Free Death Takes a Holiday by Elisabeth Crabtree Page A

when I took over that stakeout after you came down with the flu?”
    Kyle quickly nodded his head. He had been perfectly healthy that night , but bored to tears. The last thing he wanted was to sit in a car in front of the local motel waiting for the local doctor and his mistress to show up. He decided his time could be better spent with Grace, so he faked an illness and headed over to her place. Unfortunately, she had been out.
    “We ll, no sooner had you left than Grace came by with a plate of food.”
    “She did?” Kyle asked in surprise.
    “She tried to act surprised to see me, but I knew what she was up to.”
    “What did she do?”
    “She got all flustered, handed me the food and left. It was my favorite, too. Sirloin.”
    Kyle bit his lip to keep from smiling. His favorite, as well. “Maybe she was just being nice.”
    “Nice? That’s not nice, it’s scary and now she’s leaving messages on my bathroom mirror.”
    “Steve, it wasn’t a love message on the mirror. She said it was a death threat.”
    “Exactly! That just proves my point. She’s tried everything else to get my attention, but I’ve told her I’m just not interested. So, now she’s trying to play the damsel in distress.”
    “How? ” Kyle asked in exasperation. “The threat was for you . . . or possibly me . . . more than likely you. Definitely not her. Except for me, no one knew she was even going to be on the train.”
    Steve ignored him. “ Soon, I’m going to be hearing, ‘Oh, Steve, I’m just so worried about you.’ And then it’s going to be ‘Can I come sleep with you tonight?’ It’s sad. Just sad. I’ve never seen this level of stalking before. She is relentless.” Steve lifted a hand to his forehead. “Do you think you could talk to Grace? You know, get her to back off? Don’t get me wrong, I like her, but I just don’t want to hurt her feelings.”
    Kyle glanced back at Grace. For some bizarre reason she had moved to stand behind the bar. He watched as she picked up a towel and began wiping down the counter. Just as he was about to leave Steve to his paranoia and find out what Grace was up to, she suddenly stopped what she was doing and glared at their table. He gave her a small smile and a wave, not too terribly surprised when she ignored him and whispered something to the train attendant standing next to her. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Steve.” He watched as Grace disappeared into the next car.
    To Kyle’s surprise, the woman Grace had spoken to looked straight at their table as she began cutting up fruit. Kyle smiled politely as she continued to stare in their direction.
    Wondering what had captured Kyle’s attention, Steve looked over his shoulder. Noticing Grace was now gone, he sighed in relief . He looked at the attendant and held up his empty coffee cup.
    Eyes narrowing to slits , the young woman muttered something before slamming the knife into a melon and stalking out of the car. Kyle had the feeling it was going to be an incredibly long trip.
    Steve lowered his arm to the table and shrugged, clearly more concerned with Grace and her stalking than anything else at the moment. “Maybe Grace would be willing to go to counseling. My cousin, Jerry, is a therapist. I could give her his card.”
    “That’s a great idea. Can I be there when you ask her to go to therapy ? For emotional support, of course.” After all, Kyle thought in amusement, Steve’s going to need all the emotional support he could get once Grace got through with him.
    Steve looked down at the table and nodded sadly. “I know what it’s like when you love someone so much , but they don’t feel the same way.”
    Kyle’s expression softened. Steve could be overbearing at times, but he did have a soft side.
    “I just need to get Grace out of the way before she ruins my game with other chicks.”
    A soft side carefully hidden under layers of delusion, Kyle thought, with a shake of his head. He glanced up just as Grace walked