Page 9 of So Smitten

“It’s okay,” she said, “I’m fine. Like I said, I hadn’t known him in a long time, but… I know you.”

His lips thinned, and Faith could tell he knew what was coming. “You think he’s after me again?”

“I don’t know for sure that he ever stopped being after you,” she said. “I think he might have just been forced away because of the investigation. What I do know is that he’s killing again, and he still seems interested in people connected to me.”

“So this person he killed,” David said, “how close were the two of you?”

“Not particularly. We just served together in the war for a few months.”

Skepticism came into David’s eyes and voice. “Okay. And you’re sure that he was targeted because of you? This isn’t just one of West’s random killings?”

“No,” she said, “it’s definitely not random.”

“Where was this killing?” he asked. “Here, in Philadelphia?”

“No,” she said, “it was in California, a place called Lucerne Valley.”

He sighed and said, “Well, I’m very sorry, Faith, and I’m not trying to belittle your feelings or the fact that a man is dead, but are you really sure that it has anything to do with you?”

She blinked. “Well, yeah. Why else would West target him?”

“That’s what I’m trying to say,” David replied. “Maybe he didn’t target him. Maybe he’s just in hiding in California, and he attacked someone opportunistically. Maybe it didn’t have anything to do with you at all. You said you only knew this guy for a few months in the Marines, right?”

“Yeah, but West did target him.”

“But why does that have something to do with you? If he was targeting people close to you, then he would come after me or Michael.”

“That’s what I’m saying,” Faith insisted, “I’m afraid he will come after you.”

“But why kill someone you barely knew first? You’ve known lots of people, Faith. Maybe you just happened to know this victim.”

“No,” she said, “I… I mentioned him to West in a session.”

David lifted an eyebrow. “So he was important to you.”

“No!” Faith insisted more sharply than she intended. His insistence reminded her of West’s own words to her when she spoke of Decker. “He just came up. A lot of people just came up.”

"So why put himself at risk just in the hope that a random past association with someone might cause you guilt? Why allow yourself to feel guilt?”

“I didn’t say I was guilty,” she replied, “I just worry about you.”

“Well, don’t,” he said, a little testily, probably because he knew what was coming. “We’ve been through this before, Faith. I really don’t want to go through it again, not after we’ve agreed to start over.”

Faith’s heart broke, but it would break further if David was hurt. “I know, but this is different. He’s actually killing people close to me now.”

“So he was close to you.”

“No, I…” Faith felt herself getting angry, but she knew it wouldn’t help to allow her emotions to rule her now. She took a breath to steady herself and said, “I don’t know exactly what West is thinking beyond that he wants to hurt me.”

That wasn’t precisely true, but Faith didn’t want to get into an in-depth explanation of West’s motives right now. “I’m just saying, since he is active again, the FBI is offering surveillance to anyone close to me, and—David, please just listen!”

David had stood in the middle of that sentence and placed his hands on the back of his head. He paced around the living room, shaking his head. “Faith, I can’t keep having this argument with you. I can’t leave Philadelphia again.”

“But—”

“Faith, no,” he said sharply. He softened his voice and sighed. “Look, he’s on the other side of the country right now. What’s he going to do, come back here to Philadelphia where there are several different federal and local agencies hunting for him, and try to kill me just to hurt you?”

“Yes,” Faith said, “absolutely he will. Maybe not tomorrow or next week, but one day.”

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