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Choking, Michelle hid her face in her hands. “They don’t know who did it? How’d you get involved?”
“No. A buddy of mine on the Las Vegas P.D. called me because he saw the Coral Cove connection. Thought I might have known her, but she started at CCHS after I graduated. I didn’t think much about it until Tiffany Gunderson fell down that elevator shaft in San Francisco. I knew the Gunderson family, so I recognized the name.”
“But Tiffany’s death was an accident, wasn’t it?”
“I figured it was when I first heard about it, but I thought it was a weird coincidence that two young women from the same small-town high school had died violent deaths less than a month apart. So I contacted the SFPD about Tiffany’s accident, and suddenly the two deaths didn’t look like a coincidence.”
“Why?” Michelle drew her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs to keep them from bouncing.
“Both women graduated the same year…and there were rose petals in the elevator shaft.”
Michelle leaned her forehead on her knees, not even minding the pain from her bruises. “So the FBI sent you back home to investigate?”
Colin cleared his throat. “Not exactly.”
Turning her head to the side, Michelle asked, “What does that mean?”
“Technically, I’m on vacation. The FBI didn’t send me here.”
“Great. So this is all off the record and below the radar?”
“That’s right.”
“But now that the killer has struck again, this could be a case for the FBI. A serial killer in different states? Sounds like a job for the Feds to me.”
Colin stretched his arms above his head and yawned, and Michelle’s gaze dropped to the muscles shifting across his chest and bunching his shoulders. He looked even better than he had as a cocky teenager.
“It might be a job for the Feds, but not necessarily for this Fed. The FBI doesn’t usually assign agents to cases in their hometowns.”
“What are you going to do?” Michelle sucked in a breath and held it. She didn’t want another agent on the case. She wanted Colin Roarke to stay right here in Coral Cove. In fact, she wanted him camping outside her house.
The corner of his mouth lifted. “I’m staying on vacation in Coral Cove, but I can use a little help since I won’t be with my regular partner. Do you have any idea why someone might be killing the female graduates of your class?”
“Me?” Michelle’s voice squeaked in a totally embarrassing manner. “You want my help?”
He tapped the side of his head. “You were the smartest girl in your class. Can you think of any reason why these three were targeted?”
“I have no idea. Tiffany and Amanda hung out with the same crowd and were both cheerleaders, but Belinda wasn’t really part of that group.” She slid her legs from beneath her and propped her feet on the coffee table. “Besides, you’re asking the wrong CCHS Dolphin. I didn’t hang with that crowd, either, and I don’t know what they might have been into. I didn’t become Amanda’s friend until later.”
“But you know who was in that clique. Can you give me a list of names?”
“Sure.” Michelle’s heart skipped a few beats at the thought of helping Colin with this case. She wanted Amanda’s killer brought to justice, and she had every confidence Colin was the man to do it.
Colin pointed to the weak light pressing against the front windows. “We’ve been up all night. I don’t know about you, but I usually need some sleep before I can function. Will you be okay here alone?”
“I’ll be fine.” Michelle scrambled from the couch. “Like you said, it’s morning, and once the news of Amanda’s murder gets out, Coral Cove Drive is going to resemble Grand Central Station. I probably won’t be alone here for days.”
“That’s a good thing.” Colin snapped his gun bag around his waist and shuffled toward the door. Grabbing the handle he turned and she almost ran into his chest. “Be careful, Michelle. You may not have run with that bunch, but you graduated with them.”
Michelle twisted her fingers in front of her. “I’ll be careful, and you need to find Amanda’s killer. She didn’t deserve that.” She waved a hand toward the street, tears pooling in her eyes, her nose stinging.
Colin hugged her, drawing her head onto his comfortable shoulder. Closing her eyes, Michelle wound her arms around his waist. He smelled tangy and fresh like the sea.
She mumbled into his chest. “Thanks for everything, Colin. I don’t think I could’ve gotten through this night without you.”
He drew back and wiped a tear from her face with the rough pad of his thumb. “I don’t know. I think I might have added to your grief and pain.”
“No. If I’m going to help Amanda, I need to know everything. And if I’m a target for this maniac, I need to know that, too.”
“You’ve turned into quite a woman, Michelle Girard.” He touched his finger to her nose, dropped it to her lips and then stepped into the overcast morning.
A few hours of fitful sleep later, Michelle stumbled into her bathroom to shower and then changed into a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. The events of last night seemed like a dream, and she crept to her front window to make sure it had all really happened.
