Page 50 of Dirty Weekend

“I’m still here, mate,” the guy a few cells over said.

“Ugh,” Kevin said, pressing his fingers to his temples. “Why haven’t I been bailed out?”

“Because it’s Saturday,” Jack said. “And there’s no bond schedule for felony battery of a police officer. You should know better than that. It’ll be Monday at the earliest before you can get bond.”

“You know it won’t stick,” he said. “My father will eat you for lunch.”

“Uh-huh,” Jack said, leaning against the bars and crossing his arms over his chest. “Felony battery might be the least of your problems. A murder charge isn’t going to look good for someone like your father. Wonder what he’ll do about that?”

“You’re not sticking me with a murder charge,” he said. “I didn’t kill anyone. Especially not Cami.”

“Because you were sexually involved with her?” Jack asked.

Kevin looked surprised but pressed his lips together.

“In my experience, a sexual relationship gone bad is a pretty good motive for murder. Especially when the victim was stabbed thirteen times. Did you look at her in the eyes when you stabbed her? What’s it like to go from her bed to dumping her body in the creek? She wasn’t dead, by the way, when you pushed her over the edge of the bridge. Cause of death was drowning. That’s a pretty horrible way to die, isn’t it?”

“Stop it,” he said, pressing his head harder. “I didn’t kill her. I don’t want to think about her.”

“Someone killed her, Kevin. Someone you live with. Have shared drinks and laughs with. Someone punched her in the jaw and knocked her out and then put her body in the car and drove her to Hangman’s Bridge. We’re looking at your car right now, Kevin. What are we going to find?”

“Nothing,” he said. “God, make the pounding stop. My head is exploding. I didn’t do anything to Cami.”

“Did you have sex with her on the night she died?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he said, his breath catching on a sob.

“It’s not a secret if other people know about it,” Jack said.

“Toby,” Kevin said. “She walked in on us.”

“You think she’s the only one? You don’t think women know when their man is sleeping around?”

Kevin paled slightly, making the grotesque bruises on his face more vibrant.

“You think John didn’t know?” Jack asked. “He was sleeping with Cami too. Were things getting too hard to juggle?”

“She wasn’t sleeping with John,” he said. “Not for weeks. Not since she overheard that conversation with his dad.”

“He said he was with her Monday night,” Jack said. “Maybe she was playing both of you.”

Kevin shook his head. “I’m not taking the rap for this. I didn’t kill her. And John wasn’t with her Monday night. That was me. I was with her. Thea was working so I told her I was heading out to get some dinner. No one was home except for Will and he was probably too busy doing lines in the bathroom to know that I’d even come back. I went back to the bar after and got drunk. It’s the only way to not think about Thea, Cami, my life, or my dad. It’s best to just keep things as a nice blur.”

“You’re on the fast track to killing yourself,” I told him.

“Well, there are worse things than death,” he said, blowing out a breath. “You’ve not met my father.”

“If you didn’t kill her then you need to help me out,” Jack said. “Because you’ve got means, motive, and opportunity. You just admitted that you’ve left the bar to go hook up with Cami, and that it’s a regular pattern. That puts reasonable doubt into your alibi for Tuesday night. Thea can’t watch you her entire shift. It’d be easy enough for you to slip out.”

“I told you Cami was alive when Thea and I got home,” he said. “She was in the kitchen. And then we went upstairs.”

“Uh-huh,” Jack said. “Do you and Thea share a space or do you still have your own apartments? Because it looked to me like you still have your own.”

“I went upstairs and went to bed,” he said. “My own bed. Thea’s apartment is a trash heap. I never sleep there. Sometimes she sleeps at my place. But we both like our own space.”

“You weren’t curious as to why Cami was downstairs picking out a bottle of wine? Who she was going upstairs to share it with? I mean, it was John’s favorite red. Was she picking it out for him? Or did she pick his favorite wine to give him another jab for treating her badly? Maybe the two of you decided to meet up again after you got home. Thea goes to bed and is none the wiser. And you sneak upstairs to be with Cami.”

“Please get me some aspirin,” Kevin said. “This is torture.”

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