Page 88 of Dead Man's Alibi

Revulsion swept through her, but she couldn’t let it win.She couldn’t lethimwin.“Is that all you got?”she asked, doing everything she could to sound normal even with the pressure on her windpipe.

“You’re such an uppity bi—”

She tried to use his anger against him.Surprise to her advantage.So while he was talking, she simply let her legs fall out from under her so her weight dropped, and he lost his grip on her.

She immediately rolled so she could turn her weapon on him, but a gunshot exploded through the room before she could pull her own trigger.

The blast of pain was a shock.She cried out, fell back.She knew there was something she should concentrate on, but the pain in her arm was all-encompassing, and all she could do was writhe around, trying to make it stop.

There was a commotion, and she tried to see it, understand it, but there was only pain.But no more gunshots, so there was that.

Someone said her name.She moved away from it, not able to think clearly, half thinking Brian was just toying with her.But then her vision clarified and she could recognize the face.

Cal.It was Cal.She kept struggling, trying to find a comfortable position while her arm throbbed and burned in pain.She whimpered in spite of herself.

“He fucking did it,” she managed to grit out.

“I know.We know.Hayes is arresting him.Relax.Sit still.Stop making it worse,” he ordered.

“Can’t,” she muttered.

Her teeth were starting to chatter, and she couldn’t seem to see right.The pain was so all-consuming.It was over.It had to be over.So Nate would get out, and she…

Oh, God, she didn’t want him to worry.“Don’t tell Nate.”

The last thing she heard was Cal swearing.

Chapter Thirty-One

Crawford County Jail

When the guardopened Nate’s cell, he didn’t know what to think.Far as he knew, he didn’t have a meeting with Cal today.Maybe Sam had finally gotten cleared to visit, and he was being taken to the civilian meeting room.

But he was brought out without anyone putting on handcuffs or anything else.And Cal stood there in the aisle between cells, instead of in one of the partitioned rooms.

“What’s going on?”Nate asked when no one spoke.

“You’re being released,” Cal said.

His tone was serious.His composure a kind of detached, lawyer thing Nate didn’t know how to read.

“Released?”The words quite honestly did not compute, especially in the serious way Cal delivered them.“Released how?”

“Released as in charges dropped.Let’s collect your personal belongings and get you out of here.”

Nate found himself more than a little speechless as he was led through the process of getting his things back, putting his own clothes back on.Returned to Cal, who led him toward the exit of the jail.

The exit.Released.Charges dropped.He was in his own clothes.And Cal hadn’t said more than a handful of meaningless words.

Nate hadn’t allowed himself to hope for this moment, to imagine it, so now that it was here, nothing seemed quite right.Maybe he was dreaming.

“Are you going to tell me what the hell happened?Because you don’t seem all that happy, and it’s starting to fuck with me, Cal.”

Cal sighed.“They found the real killer.Brian Mathews.”

“That prick?”Nate didn’t know what to think of that… atall.He’d had a few run-ins with Officer Mathews and had never once been impressed.But this still didn’t compute.“How the hell did he know Jules?”

“I’ll explain everything, but there’s something I have to tell you first.”