Free Watcher by Kate Watterson Page B

morning, I can drive us back to the university.”
    “Why would I ever want you to sleep on the couch?” Jana asked with a touch of asperity and amusement. “I assume you remember Friday and Saturday night.”
    “Hell yes, I do.” His mouth quirked attractively. “Well, I was hoping you wouldn’t go for the couch offer, but I’m trying not to push.”
    Jana smiled. “I think I have some lamb chops in the freezer. Is that okay for dinner?”
    “You mean in place of cold pizza? Yeah, that’s pretty okay.”
    “All right then. Stay.”
    She walked up the brick walk to the house and let them in, switching off the alarm before opening the door, but quickly reactivating it once they were inside. Jana headed straight for the refrigerator, took out the bottle of white wine he’d brought over, and opened it. “Believe it or not, I don’t drink much but I could use this,” she said conversationally as possible. “Tell me, did Gillian Wesley have anything to say when I left the lab today?”
    He didn’t even have to answer.
    Jana muttered, “That was my fault.”
    Jake watched as she poured wine into two glasses. “Relax. She isn’t going to say anything.”

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    Kate Watterson
    “That would be nice of her.” She handed him a glass and took a convulsive gulp of chardonnay.
    He grinned, a boyish curve of his mouth. “She’s a little jealous, but it’s understandable.”
    He was usually pretty self-deprecating, and that seemed an arrogant thing for him to say. “Aren’t you a little full of yourself, Quinn?” Jana asked, an involuntary smile touching her mouth.
    “Well, not jealous of you, but of me,” he explained, lifting his brows. “In case you haven’t noticed, she likes girls way more than she likes boys. If one of us were going to spend the weekend in bed with you, she’d much rather it be her than me.”
    She wasn’t exactly shocked—she lived in a modern world and nothing was more liberal than a college campus—but still Jana wasn’t at all used to being the subject of female fantasies. “No, I didn’t know.”
    “Oh yeah,” he said softly, sipping his wine as he leaned against the bar in her kitchen, all delectable six-foot plus of him. “Are you that unobservant, Jana?”
    “Apparently so,” she admitted.
    His face changed then, from teasing to serious. His long fingers smoothed the sides of his wine glass. “Speaking of observing things, do you have a neighbor that has a blue truck? Light blue, seen better days, some rust spots and a Florida plate?”
    “I don’t think so.” She shook her head.
    “I saw that truck Saturday morning when I dropped you off at the faculty lot, Sunday morning when I left here about three houses down parked on the street, and it drove by twice tonight as we waited for the tow truck.”
    She took a sip of the chilled wine, and then said slowly, “I’ve seen it, now that you mention it. The same truck is in the parking lot almost every night. I assume it belongs to someone who works in the building.”

    Watcher
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    “Maybe it would be worth it to write down the license plate number.”
    Suddenly it looked very dark outside. Jake seemed quite frighteningly sincere, and after all, someone had deliberately vandalized her car.
    “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt,” she agreed faintly.

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    Kate Watterson

Chapter 7

    In a half an hour, he knew it all. Name, social security number, checking account balance…hell, he knew what kind of underwear Jake Quinn wore. It had been a breeze breaking into the apartment, and the pretty professor’s lover boy didn’t do much to hide his secrets.
    Well, he’d get a bit of a surprise when he returned home, that was for sure. The Watcher booted up the computer that sat on the table in the living room, typed in the message with gloved fingers, and then quietly let himself out.
    He walked the block to where he had parked his truck and tried to not picture them together. It made him too angry and he knew from past