He froze. “You’re not...”
“Pregnant?” She shook her head. “Could we just sit down?”
With a big sigh, he led the way into the living room and dropped into one of the recliners angled at the huge television taking up one wall. There was some kind of game on.
“Sit with me,” she said, taking a spot on the couch. “Could you turn off the TV?”
He shoved himself up, found the remote and muted the television before coming over to the couch. She tried not to let his moaning and groaning irritate her. “I’ve never told you about my past.”
“If this is about some other boyfriend, can’t it wait? The food is getting cold.”
Now he was worried about the food getting cold? “I had a stepsister named Lindy. She was murdered.”
His eyes widened. At least now she had his attention.
“I’ve always blamed myself. She and I were fighting that night and I locked her out of the house. I’m not sure exactly what happened, just that she was screaming to be let back in and then she wasn’t. I opened the door. She wasn’t there. I left the door unlocked and went back upstairs. I heard someone come in. I just assumed it was her... Now I realize that it could have been the killer. That he’d come into the house for me—after he’d killed her.”
“Whoa. That’s horrible.”
She nodded. “The only thing that saved me is that a policeman stopped by. There’d been an accident. My father and stepmother had gone off the road on their way back from a party. I don’t know if they got a desperate call from Lindy when she came back into the house or if they were just headed home on their own. They’d been drinking and my father was probably driving too fast.
“Anyway, my father was killed. My stepmother was hospitalized after she was found unconscious downstream later. I was fourteen and taken by social services to be put into a foster home. I think they assumed my stepmother would take me after that. She never did.”
Daniel sat back shaking his head. “Wow, Charlie, I’m so sorry. That’s terrible. Thanks for sharing that. I know it must have been tough.”
She could tell that he was relieved to have the story over. He reached for her, since he still had only one thing on his mind.
“That’s only part of it,” she said, moving so he couldn’t draw her to him. She saw impatience flicker across his expression.
“There’s more?”
“The more part is why I’ve been putting you off lately when you called or wanted to come up to my apartment. I’ve been seeing Lindy, my dead stepsister.”
“Seeing her?” he asked slowly.
“I saw her standing across the street a couple of times. Then I found my favorite doll destroyed on my doorstep.”
“Your doll?”
“From when I was fourteen. My father had given it to me. It was a collector’s edition. Anyway, today I ran into Lindy—literally. I looked into her eyes. It was her.”
“So...she’s not dead? This is good news, right?”
“I don’t know. But I have someone looking into what is going on. He’s an old friend from a long time ago.”
“Like a PI?”
“Something like that. He’s staying with me.”
“That’s cool,” Daniel said and reached again to put his arm around her. “So we’re good?”
She shook off his arm again and stood. “I don’t think you understand. Someone is stalking me. My dead stepsister. And my boss at work... I think he has a crush on me and his fiancée is insanely jealous. So there is nothing cool about what I’m going through right now.”
He sighed heavily. “What do you want me to do? You said you’ve got some PI looking into it. I’m sure he’ll figure it out. Are you afraid I’ll think you’re crazy or something? I mean your story is rather unbelievable, but...hey. If you say you saw a dead woman...” He shrugged. “Now can we—”
“No, we can’t,” she said, hating that she was seeing Daniel through Shep’s eyes. Daniel was just an overgrown kid who made a living playing video games. Who only thought about beer, food and sex and not always in that order. “This isn’t working for me.”
Daniel threw himself back on the couch as he swore. “I saw this coming. You’ve been acting so weird lately.”
“I just told you why I’ve been acting so...weird, as you call it.”
His gaze took her in for a moment. “I said I’m sorry. Whatever is going on will pass so don’t blow it out of proportion just because you’re upset about this stepsister of yours. You and I are good together.” He stood up and moved toward her. “Maybe if you’d let me show you...”
“Forget it. I’m done.” She started toward the kitchen just as his roommate came in, stomping snow off his shoes.
“Oops, looks like I came back too early?” Jason asked and laughed. He worked at the same video game company as Daniel. “Or maybe I was gone just long enough?”
Charlie wanted to slap that sneer off Jason’s face. She hadn’t liked him from the first. Oh, you’ll get used to him. He likes you, Daniel had said. He’s always asking about you.
She pulled on her coat and boots and started to leave when she saw the bag of food she’d brought still sitting on the kitchen table. Storming over, she grabbed it up and headed for the door.
“She’s taking the food?” she heard Jason say. “Now that’s cold. You must have really pissed her off.”
“Shut up, Jas,” Daniel said.
She slammed the door behind her and stepped out into the falling snow. She hadn’t gone but a few feet when Shep fell in beside her.
She glared over at him. “What if I hadn’t left until morning?”
He shrugged.
“You were that sure I wasn’t staying long?”
“What’s in the sack?”
She shoved it at him. “Dinner. On Daniel.”
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Shep smile. “Even better.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SHEP WATCHED CHARLIE help herself to another pulled pork slider as she wailed, “You must think I’m the biggest fool on the planet.” They were curled up on the couch, Friday night dinner spread across the coffee table, a home remodeling show on the television and a bottle of wine half gone.
“Do not say, I told you so,” she warned him before he could comment.