Need Me (Dark Obsession 3)

Chapter Three

“I don’t know him.” Julianna stared down at the pictures before her. Terrible, sickening pictures of a dead man—a man who’d been stabbed repeatedly. Nausea rolled in her stomach because that man—he’d died just like Jeremy. The photos showed the dead man sprawled on a brown carpet, a carpet that had a big, red splotch on it. A pool of his blood.

“I’m not in the mood for games,” Faith said, her voice hard. No, the detective had never struck Julianna as the playful sort.

Sophie Sarantos leaned across the table and her fingers closed around the picture. Julianna cast a quick glance at her lawyer. Sophie’s face showed no change of expression at all, as if looking at a dead man were totally common place for her. “You heard my client,” Sophie said. “She doesn’t know this man.”

Julianna was too conscious of Devlin standing in the far corner of the interrogation room, watching her. She wanted to look back at him, but she forced her attention to stay on the detective.

“If that’s the way she wants to play this…” Faith opened a manila envelope and pulled out a photograph. Actually, quite a few photographs. Then she tossed those photographs across the table so that they slid toward Julianna. “You sure look mighty comfortable with a man you don’t know,” Faith said. “Do you sleep with strangers often?”

It was hard for Julianna to breathe. Way too hard. Because she was staring at photos of herself. Her very naked self. Only she wasn’t alone. The dead man was with her. Not dead. Alive in those pictures. Touching me. Kissing me. She shoved the photos away. “Those aren’t real.”

“Oh?” Faith picked up a photograph. Her brows rose as she studied it. “They certainly look real. I mean, this is you, isn’t it? Unless you have a twin I don’t know about.”

Desperate, Julianna focused on her lawyer. “I don’t know that man. If I slept with him, I’d remember it—”

“But you don’t remember killing your husband,” Faith said, pouncing on that, “even though you were found with his body and the murder weapon.”

This couldn’t be happening. Just when she thought things couldn’t get worse…

“When was he killed?” Sophie asked.

No, no, that wasn’t the question that should be asked. Julianna’s hands slammed down on the table. “Who is he?”

Silence.

Then…footsteps, walking closer. Devlin stood at the edge of the table. He picked up one of the photographs. Her hand flew out and grabbed his wrist. “I didn’t sleep with him.” She’d know if she had. Just as I should know if I killed my husband.

No, no, she hadn’t killed Jeremy. Even if…even if she’d thought about doing it.

But Faith wasn’t looking at her. She was focused on Sophie. “Your client had psychological evaluations, right? There’s no reason for her not to remember—”

“I didn’t sleep with him!” She jumped to her feet. Devlin still had that picture of her. He was staring at it so hard and tears were stinging her eyes. She’d thought she was long past tears. “I don’t know that man!”

Sophie rose, too, and she put a comforting hand on Julianna’s shoulder. “Is there a reason you aren’t telling us his identity, Detective?”

“Interesting…” Faith was still sitting. “When we found the dead man, he was lying in a pool of his blood, and all of these pictures of him and Julianna were tossed across the floor.”

“That screams set-up to me,” Sophie said instantly. “My client is—”

“These are fake,” Devlin announced.

Julianna’s gaze shot to him.

“Excuse me?” Faith demanded, reaching for the photo.

But Devlin slapped that photo down on the table…and he put it right next to the police shot of the dead body. “Look at the necks.”

The what?

“In this picture…” He tapped on the bloody picture. “His neck looks at least two inches shorter.” Then he tapped on the picture of the guy—the guy having sex with me. “His neck is longer here. Probably because someone pasted his head on another man’s body.”

And Julianna looked at the picture again. Really looked at it. She was mostly naked but…she still had on underwear. A scrap of blue lace. Lace she remembered.

“Look at the wine glass near the bed,” Devlin instructed.

Now she did.

“See that curve there? That curve shouldn’t be there. The glass shouldn’t appear warped like that, not unless someone was playing around with a digital image. Changing things up.”

Her gaze slid from the glass to the bed in that image.

I know that bed. “It’s the wrong man.” Her voice emerged as a husky rasp. “But that’s me.” In her way too exposed glory. “And that’s…that should have been Jeremy.” Their wedding night. That wild trip to Vegas. They’d stayed in the honeymoon suite. She remembered that massive bed and the wine glasses…

“It probably was Jeremy,” Devlin said. “Until someone started playing around with editing tools and that someone spliced this guy’s head on Jeremy’s body.”

But…but those photos meant someone had taken pictures of her and Jeremy together. During their honeymoon. Dammit. He was always watching. Always. She’d had no idea just what Jeremy had planned for her. Not until it was too late.

