The Silent Witness

He had to be almost thirty-four by now. And he still needed a haircut and a shave. She almost smiled. Then she realized her fingers were half-raised as if to stroke that cheek. She clutched her hands together as Sergeant Osher spoke to the men.

Nicki shook her head to rid it of the wash of bittersweet memories. This was hardly the time or the place.

“Ms. Michaels, you aren’t even trying,” Osher protested. “You don’t have to be afraid. We’ll protect you.”

She pulled her arm away from his annoying touch. “I’m not the least bit afraid, Sergeant Osher. But, like I told you, it all happened fast. It was very dark outside. I’ve complained to city hall about that broken streetlight behind the store several times. No one does anything.”

“Ms. Michaels, I know it was dark, but you were right there. You saw the murder.”

Stubbornly, she shook her head. “I can’t point a finger at anyone, I told you that. I never got a clear look at his face.”

At least she could say that and speak the truth. She had never seen the murder let alone the murderer’s face. In her heart, she knew it was Alex she’d seen running across the street. But that didn’t mean he’d pulled the trigger, despite what Ilona had said.

Nicki would go to jail herself before she’d make a positive identification of anyone. She’d given the police the description Ilona had passed on to her. That was as far as she was willing to go. Her mind refused to reconcile the Alex she had known with a man who could walk up to a car and kill someone in cold blood.

Her Alex had been tough. Ready to defend himself—or anyone weaker if it came to that. But he had never sought trouble. Of course, he hadn’t needed to. It always came looking for him.

She shrugged off that memory. She was now certain Alex had been across the street right before the shooting. If she was right, he would have had to run across the street the minute she started back to her office with the cash drawer in order to be in position to fire those shots.

Okay, it was possible. Barely. She didn’t want to believe it. Nicki chewed on her bottom lip. Anyone witnessing a murder would run away. That didn’t make Alex a killer.

Did it?

“Try, Ms. Michaels. Try real hard.”

She glared at the policeman and decided even if she had seen the murder with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have said so to this bully. Thad Osher made her skin crawl. She didn’t like the way he almost leered whenever their paths crossed. He seemed to think he was irresistible to women, but he made her feel dirty and undressed.

“I’m sorry. I just can’t say for sure.”

She stared at Alex. A pang of loss held her transfixed. She’d thought him unbearably sexy at nineteen. Cocky. Sure of himself. Running all over town on that secondhand motorcycle he’d bought. Refusing to let the scandal surrounding his father’s death touch him, despite all the whispers and pointed fingers. Alex had been bitter and angry as a teenager, but he’d never been anything but kind to her.

She’d never forgotten the day he’d picked wildflowers for her down by Trouble Lake. He’d talked about his dreams for the future. A future that hadn’t included a sixteen-year-old girlfriend, she’d finally realized. Back then, she’d been so sure he’d return for her one day. But he never had.

Osher brought his fist down on his thigh in a gesture of frustration. “Did you see the guy or not?”

She looked into his glittering eyes and wanted to run. Instead she squared her shoulders defiantly. “Badgering me isn’t going to change a thing, Sergeant. I told you what I saw. I’ve looked at your suspects. Now, I need to open my shop.”

He stood too close. Nicki decided he had mean eyes. She fought down an instinctive need to back away and held her ground. Sergeant Osher was the type to take advantage of any perceived weakness.

“You know, Ms. Michaels, once the word gets out there was a witness, that shop might not be a safe place for a woman like you.”

A trace of fear mixed with her loathing. “Are you threatening me, Sergeant?”

His eyes flickered. “Not at all. Call it a friendly warning. You’ll be a lot safer once the murderer is behind bars.”

“Then I suggest you find him.”

She half expected him to grab her arm as she stalked from the room, but he didn’t. She could feel twin spots of color on her cheeks as she strode quickly past Carolyn. The pretty receptionist, who also served as the police dispatcher, watched with a frowning expression of concern. Another time Nicki would have stopped to chat. Now, she just wanted to escape.

Nicki hung on to her haughty pose as she left the building and stepped into the wilting heat and humidity of the August sunshine. She was trembling with reaction, so furious she couldn’t think straight.

How dare he threaten her? Because no matter what he said, Osher’s words had been a threat. He was supposed to be a police officer. One of the men who protected the people. But he was the kind of man who gave policemen a bad reputation. How could his wife stand to be around him?

