If We Dare to Dream by Collette Scott Read Free Book Online

often trailing after her fun-loving brother, and he was corrupting them every chance he got. Tonight it was with true crime shows.
    “I don’t think Torie or Isabel would approve of you showing them these modern day murders,” Jamie said as she plopped down on the recliner next to Grady’s son, Kyle. Reaching out to tousle his hair, she made a stern face at her brother.
    “But this is about the girl who was killed in the Valley, Jamie,” David said excitedly.
    Jamie went still. “What?”
    “Yeah, right when you moved away. Some girl went out partying and was killed when she got home. They did a documentary on the case. Something like, ‘war hero gone nuts’.”
    Jamie straightened in her chair, the cold grip of fear like a vice around her heart. She began to rise to leave the room, but suddenly the girl’s face was filling the screen. She froze. Marissa had been right. It was the girl who had made the scene that night. Guilt joined shame and embarrassment, and she sank back into her seat weakly.
     Was there anything she could have done to prevent that murder? She was, after all, one of the last people to see the girl alive. She took a deep and shaky breath as the photo faded and the ads began.
    “Jamie, what’s wrong?”
    Hearing the concern in Kyle’s voice, Hayden sat forward and closed the legs of his recliner with a snap. “Hey Jame, are you okay? You’re white as a ghost.”
    Jamie tried to smile. “Of course I’m fine.”
    He frowned in answer. “What happened? Did Ford snap at you again?”
    “Oh gosh, no. I was in the kitchen with Isabel.”
    “Then what’s going on?”
    She decided that she must have looked bad, because the concern on Hayden’s face did not waver. “I wasn’t expecting to see this on the television.”
    “This? You mean the girl who died?” He shook his head in confusion.
    “Yes.”
    “But you weren’t here when it happened.”
    “Actually I was… I was there that night,” she said softly.
    She watched as the atmosphere in the room changed. In a reaction so similar to hers, Hayden’s face drained of color while her nephews stared in shocked silence. Like twin gaping fish, their mouths fell open as their ten-year-old imaginations ran wild. Suddenly she felt very exposed.
    Hayden reached out and tugged on David’s arm. “Scoot over to my seat, Squirt. I want to sit next to Jamie.”
    “But I want to hear this,” he complained.
    Hayden gave him a threatening stare, and David sighed dramatically. However, he did come to his feet and they swapped spots.
    “Tell me,” Hayden ordered.
    “There’s nothing really to tell. I saw the girl while I was out with Marissa and Rae. She almost puked all over me, but this guy pulled me out of the way.”
    “Why haven’t you ever said anything?”
    “Clay and I left the next day, and I didn’t hear about the murder until after he was arrested. I didn’t follow the trial or anything; I was too spooked.” She did not add that she was embarrassed and frightened that she had allowed the man to follow her home that night.
    Hayden’s eyes were still wide. “Damn, Jamie. That’s just crazy.”
    “Quiet! It’s coming back on.”
    Jamie’s head swung in the direction of the screen. Ford had installed a complete home theater room, complete with viewing chairs and projection screen. The surround sound system filled the room with the introduction, and the narrator’s voice had replaced those of cheerful women selling mop heads. Jamie and Hayden turned to watch, and when his face appeared it took almost the entire back wall of the room. Jamie’s breathing ceased at the sight of the man who had intrigued and then terrified her for the last three years. There were the deceptively friendly honey eyes and the small, straight nose that led to his strong jaw. It truly was a shame, for he was good looking even in a mug shot. She remembered how those eyes had danced that night, but they were not dancing in the picture at