When the first note shows up at the restaurant where he works -- when he isn't designing costumes for a local theater -- Jim Foster laughs it off. When the notes keep coming, he doesn't find the fact that he might have a secret admirer quite so amusing. Alan North, a lonely, bookish customer at the restaurant, is too shy to even think of talking to Jim -- as much as he wants to. Then the killings begin. Two of Jim's friends are murdered in what appear to be muggings. However, the detective in charge of the cases believes they're more than that, and that Jim is either the killer ... or being stalked by one. When Jim and Alan finally connect, can they help find and stop the stalker, or will Alan end up dead before their budding relationship can become more than friendship?

His Secret Admirer

“And you did the same thing?” Detective Baines asked.


“Rarely. I’m not into one-night stands.” Jim chuckled. “Hell, what with working two jobs, I don’t have the time, even if I was.”


“I’m a waiter at Bannock’s, three days a week, and work at the Onyx Repertory Theater as the costume designer Tuesday through Friday.”


“But not in the evenings, since you were at the club last night,” the detective said.


“That depends. For example, next week we go into final rehearsals and then the show opens Friday night. So, yes, I’ll be there for as long as the rehearsals take, which can go well into the evening—and for the opening.”


“What time did you leave the club last night?”


As if you don’t already know. Jim refrained from saying that, telling him, “I got there around eight, I think, and left around ten, ten-thirty. I didn’t check the exact time. But it wasn’t any later than that. I had to be at work this morning at six.”


Chapter 8