Page 16 of Sentinel's Kiss

“We don’t get along.”

“Why?”

He paused, his eyes glittering like diamonds. She couldn’t figure out if he was pissed or amused. Then she looked down at his hands. He was white-knuckled on the chair. She gave him a puzzled look.

“We just don’t.”

“Stan said it was because you resented him in your sister’s life.”

Josh barked out a laugh and she jumped in her chair at the leashed violence in the sound. “He’s trying to paint me as having an Oedipus complex? Yeah, I resented the hell out of him because he used to slap her around and she wouldn’t let me show him the error of his ways.”

“You’re saying Stan beat Sarah up?” Eagerness had her sitting on the edge of her chair. If Stan had hit Sarah, it could connect her to the other victims.

“I’m saying I saw marks on her body that she covered up and she refused to see her friends when the bruises were fresh. By the time we realized what was happening and staged an intervention, she was pregnant.” He was talking between his teeth.

“She wouldn’t leave him?” Ashley asked.

“She said the baby was the best thing that ever happened to her and that Stan had changed. I told her that we saw this show up close every moment growing up. The only difference was Sarah wasn’t a drunk and a drug addict like our mother, and Stan did a better job than our father of hiding what an abusive prick he was.”

“Do you think Stan killed Sarah?”

“No.”

Ashley opened her mouth to follow up and realized that, again, he hadn’t said what she wanted him to. She knew he blamed Stan for Sarah’s death. Why didn’t he say it? “No?”

Sentinel shook his head. “No. He’s a coward and likes to hit women. He doesn’t have the balls for murder. He’d piss himself and cry in the corner before taking a life. He’s too weak and too stupid to carry out a crime like that.”

And if Stan wasn’t, Josh had just goaded him to try again.

“Besides,” Josh said, all smiles now, “Sarah believed he had changed and wanted the baby. It’s been two years and the murderer hasn’t been caught. And now you’re telling me that more women have been killed?”

Ashley held up her hand and turned to the camera. “We’ve had information come to light about three other murders over the past two years. The most recent, Alison Jones of New Paltz, New York, was found in her car in Lake Minnewaska. Like Sarah and the other two murder victims, Jones was trapped inside her car as it was driven into the water.”

“This isn’t rocket science,” Josh said, banging his fist on the table. The water glass bounced and toppled over, but he ignored it. Luckily, it had been empty. “Someone saw the car go in the water. Someone saw the driver swim to shore. Why aren’t these people coming forward?”

“To be fair,” Ashley said, “the murders were spaced out eight months or more and each one took place in a different state.”

“Were those women pregnant, like my sister?”

“I don’t have that information, but it’s possible.”

“Were they dead before they went in the water or did they drown?”

Ashley swallowed hard. He was becoming more belligerent and nasty. Sneering the questions at her, trying to rattle her composure. What the hell was going on?

“The police investigations are ongoing and not all of the evidence or information has been released to the public. I know that they are looking for a connection to Sarah Stevens’s case. We hope new evidence will come to light allowing the authorities to capture the killer or killers and put them behind bars.”

“They haven’t done a great job so far. Chances are if it is one asshole doing the killing, they’ll only be able to pin one murder on him.” Josh jabbed his finger at her and she tried not to flinch back. “Then the rest of the families will have to wonder if their mother’s, sister’s, wife’s murderer is still walking around free.”

“We have to have faith that the police detectives will capture the person or people responsible.” He was scaring the crap out of her and she didn’t like it. She side-eyed her producer and got the “wrap it up” signal from her. Good idea. This was the unsexy, unstable side of Josh Lehmen coming out.

“I have no faith,” Josh said. “Not anymore.”

He glared at her like she was the enemy.

She had to end this before it got ugly. “Captain, thank you again for your time. We’re sorry for your loss, and hope that justice will prevail.”

“It always does,” he said. “One way or the other.”