“The dead man’s name is Ray Holliwell,” Faith said, squinting now as she eyed all of the pictures. “He was a security consultant for Jeremy Smith.”

“A security consultant?” Julianna repeated. Her temples were throbbing.

“Yes, we think Jeremy hired him when he wanted to dig up dirt on his competition.”

Julianna exhaled as another piece of the puzzle clicked into place for her. And that’s how Jeremy learned my secrets. He’d paid for some guy to dig up her past and discover secrets that he’d used to control her. To keep her with him when she wanted nothing more than to leave the bastard.

And she had been his prisoner.

Until that last night. When she’d had enough. But she couldn’t tell the detective those secrets. She couldn’t even tell Sophie.

“When did this Ray die?” Sophie asked.

“Yesterday, around 6 a.m., according to our ME.” Faith focused on Julianna. “Do you have an alibi for that time?”

Julianna didn’t speak.

“Maybe…” Faith’s gaze slid to Devlin. “You were in bed with another lover? A living one who can back up your alibi?”

If only. “I—”

“Yes,” Devlin said firmly. “Julianna was with me.”

She turned toward him, stunned. “Devlin…” She couldn’t let him do this.

He stared straight into her eyes and said once more, “Julianna was with me.”

She shook her head. Julianna’s lips parted—

“I want to speak with you outside, Detective,” Sophie said sharply, then she pretty much grabbed the detective and rushed for the door.

Faith frowned, but she didn’t fight the lawyer. The door shut behind them, and Julianna asked, voice broken, “What are you doing?”

He leaned in close and put his mouth right at her ear. “Saving your ass.” His lips brushed over the curve of her ear and Julianna shivered. “After all, that’s what you hired me to do.”

But she hadn’t hired him to lie. She rose onto her toes. He was still leaning toward her so their bodies pushed together. And it was her turn to whisper into his ear, “But what if I’m guilty?”

***

Sophie Sarantos made sure she shut the interrogation room door firmly behind her. She was really having one hell of a week—near death episodes could be real bitches—and she just wanted to get out of that police station and go climb into the nearest bed with her lover, Lex Jensen. Lex was currently pacing just a few feet away and based on the hard stare he shot her way, he wasn’t a very happy camper.

Because we were having one hell of a time…until Faith hauled my client off to jail. “She’s being set up,” Sophie announced. Wasn’t that obvious?

“Oh, I’ve never heard t

hat one,” Faith said, giving a faint eye roll. “No criminal is ever set up for a crime that he or she didn’t commit.”

Sophie just waited.

Faith sighed. “Okay, the pictures do make it look as if—”

“As if someone is out to get my client? The photos were left there deliberately. Let me guess…” Sophie put her hands on her hips. “It was a grand death scene, right? The guy probably had a big envelope or a manila folder right next to his body and it looked as if the photos fell out when he was attacked.”

Faith stared back at her.

“Wouldn’t she have stopped to—I don’t know—pick up the photos if they had been legit?”

Faith thrust back her shoulders. “You know I have to follow the trail of evidence. The captain said for me to bring her in…so I did.”

Ah, so that meant Faith hadn’t been buying the scene, either. But her hands had been tied. “Get your tech guys to look at the photos. They’ll back up Devlin.” And she would make a mental note that the guy could spot forged photos very quickly. Probably because of his computer skills. Hmmm…if he could spot forgeries so easily, Sophie was willing to bet he could make forgeries just as fast. Another point to file away for future reference.

“Why is he alibiing her?” Faith asked.

I have no idea. “I’ll assume it’s because they were in bed together at 6 a.m.” She made sure to deliberately phrase her reply. Assume was such a handy word choice. “Now, the next time you want to talk to my client…” Sophie gave Faith a hard smile. She respected the woman, but she wasn’t about to let Faith or any police officer harass her client. “Call me first.”

Faith gave a slow nod then she said, “It’s not a bad thing that she has protection now.”

Oh, hell. She knows that Dev isn’t Julianna’s lover. Faith knows he’s been hired to guard her.

“Because,” Faith continued thoughtfully, “if Julianna really is innocent, then it certainly seems she has one very dangerous enemy out there.”

Yes, it did seem that way.

Another cop appeared, calling Faith’s name. “Excuse me,” she murmured as she hurried away.

And then Lex closed in on Sophie. “What the hell is going on?” Lex asked, keeping his voice low.

Ah, where to start? “Your partner has just alibied my client.”

He frowned at her. “What?”

“According to Dev, he and Julianna are lovers…”

***