Free Obsession by Kathi Mills-Macias Page A

told me you two was up here. First time that older Matthews girl's been up here in quite a while. Too bad 'bout her dad. That Paul Matthews was a real nice man. A regular 'round here, him and his whole family been comin' up here for years.” He stopped suddenly and frowned. “What'd you say your name was?”
    “Matthews. Abe Matthews. No relation to Toni.”
    Simon still looked puzzled. “I thought you was Toni Matthews's fiancé. Seems kinda strange, you two havin' the same name and all. Course, I 'magine it'll be right handy for her. Won't have to change her name when you get married.”
    Abe smiled. “I'm afraid I'm not her fiancé. Just a friend.”
    “You say that like you wished it was different.”
    Abe raised his eyebrows. “Oh, well, no. I just meant…” He cleared his throat. “Like I said, we're friends.”
    “From what the wife told me 'bout your visit yesterday, you must be real good friends. Sounded like you two was stuck together like glue. Can't say as I'd want my fiancée runnin' ‘round with some other man she was all that close with. What's the future husband think of this so-called friendship?” He pursed his lips for emphasis as he waited for Abe to answer.
    The memory of Brad and Melissa standing on the porch and staring at them as he and Toni walked toward the house from his car theprevious day flashed through his mind. Although he didn't know it for a fact, he was pretty sure the “future husband” didn't like the relationship between Toni and Abe one bit. But he wasn't about to tell Simon Olson that.
    Shrugging his shoulders as if it were no big deal, Abe said, “Actually, I'm a friend of the family—well, of Paul Matthews, that is. I brought Toni up here yesterday because she wanted to find out if anyone might have anything to tell her about her father's death—anything that she might not already know, that is.”
    The old man frowned again. “And just what's that s'posed to mean?”
    Abe was getting frustrated. In spite of the cooler weather, he was starting to sweat. Things were not going at all as he had planned.
    “Look, Mr. Olson, all I'm trying to do is find out for Miss Matthews—”
    “‘Miss Matthews’? I thought you just called her Toni. ‘Sides, if somebody was hangin’ on to me as close as my wife says 'Miss Matthews' was hangin' on to you, I'd sure be callin' her somethin' ‘sides ‘Miss.’”
    Abe's jaws clenched as he found himself wondering why he had bothered to come back up here. He could have been sleeping in or going out somewhere for a nice breakfast. But no, here he was, off on some wild goose chase, following up on a flimsy clue in a missing girl's folder, all on the hunch of a young woman—a very attractive young woman, he reminded himself—who had a way of making him think that maybe, just maybe, there really could be such a thing as love at first sight. But if there was, why couldn't he have met her before she was engaged to someone else? He took a deep breath and tried again.
    “Mr. Olson, all I want to know is, did you or your wife see Paul Matthews while he was up here on his fishing trip last month? In particular, did you see him the morning of his death?”
    “Can't say I did,” Simon answered. “But then, can't say I didn't, neither. What I mean is, I saw him while he was here, 'cause he alwaysstopped by to say hello and shoot the breeze. But the day he died? Nope. Can't say I saw him that day. He died in the mornin', you know.”
    Abe forced a smile. “Yes, I know. OK, so you didn't see him the day he died. Did you see anything else that day, anything… strange or unusual?”
    “Saw lots that day. Always do. But not much different from most any other day. Why?”
    Abe shrugged again. “Oh, just curious.” This conversation was going nowhere fast. He wished Maude were here. He had a feeling he could get a lot more information from her. Trying to appear disinterested, he asked, “So, where's your wife? Did she take the day