Eyewitness

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 that fire didn’t destroy the whole house.”

Clark shook his head. “Maybe it should have. Some around here, including the mayor, want to preserve the house, but I wish the St. Regis twins would just tear it down.”

“It’s not the house’s fault.” She slid into the front seat of the patrol car and snapped her seat belt. “I can’t believe Larry Brunswick, the algebra teacher, turned out to be the killer of all those women.

“It was crazy, and then he tried to marry Michelle Girard in that house until Colin Roarke saved her.”

Clark cruised down Coral Cove Drive and made a

U-turn in front of the Roarkes’ house. “Is that why you’re here?”

“Huh?”

“At the Roarkes’.” He jerked his thumb at the window. “Did Colin forget something?”

“Yeah. Yeah, he forgot something.” His brother.

She thanked Clark and scrambled from the car. She hadn’t wanted Michael to wake up to her damaged car and a policeman in uniform, but she didn’t want him waking up with a stranger, either…even if that stranger was his father.

A lamp burned in the window of the house, but she doubted Kieran had turned it on—too careful for that. Colin must’ve left it on or the lamp was on a timer.

Clark waited at the curb, so she sifted through the dirt in a planter at the side of the porch. Her fingers traced the edge of the key. Kieran must have put it back.

She brushed off the key and inserted it into the deadbolt, waving at Clark. Swinging the door open, she took a step into the small entryway. She held her breath and peeked around the corner into the living room.

Kieran looked up from his newspaper, an old one that had headlines of the fiery death of Larry Brunswick, the Reunion Killer. “Everything go okay?”

She blew out a breath as she spotted Michael, still sleeping and tucked into the love seat in the corner. “Well, the cop didn’t find anything. I told him about the white van.”

“Is your car still there?” He folded the paper in his lap.

“For now. Gary’s Auto is sending out a tow truck tonight. He’ll replace the tires and see if he has a replacement for the window.” She dropped into the chair across from Kieran’s. “Everything go okay here?”

“Your son didn’t wake up and start screaming at the stranger with the eye patch, so yeah.”

Kieran pushed up from his chair and wandered toward Michael. He swept a lock of dark hair from her son’s flushed face. “When are you taking him to see your friend the psychiatrist?”

“Probably tomorrow.” She folded her arms, bunching her fists against her body. “Do you want to come along?”

He took a turn around the room, settling in front of the mantel. He studied each framed photo of him and his brother as if imprinting it on his memory. Reaching out, he traced his parents’ faces with the tip of his finger.

“You remember Colin, don’t you?”

He nodded. “He was with me on the assignment when we were captured. And then he escaped.”

“He can’t forgive himself for that. The fact that he left you behind tore at him.”

“I don’t blame him for escaping.” He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his tight-fitting jeans. “I know he would’ve tried to come back for me with reinforcements, but my captors moved me. The army told me that much.”

“How did you get away, Kieran?” She gripped her hands in front of her, twisting her fingers into knots. Did she really want to know? Did she want to hear how he’d suffered?

He shrugged. “I escaped.”

Had he read the ambivalence in her face? If she was going to help him, reclaim him as her own and Michael’s father, she needed to step up to the plate. “You don’t remember what happened to your eye?”

“Nope.”

“Can you see out of it?”

“Not clearly.”

“Can I have a look at it?”

“Nope.”

She clenched her teeth. Stubborn man. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath through her nose, her nostrils flaring. “Did the army doctors look at it?”

“They did.” He slipped his index finger beneath the string that held the black patch to his head. “They issued me this after cleaning the wound and running some tests.”

“Did the tests show anything? Any sensitivity to light?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t hang around long enough to find out.”

“You just checked yourself out of the hospital and took off?”

“It’s my life.”

“They’ll be coming for you.”

“Let ’em try.”

She blew out an exasperated breath. Had talking to Kieran always been like talking to a wall of steel? She squared her shoulders. “If you want my help, you’re going to have to open up a little more.”

“I think you’re the one who needs to open up.”

Her belly flip-flopped and she shot a glance at Michael still sleeping on the love seat. Had Kieran figured it out?

“I’m an open book. What do you want to know about your life?”

“We knew each other in high school.”

Hadn’t they already gone over this? Her pounding heart shifted into a lower gear and she could breathe again. “Yes, but we didn’t date until later. Like I said before, we’d both come back to Coral Cove—I was going into nursing school and you’d just finished at the language institute and had enlisted with the Green Berets.”

“But that wasn’t my first mission, the one where I was captured.”

“No. We were together through a few of your missions.”

