She laid her head on his chest and he heard her sigh.
“I wish you had.”
She fell asleep within seconds. He wished it would be so easy for him to sleep. He lay awake thinking of things to make sure Novak paid dearly. When he did fall asleep, he had a smile on his face.
Chapter Eleven
Noah borrowed the police sketch artist from Morehead the next morning. Alicia called Kelly just in case she remembered something. Shawna Nelson held up the final drawing. Alicia nodded and shivered a little. His eyes were cold and scary. She felt like this man could walk into the station at any moment and kill them all.
Tony had stayed with her the whole time. His hands on her shoulders felt comforting to her. She wanted to believe he was doing it because he cared about her, but she wasn’t sure. Part of her was afraid to hope.
“I think I did see his eyes once. That is why I felt so frightened of him.” Kelly frowned, looking scared. Helen was entertaining Kelly’s son while they worked on the sketch.
“He came to the table once to ask Janice to dance. I remember looking into his eyes and thinking she was crazy for hooking up with him,” Kelly whispered. “I had forgotten that.”
“That is Mario Novak,” Noah said with satisfaction. “At least we now know for sure who we are dealing with. We just have to connect him with Janice’s death.”
Kelly stood up. She looked troubled. Noah offered to have a guard park in front of her house.
“My aunt invited me to stay with her in Austin for a while. I think I will,” Kelly told them.
She turned to Alicia and looked at her with remorse. “I hate leaving like this with no notice, but I can’t let anything happen to Dylan. He is all I have.”
Alicia hugged Kelly. “I understand. I want you and Dylan to be safe. Later, when this is all over, you can come back to work.”
“Thank you, Alicia. Stay safe, please.” Kelly gave her one last hug. Greg walked Kelly and her son out to her car.
Alicia stood up and rubbed her arms. She felt stressed and frightened. How the hell had partying to get her mind off Tony turned into such a nightmare? She had to remember what happened that night. “Now what, Noah? I now know it was Novak behind all this. I also remember someone else with him, but when I try to think who, my head hurts.”
She felt sick to her stomach knowing the man who had kidnapped Holly was out there somewhere and possibly watching them. He had killed Janice and kidnapped her.
Noah hugged her. “Now you go to the restaurant and leave the rest to us. We will find him, Alicia.”
She looked at Tony. She felt heavy with worry. She wanted all of this to be over. “Will you give me a ride to the restaurant? I feel like being around my family.”
He agreed and told Noah he would be back. They walked out of the station. He kept his hand at her lower back. She remembered that hot, steamy kiss they shared last night. She wanted to ask him what it meant, but she had fallen asleep on him. Now she just felt so troubled with thoughts of Novak and her missing memory.
The rain had cleared up and the sun was out. She felt like she was walking in a daze. The honking of a car horn startled her. It was a driver waving hello at Tony. She let out a sigh. She had to stop expecting someone to jump out from behind every bush or tree.
“Next week is Halloween,” Tony said as he opened the door to his truck. “Matt and Holly are forcing me to go with them out to Henderson Farm and pick out pumpkins.”
Alicia laughed as she buckled herself in. She had forgotten about the holiday. Usually she was all into the holidays. “They are forcing you, huh?”
He nodded solemnly. “I don’t do holidays, and neither did Matt, until now. I guess I will help carve pumpkins. Want to join us?”
“Sure, when?” She wanted to spend more time with him. Maybe she was supposed to die with Janice, but fate had given her a second chance. If that was so, she wanted to spend as much time with Tony as possible.
She didn’t tell him Holly had invited her that morning at breakfast. She wanted to see if there was hope for them to build something solid. She hated the thought of having her heart broken again, but she really loved Tony.
“Wednesday, around six.” He pulled onto the main street.
“Okay. I love going out there. Now that Carlos is a little older, he might like a pumpkin.” She smiled, thinking of her nephew. She looked down at her cast and sighed. She hated being unable to use her arm. She was used to always be
ing busy. It was how she dealt with her emotions. She just didn’t give herself time to think and dwell on the sadness of her life. “I doubt I can carve one. Maybe Noah will, or Adam and Liam.”
“We can do one together,” he insisted and parked in front of the building. He got out and went to her door, then helped her down. It was close to lunchtime and the sidewalks were crowded. Some people waved at them. Alicia knew the gossipers would be discussing why they were seen together again. “I’ll walk you in.”
Her mom was at the hostess station putting clean glasses away. She greeted Tony with a friendly smile. She hugged her daughter. “Noah told us you remembered that bad man.”