Page 61 of Dead Man's Alibi
All Cal’s psychobabble bullshit had been a man’s desperate attempt to get under his skin.Jealousof Nate Bennet?
He looked up at the house Sam had gone inside a few minutes ago.There was no wave of regret or remorse that he didn’t have this.Maybe his house was a little quiet and empty at times, but better than he’d grown up with.Familywas not something he aspired to.
So Cal Bennet was dead wrong.Per the norm.
He pushed out of his car, ignoring the unfamiliar feelings battering his insides.Doubt.Guilt.Worry.Old memories trying to prove Cal’s point.But that was just what Cal Bennet did, whatlawyersdid.Fucked with your head.
Jake was stronger and smarter than all that.
He walked up the path to the front door, hands deep in his pockets.He wasn’t sure she’d answer if she saw it was him through the peephole.He wasn’t sure of a lot, and that was new territory.
There was no getting through to Cal, and Jake had seen that enough with the families of criminals.They couldn’t accept someone they were related to wasn’t the person they thought.Because it was clear to Jake thatCalwas the one who couldn’t admit the truth because ofhisissues.
Sam was too smart to keep ignoring evidence, ignoring the truth.Too practical to be fooled by the Bennets for much longer.
And if he was the one who got through to her on that score?Well…
It wasn’t aboutthat.It was about the truth.Something the both of them believed in above all else.And he knew in his bones Nate Bennet had killed that woman.There was too much evidence.Too many connections.Maybe some of them were tenuous, but a lot of tenuous evidence added up.
Hence why the man was in jail.
Jake knocked on the door.He waited and waited.Wondering how long he’d let it stretch out.
But after a few minutes, the door slowly opened.Sam stood there.She was dressed in jeans and a thermal and a puffy kind of vest.Her boots were on, and there were two stuffed bags sitting in the background like she was packing for a trip.
“Going somewhere?”he asked.
“I can’t imagine what the fuck you think you’re doing here, Hayes.”
His gaze moved from the bags to her furious dark eyes.“I want to talk to you about the case.”
“If you want to question me, you’ll have to take a long walk off a short pier.”She started to close the door, but he held out a hand.
She could have shoved the door harder.He would have let her.Instead, she let the door hit his hand and stop.
“Sam.I get it.You love the guy, but you are letting that get in the way of good investigative sense.A judge issued anarrest warrant.We have evidence.If you would cooperate with the investigation, I think you’d come to accept the truth.”
She surprised him by opening the door, though there was no give, no consideration in the hard expression on her face.“Okay.Tell me this evidence then.”
“I cannot give you details about an ongoing investigation into your—”
“Great.Bye.” She started to close the door again.He didn’t bother to hold out a hand.He did something even stupider.
“The Bennet pocketknife was found at the scene of the crime.”
Her eyes widened.She sucked in a breath,almostlike a gasp.
Finally, he thought.He’d gotten through to her.She understood now.There was real, physical evidence.He reached out—to be a friend, to offer some kind of comfort.It had to be a shock, and it had to hurt, but she was accepting things now and—
She whirled away from him and disappeared deeper into the house.
Maybe he shouldn’t take that as invitation, but he did.Stepping into the entryway, carefully closing the door behind him.
When she returned, she was all furious storms.No shock.He was a little surprised she’d flipped the switch that quickly, but he’d always known she was smart and if she just saw the truth she’d—
“You meanthisBennet Swiss Army Knife?”Her voice was shrill, and she shoved it—hard—into his chest.
Jake looked down at the knife in question.A set of keys dangled from it.Clearly Bennet’s, which was weird.But all the brothers and a number of Bennet ranch hands had these.They’d been used as evidence in the case against Benjamin Bennet.
