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He took the stairs up one more flight and exited onto the roof. It only took a quick look around to know that the top of the building had nowhere to hide, either.
Another curse was forming in his mouth when an idea hit him.
He hurried to the south end of the building, looked over the side, and grimaced. While the gap between his building and the one next door was narrow enough to leap across, the other structure was only two stories high. If a drop that far didn’t kill him, it would surely break more than just his legs.
He jogged to the north end. Below was the alleyway that Billy had disappeared into earlier. Standing in it now and keeping an eye on the first floor was another of the film production’s security men.
Here the next-door structure was a little bit farther away than the one on the south side, but it was four storieshigh. If Matthew could get up enough speed and push off at the right moment, he was sure he could easily make the jump. Once he was on the other building, he could quietly sneak out, without the men waiting below knowing.
He nodded to himself, took a deep breath, and began pacing away from the edge.
When he reached the point where he thought he’d have enough of a running start, he swiveled back toward his target. He imagined himself running across the roof, planting his foot on the edge, and launching himself into the air.
“You can do this,” he whispered. “For Tessa. Just keep your knees loose and be ready to roll.”
As he adjusted his stance so he could get a good push when he started, the roof access door opened.
Matthew looked back, assuming one of the security men had followed him up, but it was Billy Barnett. Only instead of the suit jacket and button-down shirt he’d had on before, Billy was wearing a long-sleeve black T-shirt.
The producer walked toward him, his hands behind his back. “Hello, Matthew. What are you doing up here?”
“Why did you have people watching me?”
“It’s a dangerous neighborhood. Didn’t want you to accidentally get into trouble.”
There was still the very small possibility Billy didn’t know the truth, and Matthew could salvage the situation.Playing the wronged man, he grimaced and said, “Right. That’s why they’re acting like I’m a criminal. But I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“We both know that’s not true.”
Billy moved his hands out from behind his back and held up two bags. Two bags that looked exactly like the ones Matthew had left on the roof of the Santa Barbara Hills Hotel.
Matthew tried to play them off with a shrug and a shake of his head. “What are those?”
“We’ve been to your apartment in L.A., Matthew. And in the room you’ve been renting here. We’ve seen the pictures. We know what you’ve been up to. We know about your feelings for Tessa. As for these?” Billy glanced at the bundles. “My guess is you planned to use them to get rid of Ben. Am I close?”
“That... that’s ridiculous.”
Billy took a few more steps toward Matthew. “Is it? Then perhaps you’d rather talk about what happened to Justin Rogers.”
Matthew’s eyes widened and his mouth went dry.
How could anyone, let alone Billy Barnett, know about Justin? No one had seen what happened. Matthew was positive of that. And not a soul had been within miles of him when he’d buried the pain in the ass’s body in the mountains.
In a less than steady voice, he said, “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“I think you do.”
When Billy took another step forward, Matthew stepped back and blurted out, “Don’t come any closer!”
“It’s over, Matthew. You know you can’t get away, so there’s no need to make a scene. Things will go easier for you if you cooperate. How about you and I go downstairs?”
When Billy shifted his weight like he was going to take another step, Matthew yelled, “I said no closer!”
“Okay. No closer. Then you come to me.”
Matthew stared at Billy without seeing him.
This couldn’t be happening. There was no way Matthew’s dream was over. Not like this. Billy didn’t have the right to decide that. The only one who could was Matthew, and he for damn sure wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.
