Page 52 of Dead Man's Alibi

At the piercing whistle, Sam and Cal looked up.Cal loosened his grip on Sam, but she took her chance and bolted from Cal’s grasp.

Landon didn’t know what the hell they were fighting about, but he figured he should take it upon himself to stop Sam.Since she was a tiny thing, and he was blocking the door anyway, it didn’t take much to reach out and grab her.

Until she kicked him in the shin.

“Hey!”It hurt like a bitch, but he still held her in his grip.“What the hell, Sam?”

“Let me go,” she hissed.“I’ve got someone to kill.”

“I think we’ve all had enough murder,” Landon said evenly.“Now why don’t we sit down and work through this calmly?”

Sam glared up at him, but when he gave her a gentle push back toward the couch and the people instead of the door, she didn’t fight him.She took a step back and then another.

“Fine,” she muttered.

She stalked over to a chair and plopped herself into it.Cal was already sitting on the couch, while Jill and Aly stood to the side looking worried and upset.

Cal looked down at his arm, then glared at Sam.“Youbitme.”

Sam didn’t even spare him a glance.“You were in my way, and you deserved it.”Her foot was tapping, her hair tousled, eyes still murderous.

“Explain,” Landon ordered, because of all the things he’d considered he might stumble upon, a physical fight between Cal and Sam wasn’t it.

It was Jill who did the explaining, standing next to Aly with her hands clutched together.But her words were calm and concise as she went through the theories she and Cal had been working through.She kept saying they werefictional, but Landon saw them as something reasonable.

Which meant it was certainly possible they were true.Landon regretted stopping Sam as Jill finished her explanation, and he understood what the implication was.

“Landon.”

It took something to tamp down his own violent reaction.Mostly his wife, he figured.She was looking at him with concern, so he could hardly stalk off and track down Hayes himself.

He didn’t plan on murdering anybody, but a few punches couldn’t hurt.

“It’s just a thought.Just a fiction,” Jill was saying a little desperately.“We don’t really think Jake Hayes killed this woman.”She looked around the room like everyone would jump to agree with her.

Landon ran his tongue over his teeth in an attempt not to say what he was feeling.Why shouldn’t we think Jake Hayes killed that woman?More likely than Nate.

“I don’t think he murdered anyone.Not really,” Cal said, sounding exhausted.He cradled his face in his hands and looked at the floor.“But if he spoke to Jules Hyatt a month ago, I think there are some questions we need to ask.”

Landon surveyed Cal, then Sam.It seemed clear to him.“So, let’s go ask them.”

Cal shook his head, lifting his head.He hadn’t slept, that much was clear.“We can’t head down there as agroupand all jump down Hayes’s throat.Literally or metaphorically.We need to be smart about this.”He glared at Sam.

“That’s whyIwas going to go down there.On my own,” Sam said.

“No, you were going to go down there to attack him.Which would get you arrested.Which, fine enough, but I’m not posting bail or representing you.So keep that in mind.”

Sam rolled her eyes, but she didn’t contradict Cal.

“First, someone should request the report.If someone took a report, it has to be on file, and anyone can have access.That will tell us who Jules talked to.”

“And if itisHayes?”Sam demanded.

“And if it’s not?”Cal shot right back.

“That’ll take days,” Sam countered, not answering Cal’s question any more than he’d answered hers.

“Yeah, it will.And, hopefully, we’re in discovery by then, and I can see whatever trumped-up evidence they’ve got going on.I’ll haveinformation.Not just supposition and anger.”