The Perfect Liar by Brenda Novak Read Free Book Online Page A

intrigued, show me how daring she is."
    Their conversation was doing little to build Ava's confidence in Kalyna Harter, which was a disappointment. She didn't want to be faced with a difficult dilemma. If Kalyna had really been victimized, she'd need Ava's full support. But Ava couldn't ignore this. She had to see her client realistically.
    "Why do you feel this is relevant?" she asked.
    Maria held up a hand. "I'm not done yet. When she asked me if I'd ever...you know...I joked that the only way I could get interested in another woman was if there was a man involved."
    "A threesome."
    She blushed. "Yeah."
    "And what did Kalyna say to that?"
    "She said she'd like to include me sometime." Maria tore at the label on her water bottle. "I didn't believe Trussell was all that interested in her, so I asked her if she could convince him to join us. I wanted to see if she'd been lying about him before."
    "And?"
    Her chest rose as she drew in a deep breath. "She smiled as if she was eager for the challenge and promised me she'd do it."
    "Is that what she was attempting to arrange on June 6?"
    "If so, she never called me. Maybe she knew I wasn't serious. Maybe she wasn't serious, either." Maria held her long hair off her neck and fanned herself. The day was so hot, the air-conditioning wasn't helping enough, and this was a conversation she clearly didn't want to be having.
    "But when the whole rape thing came up and Trussell's name was brought into it--that gave me a funny feeling. I knew Kalyna would love to be with him. So why would she invite him to her apartment and then tell him no? I 47

    honestly can't imagine him having to force her. Not the way she was talking."
    "There could be a lot of reasons she changed her mind." Ava managed a smile. But the fact that Kalyna had been discussing Captain Trussell in such a light--and well in advance of the incident--troubled her, too. The defense would certainly make an issue of it if they found out.
    "I didn't mean it, so she probably didn't, either," Maria said again.
    Ava fell back on the pictures she'd seen and the fact that there wouldn't have been time for someone else to enter Kalyna's apartment after Trussell left. Kalyna's testimony had been convincing, too. They'd gone over the incident in two separate meetings, and Kalyna had cried during both. "It doesn't matter if she was the pursuer, Maria. At some point, she wanted to bail out, and he resorted to violence. There's no excuse for that."
    "Right. I agree. So...I don't need to tell anyone else about...about that embarrassing discussion? I mean, if someone were to interpret it the wrong way, it could ruin my career. You know how the military is, the whole 'don't ask, don't tell' thing."
    "If someone in authority questions you about it, you need to be honest."
    "But what if I'm not asked? I haven't been asked about it yet."
    And she'd only spoken of it once. Now.
    Ava felt a twinge of conscience, but she had no intention of helping the defense. She'd been through this before and al owed her loyalty to be shaken. Bella had taken her own life when she couldn't get anyone to believe her. Ava wouldn't let that happen to another soul. Kalyna's sexual habits and preferences didn't matter, not if she'd tried to say no to Trussell and he'd ignored her. "I don't see why you'd need to volunteer the information."
    Smiling in relief, Maria tossed her keys in the air and caught them, finally relaxed. "Thank God. I wish I'd never been stupid enough to have that conversation. Imagine what the other airmen would make of it," she said with an awkward laugh.
    They'd wonder, as Ava did, if Maria wasn't hiding more than she wanted to admit. But Maria's sexuality had nothing to do with this case or 48

    anything else. No reason to drag that into it.
    "Don't worry," she said, and waved goodbye. Then she sat at the table a while longer, contemplating what Maria had shared. Obviously, Kalyna wasn't someone with an impeccable reputation. Her image was