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

He had the same thought now, as he watched Jim from across the club. When a man about Jim’s age had approached Jim, talked to him, and then the two of them left the club, Alan was certain the guy had picked Jim up, and Jim had agreed to go somewhere else with him. Then Jim came back alone a few minutes later, much to Alan’s relief. Maybe he changed his mind, or…or it was someone he knows from the theater. Alan was well aware, from talk he’d overheard at Bannock’s, that Jim had a second job doing something for the local repertory theater, although he hadn’t pressed his luck by going there to find out what. If he saw me there, and recognized me…Even though he knew that was unlikely, until recently, he wasn’t taking any chances.


I’m stupid to have come here. But I have to know if he’s got someone in his life. If he does…He sighed, sipping his drink, club soda with a twist of lime, and continued watching Jim.


Chapter 9