The Perfect Liar (Last Stand #5)(7)
Author: Brenda Novak

The major leaned closer. "In what way?"

"My sister and I were forced to work in the mortuary from the moment they took us in. I’ve had to handle more rotting corpses than most people have ever seen."

Lines appeared on the prosecutor’s smooth forehead. "You mean, when you got older and started taking part in the family business?"

"No, I mean from the beginning. It was terrifying. Especially when I was younger, and Tati and I had to work alone."

Major Ogitani didn’t bother to record this information. She was too shocked. "You and your sister had to work with corpses when you were children? And there was no adult present?"

It hadn’t happened as often as Kalyna was leading her to believe, but it’d happened occasionally, and the mental picture her words created hit with the intended impact. "Sometimes."

"Isn’t that il egal?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On what we admitted doing."

"Meaning…"

"We had to wash the blood and embalming fluid off the tables and mop up the floor. You don’t need to be certified to clean up." She could stil remember the smell. She’d always remember the smell.

The prosecutor grimaced. "Where were your adoptive parents?"

"My father was usually at the morgue, picking up another body, or driving the hearse to the cemetery. Or maybe it was late and he’d gone to bed. My mother refused to work in the preparation area or what we called

‘the back end.’" That was why the Harters were wil ing to take over when the Robinsons didn’t want them anymore. They’d been attracted by the potential for slave labor, not the joy of raising children. And they didn’t want Kalyna and Tatiana to attend school and circulate in the community for fear they’d say too much about their situation, which might have brought attention and interference. Norma would never admit it, but Kalyna knew the truth.

"You were sometimes up later than your father?" the major asked.

"Al the time. He’d get us out of bed, if necessary."

She rocked back. "That’s terrible! And this continued until…when?"

"Until I joined the air force. But as we got older, we did hair and makeup on dead people, not just the cleanup. You don’t need to be certified for that, either." Her sister was stil stuck in Arizona, handling stiffs.

They hadn’t even been permitted to apply for college. When Kalyna joined the military, she’d had to leave Tatiana behind. The air force wouldn’t take her sister. Tati had epilepsy. She was too timid, too fearful, to leave what was familiar to her, anyway.

"How old were you when you entered the armed services?"

"Eighteen."

"So you enlisted as soon as possible."

Feeling more confident by the minute, Kalyna nodded. She could convince anyone of anything. She didn’t have to worry.

"Where’s your sister now?" the prosecutor asked.

"Tati stil lives with my parents."

Ogitani shook her head. "What a life."

Kalyna dropped her voice to a whisper. "I’m out of it now. That’s all that matters."

The prosecutor straightened her skirt. "Kalyna, I hate to ask you this, but…would you mind if we talked a bit about your background in court?"

This was the most personable Ogitani had been. Maybe there was a human element to the android, after all, Kalyna thought wryly. Ava had struggled with her emotions, too, but Kalyna could tell she was a big softie.

Too soft, which was why she’d tried to counteract the empathy she felt by maintaining some distance. "My background? Why? That doesn’t have anything to do with Captain Trussell."

"It might explain why you acted the way you did with him. And the more the jury feels they know you, the more they’l invest in your life and challenges, and the better our chances of having them see the situation with Captain Trussell through your eyes."

"But I don’t like talking about the past."

"I think it wil be extremely helpful."

She remained silent long enough to convince the major she was wrestling with the decision. "Okay," she said at last. "If we have to."

"It might bring back some painful memories. I’l apologize for that now."

"It’l be okay." Especially if it would help the case against Luke. He deserved to be punished. She wouldn’t be taken so lightly. By anyone.

"Do you have any contact with your parents?"

"Not much." She hated all three sets–her American parents and her Ukrainian ones, including the father who’d run out on her real mother before she and her sister were born.

"I can see why." Major Ogitani made a few more notes. "Now, what happened on the night of June 6?" she asked, looking up again.

Kalyna knotted her fingers in her lap. This was the tricky part. She had to be careful her story didn’t change from what she’d already told the police, and Ava Bixby, had to be sure any new details she offered created no inconsistencies. "I ran into Captain Luke Trussell at the Moby Dick."

"What time was it?"

"About ten o’clock."

"Who were you with?"

"I was alone."

"Do you typically go out alone, Ms. Harter?"

When Kalyna glanced up, Major Ogitani made a placating motion. "I don’t mean any censure with that question. It’s just something we need to establish. Who was there. Why you were there. How you connected with Captain Trussell."

Kalyna nodded. "I don’t go out alone very often," she said, but that was probably the biggest lie she’d told yet. Now that she was no longer living with her sister, she did almost everything alone. Even when she was having sex she felt alone. Until Trussell…No one seemed to understand her or like her. But she knew it wouldn’t be considered "normal" to say she preferred her own company to anyone else’s, and she needed to appear as normal as possible.

"I was assigned to the base only three months ago. You know how it is after a recent move." She smiled as shyly as she could manage. "I needed a break from military life but I wasn’t acquainted with anyone well enough to call and ask them to go out with me."

"I completely understand." Major Ogitani went back to her keyboard.

"Had you been drinking, Kalyna?"

"Not a lot–"

The major interrupted by clearing her throat. "Actually, before you finish answering, let me rephrase that. If I went to the bartender and asked for a copy of your tab–which the defense wil most likely do–what would it indicate?"

"Two or three drinks."