She braced as she glanced at the picture. Her brows knotted as she moistened her lips. “Her eyes are closed.”
“That’s right. Do you know her?”
“What’s she done?”
“You’re good at asking questions, Ms. Rayburn, but that’s what the city pays me to do. How do you know her?”
Her gaze lingered on the photo. “She went to Price too.”
A bolt of adrenaline shot through his limbs. A connection. “What’s her name?”
“Is she dead?”
“Yes. What’s her name?”
She closed her eyes for a moment. Was it sorrow or relief that washed over her features? “Her name was Sara Miller in college. I don’t know if she got married and changed her name.”
“Do you know anything about her?”
She folded her arms over her chest. The gesture wasn’t aggressive but defensive. “Nothing since college. I’ve not seen her since my … trial.”
The word sounded wrenched from her throat. “No one here knows about your conviction for manslaughter.”
Her eyes narrowed a fraction. “King knows. He offered me the job while I was still at the halfway house. How did you piece my past together?”
“My old man served as a cop in Alexandria for thirty years. He remembered your case, specifically the star.”
She nodded. “I’ve only been out six months but I learned quickly that people don’t like ex-cons. Please keep my past private. I like it here.”
“Then why come back here? Someone is bound to recognize you.”
“Darius Cross died.” Her eyes narrowed. “Maybe I wanted to dance on his grave.”
“You confessed to killing his son.”
Her jaw tightened. “That’s right.”
There was more but she’d locked that part of her past behind an iron door. “It doesn’t take six months to dance on a grave. Why stick around?”
She swallowed and he sensed a door slamming closed. “Am I a suspect?”
“Should you be?”
She planted her hands on her hips. The fear had ebbed from her gaze and fire replaced it. “I just know how it works. The cops get an idea in their head and then they look for facts to prove it. Doesn’t matter if they’re right or wrong. It only matters that the case gets headlines.”
“I’m here to catch a murderer. The rest doesn’t mean anything to me.”
A bitter smile tipped the edge of her mouth. “Everybody wants to get ahead and headlines and closed cases mean promotions. Do you know the sheriff in Taylorsville won his reelection based on my conviction?”
“He’s been voted out since.”
“Great.”
He studied her face closely. From what he’d read of her file, she had a right to be angry. Any half-decent defense attorney would have seen to it she’d not gone to jail.
But showing her pity over a past injustice wasn’t going to catch this killer. “Did you know Ms. Black, Ms. Miller and you share an interesting trait?”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Yeah, we went to school together?”
“It’s more than that.” He studied her face closely. “Both women were burned with four-pointed stars.”
Eva flinched as if he’d slapped her hard. “I don’t understand.”
“Whoever killed those women burned each woman four times with a star-shaped brand.”
She closed her eyes. A tear spilled down her cheek.
He studied her closely, wondering if she was an expert liar. “Your attacker also burned you, didn’t he?”
“You read the file.” She sniffed and swiped the tear away. “And as you know, my attacker is dead.”
“Did you kill him, Eva? ”
“What?”
He wanted to lay his hand on her shoulder as a gesture of comfort but he guessed she’d jump a mile in the air if he did. “Did you kill the man that raped you?”
A painful sigh shuddered through her. “The file says three girls saw me do it. Sara. Lisa. And Kristen. And I did eventually confess.”
“I went head-to-head with Darius Cross a few years ago. His mansion had been robbed and I was assigned to investigate. Darius Cross proved to be a real domineering pain in the ass throughout the investigation. Took all I had to handle him. A seventeen-year-old girl who’d been brutalized could easily have caved to a guy like him.”
“But the bottom line is that I confessed.”
“Did you kill him?”
Silence wedged between them. “You’re the first person that ever asked me if I killed Josiah Cross and wasn’t expecting a ‘yes.’ Everyone else, including me, just assumed I did.” Shaking her head, she took a half step back. “But the God’s honest truth is that I don’t know if I killed him or not. I blacked out. When I woke, the house was on fire, the fireman was dragging me out. Through the smoke I saw Josiah covered in blood lying on the floor.”
“And now two of the three women who testified against you are dead.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “Are you accusing me?”
Tension goaded by fatigue seasoned the tone of his voice. “I’m looking for a killer.”
She stiffened. “You’re looking in the wrong place.”
“One way or another you’re connected.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“At this point I don’t know.”
Eyes narrowing, Eva shook her head. “I’m not going to be railroaded again.”
“I want to help you.”
“Help me. Like the cops helped me after my attack? That’s rich.” Bitterness dripped from the words.
“If you wanted to avoid the past, there are better places to live than here. Why’d you return? And don’t tell me you came back to dance on Darius’s grave.”
She moved toward him until she stood toe to toe with him. He stood a foot taller but that didn’t seem to i
ntimidate her. “I don’t remember hitting Josiah with the poker. After he branded me, I passed out for several minutes. And those missing minutes have haunted me for nearly a decade. And right now they are dictating my present.”
“What’s going on now?”
“You mean other than the fact that I’ve got a cop questioning me about two murders? St. Margaret’s turned down my scholarship application because of my record. I’m not the kind of person they want representing their school.”
He’d read her academic stats. It made sense she’d want to return to academics, a place she’d excelled. “That’s got to piss you off.”
“Sure. It stings. But I’ll get over it.” Her face paled.
“I hear resentment in your voice.” He injected challenge into the statement, wanting to goad her.
“I’m sure you do. I’ve got almost ten years of it bottled up.”
“Would killing those women who testified against you ease some of that resentment?”
She lifted her chin as if she’d been cuffed. “What?”
“Did you kill Lisa and Sara?”
“No!” The word sounded wrenched from her chest. “No, I did not kill those women.”
He leaned toward her, letting his height rattle her shaky nerves more. He wanted her off balance and primed to blurt out whatever truth she harbored. “Are you sure about that, Eva?”
She stumbled back a step. Tears glistened in her eyes and reminded him of a cornered animal. “I didn’t kill anyone! ”
He closed the gap between them, continuing to hover over her like a wraith. “Torturing and killing those women would be the perfect revenge. Make them suffer as you did.”
“No!” She stumbled back again and this time bumped into a table. She righted herself and scrambled around it until it rested between them. “If you want to lay the murder of two women on me you’ll have to do it all by yourself. I’m not going to make this easy for you. I’ll get a real lawyer this time and fight you.”
He moved to within inches of her. He didn’t touch her but made it impossible for her to move away. “You sound afraid.”