“This rules out your father,” Leigh went on. “He knew about Jimbo before Alexa’s murder, and if he was a killer, he probably wouldn’t have waited hours to eliminate someone who could have incriminated him.”
“Bowen will be pleased to hear that.” And yeah, he added a little tongue and cheek to that comment.
“Jeb won’t be pleased.” Leigh had a tongue-in-cheek tone, too.
At the mention of her father’s name, Cullen recalled what’d happened in the break room when Jeb had had the dizzy spell. Or whatever the heck it’d been. He nearly brought it up now, but Leigh continued before he could say anything.
“But I’d prefer to arrest the person responsible rather than the person I want it to be,” she said, and he heard her sigh.
“You want it to be Rocky,” he concluded. “He’s withheld evidence and backbites you any chance he gets.”
“And that’s why I’m being very careful about how I’m dealing with him. I don’t want to project something on him that might not be there. He might not be more than just a backbiter.”
She opened the door, and he saw that she was wearing a white terry cloth bathrobe. It wasn’t clinging, low-cut or anything else provocative, but it still got his attention.
Before he could give in to the temptation of sliding his hand inside that robe, she thrust out a pair of black pj bottoms.
“Sorry,” she said. “It’s the best I can do. Cash stayed here about six years ago when his house was being painted, and he left them behind. Just the bottoms,” Leigh clarified. “So, you’ll have to do the bare-chest thing while your clothes are being washed.”
He was about to joke and ask her if she’d be watching for that, but her doorbell rang. Leigh whirled around, scooping up her holster. At the same time, Cullen also drew his gun.
“I doubt the killer would ring the doorbell,” he said, trying to steady her nerves. But Cullen didn’t plan on putting his gun away until he was sure who was at the door.
Cullen went to one of the side windows. Leigh went to the other. And they both groaned when they spotted Austin on her porch.
“I have to talk to you,” Austin called out, ringing the bell again.
“I’ll get rid of him,” Cullen offered, and he didn’t wait for Leigh to object.
He held on to his gun as he opened the door and faced his friend. That would beformerfriend since one look at Austin and Cullen knew Austin was still riled. Heck, Cullen was, too.
“Where’s Leigh?” Austin demanded.
With just those two words, Cullen got a whiff of Austin’s breath. He’d clearly been drinking.
“What do you want?” Leigh asked, moving in front of Cullen to face Austin head-on.
“Kali thinks I murdered Alexa,” Austin blurted out, pointing his index finger at Leigh. “You made her believe that.”
Hell. This was not what Leigh needed to be dealing with after the day they’d already had. “Leigh was doing her job,” Cullen quickly pointed out. “And you didn’t exactly volunteer information about your affair with Alexa.”
Austin’s rage-filled eyes slashed to Cullen. “Because it was my personal business. My mistake. There was no reason for me to tell a cop.”
“No,” Leigh disagreed. “There’s no such thing as personal business in a murder investigation.”
“Have you tried to ruin Cullen the way you’re ruining me?” Austin fired back. Then, he smirked. “No, you haven’t because you’re sleeping with him again.” He gave a hollow laugh. “Alexa was right about that.”
Cullen stared at Austin. “What do you mean by that?”
Austin continued the smirk. “Alexa saw you looking at an old picture of the two of you. The one taken at a party when Leigh was still in high school.”
The party where Leigh had lost her virginity to him. Cullen did indeed have a picture, but he didn’t remember looking at it while Alexa was around.
“Alexa was so jealous of you,” Austin continued, his comment aimed at Leigh. “And she had a vindictive streak and wouldn’t have wanted Cullen and you to be together. I could have sent her after you like that.” He snapped his fingers. “Too bad I didn’t. If I had, you wouldn’t have ruined my life.”
Enough was enough. Cullen stepped in front of Leigh again. “You ruined your own life,” Cullen snarled. “By not keeping your jeans zipped when you were around your fiancée’s best friend. If you want to put the blame on someone, just look in the mirror.”
Austin clearly didn’t care much for that, and he reached out as if he might try to clamp onto Leigh’s arm. Cullen didn’t let that happen. The punch he landed on Austin’s jaw was hard and fast. Austin staggered back, the blood already oozing from his mouth, and he glared at Cullen.