Finding Justice (18 page)

“You still believe Jay had something to do with Sarah’s murder?
Even when he has not one but
four
people who’ve
given statements where he was that night?”

Disbelief passed over his eyes. “You really have been sucked
into believing whatever that man says, haven’t you? Have you two got something
going on that I need to know about? Something that will have you back on a train
to Reading quicker than you can draw your next breath?”

Cat’s heart kicked inside her chest and she tilted her chin.
“Of course not. We’re friends.”

“Is that so? Well, your
friend
needs to keep his nose clean and his mouth shut because only two of those four
investors were willing to sign statements saying Mr. Garrett never left the
restaurant at all during the time they ate and again when they went for drinks
at the Jukebox. Apparently, Mr. Garrett left time and again to answer his cell
and two of them aren’t willing to testify that he didn’t disappear for longer
than half an hour at a time.”

Cat cursed the hitching in her nerves. “Half an hour isn’t
enough time to get to Clover Point and kill someone. Surely—”

“Both men have said independently that he could’ve been gone
longer. In your experience, Sergeant, how long does it take to throttle someone
after a fifteen-minute drive?”

She shook her head. “But that’s speculation. If two of them
said he was there...”

“Two out of four is enough for me to keep Jay Garrett under the
microscope.” He took a step closer and stared into her eyes. “I also find it
interesting that he asked you to come to Templeton. Why not leave the
investigation to us when he knew damn well we were following every
avenue...including the one leading to him?”

I slept with a suspect. I slept with a
suspect.

Cat’s mind whirled as hurt and shame at her stupidity took
turns at the front of her mind. “It’s because you suspected him that he rang me.
He has no idea any of the men he was with didn’t give him a solid alibi. He
hasn’t spent a moment worrying about it when he’s been with me. Don’t you think
a man who was suspected of killing his best friend would be jumpy about that
unless he knew he was innocent and had an alibi to prove it?”

Bennett stared for a moment longer before raising his hands.
“Fine. Maybe he didn’t do it, but until I know for sure, Jay Garrett is a
suspect. Just because he was once friends with Miss Cole it doesn’t eliminate
him from our inquiries. Understand?”

Cat swallowed against the bitter taste in her mouth. She could
not afford to further provoke Bennett if she were to stand any chance of having
access to his progress. “Yes, sir.”

“Good. Then let’s move on. I’ll get a team down to the beach
and let you know if we find anything...or not, if I so choose.”

Annoyance swept over her. He may be right to still suspect Jay
but be damned if he wouldn’t acknowledge Jay’s achievements. “Can I just say one
more thing? Jay has been clean and sober for nearly three years and didn’t
hassle Sarah to reinstate their friendship in that time. Their estrangement was
what Sarah wanted, and despite Jay wanting to make amends, he respected her wish
to remain apart.”

Bennett raised his eyebrows. “Which doesn’t help his cause. How
do we know Miss Cole’s refusal to reconcile drove him to do something you seem
to think impossible?”

Cat stared in disbelief. “Even when he was high, he wasn’t
violent. Most of the people in Templeton have known Jay his entire life. I can’t
believe anyone would think him capable of that.”

“Except me, of course. Is that what you’re thinking? Let me
tell you something, Forrester. I might not have lived in the Cove as long as
some of my colleagues, but to me that’s an advantage. I look at every resident
here with new eyes. No rose-tinted memories to fade my better judgment. I
ordered the search of Garrett’s home because it was necessary, and you can
continue to look at me like that for however long you like. It won’t bring Miss
Cole back.”

Cat struggled with the accusation, of other people thinking Jay
capable of such a heinous crime against a woman he held in high respect. Her
entire body hummed with frustration and fear that what Bennett said had merit
and her professional judgment had been blurred by her love for Jay.

“The fact Mr. Garrett knew Miss Cole personally only adds
strength to why he shouldn’t be involved. I want him kept out of this. Do I make
myself clear?”

“Absolutely.” She wanted Sarah’s killer found and behind bars.
If that meant sacrificing her friendship...and possible relationship with
Jay...then so be it. He’d called her here for Sarah and that remained Cat’s
priority.

“Good.” He blew out a heavy breath. “And as far as that phone
call you received, it led nowhere. The number was untraceable. So—”

“Two calls.”

“What?”

Cat met his unwavering gaze. “He rang again this morning. He’s
watching me. Could tell me where I’d been and when I’d been there. I need to
stay a part of this, sir. He’s enjoying the contact with me. He’s going to slip
up. I’m sure of it.”

