Murder Deja Vu Read Online Free PDF

lost the magic of that first time.
    Dana had promised herself she wouldn’t pry, but she lay with her head on his chest and couldn’t hold back any longer. What did she have to lose? If he didn’t want to talk about it, he’d tell her.
    “Did you love the woman in Boston?”
    He looked as if he expected her question and didn’t hesitate. “I doubt I thought about love back then, not with the demands of my residency, but I liked her a lot.”
    He paused, whether to think or to summon his courage, she didn’t know.
    “We were a large group at a club that night. One of the guys, I don’t know who, made a crack that Karen—that was her name—had other lovers. His words weren’t as genteel. I wasn’t supposed to hear, but I did, and she saw I did. I asked her if it was true. She said we weren’t engaged, and until then, we were free to see whomever we wanted.” Reece stopped. “I remember the feeling of betrayal. I suggested we take a break until we knew what we wanted out of the relationship. But I knew it was over, at least for me. She wanted to go back to the apartment and talk it over. Carl, his girlfriend, and a few others came back. I was glad they did. Then they all took off, and that’s all I remember. I didn’t think I drank that much.”
    Dana saw a far-off look in his eyes.
    “I could never have done something so vile, sober or drunk, and I certainly wouldn’t have jeopardized the life I had in front of me for someone who thought of me as another conquest. I must have been drugged, but if so, I don’t know by whom, and not surprisingly, no one fessed up.” He touched her face and planted a light kiss on her lips. “That’s all for tonight.”
    He tried to smile, but she could see how difficult it was. “I’m sorry.”
    “You’d think after over twenty years the vision would have dimmed. But it’s as plain and clear as if it happened yesterday.” He rose. “To be continued.”
    “Stay.”
    “I will. Soon, but not tonight. You wanted to know everything. Know that talking about these things takes a toll on me. I can do it, but only a bit at a time.”
    “We don’t have to talk about it.”
    “I want you to know because I don’t want you to ever have doubts about me. I want to know about your life with Robert too, although it’ll probably infuriate me. Going over this again might register something that escaped me for the last twenty-one years. I’m thinking more clearly now.” He flashed a smile. “At least I tell myself that.”
    He stood to pull on his pants when a loud noise clattered from the great room. He turned to her, perplexed. “I left the door unlocked. Maybe open.”
    A male voice boomed, “ Police. We have a warrant .” Three men in uniform barged into the bedroom, led by Mickey Ruggs, a man Dana had known her whole life. They threw Reece down on the floor, pulled his hands behind his back, and cuffed him. The look of confusion on his face as he sought out Dana broke her heart.
    “You’re under arrest,” one of them said to him. “On suspicion of murder.”
    Dana had wrapped a blanket around herself to cover her nakedness. “Get out of my house.” She couldn’t believe it was her voice screaming. “Get. Out.”
    “Sorry, Dana,” Mickey said. “This has nothing to do with you.”
    “It has everything to do with me. You have no right to barge in here like storm troopers.”
    “I’m afraid we do,” he said, waving the warrant. “A young woman has been murdered not twenty miles from here, and we have a witness that places Daughtry with her. If I were you, I’d be glad my head is still attached to my body. Hers is almost clear off.”
    “Sound familiar, Daughtry?” one of the cops said, slamming the hard toe of his shoe into Reece’s ribs.
    Dana couldn’t believe what she was hearing, but she knew the man on the floor being shackled like a wild dog couldn’t have done what they were saying. Not the man who had moments before touched her body, who had