Page 14 of Deep Tide

Leyla glanced around her home, anxious for something to do. She’d been rushing around all day, but whenever she stopped, even for a moment, her thoughts returned to that dark alley and Amelia’s pale face in the glare of the phone flashlight.

Leyla’s chest constricted. Her heart started racing. She squeezed her eyes shut to block the images, but they wouldn’t go away. All she could think about was that outstretched hand and those half-closed eyes.

Leyla had missed her by minutes. The thought was agonizing.

If she had left the church just a few minutes sooner, Amelia wouldn’t have been alone closing up. And what if no one had called in sick? Or what if Leyla had listened to her brothers and installed better lighting around the store? What if a cop, or even just a tourist, had walked past the alley during the attack and intervened? What if what if what if...

A hot lump lodged in her throat. She felt like she was choking on it. She forced herself to take a few deep breaths and then splashed some water on her face. She grabbed a dish towel and patted her cheeks dry.

A sharp rap on the door had her whirling around. Through the window shade she saw a man’s silhouette on her front porch.

“Damn it, Owen.”

Looking closer, she realized it wasn’t Owen. This was someone shorter and stockier. She crept over to check the peephole.

Sean Moran.

He stood there in the yellow porch light, looking down at the street below, as if he hadn’t heard her creaky floorboards and didn’t know she was right there on the other side of the door.

“Crap,” she whispered, glancing down at herself. She looked like hell, and whatever makeup she’d had left from this morning was now smeared under her eyes. He was the very last person she wanted to see right now, but she somehow knew he wasn’t going to simply shrug his shoulders and walk away.

She tossed the towel on the chair and opened the door.

“Hi,” she said, blocking the opening.

“Hey.” His gazed swept over her, taking in every detail. “I heard what happened and came by to check on you.”

She waited for the predictable Are you all right? but it didn’t come.

“Sorry about coffee,” she said. “I didn’t have a way to reach you.” Not to mention the entire thing had flown out of her mind. She hadn’t remembered it until midafternoon when she’d been sitting at the police station and a uniformed officer had put a cup of stale coffee in front of her.

“Don’t worry about it.” He continued to look her over with concern. Last time she’d seen him, he’d been in a suit and tie. He was dressed casually tonight in jeans and a plain gray T-shirt that stretched taut across his muscular chest.

“Have you eaten?” He rested his palm on the doorframe. “I thought maybe you’d want to go grab something.”

She stared at him.

“You know, get out of the house instead of being alone.”

“How’d you know where I live?” she blurted.

“You told me.”

She arched her eyebrows.

“The bike shop. There’s only two in town, so I had a fifty-fifty chance.” He smiled slightly, as though testing her mood.

She wasn’t hungry at all. But getting out of her apartment suddenly sounded extremely appealing and spending the evening alone with her thoughts—not so much.

“Where?” she asked.

“I was thinking the food court.”

“Food court?”

“On the corner there.” He nodded toward the street, and she realized he was talking about the vacant lot where a building had recently been torn down to make room for a high-rise. In the meantime, some local food trucks were using the space.

“Come out with me,” he said. “You don’t want to sit here all by yourself, do you?”

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