Page 40 of Dangerous Obsession

She dropped into it and propped her elbows on the table with athunk. She speared her fingers into her curls and held her head in her hands.

“While she was inside, I called and left a message on her cell phone about changing our meeting time by thirty minutes,” Eddie said.

“Why did you do that?” Marigold lifted her head.

“Tomorrow, when I see her, I can bring up the call. Maybe tease her about cheating on me with another client or something. Maybe that’ll open the door to her telling me more about Barnum,” Eddie said. “It’s a long shot, but I figure it’s worth a try.”

“Good thinking.” Viking was certain Eddie’s charm would get them the information they needed.

“After the prison, she went straight home. I hung around for about forty-five minutes to make sure she was in for the night, then came back to the hotel.”

“If she told Cliff about seeing me, he has got to be fuming right now.” Marigold tucked a curl over her ear.

“It’s a shame, really,” Eddie said. “She’s a cool lady who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“You’re confident she’s not involved?” Viking asked.

“Every instinct I have tells me Barnum is just using her.”

That was good enough for Viking.

Eddie promised to keep in touch, and they ended their call.

“What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall of Cliff’s cell right about now.” Marigold rose and stood in front of him.

“Speaking of Cliff—” He dragged the dishtowel from where it was draped over her shoulder. “Why don’t you head into the living room and make yourself comfortable. I’ll join you in a minute.”

“You sure?” She moved closer, looked up at him, and shocked him by giving him a sort of flirty, cutesy look. “I mean, we’ve already talked about him so much already this evening—we can talk about him another—”

“Nice try.” He chuckled. This woman was full of surprises.

Hands on her shoulders, he turned her and walked her to the sofa.

“Just chill.” She plopped down on the center cushion. He held her chin between his thumb and forefinger, lifted it, then leaned forward until his face was close to hers. “And stop worrying. Okay?”

He gave her a prolonged look, rubbed his thumb across her chin, then lowered his hand before turning and walking away.

“Easy for you to say,” she muttered against the kitten’s neck.

“I heard that,” he called out without looking back at her.

Viking smiled the whole way back to the kitchen. After starting the dishwasher, he poured her a half glass of wine and grabbed a bottle of water for himself.

“Here, I thought you might want this.” He handed her the delicate glass and sat next to her.

“None for you?” She set the sleeping kitten on the cushion next to her.

“Not tonight.” Alcohol dulled the senses and caused people to make bad decisions. Some of them deadly. A painful lesson he’d learned firsthand that had cost him so much.

The plastic bottle crackled in his grip, and the cap clicked a few times when he twisted it to break the seal.

“Cheers.” He tapped the plastic bottle to her glass and waited while she took a sip and gathered her thoughts.

“If I’m going to do this, I might as well start from the beginning.” She sucked in a deep breath and blew it out. “Cliff moved to Georgetown our senior year of high school, and in no time at all, he became the big man on campus, football god extraordinaire.” She took another sip of the scarlet liquid and set the glass on the table. “In our school, football was a huge deal. Anyway, we ran in different circles, had different friends. I also had a part-time job after school, so I never went to football games. Our paths rarely crossed until the last semester, when we ended up in the same creative writing class.” She rolled her eyes, drew her feet up, and crossed her legs on the couch. “Suffice to say, he had zero creativity and spent most of the class goofing off. But there was a sort ofunderstandingamong the teachers and staff that their star player was off-limits. They wouldn’t dare reprimand him—God forbid the team lose a few games because some teacher dared to give him detention or failed him or whatever. He was untouchable, and he knew it. That can be very intoxicating to a narcissist like Cliff.”

“When did you guys start dating?”

“Not until the end of the year—during graduation week. He would say silly, goofy things to me as he passed in the hall, started complimenting me and stuff. I was going through some shit at home, and when the most popular boy in school started being nice to me, I was an easy mark. So when he asked if I wanted to go to this graduation party with him and a bunch of his friends, I said yes.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “That was the beginning of what turned out to be one long, drawn-out nightmare.”

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