason. It also made the relationship between him and Cain even more difficult. She understood all that, but she didn’t like the sense that he was shutting her out. At the very least she wanted John to be able to share what he was feeling.

“Robert’s been drinking again,” he said, shaking his head in resignation. “I think I have to get him into rehab.”

John didn’t need this on top of everything else, but Karen had to be careful what she said about Robert. She didn’t agree with the way John handled his youngest son, any more than she agreed with how he handled his
relationship with Cain—but for very different reasons. Robert needed to get out on his own and stop leaning on his father. Cain just needed love, but for some reason John couldn’t give him that.

“Have you talked to him about it?” she asked.

“You know how he is. All he’ll do is argue with me.”

“He wouldn’t listen even after he crashed into the shed?” She knew that hadn’t been a minor accident. Robert’s Camaro was still in the shop.

“He claims he won’t drive under the influence again.”

Karen was tempted to argue that John knew it wasn’t true, but she wouldn’t push him. Not tonight. He’d only clam up, and she wanted to talk. She missed the closeness they’d shared before that rifle showed up in Cain’s cabin. Maybe she hadn’t been interested in John when he’d first pursued her twelve years ago. But she was in love with him now.

“So what do you think?”

“I’m just frustrated. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve visited his trailer to find him passed out in his chair. And he spent his last two paychecks on computer accessories
again
.”

She chose her words carefully. “I thought you were going to make him start paying rent.”

“He spent the money before I could even collect!”

“But the job he got over in Fernley is going okay?”

John shoveled a bite of potato into his mouth. “No. He got fired two weeks ago.”

Karen saw John nearly every day. He was the custodian at the school where she taught. Besides that, he came over for dinner or spent the night at her place at
least four times a week—during a normal week, anyway. He hadn’t stayed with her since that rifle was found. “And you didn’t think to mention it to me?”

“I didn’t want to fight about it.”

She’d told him Robert wouldn’t be able to hang on to a job, especially one that required a commute. Robert couldn’t even keep regular hours. He stayed up until dawn, then slept past noon. “What’s he doing now?”

“I’ve told him he has to get a job by the first of next month or I’m kicking him out.”

Karen would’ve been thrilled by this news, except she’d been through this cycle too many times. John would never follow through. He’d give Robert another chance and another and another….

“How are you and Cain getting along?” she asked.

A muscle flexed in his cheek as he held his fork in midair, and she clasped her fingers nervously in her lap. It was a risk just bringing up Cain’s name. But she felt she owed him something. After what she’d done twelve years ago, she and Cain could never be friends, but she could use her influence to try and make things better between him and his stepfather. “I don’t want to talk about Cain,” he said as if he’d already made that clear enough.

“I’m just asking how you’re getting along. That’s not a big deal, is it?” She averted her gaze as she picked up her glass.

“I pretty much avoid him.”

That didn’t surprise her. “So you haven’t asked him how he thinks the rifle ended up where it did?”

“Why would I? You figure he’s going to admit to killing Jason?”

“I don’t believe he killed Jason.”

“And that’s why I don’t want to talk about it. You stick up for him every time I have something to say.”

The accusation rankled. “I’m trying to help,” she said. “You told me you haven’t been sleeping.”

“That’s nothing new. I’ve had trouble sleeping for years. You know that.”

She did know. That was the excuse he’d given her for staying away over the past several weeks. He said it helped him relax to be able to go out and work in his shed on his metal animals. Or he’d say he didn’t want to keep her up with his tossing and turning. Bottom line, he was so preoccupied with blaming Cain that it was taking a toll on his health and creating stress in all his relationships. Including theirs. “I’m worried about you,” she said frankly.

His expression lightened for the first time that evening as he reached across the table to take her hand. “Don’t worry. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? I know you get depressed sometimes, over Jason. Is that what this is about?”

“I’m fine,” he said again and gave her fingers a squeeze. “I love you. I’ve loved you from the first moment I laid eyes on you.”