His gaze settled on her with the intensity of someone trying to
look into her soul. “Then that’s more reason than ever for you to get the hell
back to Reading and concentrate on your jurisdiction instead of mine. I don’t
want a murdered cop on my hands on top of everything else. Go home, Forrester.
You’re not wanted here.”

You are not throwing me off of
this.
“What about the school, sir?”

He frowned. “What about the school?”

“Have you spoken to the teachers there, the pupils?”

“Of course we bloody well have. What do you take me for?”

Cat didn’t trust herself to answer that. “What did they
say?”

“You really don’t listen, do you?”

“Sir, please, I can’t walk away from this. I can’t leave
Sarah...or ignore Jay’s plea for help. It’s just not who I am...as a cop or a
human being. Please. Let me go to the school, talk to some people there.”

“And what do you think you’re going to uncover at the school
that my officers haven’t already?”

Cat lifted her shoulders. “I have no idea, but I tend to have a
good affinity with kids. And they notice things we don’t. It’s worth another
try.”

He studied her. “If you go to the school, I’m coming with you.
Trust has to be earned, Sergeant, and right now you don’t have mine.”

Cat inwardly cursed. It wasn’t what she wanted, but it was
clearly the best he was going to offer her. She nodded. “Deal.”

“Fine. Then we’ll meet outside the primary school tomorrow at
ten o’clock. I’ve got a debriefing first thing. Don’t be late.”

“Yes, sir.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

C
AT
STRODE
FROM
THE
parking
lot struggling with a mix of excitement and trepidation. On one hand, she had
managed to maneuver another way in to ask questions and get Bennett to trust her
judgment—on the other, she understood more than ever just how precarious a
position Jay was in as far as Bennett was concerned.

Only two out of the four men who were with him that night were
willing to sign their names confirming Jay would not have had time to disappear
for a long period of time and come back without them noticing.

In Cat’s mind, Bennett’s thinking was shaky at best. Even if he
truly believed Jay would have had time to kill Sarah and return to the
nightclub, surely Jay’s demeanor and general concentration would have roused
suspicion. Bennett hadn’t offered any more of what the men had said. The men who
held Jay’s future in their hands.

She understood Bennett was giving her the bare minimum, and she
respected that. She wouldn’t have been any different if she had been heading up
the investigation. It didn’t make her uneasiness any easier to bear,
however.

So, what next? She glanced at her watch. She had half an hour
before Jay arrived to pick her up and take her to the bakery to see Marian and
George. Her chest tightened. She loved George like a father. And now she had to
ask him the biggest favor she’d ever asked of any civilian—a favor that would
certainly put him in harm’s way.

She moved along the sidewalk, her usually confident gait
weakening with each step. She could see no other option but to send George and
Marian to the beach if there was any hope of not drawing any attention to
whoever was making the phone calls to her.

Was he watching her now? Was he the killer or just some sicko
who had somehow found out about her working on the case and knew she’d come to
Templeton from out of town? Anger raised the hair on her nape. Did he know about
Sarah’s letter?

Cat sat on a wall to wait for Jay. A headache snaked its way
across her brow and she lifted her fingers to her temples. She tried to massage
the pain away, knowing an aspirin would be needed along with a cool glass of
water once they got to the bakery. She tried to focus her mind on happier times
in a bid to ease the tension, and thoughts of her and Jay’s lovemaking filtered
in. Her body traitorously heated from the memory. It never should have happened.
She never should have surrendered to a single moment of selfish need.

Jay loved her and she loved him. That was not the issue. It was
the fact that only her heart pleaded his innocence. She had no evidence to
eliminate him. True, the facts and evidence didn’t condemn him, but they didn’t
extricate him, either.

Damn it, Jay. Why did she have to be found
on Clover Point?
Why did you have to do what you did at the school that day?
Why couldn’t you have just told Bennett about Sarah calling you?

Jay’s car came around the corner and Cat stood as her palms
turned clammy. What was she supposed to say to him? She worried her bottom lip
as he drew to a stop by the curb. Did she tell him about the weakness of his
alibi? That two of the four men he relied on hadn’t delivered? Or did she keep
that information to herself?

He lowered the window. “How was it?”

“Fine.” Cat walked around the hood to get in the passenger
side. She opened the door and slid into the seat, purposely concentrating her
gaze on the seat belt as she buckled herself in.

“Cat?”

She turned. His brow was etched with concern, his gorgeous
cocoa eyes on hers. “What happened?”

