Free DEFENGING THE EYEWITNESS by Rachel Lee

say about the murder was said a long time ago. It’s practically forgotten.”
    Except by one person, he thought, looking at the envelopes again. No, make that two. How likely was it that some teen would be hearing the story at this late date? Eighteen years was a long time. Corey was right about that. Collective amnesia had probably set in among the people of this town quite a while ago. Yesterday’s news, and all that.
    Eighteen years didn’t even add up to any kind of anniversary to be recalled, unless someone remembered it every year. The only person likely to mark that anniversary annually was Corey herself.
    His apprehension should have been easy to dismiss unless something else happened, but some instinct wouldn’t allow him to let go of it. Too many years of living a paranoid life? Maybe.
    He studied Corey again, deciding he didn’t at all like the way she looked. He had to do something to lift that cloud from her face, but the distrust that lay between them, especially on her side, wasn’t going to make it easy.
    That part of him that had been so carefully nurtured all these years undercover reminded him that she could have sent these notes to herself. To what end, he wasn’t sure. Looking at the postmarks, he could clearly see that the first one had been sent two days before he arrived in town. So it couldn’t be to get his attention.
    Or the sheriff’s, it seemed, because if it were, she’d be on the phone to him right now. So what purpose would she have in doing this herself?
    He hated thinking this way, but this kind of thinking had kept him out of a wringer more than once. Very little was what it seemed, including Viking princesses. Everyone had a public face and a private face. He knew that as well as anyone, and he knew very little about this woman. How could he, when she avoided him?
    All right, then. He didn’t know what was going on here. He had no idea if this woman had the kinds of problems that would cause her to seek attention this way. No idea why anyone else should want to upset her.
    Lacking information wasn’t new to him, but it never made him feel comfortable. So he’d hang and watch, and see what developed, if anything. In the meantime, he could do himself some good just by finding a way to try to bring her smile back.
    “Quesadillas,” he said.
    She stopped staring at the envelopes long enough to give him a confused look. “What?”
    “I’m going to make some quesadillas. They’re easy. And it just so happens that my favorite baker sold me some very nice tortillas this morning. They’re in the fridge.”
    She started to rise, reaching for her coffee cup. “I’ll get out of your way.”
    “No, you don’t. If I’m going to make them, I can make one for you without any extra trouble. The nice thing about being stateside again,” he said, flashing a smile he didn’t quite feel, “is how many things are more convenient. You won’t see me shredding the cheese, for example. Or making the green-chili sauce. You have a very accommodating grocery.”
    “I do?”
    “Yeah. He ordered the exact green-chili salsa I wanted. And a few other items. So let me get you some fresh coffee and I’ll get to work.”
    After he freshened her coffee, he took the letters out and put them back in the hall table. He would think more about them later. Right now, he wanted to see Rapunzel smile.
    Hell, he ought to get himself out of here before he let those thoughts go any further. Then he wondered why his mind should even run in such a direction. He’d faced a lot of danger, much more realistic danger, than any this woman could pose. So the only excuse he could have was that he had his own problems to work through so he could find his way back to some kind of life, and that didn’t leave energy for Corey’s problems. That was so selfish he could hardly believe it occurred to him.
    Was that the man he had become? God, he hoped not.
    When he got back to the kitchen, he thought Corey looked a