Page 51 of Everything She Feared

“Hey, Sara.” Beth was looking elsewhere. “You’re being watched.”

Sara followed Beth’s gaze across the dining room to table nine, where the man had shifted his focus back to his laptop.

“Oh, yeah, that guy,” Polly said. “Kinda hunky.”

“Mmm,” Beth said. “Gives off an Ethan Hawke vibe.”

“You think so? More like a Jake Gyllenhaal to me.”

“Either way,” Polly said, “he’s got his eye on you, Sara.”

Sara rolled her eyes, smiling at her friends.

“Order up!” Mel said. “Club on whole wheat.”

Sara took the correct order to table nine, where the man was still working on his laptop.

“Here we go.” Sara set the plate before him. “Again, I’m sorry about the mix-up.”

He smiled at her. She noticed his long eyelashes as his focus flicked to her name tag.

“No problem, Sara. It gave me more time to do some work.”

“Oh, what are you working on?”

“I’m researching some local history.” He shrugged. “Maybe for a book.”

“How interesting. Seattle history?”

“A bit, yeah. It’s complicated. I have to sort it out.” He nodded to her wrist. “I like your tattoo.”

They both looked to the gray-and-white flowers on her inner wrist and lower forearm.

“Thanks,” she said.

“What’s the story behind it?”

“Oh, it’s complicated.”

“I’d love to hear it sometime, Sara.”

She looked at him, not knowing what to say, just as her phone buzzed in her pocket.

“Oh, I’ve prattled. I better let you eat. Enjoy.” She smiled and left for the pick-up window to get her next order. Before reaching it, she glanced at her message.

It was Detective Kim Pierce.

We’d like to talk to Katie again. Can we set up a time?

23

Seattle, Washington

Sara felt uneasy.

Detective Kim Pierce was sitting at her kitchen table, explaining why she and her partner, Carl Benton, had come.

Pierce was striking in a subdued way, but Sara perceived something dangerous behind her smile.

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