Putting both feet on the deck, she stood. “That’s crap. Don’t lie to me. Not about this.”
Jim pushed off the swing, too. “Dani told me.”
“Bullshit.” Chris ripped the hat off his head. “That’s fucking bullshit.”
“Dani told you what?” she demanded, her temper flaring.
Jim kept looking at Chris. “It’s going to circle back around to person of interest.”
“Fuck you, Ralston,” Chris shot back, turning to leave.
Darcy focused on Jim. “Jim?”
As his mouth opened to reply, his cell phone rang. “Damn it. Hang on, Darcy.” He stepped to the other side of the porch to take the call.
She set her beer on the little glass table by the swing and watched as Chris stalked back to his cruiser. She followed. “What the hell is going on?”
Then it hit her. Person of interest. There had been only one person of interest in Dani’s case…
“It was you, wasn’t it, Chris? You were the one seeing Dani.”
“No. Damn it.” He spun around halfway down her front walkway, his face red and eyes fierce. “It wasn’t like that.”
Darcy’s heart raced. “What was it like, then, Chris?”
He stared down at her when she came to a stop in front of him, his handsome face taut with strain. “She changed after you left, Darcy. A lot. She started dressing different, acting different, styled her hair and makeup different.”
“You were attracted to her.”
“No, I wasn’t.” He crossed his arms, looking ornery and defensive. “You’re the one I want. No one’s like you, Darcy. What we had…You can’t tell me you don’t think about it. We couldn’t get enough of each other.”
“Jesus, Chris.” She exhaled harshly. “We were kids. Teenagers for god’s sake. We were hormonal, and frankly, there wasn’t much else to do around this town.”
“I still get hard thinking about the things we did. Your mouth and hands on me…the noises you make—”
“What the fuck does that have to do with Dani?” Her sister wasn’t like her. She had been softer, sweeter. Sex had been highly personal for her. Darcy enjoyed sex for sex; Dani had equated sex with emotional commitment.
“She stopped by my house one night. Dressed like you, smelling like you. She came on to me like a freight train. I couldn’t help but think of you.”
“Oh my God…” Darcy turned away, feeling sick.
“I know you don’t believe me. You’re thinking Dani wasn’t like that. She was the quiet one, the good girl. But she wasn’t that way after you left. It was as if she wanted to be you.”
She barked out a humorless laugh. “Please. Dani was perfectly happy being Dani.”
He grabbed her by the arm, squeezing hard enough to bruise her, yanking her back around. His face was so hard and furious she recoiled from it.
“Hey,” Jim yelled from the porch. “Watch it, Miller.”
“I wasn’t the only one banging her,” Chris bit out, releasing her. “Because I’m not the one who knocked her up.”
She slapped him before she knew she was going to.
“You won’t want to do that again.” His voice was low and deep, his gaze dark and hot. The imprint of her hand glowed red on his cheek, intensifying the look of fury on his face.
Her tummy quivered with fear.
“There was someone else,” he insisted. “I gave her what she wanted that night and once more afterward. That was enough for me. She wasn’t you, couldn’t even come close. It was done and over long before six weeks prior to her death.”