She smiled because she couldn’t say the same. When she’d met him, he’d been cleaning her classroom at Whiterock High. She’d been twenty-seven; he was forty-two. She’d felt his interest right away but hadn’t returned it. He was raising four boys, all of whom were closer to her age than he was—two of them became her students. And he was married to a woman who was dying of cancer.

She’d largely ignored his calls and letters. It wasn’t just his situation at home that put her off. She’d been far more attracted to his charismatic stepson, who always sat in the back row of her class….

“Are we having dessert?” John asked.

Suddenly, Karen wanted to make love. It’d been too long. She needed reassurance—reassurance that John didn’t know and would never find out the one thing that would, without doubt, destroy their relationship. “Let’s have it at my place,” she said.

It was late, but for the first time since the attack, Sheridan couldn’t sleep. She kept hearing Robert’s statement read aloud, kept hearing Amy proclaim that Cain had shot Jason out of jealousy. But that wasn’t true.

She’d simply tell everyone what had happened and take full responsibility for it. She knew she’d have some explaining to do when her parents heard, and she felt terrible about the shame and embarrassment it would bring them. But if Cain was guilty of anything, it was abusing his sex appeal, not murdering his stepbrother.

She’d call Amy right now.

Leaning on the furniture and against the walls to stay upright, she got out of bed. Her balance was improving. It wasn’t as difficult to walk as it had been just yesterday. Or maybe it was because of the drive she felt to control Amy’s reaction to Robert’s statement before this witch hunt could get any more out of hand. Either way, she made it to the living room and found Cain’s phone easily enough. She didn’t know Amy’s number, but she was willing to reimburse him for a call to information.

Because she didn’t have anything to write with, and her short-term memory wasn’t what it used to be, she repeated the number over and over until she dialed it. Then the phone rang and she waited, eager to set the record straight.

But it wasn’t Amy who answered. It was a man.

“’Lo?”

Sheridan paused. Had she dialed wrong? She didn’t think so. “Is Amy there?”

“Who’s this?”

“Sheridan Kohl.”

“Sheridan.” There was a soft laugh. “This is Tiger.”

Of course. She remembered Cain’s telling her that Amy and Tiger were seeing each other. Judging by the sleep in his voice and his confidence in answering Amy’s phone, they were serious. “Hello, Tiger. How are you?”

“Better than when I knew you before, I can tell you that much.”

Sheridan chose not to respond to the verbal jab. “I need to speak with Amy, if I could.”

“I’m afraid she’s pretty tired. She spent the whole evening laughing her ass off over the fact that your secret is out. The Virgin Queen was screwing Cain Granger. I found it amusing, too.”

Sheridan swallowed hard. “That’s what I want to talk to her about.”

“Tell me something,” he said.

She gripped the phone tighter at his intimate tone. “What?”

“Was it worth it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I need to speak with Amy.”

“I’m talking about you and Cain.” Obviously, he wasn’t going to pass Amy the phone until he’d exacted a bit of revenge. “Was it worth breaking up with a guy who really loved you so you could screw someone who didn’t give a shit about you?”

Sheridan drew a deep breath.
Don’t react. There’ll be more. A lot more
. Tiger was just at the front of the line. “You’re right,” she said. “Cain didn’t give a shit about me. He got what he wanted and moved on. Does it help to hear me acknowledge it?”

He seemed surprised by her blunt response, and she took some small pleasure in knowing it didn’t help at all.

“I would’ve treated you so differently.”

Clearly objecting to Tiger’s side of the conversation, Amy interrupted with a waspish remark. Tiger covered the phone, but Sheridan could still hear him. “I cared about her, okay? Certainly more than him. And she did me dirty,” he added, saying this into the receiver.

Sheridan rolled her eyes. “You wanted the same thing he did, Tiger. You tried to put your hands up my shirt every chance you had.”