She staggered and clutched the windowsill as the reality of Amanda’s murder hit her like a wrecking ball to the gut. A crowd of people ringed the police tape, staring at the bloodstain on the street. Amanda’s blood.
She wanted to scream at them, shoo away the vultures. While she’d been sleeping, she’d heard her doorbell ring and a few knocks on the door. They’d question her endlessly about last night.
Michelle rubbed her eyes and retreated to her kitchen, where she cooked some eggs and made toast. Once she’d eaten, she wrapped her hands around a cup of steaming tea and tiptoed to her front door again and peeked out the window.
People still mingled in the street, forming clutches of gossip groups and then breaking apart to form new groups. Michelle took a few steadying breaths before opening her front door. She’d have to face them sooner or later.
She stepped onto her front porch, taking a sip of fragrant, hot tea. The overcast morning looked a little brighter than it had the past few weeks, giving hope that the sun might struggle through today. Would Colin have another look at Columbella House by the light of day? She wanted to be there with him.
She squinted as a news van parked on the street. The newshounds sure hadn’t wasted any time. A man scrambled from the passenger side of the van and waved his hands over his head.
“Ms. Girard! Can we talk to you?”
“No!” She stepped forward, cupping her hand around her mouth and yelled again. “No!”
As her bare feet moved to the edge of her porch, her toes met some damp leaves. She glanced down. She gasped and dropped her cup.
The brown tea sailed through the air, splashing her feet…and scattering rose petals.
CHAPTER FOUR
MICHELLE STIFLED A SCREAM. She didn’t want the reporter to notice anything. Her heavy ceramic cup, its handle chipped, rocked back and forth on the porch. She crouched down, her toes inches from the petals clinging to the damp wood.
She snatched up her scarred cup and swung around, ready to grab a broom and sweep the petals from her porch. She halted midturn and closed her eyes. Evidence. Those petals represented more evidence for Colin. Not that he wouldn’t believe her, but she wanted him to see them with his own eyes.
She wanted to see him with her own eyes.
“Good morning, Michelle. Are you okay?”
Michelle looked up at the sidewalk. Tyler, Mayor Tyler Davis, plowed through the little gate, ignoring the reporters, and strode up the path, his arms swinging purposefully by his sides.
Michelle shuffled closer to the petals as if to protect them from Tyler’s wingtips. He still hadn’t figured out that he was the mayor of a small beachside town, not a big city.
“Hello, Tyler.” She curled her fingers around the chipped mug handle, the rough edge biting into her hand. “I still can’t believe it happened.”
“Amanda should’ve never left Sergeant Stewart.” He shook his head.
Michelle’s nostrils flared and her fingers tightened on the cup’s handle. “You’re not blaming Amanda for getting murdered, are you?”
“Of course not. But if she’d…” He eyed Michelle’s face, so tight she felt as if one quick grimace would shatter it. Tyler waved his hands. “It’s a terrible business, and you were so close you could’ve witnessed the whole thing if the fog hadn’t been so thick last night.”
A tingle traced a line up her spine and she hunched her shoulders. “I couldn’t see a thing. I just can’t believe it.”
“Not great timing for the summer rush, either.”
“You did not just say that.”
“Say what?”
Michelle jerked her head up and relief spread through her body like a drug. The news van was pulling away and Colin latched the gate behind him, crowding Tyler on the first step.
Tyler shuffled a few steps to the side.
Michelle leveled a finger at Tyler. “Mayor Davis here thinks Amanda’s murder is bad timing for the summer tourist season.”
Colin raised his brows and stared down at Tyler’s reddening face.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Michelle.” He thrust out his hand toward Colin. “Good to see you back in town, Roarke. Do you remember me?”
Colin clasped Tyler’s hand. “Sure, I remember the Davis family. You own a bunch of property downtown.”
“That’s right. Still do.” Tyler brushed a speck of dust from his sleeve. “I’m the mayor of Coral Cove now.”
“Are you here in an official capacity, Mayor?”
“Official?” Tyler rubbed his chin as if thinking it over. “Everything in Coral Cove is my business, but I’m here as a friend to Michelle.”
Michelle pursed her lips. She’d always figured Tyler had constituents, not friends. And right now the only friend she needed was Colin. She shifted her eyes to the damp rose petals still clinging to the porch. Then she blew out a breath.
“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.