Nicki clung to her anger as she crossed the street and walked briskly past the General Store. Bianca Tooley waved to her from inside the post office a minute later. Nicki didn’t pause to talk with the lonely woman as she often did. All she wanted was the sanctuary of her safe little store.

Seeing Alex again had brought back all sorts of memories. Hot nights and even hotter kisses. He’d been the town’s bad boy and her first lover. And she’d cried enough tears to overflow Trouble Lake when he left. But Alex had never once looked back, just as he’d sworn. As far as she knew, this was the first time in all those years that he’d ever returned to town. He hadn’t even come home for his mother’s funeral. Was he here now because of his sister?

Ironically, Kayla was engaged to marry a D.C. police officer. And according to Mildred Kitteridge over at the General Store, the town council had approved Chief Hepplewhite’s request to hire more help. Alex’s soon-to-be brother-in-law was about to become the second in command of the Fools Point police force.

Could Alex really have killed a man in cold blood?

The question plagued her all day long as she taught a decoupage class, a knitting class, and two ceramic classes between waiting on customers. By the time the last brush had been cleaned, the last jar of glaze put away, and the large kiln loaded and turned on, Nicki was more than ready for an early night.

She ate dinner without tasting a bite. She was too edgy to settle down with her needlepoint project. Her cat stropped her leg in sympathy.

“Thanks, Ginger. If only Ilona would call so I could be sure she’s okay.” But the telephone remained obstinately silent.

Ginger parrumphed and butted her lightly. Nicki scratched behind the cat’s ears, then went to check the locks. She drew a tub of steamy water and added the new bath oil she’d been meaning to try. The scent really did remind her of gardenias.

Lighting several fat candles, she piled her hair on top of her head, selected a bottle of wine from the refrigerator and picked up her novel. She would read and soak and dispel these useless memories that had haunted her all day.

Less than twenty minutes later, she knew it was no use. She simply couldn’t keep her mind on the printed pages. The story deserved her attention, but thoughts of Alex kept intruding. He was a mature man now. Still cocky and full of swaggering confidence, and still irresistibly attractive.

Maybe Hope was right. Nicki was turning into a spinster. She’d even started talking to her cat. Smiling, she patted herself dry and pulled on her long satin robe.

“I wonder if other single women like satin lingerie and sleep in the nude, Ginger.” The cat raised her head inquiringly from the rug. Seeing no food in the offing, she curled again and closed her eyes. Cats had their priorities straight.

Nicki refilled her glass and settled down to watch the news. When she found herself almost nodding off, she turned off the TV and the light. Going to the front window that looked out over Main Street, she paused. Her heart began to pound. Was there someone standing in the shadows beside the appliance store once again?

Nicki stared so hard her eyes began to burn, but no one and nothing moved. It must have been her imagination. There wasn’t anyone there. Still, she remained standing for several more minutes just watching to be certain.

Feeling a bit foolish, she rechecked her door locks and headed for the bedroom. Maybe she and Ginger should get a dog. A large dog, like Spider, the Labrador retriever Bianca Tooley always kept at her side.

Good grief. Hope was more right than she knew. Nicki was turning into Miss Tooley.

Nicki tossed her robe over the nightstand and climbed into bed. Was Ilona safe? Had Alex Coughlin really walked up to a car in the alley and shot a man in cold blood?

Her last thought was that she hoped not.

The dream began with a memory. Alex’s soft kisses slowly awakened her passion. His arms held her, the way only his arms ever had. But now they were a man’s arms. Hard. Protective.

She was dreaming and she knew it, but she clung to the dream, not wanting to wake. She was on the brink of something wonderful. She tried to ignore the sense of wrongness that disturbed the dream and tugged at her half-conscious brain.

The creak of the floorboard next to her bed snapped her eyes open. Too late, she felt the presence inside the room. A hand came out of the darkness to clamp over her mouth.

“Don’t scream.”

Chapter Two

Terror gripped her. Nicki struggled, but she was pinned beneath the weight of her attacker, tangled in her sheet.

“Nicki, stop it!”

The low growl brought an instant halt to her struggles. Though she tried to make out his features in the darkness, she couldn’t. But never in a million years would she forget that voice. She stopped moving. Stopped breathing.

“Alex?”

“I think you broke my nose.”

