Eyewitness - Carol Ericson Mills & Boon Intrigue

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Once she told him about Michael, would he feel obligated to stay and try to work things out? The man already had enough pressure.

      “Maybe.” He stretched his long legs in front of him and his arms over his head. “Your little one is out. You should get him to bed.”

      She peered at the sun dipping into the ocean, one orange crescent floating on a dark blue ripple. “It’s dinner time. He’s going to have to wake up to eat.”

      Kieran pushed up from his chair and crossed to hers in two long steps. He held out his arms. “Do you want me to carry him back to your car?”

      “I have a better idea. Your parents’ place is just down the street, and I know where they keep the key.”

      She shifted, and Kieran bent over, arms still outstretched to take Michael.

      “Are you sure?”

      “Are you sure? Will he freak out if he wakes up and I’m carrying him?”

      Devon gulped. Maybe not if he knew you were his father.

      “He’s a pretty heavy sleeper. I think he’ll be okay.”

      Kieran slid his arms beneath Michael’s body, one under his back and the other behind his knees. Devon released her son to his father for the first time ever.

      Straightening, Kieran hoisted Michael in his arms and secured him against his broad chest.

      Devon blinked her eyes and dipped her head, allowing her hair to create a veil over her face. She had to tell him. The knowledge might mess with his mind even more, but it might help him, give him something to live for…because she wasn’t enough for him anymore.

      “Lead the way.”

      The fact that she was guiding Kieran to his parents’ house created another level of unreality to this day. Why had Columbella House imprinted itself on his memory instead of his family home? A tiny flame of hope flickered in her chest. Was it because of her? Because of what they’d shared in that house, in that now burned-out room?

      She held the side gate open for Kieran and Michael snug in his arms. “Let’s stop at my car first. I want to grab my purse. You can wait here.”

      “I’ll come with you. Michael’s as light as a feather.”

      Their feet crunched the gravel as they walked single file on the road around the bend to the lookout. Her car sat all by itself. The other two people hadn’t stayed for the sunset after all.

      As she approached her car, she tilted her head. “Why’s my car listing to one side?”

      Kieran swore. “Because your tires have been slashed.”

      Chapter Three

      Hot anger raced across her skin and she clenched her hands. “Are you kidding me?”

      “Your back window is broken, too.” Shifting Michael in his arms, Kieran crouched in the broken glass as he peered into the gaping window. “Did they take anything?”

      With shaking hands, Devon beeped her remote and yanked open the passenger-side door. Bending over, she felt under the seat for her small handbag. “My purse is gone.”

      “Did you lose much?”

      “Besides my faith in the sanctity of small towns?” She kicked at the pebbles of glass on the ground. “I lost my driver’s license and a little cash. Luckily I didn’t have my whole wallet in there with all my credit cards and other ID.”

      “You shouldn’t leave your purse in the car like that.”

      She stamped her foot, scattering bits of her car window. “I hid it under the seat. And why did he have to add insult to injury and slash two of my tires?”

      “Maybe to slow your pursuit.”

      “Yeah, like I’m going to pursue some thief.”

      “You have to call the cops.” He pointed to the floor of her car. “Or was your cell phone in your purse?”

      She patted the pocket of her shorts. “Right here. If I call the cops and they find you here, you’re going to cause a sensation. Are you ready for that?”

      He shrugged. “Where would I go?”

      “Go to your folks’ house, and take Michael with you.” She brushed a strand of brown hair from Michael’s forehead. “I don’t want him waking up and finding the cops. I don’t want him to see my car.”

      “And I don’t want to leave you here on your own, especially after this.” He jerked his head toward the mess of her car.

      “I’ll be fine.” She’d tried but couldn’t quash the tremor in her voice. She didn’t want to stand out on the road waiting for the cops, either. “But if you insist, you can watch me from the corner of Columbella House until the cops come and then I’ll have them drop me off at your parents’ house.”

      “Uh, where is my parents’ house, and what if Michael wakes up while you’re gone?”

      “I’d rather Michael be a little frightened by someone he’s already talked to than have him see the police again and the condition of this car.”

      She told Kieran how to get to his own house and told him where his parents kept the key. Then she called the cops.

      Kieran retreated to the edge of Columbella House with Michael secure in his arms. The two of them looked so natural together she almost smiled, even though neither knew the other’s identity.

      She’d have to remedy that…and soon.

      When one Coral Cove police unit pulled up to the lookout, lights flashing, Devon knew she’d made the right decision to send Michael off with his father. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the two of them slip into the shadows.

      A young officer swung out of the patrol car, hand on his holster as if he expected to find the suspect, knife in hand. Of course, the police were probably still on edge after the murders last month, even though the perpetrator had died in that fire at Columbella.

      “Devon Reese, is that you?”

      “Clark?” She recognized the officer now. He’d been a few years behind her in school. “Wow, you’re a cop now.”

      “Yeah, too bad your dad’s not chief anymore.” His cheeks reddened. “Not that I don’t like Chief Evans.”

      “I heard Chief Evans might be leaving. That’s what my brother told me anyway, and he’s interested in the job.”

      “That’d be great to have another Chief Reese in town.” He aimed his finger at her car. “What happened? I can’t believe any kids are responsible for this. Do you think it could’ve been a tourist? A stranger passing through?”

      Her mind flitted to the white van. Is that why the man had been watching Michael? To make sure he had time to steal her purse?

      “I don’t know. I saw a silver sedan and a white van parked next to my car when Mi… I went down to the beach.”

      “Did you get a plate?”

      “No.”

      Clark tried to lift some prints from the car, but it didn’t look like he was having much luck. He took down a description of her purse and the cars and told her to get a car alarm installed.

      “Do you need a tow?”

      “I already called Gary’s shop in town. He’s going to come out and get it. In the meantime, can you drop me off at the Roarkes’ house up the street?”

      “Sure. You shouldn’t be hanging around Columbella House, anyway. My girlfriend said she saw lights in the house the other night.”

      Kieran’s lights?

      “I’m glad

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