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

“I won’t be. We can’t start making the costumes until next Tuesday. Then…Well, we’ll see. They’re all being created from scratch since they’re not something we can pull from stock.”


Alan chuckled. “You can’t turn a…a flapper dress into a cat?”


“Not in this lifetime, I’m afraid.”


“Then we’re going to make the most of this weekend.”


“Back again,” Steve said when Jim and Alan found seats at the bar Friday evening. “You’re gluttons for punishment. Your usuals?”


They said “Yes,” with Alan wanting a lemon twist with his club soda.


For a few minutes, they watched the men on the dance floor. Then Alan hopped off the barstool. “Come on,” he said. “We’d better get out there while there’s still some room left.”


Jim followed him, saying, “You do realize this is a fast song.”


“I have to learn some time, right, if I’m going to keep up with you?”


Chapter 48