Dead Reckoning by Linda Castillo

Author:Linda Castillo
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.
Published: 2011-11-23T21:07:16+00:00

SIXTEEN

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 7:48 P.M.

“How did you like my note, Kay-tee?”

The raspy voice on the other end of the line made the hairs on Kate’s neck prickle. She was standing in the hall with the phone pressed to her ear. She could hear her heart beating heavily in her chest. Her breaths coming too hard, too fast. Vaguely she was aware that Frank hadn’t yet walked out the door, so she turned her back to him. “Who is this?”

“Don’t you remember me? That night in Houston. Me. You. Your sister. You were the best fuck I ever had.”

Shock punched her with such violence that for a moment she couldn’t think. Couldn’t catch her breath. All she could do was stand there and clutch the phone, telling herself it wasn’t him.

“Do you ever think of that night, Katie? Do you think of me?”

Kate couldn’t find her voice, didn’t know what to say, what to feel. There were too many emotions exploding inside her for her to sort through them. Rage. Shock. Horror. Shame so deep she could feel it all the way to her marrow.

“Who the hell is this?” she hissed.

“I’m hurt that you don’t recognize my voice. Ah, sweet Katie, how could you forget me? I was your first—”

She slammed down the phone. Setting her hands against the console table, she leaned heavily, aware that her entire body was shaking. The back of her neck was slick with cold sweat. Her heart was pounding, and she couldn’t catch her breath.

“Kate?”

She spun at the sound of Frank’s voice. He’d walked back into the living room and was standing just a few feet away from her. One look at his face and she knew he’d heard the entire exchange. That she was a wreck. That she probably had some explaining to do. If only she could figure out how.

“You’re shaking.” His cop’s eyes flicked to the phone. “Is everything all right?”

“Fine.” But she figured they both knew she was not fine by any stretch of the imagination.

“Who was that on the phone?”

Her gaze snapped to his. Struggling to calm herself, she left the hall and walked into the living room, hoping he didn’t notice that her legs were shaking. “Nobody,” she said.

“Nobody seems to have you pretty shaken up.”

“It was a personal call, Frank.”

But she could tell he wasn’t buying it. At some point he’d slipped into cop mode. She’d dealt with enough of them to see the suspicion in his eyes, and the hard gleam that told her he wasn’t going to let this go. Damn. Damn. Damn.

“Look, I didn’t walk back in here to pry into your personal business,” he said. “But you’re obviously upset, and I’d like to know why.”

“I’m not upset.”

“Really?” Without warning he reached out and took her right wrist in his and held her hand out for both of them to see.

She tried to yank her hand away from his, but he was holding on too tight. When she stopped fighting, she looked at her hand, found it shaking violently within his grasp.

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