Read Online What She Doesn't See by Debra Webb - Free Book Online Page B

you’d better
get the hell out as soon as I stop or you’ll regret it.”
    “Wait! Please. I’m sorry if I scared
you.”
    She relaxed marginally. Okay, what kind of
robber, rapist, or killer apologized?
    “Who are you?” Though she’d eased off the
brake and shifted her foot back to the accelerator, she kept her
hand on her weapon.
    He cleared his throat. “I’m going to sit up
now. Don’t freak out, okay?”
    “Okay.” What was he, a leper or something?
He’d apologized for scaring her when he was the one who sounded
terrified. Not to mention he’d prepared her for whatever she would
see when he sat up. What kind of bad guy went to all that
trouble?
    Green eyes and sandy blond hair appeared in
her rearview mirror. Young. Twenty-something, she guessed.
    “Who are you?” she asked again, her fight
defenses still firmly in place.
    “Timothy O’Neill.”
    Her surprise had her weaving into the left
lane much to the dismay of the other drivers on the street. Horns
blasted.
    She let go of the spray can and allowed her
right hand to rejoin her left on the steering wheel. At least she
knew now why he’d warned her not to freak out. Her first thought
was to ask why he’d been hiding in her car. Second was… hell, she
didn’t know what. “I thought you were dead.”
    What the hell was she supposed to do with
him? Take him to the police? How had he found her? More
importantly, why?
    “I’m supposed to be,” he said quietly. He
looked away when she would have made eye contact with him again.
“It was a buddy of mine. Back at my house. He was pirating movies
and—”
    He abruptly shut up.
    “Don’t worry,” she encouraged, “whatever your
friend was doing doesn’t make any difference now.”
    His jaw worked futilely a couple of times
before anything actually came out. “Anyway, last night I was in the
kitchen getting something to eat. I saw Detective Hitchcock’s car
pull into the driveway. I mean,” he cleared his throat again, “I
didn’t really see his car. It was dark. I saw the headlights, but I
knew it was him. I was expecting him. When he came to the door he
wasn’t alone.”
    “His partner was with him?” She felt certain
that wasn’t the case, but she needed to ask. She didn’t know Patton
that well, but he was one of the good guys. Hitch had said as much
plenty of times.
    “My friend answered the door so I didn’t see
the guy, but I heard his voice.” He shrank back into the rear seat,
looking like a small boy rather than a grown man. “I don’t think it
was his partner. Hitch was saying stuff like
you won’t get away
with this
and
leave the kid alone, he was just doing me a
favor.”
    A keen sense of anticipation zinged through
Alex. She’d been right. Timothy O’Neill was the guy Hitch had
visited last night. Apparently Hitch had met with someone else on
his way to Timothy’s house. Why hadn’t he mentioned that to her?
Her breath caught. He’d said he was getting another call before he
said goodnight. Could that caller have been the man who killed
him?
    Since Hitch hadn’t been alone when he
arrived, the guy with him had to be the caller. Someone he’d
rendezvoused with
after
talking to Alex. Goose bumps
spilled over her skin. “What did you do, Timothy?”
    He was staring out the passenger side window
now. “I knew the kid Hitch was talking about was me. He always
called me
kid.”
His voice sounded distant. “I heard a
scuffle and arguing in the living room so I hid. I didn’t think. I
just reacted. I hid in the pantry. Hitch and the dude with him were
arguing... and fighting, I think.”
    Ten seconds passed before he spoke again.
Alex’s heart pounded three times for each one.
    “I just froze. I couldn’t move. My cell phone
was in the living room with them so I couldn’t call anyone.”
    Alex kept quiet. Let him continue in his own
time. She picked up some speed, eased more fully into the flow of
traffic on the causeway and tried to focus on driving. Back to