You Really Got Me (19 page)

“In the garage.”

Kendall felt frozen to the floor. Why,
why
were they searching Kevin’s car? She stared at Jason, then shifted her gaze to Kevin. His eyebrows had drawn down as if he were confused.

“You can search my car,” he said. “Go ahead.”

“I-I’ll show you where it is,” Kendall said, voice scratchy. She dragged heavy feet to walk across the foyer and outside. She let the two plain clothes investigators into the garage, indicating Kevin’s red Porsche.

When she returned to the house, Jason and the detective had gone into the den with Kevin. The door was closed. She stood outside, hands gripping each other, teeth digging into her bottom lip. She needed to be in there with him, to find out what was going on, to make sure he answered the questions they had. Nerves fluttered in her stomach.

But she couldn’t go in there. He was an adult. So she waited, pacing back and forth across the Persian carpet in the formal living room of the house, beneath the lazily twirling ceiling fan, ignoring the view of the vineyards through the large arched windows.

“We need to talk to you again too.” Jason looked at Kendall after he and Marco had spoken to Kevin Vioget in the den, privately. He needed to know what Kendall was going to say before she and Kevin talked.

His stomach burned and his shoulders were so tight they throbbed. He so did not want to do this. With her. To her.

He stood aside and let her walk into the den, glancing at Kevin as he left. He had to keep personal feelings out of this. And that went both ways. Kevin Vioget may have been abusive and controlling, but that didn’t necessarily mean he’d murdered Natalia. And
he
might be falling hard for Kendall, but that didn’t mean he could ignore the hard facts.

Christ, how had things gotten so complicated?

Kendall’s glance was full of questions and anxiety as she walked into the den and took a seat on the dark brown leather couch.

She gazed at him, keeping her features carefully neutral, but her hands shook ever so slightly as she linked them around the knee of the leg she crossed over the other, smooth calves bare beneath the hem of her knee-length shorts, and flip flops revealing pretty toes with shiny coral polish on the nails.

“What did you talk to Kevin about?” she asked. “Why can’t you tell us all?”

“We have some new information,” Jason said. “And more questions.”

Her face crumpled, as though she’d still been hoping for some kind of good news.

“You told us Kevin was home Saturday night,” Jason said.

“Yes.”

He watched her face carefully for her micro-reactions. Her eyes indeed flickered, her mouth tightened fractionally. And she started twisting the rings she wore on her right hand, one of which sported a diamond the size of a grape. Twisted them around and around her slender finger. He’d noticed her do that before.

Then he told her about the woman in Santa Barbara who’d seen Kevin. They’d confirmed it on security video.

“That can’t be,” she murmured, her lips quivering, her chin dimpling. “Oh my God.” She looked at Jason. “What did Kevin say?”

“I want to know what you have to say,” he said, chest tightening. “You told us before, he was home that night.”

She stared at him, dark eyes wide. She swallowed several times. Opened her mouth. Closed it.

He couldn’t do it. “Detective Marco, can you give us a minute?”

Marco left the room. Jason looked at her. “Kendall. I’m not the Chief of Police right now. I’m just me. You need to tell the truth. Obstruction of justice is serious. Please.” He was worried about her. How far would she go to protect her brother? She could be putting herself in jeopardy if she continued to lie for him. And he knew she’d been lying.

“Obstruction of justice?” Her eyes went wide. “Oh my God.” She paused, her hand going to her throat. “Do you actually think Kevin did something to Natalia?”

“We have to investigate every possibility fully,” he said, his voice firm.

“Answer my question!”

He wanted to groan. “Kendall. Right now we have nothing to indicate that a crime was committed. We’re investigating every avenue we can to try to find Natalia. That’s what we all want, right?”

She bit her lip and nodded. “Was it Natalia in the car with him? Did the security camera confirm that too?”

Shit. He had to be honest. “No. The camera got Kevin leaving the 7-Eleven, but it doesn’
t show who was in the vehicle. We have the description from the woman who works in the store–short dark
hair, small build. That was all she saw.”

“So it might not have been Natalia.”

“Kendall.” He softened his voice, leaned forward from where he sat on the armchair across from her. “Who else would it have been?”

She looked away, her trembling mouth closed, blinking rapidly. She pushed her hair back from her face. Rubbed her mouth. Then she turned back to him. “Do we need a lawyer?”

He breathed out a long, slow breath. “Yes. Yes, Kendall, I think you should get a lawyer.” He had to do things right, much as he wanted to demand that she tell him the truth. “I told Kevin that too.”

She gave a short nod, stood and walked to the big oak desk in the corner of the room where the telephone sat.

Jason clenched his jaw so tightly it hurt, a battle raging inside him between solving this mystery and protecting the woman he was coming to care so much for.

Chapter Fourteen

“I don’t know what to do,” Kendall said, sitting in the den.

Arman Townsend had been the Vioget family’s lawyer for decades, back before Kendall’s parents had been killed. He and his law firm had handled so many things for them at that time, things she’d had no idea what to do about, including the lawsuits the families of the people in the other car had launched against the Vioget family. Seeing Arman now at a time like this, with everything such a disaster, brought all those memories of when her parents had died flooding back.

Kevin had spent weeks in the hospital, leaving her on her own to deal with the police, the media, the business, the law suits, all the while terrified that he was going to die too. Although he’d been more of a child than she’d been at that time, and probably wouldn’t have helped much anyway. She’d felt so alone. They had no other family to step in and help. At one point they’d even been talking about having Kevin put into a foster home.

