Murder Deja Vu

turned around. He stopped, squinted.
    Reece looked a lot different than he did the night of the murder. Forty pounds lighter, his scholarly pallor now burnished brown, dark blond hair mixed with gray. No matter, Cabrini recognized him. Reece’s heart pounded. Cabrini could punch 911 into his cell phone and there’d be no escape.
    “Hi, Mark.”
    “Reece. You know half the country’s looking for you.”
    “I know.” He took a few steps forward. “I didn’t do it.”
    Cabrini craned his neck to scout the surrounding area. “I wouldn’t have thought so. I never believed you killed Karen. I told the attorney who interviewed me, but he wasn’t inclined to listen.” He waved Reece toward him. “Come inside before someone sees you.”
    Reece released a long breath. Unless Mark was playing him, he felt safe for the moment. He followed him into a study on the garage side of the house.
    “Wait here. My wife’s mother is sick. She’s there. I’ll get us a couple of beers.”
    “Am I safe, Mark?” He looked at Cabrini, the implication of his question clear.
    “You’re safe. The police have already called to see if you’ve been around. They asked me to let them know if you showed up. Fuck ’em.” He left and came back with two longnecks of imported beer. “You look different. I want to say better. Not so soft like when you were in school.”
    “Prison has a way of toughening you up. I’d advise getting a gym membership instead.”
    Mark nodded. He looked like he wanted to say something else but thought better of it.
    “I need to know about that night,” Reece said. “Someone’s trying to nail me again, and I think it’s someone we both know.”
    “You mean either Carl, Steve, or Jordan? Or me?”
    Hearing Carl’s name gave him a jolt. But he was there. “Yeah. My investigator stirred the pot. He thinks it made someone nervous.”
    “I know. He called me too. Asked me all kinds of questions.”
    “I saw Carl this morning. What about the others? Do you have any sense of something that could help? Something you might have thought of since then, no matter how unimportant it seems?”
    “I told everything I knew at the trial, and nothing ever dawned on me later. I used to be close with Steve, but we kind of drifted apart. He and Jordan were out in Grafton at the vet school. I lived in Medford, met Sandy and, well, you develop a whole different group of friends when you have a serious girlfriend, then get married. Couples. No more singles bars and late-night carousing. You know how it is.” Mark shook his head. “Shit. Sorry.”
    “Don’t worry about it.”
    “After all these years, have you remembered something?”
    “I’ve gone over that night a million times. Went over the trial even more, but none of it meant a thing. I couldn’t remember. Carl…”
    Mark tipped his beer to his lips. “I didn’t know he slept with her until after the trial.”
    “I didn’t know for sure until today.”
    “Maybe it wouldn’t have made a difference,” Cabrini said, “but he should have spoken up. He was my friend, but he was your brother. We drifted apart after that.”
    “He thinks the prosecution would have said it gave me more reason to kill her. He’s probably right. I just wish he’d told me. But that’s something he’ll have to deal with in his own heart.” Reece thought after meeting his brother that morning he’d be over feeling betrayed, but the knife in the back still cut deep. “You can’t go back in time, Mark. What’s done is done. I’ve spent years festering. I wanted to move on, but someone won’t let me.”
    “Even though we didn’t know you well, being Carl’s friends, we weren’t very ethical. We knew Karen was your girlfriend, yet we all slept with her. What does that make us?”
    “Horny guys.” Reece forced a smile. “Like I said, I wish I’d known, instead of investing myself in her.”
    “I only had sex with her one time. Then I learned both Steve and Jordan had slept with her. I didn’t need the distraction. I had enough anxiety with dental school. I didn’t know Jordan well. He always seemed, I don’t know, a little odd. Being in vet school together, he and Steve were closer.”
    “Did either of them mention they were hooked on Karen?”
    “No. I think we all felt guilty, so we never discussed her.”
    “Who mentioned Karen’s sex life at the table first?”
    Mark took a pull on his beer. He thought a minute before answering. “Steve. He