As they chatted, Kieran’s body seemed to relax, one muscle group at a time, until he sank into a chair, his back to the window and the darkening sky. His lean frame, thinner than she’d remembered, slumped against the cushions of the chair.

“Do you recall more now that you’re here in Coral Cove? In this house?” With me?

He steepled his fingers and peered at her over the top of the juncture. “I do. The memories come slowly. That’s why I made my way back here after I escaped…from the hospital. I wanted to remember slowly, gradually.”

“I want to help you remember.”

Kieran seemed to sink farther into the chair, the dusk creeping over his shoulder, masking his face.

“You have your own problems right now. You don’t need me to burden you with more.”

His return had already constituted a problem for her. Something close to anger percolated in her belly. Then she pressed a hand against her stomach. She never in a million years thought she’d consider the return of Kieran—her fiancé, her love, the father of her child—a problem.

She eyed the dark man across from her, his face still, unreadable. If he wouldn’t stay for her help, for her, would he stay for his son?

Flinging her hands in front of her, she tried to dissipate the heavy air between them. “It wouldn’t be a burden, Kieran. You’re halfway to remembering almost everything…halfway to knowing everything about your life.”

“I can’t pick up where we left off.”

His words twisted the knife in her heart, the knife he’d plunged there when he didn’t recognize her on the beach. At this point, would he even want to know he’s a father?

“I’m not expecting us to pick up where we left off, Kieran. It’s been over four years. You’ve changed. I’ve changed.”

“You’ve moved on with your life. You thought I was dead.”

She nodded, afraid to blink and dislodge the tears burning behind her lids. In truth, she hadn’t moved on with her life. She lived and breathed Kieran every day through his son. She hadn’t slept with another man in the entire time after Kieran’s disappearance. She could hardly drag herself out on a date.

“We all thought you were dead. I—I’m relieved and so happy that you survived.”

His lips twisted. “Did I?”

“You’re alive.”

“I am.” He shifted in the chair as if to remind himself. “And you have your whole life ahead of you with your son. Are you married? Divorced?”

Uh-oh.

“No.”

Kieran’s hands curled around the arms of the chair. “You never married Michael’s father?”

“No.”

His body stiffened, the relaxed slouch replaced by planes and angles. “Where is he, Michael’s father?”

“Don’t you know, Kieran?”

“No.” He shot to the edge of his seat, his muscles coiled and ready for flight.

“He’s sitting across from me. You’re Michael’s father.”

Chapter Four

Her words sucked the air out of Kieran’s lungs. He’d seen it coming at him like a runaway train, at first far away on the horizon, a faint light, a wisp of a dream. Then as the reality drew closer and closer, he’d tried to dodge it until he decided to turn and face it head-on.

He sipped in a short breath to test the pain. He gulped in another. He slipped a glance at his…son, now stirring from the makeshift bed where Kieran had placed him with a gentleness he could’ve sworn he’d forgotten. A gentleness borne from the fact that the boy belonged to her…and now him.

“I’m sorry, Kieran. I didn’t mean to break it to you like that.”

He trained his eye on Devon, her blond hair gathering the light from the single lamp. Her eyes sparkled with tears. She’d tried to hide her emotion from him all day, but he could see that his reappearance had thrown her into turmoil.

“Sorry?”

“Mommy?” Michael rolled from the love seat and padded toward Devon on bare feet. He crawled into the chair next to her and stared at Kieran.

His son.

Did the boy fear him? He had every right to fear him—a stranger more scarred on the inside than the outside.

“Are you hungry, Michael?” Devon ruffled her son’s dark hair, so like his own.

He’d seen the resemblance almost immediately. How could he not? He’d pushed it away, denied it, almost hoped Devon would lie to him and send him on his way.

But Devon didn’t lie. He knew that about her. He could always trust Devon.

And now? Could he trust her to do the right thing for her son and keep him away from a damaged man so filled with rage he had no room for love? A man whose civility had been ripped out of him, tortured out of him?

“Yeah, I’m hungry.”

She spread her hands. “I suppose Colin didn’t leave any food in the house, and I don’t think it would be edible after a month, anyway.”

Kieran cleared his throat. “You don’t have a car.”

“Do you?”

He shook his head. You needed a credit card to rent a car, and all he had were a few pieces of ID from the army. You also needed your full vision.

“How’d you get to Coral Cove?”

“Planes, buses.” He held up his thumb. “Car.”

“What have you been eating? Because I know Columbella doesn’t have any electricity or gas.”

“Fruit, beef jerky, energy bars.” He shrugged. “It’s a feast compared to what I’m used to.”