Indecision raged a war inside her. He was a civilian. A
suspect. “I can’t talk about it. Let’s just get to the bakery.”

He took her hand. “I’m going nowhere until you tell me what
happened with Bennett.”

She hadn’t expected any different. Jay didn’t get to where he
was by giving up easily or taking no for an answer. Her shoulders slumped and
she looked at their joined hands. “Bennett still suspects you.”

“What?” His eyes widened. “Why isn’t my alibi enough? Why is he
so determined I had something to do with this?”

Cat looked at him. His cheeks were red and his mouth tight.
Frustration hovered around his every muscle. She sighed. “We have to accept
Bennett has a job to do and without evidence to eliminate you, he’s doing it
well. It’s me who’s acting unprofessionally, not him. I’m letting my feelings
get in the way of what’s right for Sarah. And that’s wrong. Really wrong.”

“You’re right to listen to those feelings. Cat, I swear to you.
I had nothing to do with Sarah’s death. Nothing. Jesus, if I’d been there to
meet her...”

“I know.” She stared at his bowed head and resisted the
yearning to kiss him. “For now we have to concentrate on what we can do and not
what we can’t.”

He looked up. “The money?”

She nodded, her gaze falling to his lips. “What happened
between us last night can’t happen again, Jay.
We
can’t happen. Let’s just focus on finding the money and then maybe, just maybe,
we can clear your name and find the man who took our best friend’s life. I don’t
want our relationship becoming a problem that leads to Sarah’s killer getting
away with what he’s done. Do you understand?”

For a long moment he stared into her eyes, and Cat fought the
urge to look away. She had to face him. Had to show him she was serious...and
not let him see through her eyes that her heart broke for everything the two of
them couldn’t have.

He shook his head. “No. I don’t understand that at all.”
Abruptly, he turned and gunned the engine. “So how do we play this,
Sergeant?
”

Cat turned. The emphasis on
sergeant
was heavy with sarcasm. She’d pushed him away for the final time, and
once they found the man who killed Sarah, they would go back to years of
silence, most likely never speaking to each other again. The final shred of
Cat’s heart splintered and broke. Her eyes stung with tears and she blinked them
away.

“Ideally, I want Marian and George at the beach before
Bennett’s team.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Jay, look at me.”

He turned, his eyes dark with anger.

Cat swallowed and tilted her chin. “I need your help. The
chances Marian will go to the beach on my say-so is very unlikely. George, not
so much.” She gave a quick smile. “But this is the quickest way we can start
looking for that missing money and avoid drawing the attention of whoever’s
watching us. Are you happy to talk to her? Convince her to help?”

A little of the anger left his eyes and he turned away. “Yes. I
don’t like it, but we need to do this. Their help will make all the difference
and keep the watcher with us. I get it.” He blew out a breath. “George usually
pops in for a cup of tea and a bun about now. We might be lucky and catch them
together.”

His cell phone rang from its hands-free holder and they both
turned to the display. It showed “Tessa.” Cat’s gut lurched at the sight of a
woman’s name calling Jay. She turned to the side window, detesting the immediate
pang in her chest that felt far too much like jealousy. What was the matter with
her? He was a free agent. And, after all, she didn’t want to stay here....

“Hi, Tess.”

“Hi, Jay, where are you?” Tess’s voice came through on the
loudspeaker.

“Why? What’s up?”

“Do you think you could make a quick detour to the pier?
There’s a problem down there between the manager and your accountant.”

“What sort of a problem?”

“From what I can gather between the swearing and general
testosterone overload, you signed off some of the profits to the new build on
Sandringham and the manager is claiming it was never a done deal.”

“He knows it was. Ring him back—”

“I’ve tried talking to him. He’s not listening.”

Cat started when Jay touched her leg. She turned. His eyes
asked the question of what he should do.

“Go,” Cat whispered. “You can come by and pick me up when
you’ve finished.”

“Jay?” Tess pressed. “Can I tell the accountant you’re on your
way?”

“Sure. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

Tess’s sigh of relief sounded over the receiver and Cat smiled
when Jay disconnected the call. “I assume that’s your personal assistant?”

“Yep, and the woman who keeps me sane.”

“Hope you pay her well.” Some of the unmerited jealousy seeped
from inside the rolling ball of heat behind her rib cage. “A woman to put up
with you must be worth her weight in gold.”

“She is, but the one who marries me is going to be worth even
more.”

