Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row

her eyes pleading with him to believe her. "I swear it's true. I'll admit to... keeping things from you before, but everything changed between us since the beginning. If you had let me talk to you the night you called, instead of playing one of your games—"
    "Nice move—put me on the defensive. It might have worked under different circumstances, but we're talking about murder here."
    With a resigned sigh, Holly leaned back in the chair and asked, "Have you said anything to the police?"
    He met her frightened gaze and hated himself for wanting her even now. "No. I had this ridiculous notion that I should talk to you before I turn you over to them. But I didn't want to do it over the phone. Anyway my condition is being kept secret on purpose. They hadn't even wanted to call Jill for me but I wouldn't stay unless they did.
    "But understand one thing. I hate liars more than I hate getting on airplanes. The only reason I waited was because my instincts told me that no matter what else you are, you couldn't knowingly be involved in murder."
    Her relief was instantly evident and he wondered why he had let her off the hook so easily. "It was the same instincts that told me there was a story behind the odd group of women that met with Erica Donner that day I first saw you in the hotel. And then my instincts were telling me you wanted me for something besides a playmate. You kept telling me you weren't interested, but I didn't listen, did I?"
    "I wasn't... at first." She blushed in spite of herself. "All I was supposed to do was pass you the information on Frampton, but then you—"
    "Seduced you? Maybe I did, or maybe you seduced me. Either way, I'll accept responsibility for that part of this mess, and I thank you for confirming that you were the one who got the lead on Frampton to me. I assume you were also the one who cut out the lines of the tabloid article that stated how he had been a star quarterback at Dominion."
    Holly angled her head at him. "I don't understand. I thought you were angry because I gave you a lead that almost got you killed."
    "I'm not angry about getting a hot lead. I'm pissed with you for lying to me! I was so furious when I first realized there was a connection between you and all those people, I could have wrung your neck." Actually, he had been fantasizing about locking her in a pitch black room, where he could take advantage of her fear of the dark while simultaneously arousing her to mindlessness, then forcing the truth from her.
    "Did Rachel call you?"
    "If you're referring to FBI Agent Rachel Greenley, I've never spoken to her. No, a very skilled researcher at The Washington Herald came up with the facts I needed to put it all together.
    "Remember how you told me you and Erica Donner went to school together? I knew then you were lying about the school being Georgetown. I already had a detailed bio on Donner and knew she'd graduated from Berkeley, after she'd transferred there from Dominion. I am also aware that she and Rachel Greenley were freshmen at Dominion the same year as Cheryl Wallace. However, my friend in Research couldn't place you there at that time. And I couldn't find out anything about the other two women.
    "Now those facts alone aren't very condemning, unless you know why I was in the Kessler Hotel lobby the day I first saw you." He paused to see if she'd squirm. She didn't, and he dropped the bomb he'd been holding. "Tim Ziegler had called me with an interesting story about Cheryl Wallace and Erica Donner systematically destroying the lives of a certain group of men."
    David thought Holly looked adequately stunned, so he went on. "He was murdered before he could give me any more than a few hints, but I was sufficiently intrigued to check it out. Then I was intrigued by you and I admit to getting a little sidetracked for a while. Then this morning I read an email my researcher friend had sent me over a week ago but, lucky for you, it had gotten caught with a bunch of spam. In it were the names of all the boys in Timothy Ziegler's fraternity twenty years ago. That email also included the information that, with regard to researching your background, we just hadn't checked far enough. You were at Dominion too, but it was the year before."
    Holly had gotten over her initial shock and was reduced to staring at a spot on the floor, but David wanted her to hear every detail. "Imagine my surprise when I saw the names Billy O'Day and Jerry Frampton. That's when I remembered Wallace's