Killing Me Softly: A Thriller Romance Novel

Chapter 3

Is Theo Jameson still a good person? I wondered, as I stood outside the Jameson house at sundown.

Janice's shift started shortly after she had shown me the video that Friday night. I only had tonight, Saturday, and Sunday to make the most out of my visit to Yoakum before the next work week in Austin.

Janice wasn't kidding. There was yellow tape all around the Jameson house that read, POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS. Two cruisers were sitting out front with an influx of reporters and visitors lining the street.

"He's not in there, ma'am. Ma'am?" I overheard an officer holding up his hand and stopping a woman at the police line.

"I just need to take a few pictures," she said, attempting to get past him.

"I can't allow that, ma'am. Now, please, return to your vehicle," he said, crossing his arms.

The officer looked familiar, yet not. Was he someone I went to school with all those years ago? I couldn't be too sure, and I couldn't read his name badge from where I stood from my Mini Cooper across the street.

It was crazy to see folks there scoping out the place just like I was. I imagined a car or two might be there, but not crowds of people and cars lining the street.

I wanted to go inside and investigate just as badly as the others, but I found myself standing and thinking about Theo instead and my obsession with him in high school.

I remember driving by his parents' house, hoping to catch a glimpse of him on the weekends. They had a basketball goal on the front of their garage, and occasionally, I would catch him outside shooting hoops in some gym shorts and no shirt. I had even once purchased a disposable camera and snapped a few photos from my car window from across the street. He had looked once or twice, and I sped off like a demon out of hell.

Even though Theo never said anything, I knew he knew my car back then. I drove a unique 1990 Ford Ranger, navy blue with blue windows and a blue, fuzzy steering wheel cover, not to mention all the decals on my back window and the rear bumper of my favorite metal bands.

It wasn't hard to miss my truck. It was quite easy to identify.

I'll never forget the day in AP science class when Theo and I were partnered together for a worm dissection study assignment, and he said, "I saw you the other day in that blue truck of yours. Blue is your favorite color, huh?"

Once I knew he knew what I drove, I immediately burned from head to toe with flattery and fear that he had seen me go by his house so many times.

"Blue is my favorite color, too," he had said and shot me that million-dollar, winning smile of his. You know the one.

He wouldn't recognize my car now if he saw it since I got rid of that blue truck about ten years ago and have driven at least four different vehicles since then.

The answer to my original question is yes, absolutely, yes. Theo Jameson was and is a good person. As easily as he could have called me out on stalking him, he never did.

It was as if he either played oblivious to it or just accepted it and didn't let it bother him. It didn't seem to bother Mary Jo, either. Because, even after they started dating, I didn't break my routine of driving by all the places I knew Theo would be.

Come to think of it, I probably still knew where Theo would be. Old habits die hard...right?

Theo and Mary Jo truly had an immaculate home, but I was tired of looking at it.

Instead of lingering, I got into my car and drove the familiar way to his childhood home not far from there. There were cars in the driveway and lights on inside, with a patrol officer out front. There weren't as many people there, probably because those who came to visit didn't know where it was.