The adrenaline seeped from her body. Badly shaken, she lay beneath him while a myriad of remembered emotions assaulted her. She selected anger and drew it on like a cloak.

How dare he scare her like this?

“Get off me!”

She shoved as hard as she could. Alex rolled away from her in the darkness. When she would have reached for the light switch, he stopped her, gripping her hand firmly.

“No lights.”

“Why not? What do you mean coming in here scaring me half to death in the middle of the night? Who do you think you are?”

“Your first lover?”

The words charged the silence with an arc of electricity that should have been visible to the naked eye.

“You bastard,” she said quietly.

“Not technically.” He stood up and sighed. “I’m sorry, Nicki. That was uncalled for.”

“Yes. It was.” She braced herself on her hands, halfway to a sitting position. “What are you doing here, Alex?”

In the darkness of the room, she sensed him rocking back on his heels. “Tonight? I need to know why Osher thinks you are an eyewitness to the murder last night.”

Hurt primed her anger, pushing aside all the other emotions. Even though it was too dark to make out more than shapes and shadows in the room, she covered her bare breasts with the sheet and sat up, suddenly all too aware that she was naked beneath the thin bit of linen.

“Why don’t you go ask him? He has my statement.”

The whistle of Alex’s pent-up breath was loud in the silent room.

“I’ve done all the talking with Osher that I plan to do. Talk to me, Nicki,” he coaxed. “Tell me what you saw last night.”

There had been a time when she would have told him anything. Everything. A time when she would have cheerfully lied for him or worse. But she wasn’t sixteen any more and he wasn’t the brash young Alex Coughlin she’d loved so desperately.

No. Now he was the brash mature Alex Coughlin. And that made him twice as dangerous.

“Get out of my house, Alex.”

“I can’t do that, Nicki. You were in your shop last night. You would have had to break speed records to get upstairs to your apartment before those shots were fired. That means you didn’t see the crime. Unless you opened the back door. Is that what you did, Nicki?”

“How do you know what I was doing last night?”

“You know the answer to that,” he said after a moment.

“I want to hear your version.”

He sat down on the bed, much too close to her. She could feel the heat of him against her hip right through the sheet. A heat she would have welcomed with open arms once upon a time.

“No games, Nic. This is too important.”

“I’d say so. A man died last night.”

“Yes. Now exactly what did you see?”

Nervously, she tugged on the sheet, aware that his eyes tracked the movement despite the darkness of the room.

“Why don’t you tell me what you were doing here last night. Tell me why you were watching my shop. Why last night when you’ve been in town for months?”

“You knew that?”

“That you were back?” She hoped he didn’t hear the pain she tried to bury deep in her heart. “Have you been gone so long you’ve forgotten what it’s like to live in a small town, Alex? I knew you were back an hour after you breezed in on that motorcycle, acting like the world owed you big time. I can’t believe you’re still thumbing your nose at the police. I would have thought you’d have outgrown that phase years ago. Think your father would be proud?”

The carefully chosen barb struck its target. She heard his indrawn hiss. He reached forward suddenly and grabbed her forearms in a grip she couldn’t break.

The moment his rough palms touched her skin, her body seemed to go wild. The rush of sensual memories mixed with an undercurrent of new fear. Why had she pushed him? Ilona had described the murderer clearly. Alex fit the killer’s description right down to the clothes he’d been wearing.

“You always did have more guts than brains,” he said softly. “Let’s leave my father out of this. I haven’t got a lot of time right now. Tell me what you saw.”

Fear raised the hair on her forearms. Alex could kill her right here and no one would know. There wasn’t a thing she could do to stop him. The implacable hardness she sensed in him went deeper than she would have thought. Where was the young man she had loved so desperately? Didn’t any of him remain?

“I’m not telling you anything.” She refused to be cowed by Alex. Part of her didn’t believe he would harm her no matter how much he’d changed. But there was another part that wasn’t quite so certain.

“Stubborn. My God, you’re stubborn.” His hand stroked her cheek. The caress made her shiver. “But you’re still as soft as midnight.”

“Don’t.”

“Why not? It’s true.”

She didn’t want to respond to his touch, but it would have been easier to stop breathing. She stared into the darkness of his eyes and tried not to want him anymore.

“We aren’t the same people, Alex.” But the remembered feel of his hands on her was erasing time and stirring forgotten yearnings to life.

