The Eligible Suspect(92)

                “Demarco—”

                “Too bad his stepdaughter came forward and cleared him of the hit-and-run.”

                “What?”

                “Oh.” He feigned sympathy. “You didn’t know?” He leaned over the bed, bracing his hands on the thin mattress. “She must have arrived just after you stole his car. Yeah. She was parked out front for a couple of hours. Long enough to thwart your plan.”

                Damen eyed his face. “What’s gotten into you?”

                “Did you plan to kill Collette after that?” He had to hear him say it. To confirm it. That it hadn’t been planned. That it had been a crime of passion.

                “No. Demarco. I saw her meet Korbin. I went to her house after that and we talked. She said she did meet Korbin but she lied about why. I was so angry. After I ran that man over, I had an idea.”

                “To frame Korbin. Revenge.”

                “Did you plan to kill Collette?”

                Damen shook his head, rolling it slightly on the pillow. “No. After I ran that man over, I went to her house. I needed an alibi . We argued...”

                And then he’d killed her. It hadn’t been planned. Only the hit-and-run had been planned. Damen had seen what he wanted to see, what his weak ego had seen. “So you decided to kill her?”

                “He was going to take her away from me.”

                And there it was. The truth. An awful truth. “Was he, Damen? Was he going to take her away from you? Or was Collette tired of being treated like a dog? Wasn’t it she who was going away from you? It was her choice, not Korbin’s. Am I right?”

                “Stop it.”

                “You had it all figured out in your mind, didn’t you? Everyone’s out to get you. The world against Damen. So Damen fought back.”

                Damen shook his head. “No.”

                His anger reached a boiling point. How could Damen have done this? How could he be so stupid? Did he actually think he could get away with it? “You always had it in you. You always fought and bullied your way to respect. When in fact you’re just a puny man shaking a big fist.”

                “Why did you come here if that’s how you feel?”

                He hadn’t felt this way until now. Right now. “I wasn’t sure how I felt. But now I am. My own twin brother...a murderer. You repulse me.”

                Damen blanched at first. Finally, something he said penetrated. But it was short-lived. Then grim resolve settled in. “What are you going to do?”

                Demarco’s opinion of him had mattered for a few seconds and then Damen was back to fighting the world. “You’d rather kill Collette than let her go?” Demarco shook his head in disgust. “What happened to you?” He was so angry on so many levels he could barely see straight. He felt like a fool for enabling his brother for so many years. And yet he felt a horrible, gaping hole opening up in his chest.

                As Damen continued to look at him impassively, Demarco’s fury and pain mounted. “I asked you a question.”

                Damen merely blinked. Absolute on his path of destruction. He believed no one could help him. Even Demarco. He had stepped in too many times. When Damen had begun to falter, Demarco should have let him find his own way. How different would things be today if he had let the bullies run their course?