Dead Pretty - Samantha Towle Page 0,74
don’t believe you.”
“It was the home phone. I called, he answered, and I spoke to him for eleven minutes.”
“What you’re saying right now proves nothing!” I fire back at him.
“I have proof, Audrey. I can show you the call log from the phone company.”
“They would have said in the trial …”
“It was dismissed as evidence. Yes, the call logs show a call was made to my mother’s house. That it connected and that I spoke to someone for eleven minutes—right in the middle of the time you were being held—but it doesn’t prove who I was talking to.”
“You could have been talking to your mother.”
“But I wasn’t. She was sleeping. She was sick in bed.”
I know this. It was all said at trial. But nothing about the phone call.
“I am telling you, Audrey. I spoke to him that night. He was home. He wasn’t there with you.”
“So what if you did speak to him!” I’m getting agitated. “That means nothing! He could have left and …”
I stop my words because he didn’t leave me that night. He was there, in my apartment. I was tied up and blindfolded. I couldn’t see him. But I could hear him. Moving around that room. But even if he hadn’t moved a muscle for those horrific hours, I would have known he was there. I could feel him there, watching me.
“But he didn’t leave, did he?” Jack’s eyes are focused wholly on me. “You said in your testimony that whoever was in your room with you, he never left you alone, not even for a second. From the moment he broke into your apartment until the moment he left, he was there with you the whole time.” Jack takes a measured step toward me. “You never saw his face. Never heard his voice. It could have been anyone.” Another step closer. “Anyone, Audrey.”
“The knife was found in his room!” I can feel panic at the memory of that night. The fear I felt pouring into my blood, poisoning my veins. “It was covered in my blood! The same knife that killed all of those women.”
Jack stays where he stands. His face is resolute. He believes what he says … thinks. “It was put there by the real killer.”
“No!” I yell. I cover my face with my hands.
Why is he doing this to me?
I’m shaking so badly.
I’m hurt and angry. I don’t know what to do with these feelings … it’s too much.
I want …
I don’t know what I want.
I suddenly feel tired. Drained. Exhausted. I just want to go to sleep. Forget about all of this.
I drag my hands down from my face, feeling weary. “What do you want from me, Jack?”
His expression softens. “I don’t want anything from you, Audrey. No, that’s not true. I do want something from you … you. I want you.”
“You didn’t come here for me. You came here for your brother.”
“That is true. I came here because I wanted to find the person who had put my brother in jail. You were the only link I had to help make that happen. I just didn’t expect to …”
“What?” My laugh is bitter. “You didn’t expect to want to fuck me?”
“Love you,” he says. “I didn’t expect to fall in love with you.”
Those words pierce me harder and hurt so much more than anything else he’s said so far.
“You need to leave.”
“Audrey … please.”
“Leave!” I cry.
His shoulders slump. “I can’t.”
“Why? Because you think that I’m the key to your brother’s freedom? News flash: I’m not. I think he did it! And nothing you say can change my mind.”
I’m hurt and confused. Misery has lodged itself into my throat. “What are you going to do? Hold me hostage like Tobias did?”
Jack looks appalled. “No. Of course not. But I can’t leave you alone either.”
I open my mouth to speak, but Jack cuts me off, “It’s not safe for you here, Audrey. That picture was put in my wallet. I will swear on whatever you want me to, so you’ll believe me when I say that it’s not mine. Meaning someone put it there. Whether you believe that Tobias is guilty or not is irrelevant right now. Someone wanted you to know who I was—”
“Maybe a decent person who thought I had a right to know the truth.”
“Then, why access my private property and plant the picture in my wallet? Why not just give it to you? A decent person would do that. No, someone wanted you to find it. They