Dawn in Eclipse Bay

very tightly. “How do you know that?”
    His mouth twisted. “I’ve been watching you for the past couple of days.”
    A blast of stark fear left her palms damp. “You followed me? You had no right to do that. I’ll report you to the police.”
    “I didn’t do anything illegal.” He looked disgusted. “I just wanted to be sure.”
    “Sure of what?”
    “Sure you were the woman who runs that matchmaking outfit, Private Arrangements.”
    “Why do you care who I am?”
    He moved in closer. “You’re the one who took Heather away from me. You hooked her up with someone else, didn’t you? I called her a couple of days ago. Thought I’d give her another chance, y’know? That’s when she told me that she planned to marry this guy you set her up with. She thinks she’s in love. I think you messed with her mind.”
    Ice touched Lillian’s spine. “Are you talking about Heather Summers?”
    “Heather was with me before you tricked her into thinking I was no good for her. She left me because of you.”
    It took everything Lillian had to stand her ground. “Who are you?”
    “My name’s Witley.” He took another step toward her, his face clenching with anger. “Campbell Witley. Heather and I were together before you came along. You ruined everything.”
    She glanced quickly around again, reassuring herself that she was not alone here on the sidewalk. Then she looked very steadily at Campbell Witley.
    “Please, calm down, Mr. Witley. I did match a woman named Heather but when she filled out the forms I gave her she stated that she was not currently seeing anyone. I always insist that my clients be single and unattached when they sign up with my firm.”
    “I don’t care what Heather said on your damned forms.” He tapped his wide chest with a stubby thumb. “She was with me .”
    Lillian remembered Heather very well. She was a shy, nonconfrontational type who would have found it extremely difficult to deal with an aggressive man like Witley.
    She also recalled that Heather had been a different woman after her first date with Ted Baker. Baker was the quiet, studious sort, very much a gentleman. He and Heather had attended the opera together. It had been love at first sight.
    “Out of curiosity,” Lillian said, “do you enjoy the opera, Mr. Witley?”
    “What business is it of yours?”
    “Heather loves the opera. I just wondered if you shared her interests.”
    Witley’s mouth creased into a thin line. “Are you saying I didn’t have anything in common with her just because I wouldn’t go to the damned opera? That’s bullshit. Heather and I had a lot in common. We went to ball games. I took her camping. We went white-water rafting. We did lots of stuff together.”
    “Those were all things that you enjoyed. But it doesn’t sound as if you did many things that she liked to do.”
    “How do you know what she liked?”
    “She was very specific on the questionnaire I had her fill out. She is really quite passionate about the opera, you know. And she likes to attend film festivals.”
    “I took Heather to the movies. We saw Battle Zone twice.”
    This was hopeless, Lillian thought. Campbell Witley would probably never understand, much less care, that he and Heather had had no common interests.
    “I’m sorry about your personal problems, Mr. Witley, but I assure you, I had nothing to do with the breakup of your relationship,” she said.
    “The hell you didn’t. If it hadn’t been for you, Heather would be with me now.”
    “When did she end your relationship?”
    Witley scowled furiously. “The night we went to see Battle Zone the second time. When I took her home that evening, she said she didn’t want to date me again. Why?”
    “You say that she broke up with you after you took her to back-to-back screenings of Battle Zone . As I recall, that film came out early last fall. I remember the ads were everywhere.”
    “So what?”
    “Heather didn’t register with Private Arrangements until December. I matched her in January.”
    “Who cares when she registered with your damned agency?”
    “I’m trying to explain that my firm had nothing to do with the end of your relationship with Heather,” Lillian said patiently. “She didn’t come to me until after the two of you had stopped seeing each other.”
    “Don’t try to weasel out of this. She’d have come back to me by now if you hadn’t fixed her up with someone else.”
    “I don’t think so,” Lillian said as gently