Whirlwind - Janet Dailey Page 0,108

white bra, size 38DDD—unmistakably Callie’s.

Dizzy with fear and a strange elation, she was about to stand when she noticed something else on the floor, at the edge of the bed where it might have fallen. She reached for it, picked it up.

Her heart dropped as she held its weight in her hand.

It was Aaron’s wallet, containing his driver’s license, his cash, his credit cards, everything he’d be likely to need today. In his haste to get to his appointment on time, he must’ve dropped it out of his pocket while he was getting dressed.

Once he realized it was missing, he would almost certainly come back for it. He could already be on his way.

Lexie’s pulse slammed as she scrambled to her feet. She had to get out of here.

She laid the wallet back where she’d found it, then rolled up the bra and stuffed it into the hip pocket of her jeans. Reminding herself to replace the key and the tape as she left, she strode back through the kitchen toward the living room. She would have to go out the front door, but after that she could cut around to the back of the house and up across the fields, to where she’d left the ATV.

Still plotting her escape, she entered the living room and stopped as if she’d hit a wall.

Aaron stood in the open doorway, a small but deadly-looking pistol in his hand.

“Well, Lexie, fancy finding you here,” he said.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

LEXIE FROZE WHERE SHE STOOD. HER MIND SCRAMBLED FOR WORDS that might save her. But Aaron’s cold expression told her she wasn’t going to lie her way out of this. She had only one reason to be in his house, and he would already know what it was.

“You aren’t going to shoot me with that gun, Aaron,” she said, masking her terror with bravado. “The police would find my blood spattered all over your living room. They’d find your bullets in my body and powder residue on your hands. The case would be a slam dunk.”

She saw him hesitate, but he didn’t lower the pistol. “Tell me what you’re doing here, Lexie. I’m pretty sure I know, but I want to hear you say it.”

She stalled, scrambling to gather her thoughts.

“Say it!” He snarled the words. This was the easygoing man who’d helped her drive and helped her with the bulls, the man who’d shown up for dinner at the house more often than not. She’d known him all her life. But she hadn’t seen the real Aaron Frye until now.

She took a breath. “I came to look for the truth, and I found it. Callie was sleeping with you. She was here on the night she died.”

His laugh was rough, without humor. “So what? There’s no law against a little healthy fornication. And since you’re looking for the truth, I’ll give it to you in spades. She’d been coming here for years, even while your dad was alive. Call it fair play or whatever the hell you want. He took my woman. I took his.”

“But why did you have to kill her?” Lexie took a step into unknown territory. “Was it because she found out you’d been sabotaging the ranch?”

A smile twisted his mouth. “I didn’t kill the blasted woman. We had a big fight about my selling the property. When I told her I’d be leaving, she threatened to kill herself. I told her to go ahead. I never thought she’d really do it. But I was wrong. I chased after her, tried to stop her, but . . .” He shrugged. “Too late. But it was her choice, not mine.”

He was lying, of course. Callie had loved life too much to kill herself over a man. And even if she’d jumped into the arroyo on her own, she wouldn’t have landed on her back.

But Lexie knew better than to contradict Aaron. She had him talking. She had to keep him going until she found a way out of here.

“What about the rat poison?” She challenged him. “I found traces of it under the sink. Are you going to tell me that Callie grabbed the box on her way out of the house, carried it to the arroyo and hung on to it while she jumped over the edge?”

Again, he responded with that flat, cold laugh. “Well, you’ve got me there, Miss Lexie, so I might as well fess up. Callie found that box in my kitchen by accident and threatened to tell the police