The Perfect Liar (Last Stand #5)(10)
Author: Brenda Novak

"My problem is coffee. I’m too busy to slow down and eat properly."

She glanced at the door as if she couldn’t wait to escape through it, but she didn’t bolt. "Caffeine wil kil you."

Making another attempt to put her at ease, Ava indicated the cooler next to the cash register. "Are you sure you wouldn’t like something?

Maybe some plain juice?"

Maria relented enough to get a bottle of water, and Ava paid for it.

"You’ve probably guessed why I want to speak to you," Ava said as they returned to the table.

"Kalyna mentioned that you might be calling. But Major Ogitani already met with me. So did a man named Pledge McCreedy."

"McCreedy’s the defense attorney."

"He was kind of a jerk."

Ava had never been particularly interested in the smoothie she’d ordered. Now that it didn’t sound as healthy as she’d thought it was, she was even less interested. "It’s his job to protect the defendant."

"He acted as if he didn’t believe what I had to say."

"I’m not surprised." Notorious in Sacramento, Pledge McCreedy rarely lost a case, which made Ava more than a little defensive of her client.

The moment she’d heard that Captain Trussell had hired Mr. McGreedy, as they referred to him at The Last Stand, she’d become that much more determined to increase her own efforts.

"But I don’t have any reason to lie. Like I told him and Ogitani, I don’t know Kalyna very well," Maria said. "She lives in the apartment next to mine. We bump into each other in the hall, keep each other’s spare key in case we ever get locked out, and she feeds my cat when I’m out of town.

She doesn’t have a pet so I don’t have to return the favor, but I have her over for a drink now and then to thank her. That’s about it."

Ava studied her. Why was Maria so anxious? "I just want to hear your version of what happened the night you drove Ms. Harter to the hospital,"

she said. "Did you hear a ruckus going on next door?"

Maria put her car keys on the table. The key chain held her driver’s license with some bil s rolled up under the plastic; she wasn’t carrying a purse. "No, but it was very late. And my job is physically demanding. When I sleep, I sleep."

"Not much wakes you."

"I could sleep through an earthquake. And I told McCreedy that, too."

"This close to San Francisco, you might be tested on that someday,"

Ava teased, stil working to calm her, to gain her confidence. "What about the other neighbors? Have you talked to them?"

"A young couple lives on the opposite side. They were gone.

Someone in the family was getting married. I doubt anyone else knew until the next day."

Ava kept her voice conversational, as if they’d been friends forever.

"I’l bet they were surprised. This type of thing doesn’t happen in Fairfield very often, does it?"

"The neighbor across the hall, Petra, wasn’t too surprised," she said.

"Petra?"

Her gaze lifted from her keys. "Lewis. She’s in the air force, too."

"Why wasn’t she surprised?"

"She said Kalyna probably deserved it."

Ava spooned up some of her smoothie, let it melt on her tongue. "For what?"

Maria blew out a sigh. "For the way she acts around men, I guess."

Although Maria didn’t seem eager to explain, Ava continued her questions. "How does she act?"

Again, more hesitancy.

"Is she a little too friendly?" Ava guessed.

"You could say that. But it’s not the only reason Petra doesn’t like Kalyna," she hurried to add. "She says Kalyna’s a lazy slouch. That she has an excuse for everything."

"Do you agree with that statement?"

"It’s airmen like her who give women a bad name in the military." She fiddled with her keys. "But I try to mind my own business."

Ava was more concerned about Kalyna’s behavior around men than her work ethic. "Does she have a lot of men over?"

"Not really."

"Then how can you tell she’s too…friendly?"

The way Maria shifted in her seat suggested she was searching for the perfect answer, one that would back up her statement but get her out of more questions. "I’ve seen her flirt with guys on base. And she stays out late quite a lot. It’s pretty often that I see her dragging in when I’m getting up."

"This bothers the other women?"

"Only because it makes it difficult for her to perform wel ," she said.

"Sometimes she’s late for her shift or shows up smelling like a bar. Or she talks about her exploits, which can be uncomfortable."

"Did you see her with anyone on the night in question?"

"No."

Ava had another taste of her smoothie. "What’s the first thing you remember about that night?"

"I heard what sounded like a moan, and maybe some sobbing, coming from next door."

"So you got up to investigate?"

"No, I was too tired. I convinced myself it must be the television and drifted off."

"What time was it?"

Maria flipped her license over, then flipped it back. "I have no clue."

"What happened next?"

"I woke to Sergeant Harter beating on my door."

Giving up on actually eating it, Ava stirred her smoothie. "What did you think when you saw her?"

"What would anyone think? I could see she’d been hurt. There was blood on her face and her hands were all scraped. She was sobbing that she’d been raped. Definitely not a scene you expect to encounter, you know?"

"What time was this?"

"Three-twenty. I glanced at the clock on my microwave when I got the keys to my car."

"Did Kalyna tell you anything about her ordeal?"

Maria seemed to be loosening up. "No. She sat shivering and rocking in the passenger seat as I drove. I had to put her seat belt on for her because she was, like…dazed. It was scary."

"Did she say who’d raped her?"

"She said it was Captain Trussell."

"Are you familiar with the captain?"

"I’ve seen him on base, but we’ve never been introduced."

"Then how do you know who he is?"

Her lips curved in a slight smile. "Word travels fast when you’re as good-looking as he is. The single women all talk about him. Besides, he’s friends with another officer, Weston Anderson, who’s married to a girlfriend of mine." She twisted off the cap to her water. "And…"

"And?"