The air between them sizzled with unasked questions and unspoken words, but Michael’s intelligent dark eyes switched from his face to his mother’s while they talked.

The boy didn’t need any more traumas.

Devon dragged her cell phone out of her pocket and waved it. “We’ll call for pizza. I already have the number for Vinnie’s on speed dial.”

“Does pizza sound good to you, Michael?” Hunching forward, Kieran gripped his knees.

Michael snuggled in close to Devon’s body but nodded his head.

One small step.

“Then pizza it is.” Devon punched a few keys on her phone. “We’re pepperoni fans, Kieran.”

She placed an order for two large pepperoni pizzas, salad, garlic bread and soda. Did she think she had to fatten him up? He must look gaunt to her. His appearance in the hospital had shocked him. He would’ve never been a star football player at this weight. And with one eye.

“Are you sure that’s going to be enough food?”

Devon laughed and it sounded like wind chimes tinkling in the breeze. He’d heard those wind chimes many times outside his prison walls, the sound shoring him up, giving him strength.

“Michael eats a lot.” She pinched Michael’s nose. “At least he used to.”

Her bright smile drooped, and Kieran felt as if he’d do anything to bring it back just so he could bask in its warmth.

“Seems like you and I both have some catching up to do in the food department, Michael.”

The boy shot him a quick glance beneath a lock of dark hair and Kieran’s gut knotted. What was wrong with him? Hearing about the death of a neighbor, even a friendly one, shouldn’t have such a strong impact on a kid. Hell, he remembered when his favorite dog died and he’d grieved for about two weeks, which was a week longer than Colin did.

He sucked in a breath. He remembered. He remembered the dog, Duke, and he remembered the day he died.

“Are you okay?”

He glanced up at Devon’s face, lines of worry bracketing her mouth. Hell no. He couldn’t do this to her. Couldn’t take her along on this ride.

“I just had a memory.”

She clapped her hands. “That’s great. I’m sure being in this house will help, much more than being at Columbella.”

“So why did I head there first?”

A pretty pink tide washed over her cheeks. She shifted Michael and jumped up. “I know there are dishes in the house. I’ll get some bowls for the salad, anyway.”

“Let’s help your mom, Michael.”

The boy scooted to the edge of the chair and hopped off, running ahead of Kieran to join his mother in the kitchen.

“We’ll eat at the coffee table and sit cross-legged on the floor. We’ll make a picnic in the house.” She handed Michael a stack of bowls with a handful of paper napkins on the top, and he turned and took measured steps back to the living room.

Kieran sidled next to Devon at the sink, inhaling her floral scent. “When did you find out you were pregnant?”

The shoulder touching his pulled away. “Soon after you left on your mission. There was no way to reach you then.”

She finished rinsing the forks and stuck them in the dish drainer. “I thought I’d have a surprise for you when you came home.”

“Did you tell my parents? My brother?”

“No. I wanted to wait and tell them with you. When we heard, when we thought… Your parents were devastated and Colin just about broke down. I couldn’t tell them about Michael then. I didn’t know if it would make things better or worse for them.”

“Were you alone?”

She sniffled and then grabbed a paper towel to dry the forks. “Oh, no. My mom had come in from Florida and Dylan was nearby. Do you remember my twin brother, Dylan?”

“Nope.”

“Plates.” Michael had returned to the kitchen, holding out his arms.

Devon dropped a hand to his head. “Tell you what, sweet pea, let’s use the paper plates from Vinnie’s. That will be more fun…and less work.”

Michael tugged on Devon’s arm and she bent over. He put his lips to her ear and cupped his hand against her face, which flushed with color.

“Kieran’s my friend, sweet pea. This is his house.” She handed him the forks. “Now go put these on the napkins next to the bowls.”

As he scooted out of the kitchen, Kieran turned to Devon. “Is he afraid of me?”

She looked down, her long lashes shielding her eyes. “Just a little confused. I—I didn’t, don’t date much.”

“Maybe it’s too much for him, Devon. He’s a very troubled boy.”

“No.” She smacked her fist on the counter. “He’s not a troubled boy. He’s happy and curious and friendly, he’s just…he’s just…”

Instinct took over. He gathered Devon into his arms, stroking her silky hair, his fingers remembering the path down each strand. She trembled against his chest and he rested his cheek against her head. He’d been wanting to hold her ever since he’d spotted her walking down Coral Cove’s Main Street. He curled one hand around her neck.

“Stop!” Small fists pummeled his legs.

“Michael!” Devon broke away from his embrace and grabbed Michael’s shoulder. “Michael, stop.”