“Yes we are.”

His mouth descended, covering hers. Firm, hard lips demanded a response. For an instant, she yielded. Only, this wasn’t the kiss of her dreams, or even the kiss of her memory. This was an assault of raw, hard passion.

Nicki went still, even though her body clamored in instant recognition.

Alex broke away the moment he realized she wasn’t reciprocating. Rife with self-loathing, he leaned back, running a hand through hair that was already tangled and windblown from his ride over here.

What was he doing? For one crazed second, the exotic scent of her had driven him over some edge. He’d lost control in a way he hadn’t done since that summer all those years ago. One taste. One incredible taste, and it was fifteen years ago all over again. He wanted her with a longing that stunned him.

Alex stood and stepped away from the bed. Now he was the one who was shaking. He slicked his hands down his jeans, trying to still the crazy waves of desire that demanded more.

He’d always had excellent night vision, so despite the darkness, he saw how wide her eyes were. Wide and accusing. The sheet had slipped to reveal most of one rounded breast. She’d wrapped her arms tightly around her middle. She was still shaking as well, he realized.

“What do you want, Alex?”

The soft question lashed him with the barbs of her fear. He’d scared her.

Alex cursed. He felt dirty—like he’d never be clean again. The months of rough living were taking their toll. He was so tired of it all. Staring at her, he couldn’t help but feel he’d just soiled something important. The thought wouldn’t go away. He couldn’t afford to care, but he did.

“Thad Osher wants my neck in a noose, Nicki,” he said quietly. “He doesn’t care what he has to do to put it there.”

“Was it something you said?”

A tremor lay beneath her sweetly mocking voice. He hated knowing he had put it there. But he was secretly relieved that she wasn’t backing down. She had spunk. He should have remembered that about her. She never had backed away from anything. Not even when running with “that Coughlin boy” was the sort of reputation a nice girl didn’t want.

“Nicki, I’m sorry. I know you won’t believe this, but I’ve stayed away for good reason. In fact, I wouldn’t have come to see you at all if—”

“Gee thanks, that’s just what a woman wants to hear.”

“—you hadn’t begged me.”

He’d hurt her again, and he hadn’t meant to.

“What did you say?!” she demanded.

She yanked on the sheet, holding it beneath her chin as she sat up straighter. The action only drew his attention to the womanly shape of her. He’d wanted her when she was jailbait. Pure poison for a boy whose father was labeled a thief and a murderer. And he wanted her now when he was perilously close to being branded himself.

“Why did you call, Nicki? What do you want from me?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wouldn’t call you in a million years.”

He wished he dared turn on a light. Her words sounded so sincere. What was she trying to pull?

A possibility exploded in his mind. He hated the very idea. But. Was there the slightest chance Nicki had been trying to set him up?

His Nicki? No. She’d never do that. But she wasn’t his anymore. Hadn’t been his for a very long time. She’d been in love with him once. And what did they say about a woman scorned?

For crying out loud! Nicki wasn’t like that. Was he going to start seeing bogeymen around every corner?

But what did he really know about her anymore?

He couldn’t turn loose of that thought. Maybe she’d known Thorton Biggs. They could even have been lovers for all he knew. Hadn’t he wondered why the man had driven into that alley last night? So much would be explained if Biggs had come there to see her.

The truth was, for all Alex knew, she’d killed Biggs herself and set Alex in place to take the fall. He might not like the idea, but he couldn’t dismiss it on the basis of what had happened between them fifteen years ago.

“So you wouldn’t call me in a million years, huh?” Her taunt rankled. “Well, I’m sure the feeling is mutual, but the fact is, you did call, Nicki. You said we had to talk, and like a fool, I agreed.”

Tired from too little sleep and the stress of the last few months, he was suddenly angry. Nicki had been the only good thing he could remember about Fools Point, and she’d used their relationship to set him up.

“You asked me to meet you at five minutes after nine behind your shop,” he snapped. “In fact, you pleaded—quite fetchingly. Ring any bells?”

“No!”

He ignored her protest, warming to his theme. The memory of that phone call was sharp and clear. She had called him.

“I came early. Don’t pretend you didn’t see me standing across the street.”

He’d known the moment that she saw him. He’d leaned back against the rough bricks and simply watched her. Anticipation had brought him there early. Caution had kept him waiting. He should have paid more attention to the caution.

