wouldn’t let these memories hurt her. He watched as she stared into his eyes a moment, seemingly garnering the strength to go on from the gentle expression there. He saw her nod her head, ever so slightly.
“Do you know that song; ‘I’ll be seeing you’?” she asked, her incredible eyes locking with and holding his once again. He felt his breath hitch in his throat. She seemed so lost, so damned fragile.
“Of course,” he replied. “I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places …” he stopped short when the words actually hit home. Christ. It was a frigging stalkers anthem!
Katherine nodded briskly, “He started playing that song over the phone. He would play it over and over, and then whisper that I belonged to him…only to him.” Her body was trembling all over now, and Cole’s jaw tightened, trying desperately to keep his needs at bay. “The police couldn’t help. I mean, they did what they could, but without knowing who he was, their hands were tied. And he was so very smart. He knew how to keep himself hidden. I…I tried to have a life, but it was impossible when you lived in constant fear. I made the mistake of going to the movies once with a boy from school in my senior year,” she said, her voice barely audible. “I just wanted to be normal. I wanted to be young, and he asked me...”
“What happened?”
“After he dropped me off, someone… someone ran his car off of the road and into a ditch. He was banged up pretty badly.” She took an unsteady breath, forcing herself to go on. “A CD with my name written on it was found in the front seat of his car.”
Cole’s entire body tensed. Fuck ! “I’ll be seeing you,” he stated in a whoosh of breath. What kind of sick piece of shit had been after her?
She nodded, more tears sliding down her cheeks now, and Cole found that he desperately wanted to kiss them away; to taste the sweet, saltiness of her skin. He silently battled with himself not to do just that, and took a deep, cleansing breath. “Why do you think that after all this time, it’s the same person? Are you certain that it couldn’t possibly just be an ex? What about the boy that you dated? Could he be playing some kind of sick revenge game? Perhaps, in a roundabout way, he blames you for the accident.”
“No, Alex was…well, his leg was broken, and it just never stopped…” She shook her head again. Not wanting to go there. “Besides, we didn’t date. I only went out with him that once. I can’t explain it, Detective. I just know it’s him. It’s the exact same feeling that I had for three years. Every single day . And, I’ve felt it periodically over the past six years. I know Ray thinks that this is all just stress, and that I might be having some sort of mental break, but, he didn’t live through it. I…I know he told me to contact you hoping that it would ease my mind, I’m not stupid…but, the lily’s …the things being moved…” she broke off and looked at him beseechingly. “I am not crazy, Detective.” The words were merely a whisper, but they also held so much conviction, and Cole nodded, still fighting that damn urge to pull her into his arms. It was a deep, gnawing desire that was getting harder and harder to fight.
He let go of her hand and stood, needing to put a little distance between them…and quick. “All right; I promise that I’ll look into it.”
Katherine stood, wanting nothing more than to throw her arms around him and hug him. Instead, she wrapped them tightly around her middle, trying to calm her racing heart.
“Do you believe me?” she questioned timidly, and found that she feared his answer. For some strange reason, she could take anyone else not believing her–she was used to that by now–but not him. That he believed her…that meant more to her than anything at the moment, and she didn’t know why. She just knew it to be the truth. She wanted so much to trust him, and that thought caused her to take