“And you wouldn’t let me so much as touch you! I couldn’t even put my tongue in your mouth without you pulling away!”

“It’s been twelve years.
More
than twelve years since we were together. What does it matter that I let him touch me?”

“It’s just ironic. That’s all,” he said sulkily. “Goody-two-shoes won’t part her lips for me, but Cain snaps his fingers and she spreads her legs?”

Sheridan rubbed her temples. “Are you finished making me feel like trash?”

He didn’t answer, but Amy came on the phone. “Why are you calling here?”

“I’m trying to stop you from taking this too far. Yes, I slept with Cain. I even enjoyed myself. But he didn’t care about me, and you know it. He took me to the camper, used me once and never looked back, okay? Are you happy? That was it. A boy doesn’t kill another boy over a cheap lay.”

She heard movement in the other room but ignored it. She had to convince Amy, had to stop this before Ned took the investigation down the wrong road. It wasn’t fair to Cain. And she needed Amy and her brother to focus on the real killer, the person who’d put her in the hospital
twice.

“There are other issues here, Sheridan,” Amy said. “Issues you don’t know anything about.”

“Like the fact that you have an ax to grind?” she retorted.

“My personal life is none of your business.”

“Then don’t use what happened between me and Cain as a weapon against him.”

“Stay out of it and let me do my job.”

“You’re not listening.”

“Robert told me everything I need to hear.”

Cain had come up behind her. Sheridan could sense his presence. He was standing a few feet away.

“Amy, this isn’t right. You’re the only one I know who’s jealous enough to hurt somebody.”

There was a long silence. Then Amy said, “I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.”

“It’s true. You’re using a sixteen-year-old’s—”

Cain took the phone from her, setting it on the cradle, and Sheridan glanced up in surprise. He was wearing a pair of jeans that weren’t snapped all the way up—no shirt or shoes. Obviously, like her, he’d just gotten out of bed.

“Why’d you do that?” she asked.

“Because you were wasting your breath,” he said. “It won’t make any difference to her.”

“But she’s taking the investigation in the wrong direction! Meanwhile, there’s someone who’s
really
dangerous running around. I know. He used me as a punching bag.”

Cain didn’t respond right away.

“Are you listening to me?”

“How do you know it
wasn’t
me who shot you and Jason?” he asked.

He was serious. She could feel his eyes boring through the dark, could feel his tension as he waited. But she didn’t want to answer. “I just do.”

“How?” he asked again.

“Because the boy who touched me for the first time was too careful not to hurt me,” she finally said.

She thought he might insist on helping her back to bed. But he didn’t. He walked out of the room without another word.

The next morning, Sheridan found a jar of ointment on the nightstand. “What’s this?” she called.

The banging of pots and pans in the kitchen told her Cain was awake and making breakfast. “What’s what?” he called back.

“This…stuff.”

Koda and Maximillian nosed their way into her room and barked a hello. Quixote must’ve stayed with Cain, because Sheridan didn’t see him.

“It’s a salve I made.” There was a brief silence as the water went on, then Cain added, “Take off your clothes and rub it everywhere. It’ll help the aching and bruising.”

She unscrewed the lid and sniffed. “Yuck! I’m not putting this on. It smells terrible.”

He didn’t respond. The phone had rung and he’d answered it. She could hear his voice drifting back to her and knew he wasn’t happy with whoever it was.

Thinking it might be Amy, she set the jar aside and waited to see what was going on. Eventually, Cain came to the doorway.

“Bad news?” she asked.

Freshly showered, his jaw clean-shaven and his hair damp, Cain leaned against the lintel. “It’s not good news. Ned’s coming over. He wants to ask you a few questions.”

She frowned. “About the night in the camper?”

“He says it’s about the night Jason was shot, but we both know he’ll approach it via the night in the camper. That’s the only new information he’s got. I almost told him no, but—”

“But if we cooperate, he might not make such a big deal of it.”