Carol Ericson - Obsession & Eyewitness

“Thanks, Tyler, but Colin is here on official business, so…” She waved a hand vaguely in front of her as if to shoo the mayor off her porch.

Tyler captured her fingers and squeezed them in a clammy grasp. “Let us know if you need anything, Michelle.”

“I will.” She slipped her hand out of his clutches and slid the tips of her fingers in the back pocket of her shorts.

Tyler shook hands with Colin again and sauntered down the walkway, his spine stiff with self-importance.

Colin snorted. “Could the guy get any more officious?”

“Don’t ask.”

“I’m not really here on official business you know.” Colin slouched against the wooden post supporting the awning above the porch.

“Yes, you are.”

He jerked to attention. “You know something I don’t know?”

“Look down.” Michelle pointed to the petals on the porch in case Colin had forgotten his directions.

His gaze followed her pointing finger, and a quick intake of breath told Michelle he’d picked up on the significance. He crouched, his knee balancing on the first step.

“When did you notice these?”

“This morning when I came out to survey the hordes.” She tilted her chin toward the groups of people on the street, gawking around the yellow crime scene tape.

He stirred the petals with his fingertip. “They’re the same color as your roses. Someone could’ve tracked them up to your porch, carrying them on the soles of their shoes.”

Bending over to study the petals, she inhaled Colin’s fresh, masculine scent. It smelled better than the sweet roses, and her cheeks warmed when he met her gaze with his piercing blue eyes. Their intensity made her fear that he could see straight into her soul and read her thoughts.

“Well, that’s a logical explanation.” She tapped her fingernails on the chipped mug. “And here I thought a killer had left his calling card.”

Colin cupped her elbow as he rose, bringing her with him. Still maintaining eye contact, he said, “I don’t think we can rule out your first assumption.”

A tremble rolled through her body. Colin must’ve felt it because he squeezed her elbow and ran his palm up her inner arm. His touch caused her nerve endings to riot and she shivered again.

“D-do you think it’s a warning?” She pulled away from him and hugged herself. Not that Colin’s arms wouldn’t have felt a whole lot better, but he hadn’t come here to comfort her. Had he?

“I think you need to be careful.” He brushed his hands together and shoved them in the pockets of his jeans.

“I told Tyler you were here on official business just to get rid of him.” She inspected the handle of her cup so he wouldn’t see the hope in her eyes. She hadn’t been a silly twit in high school and she didn’t plan to take on that role now. “Why did you drop by?”

His hands burrowed deeper in his pockets as he hunched his shoulders. “I wanted to check up on you. Rough night.”

“Thanks.” Pleasure fizzed through her veins, pooling in all the right places. She could get used to a man like Colin Roarke looking out for her.

Michelle jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Do you want to come inside and have some coffee? Tea?”

“Sure.” He pointed at the brown puddles on the porch. “Looks like you could use more tea yourself.”

“When I saw the petals on my doorstep, I dropped my cup. It didn’t occur to me at first that someone could’ve brought them up here on the bottom of his shoe.” She shoved open the screen door, and Colin followed her into the house, dwarfing the small room with his large frame.

“You have reason to be jumpy.”

“Tea okay or are you a coffee drinker?” She held up the copper teapot.

“Tea’s fine.” He hunched over the counter, making his shoulders look broader than ever.

Looked broad enough to accommodate all her worries, but he hadn’t come here to give her an excuse to fall apart. He’d probably had a lifetime of people dependent on his strength.

“You know, I had enough people traipsing up to my door this morning. There are probably rose petals strewn up and down the entire length of my walkway.”

“I’m checking out the house today.”

“What?” She clanged the teapot onto the stove top with unexpected force.

“Columbella House. I’m checking it out. It was too dark to see anything last night, but it would’ve made a great hiding place for someone looking to get away in a hurry.”

Folding her arms, Michelle wedged her hip against the counter. “I’m coming with you.”

“You sure?”

“I’d rather know what’s over there than not.” She dug her fingers into her upper arms. “Amanda was my friend. I can’t sit around and do nothing. Maybe if I’d walked her out to her car…”

“Then you might both be dead.” He came around the counter, joining her in the kitchen, crowding her. “Don’t blame yourself, Michelle. It’s a useless exercise.”

Blue-gray clouds scudded across his eyes, veiling them. Again, she sensed a deep sadness lurking behind the confidence and courage. The caretaker in her wanted to banish his sadness.

As if she had that power.

She turned toward the cupboard and grabbed two cups from the shelf. “I guess…it’s like stories of survivors. There’s always that sense of guilt, isn’t there? I wonder if it ever completely goes away.”

Colin was so close behind her the warmth of his body penetrated her cotton T-shirt. When he spoke, his breath stirred the tendrils of her hair.

“I don’t know if it does.”

She reached for her tin of tea bags. “Earl Grey okay?”

“Earl Grey?”

She turned and Colin took a step back, blinking, as if coming out of a trance. She held up the foil pouch. “Earl Grey? You’re not much of a tea drinker, are you?”

“Coffee man.”

“You could’ve told me.” She ripped into the pouch and dropped the tea bag into a cup. “I can make coffee.”

He lifted one of those square football-player shoulders. “I’m a low-maintenance guy. Besides, I came over here to make sure you got through the night okay, not to demand breakfast.”

The kettle whistled and Michelle poured the boiling water over the tea bags. “I’m glad you stopped by, and brewing a pot of coffee would have been a small price to pay for the chance to search the house…with you.”

He thanked her for the mug of tea, and then blew on the surface of the liquid.

She averted her gaze from his puckered lips. Slurping her own tea, she burned her tongue. “Are we going to wait until the vultures out there scatter before sneaking into Columbella House?”

He crossed the room and flicked the curtains at the window. “Are they ever going to scatter?”

She joined him, her shoulder brushing his. “Believe it or not, the crowd’s a lot smaller than it was earlier.”

“We’ll go around the side of the house. Nobody has to know we’re there.”

“So we are sneaking.”

He cocked his head at her, one side of his mouth curving into a smile. “Does that make it more appealing to you?”

“This is a small town. People talk.”

“I think we’re both aware of that.”

She took a sip of her tea, hiding the bottom half of her face with the mug. “People said good things about you.”

“People say good things about you, too, Michelle. It was just your mother, and you’re not your mother.”

Not according to those emails. “I know, but when your parent screws up, the trash gets heaped on you, as well.”

“What your mom did is in the past, and I’ve heard nothing but people singing your praises since I’ve been back.”

“You must be talking to the parents of my students. They like that I hold their kids’ feet to the fire in algebra.”