Cat’s heart kicked and she forced a laugh. “God help her.”

“God help you, you mean.”

She tried to look away but he held her with his eyes. They
brooked no argument, and undeniable joy churned inside of her, heating her blood
with temporary relief from reality, a dream she was in Templeton dating Jay,
rediscovering him and contemplating a future with him. If only he knew how much
she wanted to dip her toe in that sea of possibility and dive in, the way every
other person did when they pursued the rocky road of finding someone to share
their life with. Chris and Melinda shot unbidden into her mind.

She released her held breath and reached inside her bag for her
phone. “I should ring Chris.”

“Why?”

“I told him I would let him know if the letter helped move
things forward.” She smoothed her hands over her skirt.

There was a long silence and Cat’s heart beat out the passing
seconds. He clearly considered saying more. She practically heard the cogs of
his brain turning and weighing things. She glanced at his hands as they tapped
the steering wheel and then down to his thighs. One leg lifted up and down as he
bounced it.

“Jay, what’s wrong?”

“We’re busy. I don’t want Chris spoiling your
concentration.”

“Why would he?” She frowned. What did Jay know about Chris? The
possibility that the two of them might keep in occasional contact hadn’t crossed
Cat’s mind until then.

She and her brother were hardly close. They’d very rarely
spoken until Jay’s phone call asking her to come to the Cove. While she’d spent
the past seven years worrying and cleaning up after Mum, had Chris been talking
to Jay? Did he know about Jay’s drug problem?

Did Jay already know about their mother and hadn’t told
her?

Panic and humiliation stole the air from her lungs. What if Jay
had been waiting for
her
to raise the subject of her
alcoholic mother? He brought the car to a halt outside Marian’s and cut the
engine.

“Jay? Why would Chris spoil my concentration? Have you spoken
to him?”

He lifted her fisted hand from her lap and twined his fingers
through hers. “No, but judging by the look on your face, I need to. I could tell
you were upset when you talked to Chris on the phone the other night, and I can
tell you’re dreading ringing him again.”

She forced a smile and resisted the urge to pull her hand from
his. She sensed he needed the contact and she would not hurt him any more than
she already had. “We’re fine.”

“Don’t lie to me.”

Heat seared her cheeks. She wasn’t lying...but she wasn’t
telling him the truth, either. If she had her way, she never would. The
closeness of him and the smell of leather and diesel closed in on her.

“I’m not lying to you. We’re fine, just brother and sister
stuff. He works. I work. We don’t see a lot of each other these days.”

“If he’s upsetting you, I want to know about it. I might not
have spoken to Chris for years, but I’m pretty sure it would come as no surprise
to him that you’re still my number one girl.”

Years. He hadn’t spoken to Chris any more than he had to her.
Relief relaxed her shoulders. “There’s nothing wrong.”

He stared. “Are you sure?”

His phone shrilled through the tension and they shot their
gazes to the display. Tessa.

“I’ll go. Meet me here when you’ve finished.” Feeling like a
complete and utter fraud for deceiving him, Cat leaped from the car, slammed the
door and rushed inside the bakery.

* * *

J
AY
STORMED
FROM
THE
pier and into his car as if a million werewolves
were in pursuit. What a waste of time. The funfair and arcade located at the end
of Templeton Cove pier was yet another arm of the Garrett family business that
Jay was renovating, improving and making a good investment for his siblings and
any future Garrett children.

He slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
Children. His children, if he had his way. They would be a perfect blend of Cat
and him. He was determined not to let her go this time. But he didn’t want to
harangue her into staying, either. He wanted her to stay of her own free will.
Which meant he needed to pull back and let her take the reins; otherwise, she’d
dig her heels in. She had more tenacity in her little finger than most people
did in their entire bodies.

He pulled away from the curb and his thoughts filled with her
flame-red hair and the smell of her perfume that seemed to linger beneath his
nostrils throughout the last hour he was stuck in the middle of a showdown
between his pier manager and accountant. The subtle, sexy blend of something
flowery and feminine mixed with something sexually raw teased him, goaded him
and totally infuriated him as he played mediator between two grown men.

Shaking his head, Jay joined the holiday traffic streaming
along the road. It was the first time he’d thought about business since Cat
arrived and where it once would have been normal to get things done one way or
another, his need to succeed in the business world was diminishing. Instead, the
need to fill his life with Cat burgeoned—as did his need to right his wrongs. If
he could have Cat and make up for the mistakes he’d made and the people he’d
hurt, his life would mean something again.