Page 52 of The Wrong Man

Warm palms gripped each of my upper arms as Johnny’s serious blue eyes looked me over. “Maybe you just left the door open. Has something like this happened before?”

My arms were crossed, and I rubbed my elbows comfortingly, remembering the exposed feeling I had from the previous break-in. “A while back. It’s been several weeks since anything.”

“Huh.” His brow lowered. “Maybe I should hang out here for a bit until you go to bed. Make sure no one, like creepy Eddie, comes by.”

Biting my lip, I wanted him to stay for my own comfort, but felt guilty about how much he’d already done for me. “No, I’ve asked too much—”

Johnny pulled a lock of hair from my shoulder and put it behind me with a small grin. “Nonsense. Let’s watch someAngel. How ’bout that, pretty girl?”

His flirty nature made me calm some. “I don’t have it on DVD.”

“What?! It’s a better show! What aboutDollhouseorFirefly?” A teasing smile lit up his face.

“No. JustBuffy.”

His entire body relaxed as he put his arm around my shoulders and led me toward the den. “Well, now I know what to bring over next time I’m here.”

We ended up in the living room, watching season five ofBuffy. Season four was Johnny’s favorite, but five was mine. My alcohol buzz had quickly worn off with the action from the evening. Curling up under a blanket on the couch, I tried to focus on the show instead of being wired from my latest break-in.

Even though we were broken up, I couldn’t help but feel like I was cheating on Eli with his friend. It made me wonder how close Johnny and Eli were before Eli had gone to prison.

My pulse raced as it occurred to me that perhaps he was also here the night of the murder.

Had Johnny been involved in the drug deals with my father?

Johnny’s eyes were half closed and his breathing was steady, as if he were almost asleep. Legs spread wide, he appeared completely at ease with his head resting on the back of the couch at the opposite end from me.

“Johnny?”

Without moving his eyes or body, his lips lifted into a dreamy smile. His voice rang out quietly, “Ilovewhen you call me that. Makes me nostalgic.”

“Did you run with Eli back in the day? I mean, were youherein this house with Eli?”

The smile left his lips as he peeked over at me, the side of his face lit only by the changing scenes on the TV. “Uh… what are you asking?”

“I know about my father. That he was a drug dealer, and that he was murdered here.” My throat was dry, and I swallowed, not knowing if I should ask the question or if I even wanted to know the answer. “Were you here that night?”

Reaching under my blanket, Johnny slid my foot out and pulled it into his lap. Placing it in his soft hands, he used his thumbs to dig into the bottom and massage it mindlessly. For a few moments, he seemed to consider his answer before he spoke. Watching his hands work my foot, I wanted to pull back from him, but also wanted his answer. Was Johnny hitting on me? The nausea that threatened me earlier in the night started to make its way back.

“Yeah, Essie. I was.” The loneliness and fear I had when standing in the front lawn of the party didn’t compare to the terror in his realization. His gaze looked far off in the distance, seeing something in the room that wasn’t there. The muscle in his jaw twitched. “Yeah, I was with Eli and your dad.” Jerking my leg, I tried to pull my foot away from him, but he tightened his grasp. He quickly added, “But I didn’t kill your father.”

I let my leg relax in his hold, but my heart still pounded in my chest. “What happened?”

His perfect pompadour didn’t move as he shook his head for a few moments, then reluctantly said, “Did Eli not talk to you about this?”

“No.” My lips tightened at Eli’s reluctance to tell me anything. Johnny didn’t need to know what Eli had or had not discussed with me. Besides, I wanted to hear the truth from his friend.

He sighed heavily. “Look, that’s my best friend, my boy. Maybe you guys should talk about it.”

My irritation grew into anger. Was he also going to try to get out of telling me what happened? “He said he didn’t remember!”

“Well, yeah… Griff was. Griff was an addict. I mean, I dabbled back then, but he had a problem. He was wasted that night. I’d never seen him that bad. We worked for some evil men at the time. They wanted your dad taken out. I liked your dad. He and I got along all right. I was gonna tell him that night, tell him to leave town, but I think Eli just wanted it over with. He was all about the job.

“We stood up from this couch after making a deal, and Eli pulled out his gun, but your dad pulled out one at the same time. I took a bullet in the struggle. Then, Eli shot your dad square in the chest.”

Looking around the room, I tried to picture it while willing my heart to slow its rapid racing beat. Eli shot my father! How could he tell me he didn’t remember? Swallowing back a lump in my throat, I tried to come up with some questions to ask, but my mind was only filled with anguish at hearing the truth. Sobs threatened to escape my chest. Why did I still love him?

For a long time, Johnny held his mouth open as if he would continue, but was lost in the scenes from that night. When he finally spoke again, his eyes squinted to hold back tears. “The person who always called me Johnny, she was upstairs with your dad’s girlfriend. She came down when she heard the noise, and we both tried to stop Eli.” He cleared his throat as his crystal eyes pleaded with me. “Honestly, Essie, we tried to stop him. He just kept going and then was too fucked up to move. He wouldn’t run, even when I yelled at him to! I had to leave him because I was hurt.Fuck, I had to leave him. So, me and my girl, we got out of here.”

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