The boy wrapped both arms around Devon’s thighs, nearly knocking her over with the force of his small body.

“Apologize to Kieran.”

Kieran took two steps back from Devon and his son clinging to her. His gut wrenched. “It’s okay. I wasn’t hurting your mom, Michael, but you’re a good protector.”

Devon peeled Michael from her legs and tilted his head with her finger beneath his chin. “Is that what you thought? That Kieran was hurting me?”

Michael nodded, his hands still curled into white-knuckled fists.

“Oh, no.” She pulled Michael back into her arms for a hug. “Kieran would never, ever hurt me…or you. Not ever.”

Kieran closed his good eye, welcoming the darkness. How could Devon be so sure of that? How could he?

* * *

DEVON BRUSHED HER fingers together and flipped the empty pizza box closed. Another half pizza remained but they’d done a fair amount of damage to that one, too. Michael had eaten more than he had in weeks. Maybe it was the sea air. Maybe it was his burst of violence against Kieran.

Her son had never before hit anyone or anything in his life. And he had to start with his own father.

And what a moment he’d picked.

Kieran had finally taken her in his arms, held her close, shown some emotion. She’d wanted to melt into him, somehow bring him back to his former self with her energy. But the wary stranger with the closed-off face remained.

Kieran tossed a piece of crust onto his paper plate. “That was the best pizza I’ve had since the last time I had Vinnie’s. Do you want another piece, Michael, or are you as stuffed as I am?”

Michael picked up a crust from his plate and ripped it in half. Then he scrambled to his feet and scampered toward the bathroom.

Devon sighed. “Believe it or not, he seems to be getting a little better.”

“I was blunt in the kitchen, Devon, but Michael needs help.”

“I know. Like I said, he has his first appointment with Dr. Estrada tomorrow. The offer still stands if you want to come along.”

Her cell phone buzzed and she held up one finger. “Hello?”

“Devon, it’s Gary from the garage. I got your tires on, but I didn’t have a window. I covered it with a piece of cardboard and I put in an order online tonight. You going to be here for a few weeks?”

Her gaze trailed to Kieran, picking up the pizza boxes and paper plates. “Yes, I’ll be here for a few more weeks.”

“Good. I can install it for you then. If I drive over in your car, can you give me a ride back to the shop and my car?”

“Sure. I’m at the Roarkes’ house on Coral Cove Drive. You know it?”

“Yeah, across from Columbella House, right?”

“That’s it. We’ll be waiting for you.”

Kieran strolled out of the kitchen, hands in pockets. “Is your car ready?”

“Yeah, he’s bringing it over. You’re going to stay here, right?”

“I need to pick up a few things I left at Columbella.”

She shivered and glanced at the closed bathroom door. “Stay out of that burned room. A man died there.”

“I was reading about that when you got back from talking to the cops. Apparently, Colin saved Michelle Girard from a maniac.”

“Mr. Brunswick. Didn’t you have him for algebra?”

He lifted a shoulder and the corner of his mouth twisted. Is that the closest he could get to a smile?

“Leave it to my brother to save the day.”

“He wanted to save you, too, Kieran. He can’t quite forgive himself for leaving you.”

“He needs to get over it.”

“Can you?”

“I don’t blame Colin. I don’t remember when he and the others escaped, but when the army told me about it, I never faulted the other guys.”

“I didn’t mean…”

Michael burst back into the room, and Devon sealed her lips. She didn’t want to talk about Kieran’s ordeal in front of Michael. She needed alone time with Kieran. She needed to know where he stood. Was he ready to be a father? Did he even want the job?

“Is your place close?”

“It’s my mom’s place. Nothing’s too far apart in Coral Cove, but it’s on the east side of town, past downtown.”

“And the auto shop is on the way?”

“Yeah.” She tilted her head. “I’m sure we’ll be fine. At least I have two new tires. I’ll take care of getting a new license tomorrow.”

He dug a cell phone from his pocket. “I have one of those prepaid phones. Put my number in your phone and give me a call when you get home.”

Her heart fluttered. Was he making a stand? Did he care enough to want to protect them? She entered the phone number taped to the back of his phone into her cell, and a glow touched her heart as she typed his name.

Kieran Roarke was back, and even if he wasn’t the same man who’d left her side and left her bed, she’d take what she could get right now.

When Gary pulled up in her car, Devon touched Kieran’s forearm. “You know Gary. You might as well get started now.”

Kieran nodded and flicked on the porch light before swinging open the door. Gary exited the car and nearly tripped over the curb.

“Is that Kieran Roarke?”