The Perfect Liar (Last Stand #5)(8)
Author: Brenda Novak

"Wine? Beer?"

"Jack Daniel’s and Coke."

"In a matter of how many hours?"

"One."

Three JDs and Coke in one hour was no small amount of alcohol, but the major didn’t comment on it. "And Captain Trussell? Was he also drinking?"

"Yes."

"How do you know?"

Kalyna resisted the urge to claim he was drunk. She wanted to imply that he was more inebriated than she’d been, but the bar tab would show exactly what they’d both had. "He had a beer when I saw him."

"Where was he when you came in?"

"At a pool table in back, playing a man I didn’t recognize."

Major Ogitani entered this information in her notes. "So you saw him and then what? Did he approach you?"

"No, I walked over to say hello. I’ve been his crew chief for almost the entire time I’ve been here." That gave her a lot of contact with him, but that contact didn’t stop at work. She’d copied his address from various papers she’d seen him fil out, had been to his place when he wasn’t home, even taken the spare key from under the mat and made herself a copy. She’d watched him–and followed him more than once. "I was feeling a bit displaced and lonely, so I was happy to see a familiar face."

More typing. "You’re both part of the 60th Air Mobility Wing?"

"That’s correct."

"Was Captain Trussell as friendly as you’d hoped?"

"He was preoccupied with his game, but he was nice enough."

The major’s eyes flicked her way. "Did you ever learn the name of the man who was with him?"

"Yes. Captain Trussell introduced him as Technical Sergeant O’Dell–

Frank O’Dell."

Tap, tap, tap… "And how did Sergeant O’Dell treat you?"

"He was friendly, too." But not half as gorgeous as Luke Trussell.

Short and stocky, with evidence of acne at an earlier point in his life, Frank paled in comparison to Luke, so much so that Kalyna had all but ignored him.

The typing stopped. "What happened after you went over to greet Captain Trussell and he introduced his friend?"

"I chatted with them while they finished their game. Then I asked Captain Trussell to dance." Unfortunately, O’Dell could testify to this, or Kalyna would’ve tried to tell everyone that Luke had asked her. He should’ve asked her. But really handsome men were too selfish. They liked having women want them but never bothered to return the favor. Wham, bam, thank you, ma’am. That was the most a girl could expect from a guy like Luke Trussell.

But he wasn’t going to get away with it. Not this time.

"How did Captain Trussell respond to your invitation?"

The prosecutor was watching her so closely Kalyna feared her expression was giving too much away and quickly controlled her features.

"He agreed."

"Did he dance with anyone else?"

"No." She would never have allowed that.

"Can you tell me about his behavior as the night progressed?"

"He was fine at the Moby Dick. He was getting tipsy, but I didn’t care.

We were relaxing, having fun."

"How did you wind up taking him home with you?"

"Like I said, I was lonely. He seemed to be a nice man, and I wanted to get to know him outside of work. To make a friend." She remembered Ava’s reaction to this, how readily she’d accepted it.

"Up to this point, he’d done nothing to suggest he might be dangerous?"

"Nothing at all. I never would’ve dreamed him capable of–" She stopped.

A hint of commiseration flitted across the prosecutor’s face but she seemed to fight it. Kalyna had never known anyone so stiff, so formal. Ava had knelt before her with tears in her eyes at this point in the story. "You don’t have to go on until you’re ready," she said.

Kalyna hid a smile. This was going even better than she could’ve hoped, every bit as well as the first two times she’d gone through the details. "After we danced for a while, and drank some more, we took a cab to my apartment."

"What time was it when the cab arrived at the bar?"

"Just after midnight."

"I’l contact the taxi company to substantiate that," she said as an aside. "We want everyone to know that you got home very late, which meant that Captain Trussell didn’t leave until early morning. If we can prove there wouldn’t have been enough time for someone else to come in after he left, we’l have a huge advantage." She made another note. "And how were you dressed that evening, Sergeant? Were you wearing your uniform?"

"No. I was off base and tired of being a soldier. I wanted to feel like a woman, so I wore a dress." And she’d looked damn good in it. She’d turned a lot of heads that night.

"Would you say it was a modest dress?"

The hope in the investigator’s voice tempted Kalyna to say, "I think so." Ava had asked the same thing and reacted the same way. But the police had taken the dress into evidence. Major Ogitani would see it for herself eventually.

At least it didn’t look as provocative lying flat across a table as it did when Kalyna put it on. Right now–fortunately–the tear down the front stood out more than anything. "Maybe not by some standards," she admitted.

"Can you describe it for me?"

"It had a halter top."

"And the length?"

"It hit at midthigh." Actually, since she was so tall, it hit a little higher.

When she’d decided to wear it that night, she hadn’t been concerned with having to defend her outfit. She’d been focused on catching Captain Trussell’s eye–at last. Lord knew nothing else had worked. He’d remained polite but…guarded, distant. He was much warmer to the rest of the squadron, but they’d been together longer.

"So you had on a pretty dress, you were having a good time and you invited a handsome man home for a drink." Major Ogitani had given her recap the perfect spin, exactly what Kalyna thought would work in court.

"Yes."

"Not so different from what happens at bars all the time."

"That’s right."

"When did it get ugly?"

"When we were sitting on the couch at my place." To appear more traumatized, she began wringing her hands. "We were watching Season Five of Sex and the City, and he started to kiss me. I was okay with that. I was sorta interested in him. But when he slipped his hands under my dress, I got uncomfortable. He was too bold. And his attitude…It was as if he thought I had no right to refuse because I’d invited him over."

"Did you attempt to stop him?"