She would never forget those nights, sitting in the house, her stomach knotted with worry, terrified that she was going to spend the rest of her life alone, dealing with everything by herself. Dealing with things she didn’t know how to deal with. Nobody there to look after her. But because she’d been legally an adult, Arman had fought for her to become Kevin’s guardian, to keep what was left of their family together. Old emotions stirred up new ones, setting her nerves jangling and her stomach churning.

She trusted Arman.

“Don’t answer any questions,” he said firmly. His silver hair gleamed in the light of the lamp on the end table beside the leather couch where he sat. “There’s been no arrest, no charges laid. In fact, as the police chief announced to the world yesterday, there’s been no crime. You don’t have to say anything. Either of you.”

She nodded, reassured by his advice. They didn’t have to say anything. Okay.

But Kevin had been seen with a woman Saturday night in Santa Barbara when he’d told the police he was at home. When
she’d
told the police he was at home. She felt like throwing up.

Arman was going to issue a statement to the press, thankfully handling that for them. When he left, Kendall rounded on Kevin.

“What the hell is going on here, Kevin?” she demanded, advancing on him furiously. “Who were you with on Saturday, if it wasn’t Natalia? And what the hell were you doing in Santa Barbara? What kind of trouble have you gotten into now?”

“I didn’t do anything!” His hands clenched into fists at his side. “Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because you won’t tell me the truth!”

He stared at her with a pained expression. “Kendall, do you really think I’d do something to Natalia?”

“No! But who was the girl if it wasn’t Natalia? At least tell
me
, Kevin. You know I’ll do anything to help you.”

“Sure.” His mouth flattened. “Sure you will. You’ll take over everything, just like you always do.”

“What?” Her eyes flew open wide and her hand went to her throat.

“Whatever I was doing that night…” He swallowed. “It has nothing to do with Natalia. Oh hell. Why should I even try to defend myself when everyone’s already made up their minds?” He rose and walked out of the den.

She pressed her hands to her mouth, remembering the time he’d gotten in trouble for drinking in the park down by the river, leaving empty beer bottles all over the playground where children played. She’d found out later from his friends he hadn’t even been there that night, but he’d taken the rap for them, out of some misguided sense of loyalty to his friends, maybe, or in some twisted reluctance to defend himself to anyone.

What had he meant by her taking over like she always did? And what was
wrong
with her taking over? Somebody needed to be on top of things and it sure as hell wasn’t Kevin. It had never been Kevin.

She paced across the carpet toward the desk then turned back.

He kept saying he didn’t need her help, but he wasn’t doing a very good job of dealing with this himself, if that’s what he wanted. In fact, he was getting himself into deeper and deeper shit.

She stopped and tipped her head back, looking up at the ceiling. She sucked in a breath, then let it out it slowly. Confusion swirled inside her as she tried to sort out her thoughts and emotions. Anger and frustration mingled with fear and bewilderment.

She dropped onto the couch and buried her face in her hands. After giving in to several long moments of self-pity though, she gave herself a mental shake. They would get through this. It wasn’t like before.

She wanted to see Jason. She needed to see him. He was the only one who could give her the comfort she needed, even if he couldn’t tell her details of the investigation. She was about to grab her car keys when she heard a car pulling into the driveway. She frowned and sped to the door to peer out. The car stopped, the door opened and a tall slender blonde woman jumped out, wearing skinny designer jeans that hugged her long legs, and a floaty pink sleeveless top.

Kendall flung open the door and stepped outside. “Erin!”

“Kendall!”

They flew together and hugged each other tightly for a long, emotional moment.

“Oh God, it’s so good to see you,” Kendall said. She pulled back to look at her best friend. “You look great.”

“You look like crap.”

“Gee, thanks.” Her mouth twisted in a wry smile.

Erin touched her hair. “Sorry, hon. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I think. Come on in.”

Kendall led the way to the kitchen and started making coffee, mostly for something to do. “When did you get here? Are you staying with your grandma?”

“Yeah. I got here a few hours ago.”

“How is your grandma? I haven’t seen her for a while.”

“She’s…” Erin paused. “She’s getting older. She’s so stubborn though, she won’t admit she’
s working too hard. Her house is getting so shabby–it looks like there are lots of things that need to be done that she
’s not getting to. Painting, little repairs. She’s probably been doing way too much trying to keep things going.”

“The lavender farm is still a really popular tourist spot,” Kendall said. “So she must be busy. Can she afford more help?”

“I don’t know.” Erin sank her teeth briefly into her bottom lip. “She’s been taking in overflow guests from the bed and breakfast. I wonder if that’s to bring in some extra money.” She sighed. “I guess while I’m here, I’ll ask her and find out what’s going on.”

Kendall nodded. “That’s good. You don’t visit as often as you used to.”

“Don’t make me feel guiltier than I already do.” Erin sent her friend a wry smile. “Seriously, Kendall, you look exhausted.”

“I’m fine,” she said. Then she grimaced. “That’s a total lie. I’m stressed and worried. As if it’s not enough with Natalia disappearing and not knowing what happened to her, we had to start harvesting. Already. The grapes are ripening really early this year.”

“Wow, that is early.”

“Nothing we can do about it. Mother Nature is out of my control.”

“And you hate that, don’t you?” Erin’s mouth curved into a wry smile.

“Yeah.” She met her friend’s eyes and smiled back. “We’re managing though.” She leaned back against the kitchen counter.

“So tell me about Natalia,” Erin said. “Are you sure she didn’t run away?”

“No. I’m not sure.” Kendall lifted her shoulders. “That’s what we all thought at first, and I guess it’s still possible. But the longer this goes on, the more convinced I am that something has happened to her.”

She told Erin about Natalia’s disappearance, told her about the wedding and Natalia’s distraught parents and how Kevin was not coping well with all of it. How they kept hoping and hoping that somehow Natalia would show up and it would all be okay.