Page 34 of Bedroom Therapy

She nodded again, as though she weren’t quite certain. And he figured that it might be time for a change of subject. How about from sex to stalkers?

“Probably we should go back to your old house to get your things.”

“Oh, right. I wasn’t thinking about that.”

“After we finish our coffee.”

When she pulled out her chair and sat down, some of the tightness in his chest eased.

“And I should question you some more.”

Her head jerked up. “About what?”

“Did you think about who might want to hurt you? Did you have a fight with anyone recently?”

She turned her coffee mug in her hands. “You want me to dredge up every little thing? Like a few days ago at the grocery store when a man and I both wanted the same space, and he shook his fist at me.”

“Was he driving a white van?”

“No.”

“Well, we’ll assume that was an isolated occurrence.”

“Okay, well, I had an . . . incident with a guy who lives near that other house. I went out on his boat dock to look at the river, and he came down there and yelled at me for trespassing. Then a few other times when I passed him on the road, he glared at me.”

“I’ll have a chat with him.”

“You will?”

“Yeah. You can point out his property when I stop by there.” He leaned back in his seat and stretched out his legs. She’d named two minor incidents, but she’d omitted someone from her past. Did she trust him enough to talk about what had happened before she’d moved down here?”

She looked down, turning her coffee cup again. “Something happened at Harmons College.”

“Oh?” he asked, his breath shallow.

Her cheeks had taken on a deepened color. “I was accused of getting too . . . friendly with some of my male students.”

“Were you too friendly with them?”

“No! I’m not interested in relationships with college boys. But some of them were interested in me.”

“Yeah, I can understand why.”

“Thanks—I think.”

“You’re beautiful. You’re sexy. You were probably a target because you taught classes on human sexuality. Probably a lot of guys had fantasies about you.”

“I know all that.” She dragged in a breath and let it out. “Unfortunately, there were rumors about me. That’s what made me take a leave of absence.”

He nodded.

“The rumors were started by another professor, Bob Burns. He was new at the school. He went out of his way to be friendly to me. We . . . we got into a relationship. Then I found out he’d set his sights on being head of the department—a job I was in line for.”

“Nice guy.”

“I thought he was. I found out he manipulated people to get what he wanted.”

“Why would he come after you down here?”

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