Kiss in the Dark Read Online Free PDF Page B

recovered first. “This woman’s ex-husband has been murdered!” she said, surging up and slamming her palms down on the table. “What the hell are you trying to prove?”
    “You know damn well what I’m trying to do,” Detective Livingston drawled, turning his stony eyes to Beth. “Did he take what you offered and walk away? You felt used and hurt and ran after him—”
    “That’s disgusting,” Beth bit out.
    The balding detective frowned. “Murder is.”
    Beth sucked in a sharp breath, trying not to splinter despite how effectively the detectives thrust the battering ram. For nine years she’d done her best to live a quiet, simple life. She didn’t want the spotlight Lance had developed a fondness for. She didn’t want the passion that propelled her mother from marriage to affair to marriage. To affair. She didn’t want the chaos Dylan created without even trying.
    “A husband who loves me and a couple of kids, that’s all I want.”
    “That’s all?”
    “Well, maybe a house in the mountains, a couple of dogs and cats, some goldfish.”
    The innocence of that long ago day burned. At the time, she would never have imagined how quickly things could fall apart, that within a month she’d tell Dylan that she’d never loved him, never wanted to see him again. That she would lay her hand against the tiniest casket she’d ever seen. That Lance would sit quietly beside her hour after hour, listening to her cry her heart out. That Dylan would leave town, but Lance would stay. That she wouldn’t see Dylan again for three long years, until the day she pledged her life to his cousin.
    That Lance would become blinded by ambition.
    That she would be sterile.
    That the marriage she’d been so determined to make work would crumble.
    That Dylan would suddenly reappear in her life.
    That Lance would one day lie dead on the living room floor.
    That the fire poker would be in her hands.
    “Beth?” Janine asked, touching her hand. “Are you okay?”
    She blinked, a steely resolve spreading through her. Slowly, she looked up, meeting Detective Livingston’s hard gaze. “I didn’t have sex with him today, this week, this month, or even this year. And I didn’t kill him.”
    The older man leaned forward and steepled his fingers. “Then maybe you’d like to tell me why you were in a negligee.”
    “She’s already told you she doesn’t know,” Janine reminded.
    “So she’s said.” This from Detective Zito, the tall, strikingly handsome man who’d stood in the shadows with Dylan.
    “What about your wrists?” he asked, flipping through the pages of his small notebook. “Who put those bracelets there?”
    Beth looked at the nasty purplish bruises, but saw only Dylan’s hands curled around her flesh. “I don’t know.” The claim sounded weak, but she spoke the truth. “I had no reason to kill him. We were divorced. There were no hard feelings.”
    “You wouldn’t be the first woman to strike out at the man who walked out on her,” Livingston pointed out.
    The pale green walls of the cramped room pushed closer. “That’s not how it happened.”
    “Refill anyone?” Detective Zito asked, crossing to pick up the coffeepot.
    Beth looked at the paper cup sitting in front of her, its contents long cold. She’d barely taken a sip. The mere smell of the burned coffee made her gag.
    “Guess not.” He filled his cup and returned to the table. “Did your husband have any enemies?”
    “He worked for the district attorney’s office,” Janine answered for her, practically snarling at Zito. “You know that. He was a prosecutor.” Just like Janine was. If Beth was arrested, Janine would be unable to help in an official capacity. “We all have enemies. It’s a hazard of the job.”
    “Anyone in particular? Had he received any threatening phone calls or letters?”
    “Not that I know of,” Beth said, but then, she and Lance had rarely spoken of that kind of thing. Toward the end, they’d barely