“The way you kept watching me, I figured you couldn’t wait for a trip down memory lane,” he said, waiting to see how she’d react.

“In your dreams!”

“Fantasies.” He lowered his voice. “You were always part of my fantasies, remember, Nic? I never forgot. I almost walked across the street early, but you said to meet outside. I figured it was shades of yesterday. You wanted to see me, but you didn’t want anyone in town to know it was me you were seeing.” And that still stung.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I never called you. And if you’ll recall, it was you who insisted we keep our relationship quiet fifteen years ago. I didn’t care who knew about us.”

Her voice sounded wounded, but he knew she was lying about the phone call. What he needed to discover was why.

“Except your father.”

Nicki winced.

“You’ve really perfected that innocent act, Nic. Only it won’t work. We both know just how innocent you aren’t.”

Her fist bunched on the sheet. “Yes, we do.”

Were those tears in her eyes? Anger drained away. What was he doing? This was all wrong. They shouldn’t be wounding each other like this.

“Get out of here, Alex,” she said with quiet dignity. “I never want to see you again.”

The calm words nicked his heart with another barb of guilt. He clenched his jaw and unballed his own fists. This was no good. They were dicing each other to ribbons. What if things weren’t what they seemed? Come to that, what in his world was what it seemed anymore?

“Don’t lie to me, Nicki.”

She stared at him in silence.

Alex ran a hand through his hair again. He wasn’t sure when he’d started hating his life, but he was damn sure things had to change soon.

“Did you know Thorton Biggs?”

She didn’t respond.

“Did you kill him, Nic?” That at least provoked a reaction.

“How dare you! I covered for you today. I was such a fool that I told them I couldn’t identify anyone. I should have told them the truth. I should have told them how you came running out of that alley. But I didn’t. I’m so stupid, I didn’t.”

Tears were thick in her voice. He reached for her, but she drew back against the headboard. With an oath, he walked over to her bedroom window, disgusted with himself. He pushed the hair back from his face and stared out at the night.

“I didn’t kill Thorton, Nicki. We were…acquaintances.”

“Fellow gang members?”

He didn’t look toward her. “Call it what you like. I ran behind your shop when I heard the shots. Someone had climbed over the fence right before I got there. He was disappearing into the trees when I saw him. I tried to go after him, but I got caught on the fence and he had too much of a head start, so I went to check Thorton. It was obvious he was beyond help. I knew what would happen if they caught me there, so I ran in the opposite direction.”

“Why tell me? Tell Sergeant Osher.”

Alex snorted. “Think he’d listen, let alone believe? Look, I’m sorry Nicki.” For so many things. “I don’t want to believe you set me up—”

“How nice of you.”

“—but you asked me to come or I never would have set foot anywhere near you.”

“You mentioned that fact.”

He cursed under his breath. She didn’t understand, and he was in no position to explain.

“Look, are you going tell me why you called me or not?”

“I did not call you.”

Nicki crossed her arms over her chest defiantly. The sheet slipped dangerously low. Distracted, he stared at her in the darkness.

“What the devil are you wearing?” he growled. He knew quite well that the large expanse of skin was angel soft to the touch. There was nothing wrong with his memory—or his imagination.

“Nothing.”

Alex cursed again. She knew just how to bait him. Her virginal body had been so softly lush, rounded in gentle curves that made a young man’s hands itch to explore. The last vestiges of baby fat had been starting to disappear. Those vestiges were completely gone now, but the curves were still there, honed and slimmed to a more mature, but no less desirable look. He had watched her figure last night, even when he told himself he was being a fool. Watched and wanted, when it was the last thing he should have been doing.

But any man would look at Nicki. The smart ones would go back for a second look.

“Go away Alex. I don’t want you here.”

Her words snapped his mind back to business. This was no time to let the past intrude. “Thank you for not telling Osher you saw me. If you had, I’d still be in jail.”

“He arrested you?” She snapped her mouth shut as if regretting that he’d provoked a response.

“Maybe you haven’t noticed, Nicki, but Thad Osher isn’t a real nice guy. He’s got a chip on his shoulder a mile wide. And that chip has my name on it.”

“Why?”

Alex paused. “Now, that’s a real good question.”

He hadn’t really considered it before. He and Osher had clashed from day one, but it hadn’t really occurred to Alex to wonder why. Now he thought about that. He was going to have to take a much closer look at Thad Osher.

