Obsession & Eyewitness: Obsession / Eyewitness

He brushed the back of his hand along her fingers where she’d hooked them, like claws, onto the chain-link fence. “I’m sorry.”

She sniffled and blinked. “No. He didn’t look capable of kicking a cat. He’d fall over. But that’s not going to stop Chief Evans or Mayor Davis from railroading this guy. He’ll be languishing in some jail cell just in time for the summer tourists to start flooding Coral Cove.”

“That’s stupid.” His fingers curled around hers. “If they’re that shortsighted, they just might allow the real killer to walk. And maybe strike again.”

Michelle shivered. “You think I’m on his list?”

“I know you graduated the same year as the other women.”

“The three murders could be completely unrelated—a coincidence.”

“And the petals?”

“The petals.” The terror from this morning when she’d seen the rose petals on her porch punched her in the gut. She sagged.

“Let’s get out of here.” Colin peeled her fingers from the gate and laced his own with hers.

They skirted the lingering knots of people in the street and Michelle tugged on his hand. “So which is it, Colin? Do you believe the killer scattered those petals on my porch or do you believe some innocent bystander carried them there on the bottom of his shoes?”

Colin wanted to reassure her, drive the fear from her big, brown eyes, but he couldn’t lie to this woman. He couldn’t pretend that she didn’t face some danger from this wily killer.

“If it’s the former, I’ll make sure he never gets that close to you again.” He tightened his grip on her hand.

A bicycle wobbled down the street between pedestrians, and the bespectacled rider raised his hand in salute. Michelle waved back, and Colin blew out a breath. What now? Couldn’t he ever get this woman alone? He had some more reassuring to do.

The cyclist pulled up beside them and shoved the glasses up his nose. “Michelle, are you okay? I heard what happened this morning and that it happened right outside your front door.”

The man lurched off the seat of his bike, straddling it with his feet planted firmly on either side. His gaze dipped to their clasped hands, and Michelle disentangled her fingers from Colin’s.

“It was horrible, Alec. I can’t believe it happened. I can’t believe Amanda’s gone.”

Alec extended his hand to Colin. “I’m Alec Wright.”

“I’m sorry.” Michelle tilted her head toward Colin. “This is Colin Roarke. Colin, this is Alec Wright. We teach at the high school together.”

For a skinny guy Alec had a strong grip. Then Colin noticed Alec’s legs encased in Lycra bicycle shorts and realized the guy was wiry, not skinny. But he still wore Lycra bicycle shorts. “Good to meet you.”

“I’ve seen your name all over the school. Yours and your brother’s. Kieran, right?”

“Right.” At the mention of his brother’s name, Colin’s face tightened. Would it always be this way? Would he ever be able to think about his brother without this pain shooting into his gut?

Alec’s eyes widened behind his wire-rimmed glasses. “I—I’ve seen your names on a lot of trophies in the trophy case.”

Colin shrugged. “Don’t know why they don’t replace those old things with new trophies.”

“Because they’re school records.” Alec cocked his head at Colin as if studying some strange specimen.

“Whatever.” The guy annoyed him. He needed to take his Lycra and ride away.

Michelle drew her eyebrows over her nose. “If you have some time this weekend, Alec, maybe you can look at my laptop for me. I have a couple of questions about my email.”

“Yeah, sure.” Alec blushed as red as his bike. “Give me a call. I’d be happy to help.”

Of course he would. The guy had a crush on Michelle as far as he could stretch his stretchy pants.

“Nice meeting you.” Colin jerked his thumb toward Michelle’s house. “We gotta…”

“Oh, sure. Oh, yeah. I’m glad you’re okay, Michelle. Sorry about Amanda.” He clambered onto his bike and headed toward the coast highway.

Colin squinted after him. “Didn’t sound sorry about Amanda.”

“He and Amanda never got along.” She dug her hands into her hips. “What is wrong with you? Did you take an instant dislike to Alec or something? He’s a nice guy and a good teacher.”

“I didn’t like his bicycle shorts.”

Her chocolate-drop eyes studied his face. “You didn’t like that he mentioned your trophies—yours and Kieran’s.”

He didn’t like that he’d mentioned Kieran, period.

He shrugged. “Don’t know why they keep those things around.”

They’d been walking and talking and had wound up at Michelle’s front door. She unlocked the door and shoved it open. Colin didn’t even wait for an invitation as Michelle stepped across the threshold, still talking.

“You should be proud of those trophies. Heck, if the school gave trophies for academic excellence, I wouldn’t mind a few of those scattered around with my name on them.”

Colin laughed, rubbing the last of the kinks out of his neck. “You were a brain, weren’t you?”

She stuck out her tongue. “Go ahead. You can say it. I was a nerd, complete with glasses and braces and bony chest.”

As if pulled by a magnetic force, his gaze dropped to the gentle curve of her breasts beneath her cotton T-shirt. By the time he’d trained his eyes back to her face, a rosy blush had claimed her cheeks.

“The years have been kind.”

She giggled and spun around. The compliment had made her uncomfortable. A truth smacked against his forehead and made its way to his lips. “You played up the nerd persona in high school, didn’t you? Because of your mom.”

She froze and her back stiffened. “That’s ridiculous. Why would you think any high school girl would want to be a geek?”

“Any high school girl who had a hootchie-cootchie mama.”

Her eyes flashed fire as she turned on him. “You’re… you’re…”

“Despicable.” He’d been so excited to discover something about Michelle, so intrigued to have chipped through her cool exterior, he’d lost all sense of social etiquette. “I’m sorry, Michelle. I had no right.”

She blew out a breath and dragged a hand through her thick hair. “No. You’re right. I wanted to put as much distance as possible between me and my mom. I didn’t want people thinking I was anything like her.”

Her dark eyes pooled. He preferred the fire. In two strides, he was at her side. He slid a knuckle beneath her chin and a tear dangled on the end of her long lashes. “I’m an idiot.”

Her lush lips trembled into a smile. “You’re an astute idiot. The only person I’d ever admitted that to was Amanda.”