Reluctant Witness. Kathleen Long

      “Who’s this?” He ruffled her son’s hair. “And what did you do with that little squirt who used to beat me in basketball?”

      Tom laughed, and Kerri caught herself smiling. Her son’s laughter had become a rare commodity since his father’s death. The sound never failed to bring a smile to her lips, even if the cause was Wade Sorenson.

      “You might as well come in,” she said, pulling the door open wide.

      Wade released Tom and followed the boy inside. “You look good, Red,” he whispered in Kerri’s ear as he brushed past her shoulder.

      Kerri shot him a glare as she closed the door. If the man thought the use of her old nickname would warm her feelings toward him, he had another thing coming.

      It would be a cold day in hell before she willingly welcomed Wade Sorenson back into either her heart or her home.

      WADE HAD NEVER SEEN such fury in the blue depths of Kerri’s eyes. Not even in the days following John’s death. Back then, her eyes had been full of pain and grief.

      He hadn’t seen her since they’d buried John—and their friendship—but it was apparent the years had replaced her grief with a hard-edged anger.

      There’d been a time once—many years earlier—when Wade thought what he felt for Kerri went far deeper than friendship, but his best friend had beat him to the punch, asking out the fiery redhead before Wade could muster the courage to do the same.

      He’d watched John and Kerri fall in love, marry, give birth to Tom. He’d watched them struggle through marital difficulties, financial stress and parenting. And he’d watched Kerri bury her husband, watched Tom say goodbye to his father.

      Wade drew in a deep breath and held it, bolstering his resolve. He might not have been prepared for the magnitude of the anger in Kerri’s once warm blue eyes, but he could handle it.

      He intended to get to the bottom of what had happened today, and if he had to use Kerri and Tom to gain that information, so be it.

      Tom slid into a chair at the kitchen table and Wade mirrored his movement. Without asking, Kerri poured them each a glass of milk then placed a sleeve of cookies in the middle of the table.

      The familiar action enveloped Wade in a wave of memories, and for the briefest of moments, the past three years slid away, carrying him to the happy time before the accident. Before John’s death.

      The reason for his visit brought him crashing back to the present.

      “So have you seen my new site?” he asked Tom.

      Kerri shot him an angry glare as she dropped into the chair directly across from him.

      Tom nodded. “It’s great for skateboarding.”

      Wade hesitated for a moment. The new curbs hadn’t gone in until earlier this week. If Tom had tried them out, he’d been to the site recently.

      “So he’s heard.” Kerri spoke before Wade had a chance to ask Tom the obvious question. “He’s forbidden from going to the site,” she continued. “We’re well aware of how dangerous construction sites can be.”

      Wade winced, then felt like hell as Tommy dropped his chin, lowering his gaze to his lap.

      “So, you’ve never been there?” He directed the question at Tom, willing Kerri to keep her mouth shut.

      “I just told—”

      “I’m asking Tom,” he interrupted her, his tone growing sharp. Too sharp.

      Kerri scraped her chair back against the hardwood kitchen floor. “I think you’d better go.”

      “You know a man was critically injured there today, Tom. If you saw anything at all, you should tell the police.”

      He watched as the boy frowned, feeling like a bully for pressuring the kid, but growing desperate to get the admission he thought Tom might be withholding.

      Suddenly, Tom lifted his gaze to Wade’s, his blue eyes far too serious for someone so young.

      “The guy in the truck?”

      “Tommy,” Kerri admonished.

      Wade nodded. “Yeah, the guy in the truck. Did you see anybody else?”

      Tom looked nervously from Wade to his mother and back.

      “He’s not getting involved, Wade.” Kerri’s voice shook with emotion. “I won’t let him.”

      Wade pushed back, standing toe to toe with Kerri. He gripped her elbows, holding her near. “If he saw something, he’s our only witness, Kerri. No one else was there. We can stop whoever did this.”

      She visibly softened, and Wade thought she was a breath away from agreeing, when the emotional shutters returned to her stubborn gaze.

      “No,” she said flatly. “You’re on your own.”

      Disappointment and anger battled inside him. “If you’re afraid of retaliation, no one but the investigators on the case need to know. We’ll keep it out of the media.”

      Fear shimmered in Kerri’s eyes. So he’d hit the nail on the head.

      “Haven’t you brought us enough heartache?” She pulled free of his grip and moved toward her son. “Tom, honey, tell your Uncle Wade goodbye. You need to get cleaned up for dinner.”

      Disappointment flashed in Tom’s eyes, but he did as he was told. After he’d moved out of earshot, Kerri spoke again.

      “Your insurance will cover your loss, right? Leave my son out of this.”

      “Is this what you want to teach him, Red? You want to teach him not to cooperate instead of trying to make a difference.”

      Color flared in her cheeks. “Don’t ever call me that again.”

      She might as well have slapped him.

      Without another word, Kerri moved from the kitchen to the hallway to the front door, jerking the heavy wooden door open.

      “We never had this conversation. If you care at all about Thomas and me, you’ll walk out of this door and you won’t come back.”

      “Why did you go to the site? You know what he saw, don’t you?”

      “He didn’t see anything, Wade. He dropped his skateboard and ran when the fires started. I went back for his board.” She slowly shook her head from side to side. “That’s all. You need to leave us alone.”

      There was no denying the fury in Kerri’s voice, but Wade spotted more than anger in her eyes. He’d known the woman long enough to know she was bluffing.

      “You’re lying.”

      She bristled, but stepped nearer, so near Wade could pick up the soft scent of her soap.

      “I will not let you drag my son into this. Is that understood? He saw nothing.”

      “I don’t believe you.” He hesitated, searching for the right words. “I’d never let anything happen to him. Why won’t you trust me?”

      One of her auburn eyebrows lifted, as if she couldn’t believe he’d asked the question. “Get out of my house.”

      “The police think Project Liberation did this, but they need a witness.”

      “Leave.”

      Wade stepped out onto the front step, tensing as the door slammed behind him. He’d give her this round, but if she thought she’d won the battle, Kerri Nelson was in for a rude awakening.

      IS THIS WHAT you want to teach him?

      Wade’s words echoed through Kerri’s brain as she cracked open the top of her jewelry box later that night. The polished amethyst heart lay safely beneath the box’s velvet tray,