Obviously, Nicki wasn’t going to tell him why she’d called. Maybe he was a fool, but he couldn’t believe that her purpose had been to set him up. She wasn’t that good an actress, and there’d be no reason. Just lousy timing all around. He’d better find Vic Unsdorf and see if Thorton’s murder was rumored to be a gang hit for some infraction.

Something brushed his leg in the darkness. Alex kicked out and spun, his hand going for a weapon.

“Don’t you dare hurt my cat!”

The small animal had sidestepped quickly. Alex was instantly relieved that he hadn’t injured the little thing. Undaunted, the cat came forward and stropped his legs a second time. He bent and lifted the animal, whose white furred areas stood out even in the dark. Eyes glowed from some reflected light source.

“Sorry, kitty. You startled me.” He scratched its head and it began to purr in his arms. “You always did want a cat. What’s its name?”

“Ginger.” Nicki said it as if she was reluctant to tell him even that much.

“Hello, Ginger.” He stroked its silky fur, reminded of Nicki’s soft hair. That thought sent him walking over to set the animal on Nicki’s bed.

Time to get out of here.

“I’m sorry, Nic. I never wanted to hurt you, but it seems that’s all I’ve ever done. Your dad was right about us all those years ago. We were way too young. And now it’s much too late. Have a good life.”

He strode from the room without waiting for a response. Funny how much regret was eating at his soul. The past should never be allowed to haunt a man like this.

Nicki bit her lip to keep from calling him back. She’d never felt more confused in all her life. Why did Alex insist she’d called him? And what did he mean about her father? The two of them had never even met.

What difference did any of it make now? Alex wasn’t the boy of her dreams or the man she’d hoped he’d turn into. He was a bitter, angry man who probably regretted ever giving her a second look.

Ginger butted her hand, mewing softly in a bid for attention. Nicki stroked her absently while she wondered how Alex had gotten inside her apartment. The question nagged her out of bed. She reached for her robe and went from room to room checking doors and even the small windows. All were still locked, yet Alex was gone. Had he materialized from her dream?

She lay down again, but it was a long time before she fell asleep. Her dreams had turned to nightmares.

IN THE EARLY morning hours, Nicki drove out to her father’s horse farm. The property lay just beyond the much larger, wealthier Huntington Horse Farm. For years, the Huntingtons had been trying to get her father to sell out to them, but Bernie Michaels had a streak of stubborn that ran all the way to the core of his being. Despite the heart ailment that had caused him to cut way back on his activities, he still managed the farm and his family with a will of iron.

Nicki found her sister, Hope, in the kitchen clearing away the remains of breakfast.

“Hey!” Hope greeted. “Did you find my bracelet?”

“Good morning to you, too. I forgot to look. The car’s out front if you want to check.”

“You forgot to look?” Hope’s eyes danced merrily.

“In case you haven’t heard, a man was shot and killed behind my store. The police had the area sealed off until yesterday afternoon.”

Hope gaped at her. “What man?”

“Someone named Thorton Biggs.” Nicki walked over and closed the forgotten dishwasher.

“I haven’t heard a newscast in days, Nicki. Do they know who killed him?”

“Thad Osher thinks it was Alex Coughlin. Osher arrested him for questioning.”

Her sister gripped the edge of the table. “Oh, no! He couldn’t have! Osher’s wrong. Alex wouldn’t kill anyone.”

Nicki eyed her sister. “Funny, that’s what Alex says. But why would you say that? You don’t even know Alex.”

“No, but you used to like him.” Hope wouldn’t meet her eyes. “So you did get to talk to him?”

“Briefly.” She wasn’t about to tell her sister about her discussion with Alex. While puzzled by Hope’s initial reaction, she didn’t have a lot of time this morning for prying answers from her sister. Hope took after her father when it came to sheer cussed stubbornness.

“Where’s Dad?”

“Getting Big Man ready to take over to the Huntingtons. He’s going to cover one of their mares. What about Alex?”

“What about Alex?”

Her sister shifted, looking uncomfortable.

“Why all the concern about Alex?”

Her sister wouldn’t meet her eyes. “You used to be in love with him. Remember when you’d sneak out and meet him?”

“Some things are best forgotten,” Nicki said firmly. “Alex is one of them.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“Yes. I do.”