Page 73 of The Wrong Man

“It will help his case if we don’t find fingerprints or his blood on it. Or if there is someone else’s blood, that is a match other than your father’s.”

“Thanks.”

After the police left the house, Piper and I waited for Eddie’s friend to show up and fix the window. He was pleasant and worked quickly to install a new one, even leaving an estimate for a full-house window replacement for me. The price was more reasonable than I thought it would be. And, unlike his friend, he wasn’t a creep.

“So is the plan set? You want to get something of Johnny’s and Kara’s to see if their DNA is on the knife?” Piper asked as soon as the window guy left.

“Yeah… I mean, I know it’s risky, but if it frees Eli, it will all be worth it.”

It was late, but I texted Johnny to see if I could meet up with him at his place. There were two things I wanted from him and was hoping he wouldn’t become suspicious. He quickly responded that I could come over and sent me his address.

When I arrived, I knocked on his door. Dressed in my cherry printed sundress, I pushed my boobs up, trying to show off any cleavage I could muster. Tied around my ankles were wedge heels that I had never worn. Before leaving the house, I had even spritzed on some perfume.

Johnny jerked his door open and smirked as he leered at my body. His wounds had not healed yet, and black marks shined underneath his eyes. His lip was split.

“What do you want?”

“C-can I come in?” Johnny stood aside to allow me to enter, then closed the door behind me. “Johnny, I wanted to apologize for the other night. Eli complicated things between us. I can’t believe he would hurt you the way he did.”

With a wave of his hand, he led us to his couch. He sat first, then I chose the seat next to him, setting my purse down on the coffee table. Flatly, he said, “Thought you were with him. Didn’t the police pick him up?”

“Yes. He’s where he deserves to be for murdering my father.” I looked down, then gazed into his eyes. A piece of his normally perfectly styled hair had fallen across his forehead. Reaching up, I gently put it back into place while holding his stare. “I just can’t believe he had sex with your girlfriend. That he would do that to you. She must have meant a lot to you, and he took that away.”

His eyes narrowed. “He did. Fucking bastard ruined our lives.”

Biting back my tongue, I said as sweetly as I could muster, “Tell me about her.”

“Kara was the love of my life. She sparkled everywhere she went. There wasn’t anyone who didn’t love her. The four of us were always friends, since childhood. We grew up together. Then, things started to change between Kara and me. In high school, we became sweethearts, then lovers. We were planning a future together. A future he took from us.”

Johnny reached over and stroked my cheek. “Wecould have that, pretty girl.”

My hair fell over my shoulder as I nodded and forced a small smile on my lips. “I know. I was scared to go further with you that night. I-I’ve never been with anyone other than Eli. And I’m not that experienced. Can we just take things slow?”

Johnny leaned over and said onto my lips, “Sure, we can go slow.” He kissed me, but I inadvertently backed up with disgust rolling in my stomach. Johnny’s expression was wry when he looked at me.

“Your lip is split. You’re hurt. I don’t want to hurt you more.” He sat up and nodded, but his eyes were still narrowed in suspicion. My pulse raced, so I quickly changed the subject. “Do you have anything of Kara’s? Like a picture or memories of her? I’d like to learn more about her. Know who I’m competing against.” I chuckled, but the laugh almost sounded hollow.

It didn’t matter. Johnny sat back and seemed to buy it. “Ha. Yeah, but you’re not competing. Well, as much as I’m competing with Eli, I guess.” He stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

“Can I use your restroom?”

“Sure. It’s just here.” He pointed to a bathroom in the hall. After escaping to it, I searched through the medicine cabinets until I found his hairbrush. Johnny always styled his hair so carefully, I was hoping there’d be some samples to take. Picking off a few hairs from the brush, I placed them in a baggie and stuffed it into my purse. Now, I just needed something of Kara’s…

When I went back to the living room, Johnny had a plastic bin with pictures in it. There was a notebook with a pen attached to it. The cap of the pen had been chewed. I needed that pen cap, but how to sneak it from him would be a chore. My mouth was an arid desert as I tried to swallow, easing myself back onto his sofa.

Johnny showed me some pictures of her and the group together as teens and kids. Eli was always handsome, but skinny. He stood in the background of a lot of pictures while Johnny stood in the front, beaming a smile with his arm around a redheaded girl who seemed to be smirking with a sneaky grin in most pictures. Seeing the pictures made my heart ache for Eli. Losing his parents at a young age and not having the best friends around him. He must have felt lonely and confused.

“What’s this?” I asked, while lifting the notebook from the pile. Casually, I dropped it to the floor, slipping the pen cap into my hand while the blood flooded my arteries. Heartbeats deafened my ears. “Oh, sorry!” Johnny picked up the notebook.

“Oh, just her poems and some writings she had in high school. Lots of stuff we doodled together. I kept it.” Searching around, he asked, “Where’s the pen that was with it?”

With a tiny gasp, trying not to give away my utter terror, I said, “Oh, here it is.” Pretending to find it on the ground by my feet, I bent over, then handed it to him while trying to hide the cap in my palm. Placing my hand as casually as I could on my lap, I wanted to distract him, but he was still glancing around. I didn’t think my pulse could race any faster.

“There was a pen cap on it. Do you see it?” We both looked on the ground while I tried to sneakily move it to the seat next to me to put it in my bag later. Johnny sat up straight and narrowed his eyes and my breathing stopped.

“Why are you holding that? What are you doing?” He seized my wrist still holding the pen cap as I bit my lip and shirked back from him.

Letting my lips curl up, I said, “I-I found it. Here you go.”

---