The Final Omen: Second Sight Book Four

by Heather Topham Wood

  “Are you kidding? The second my mom got back from Florida, she was decorating the house. She also put at least a month’s worth of dinners in our freezer. I’m offended she has little faith in my homemaking skills,” Kate said and popped a cocktail meatball in her mouth.

  “Well, by her reaction to the news of you moving in with Jared, she’s probably trying to ensure he eventually proposes to you.”

  “Since I don’t have a dowry, I guess having my mom cook and clean for us is the next best thing.” Jared made eye contact with her from across the yard. He was talking to a couple of buddies he’d invited over. He grinned in her direction while she gave a short wave back. His smile still could make her feel giddy.

  “How did it go telling your dad about the move?”

  “Not great. We argue all the time now. He wouldn’t come over today and says he’s no longer helping me out financially.” Kate shrugged. “To be honest, it’s kind of a relief to not take his money any longer. He felt like his financial support gave him the right to dictate my life.”

  “You’ll be all right, money wise?”

  “Yes. Declan splits the reward money he receives from the cases we work on together. I’ve only been using my abilities occasionally though because Jared and Declan don’t want me involved in anything potentially dangerous.” Kate sighed. “Apparently they think walking across the street without someone holding my hand is too much for me to handle yet.”

  At her remark, they watched Declan walk across the lawn and approach Jared. Jared excused himself from his friends and huddled in a corner with Declan. Her curiosity grew as she noticed how both men appeared animated over their conversation.

  Julie broke into the thoughts. “I still think it’s weird they’re civil now. Shouldn’t they be brawling for your affections?”

  Kate’s lips twisted into a wry smile. “Not likely. Sometimes I think they like each other more than they like me.” Leaning back on her heels, she continued, “They can be friends now because Jared is confident enough that he doesn’t see Declan as a threat and Declan is…well he’s Declan, so I never understand his way of thinking.”

  Declan threw back his head and laughed loudly, drawing both of their attention to him.

  “I’m happy for you,” Julie said, and leaned into Kate. “You’ve had a shit year and you deserve to be free of the guy drama. You and Jared both seem thrilled to be living together.” In a soft whisper, Julie added, “And it must make finding alone time with Jared to get down and dirty much easier.”

  Kate’s cheeks colored and she coughed into her hand. Although she couldn’t usually stand Julie’s fiancé, Gage, Kate would do anything to have him swoop in and interrupt their conversation. Instead, he was busy playing a game of horseshoes with Jared’s friends. Her silence prompted Julie to narrow her eyes.

  Julie pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes tightly. After taking a few cleansing breaths, her brown eyes had fire in them. She asked, “Kate, why are we having this conversation again? You’ve wanted to sleep with Jared since the first time you were dating close to a year ago. You’ve been together again for more than six months; what’s the problem?”

  “It’s not like we’ve been alone for any prolonged amount of time. I’ve been under lock and key at my mom’s house with Jared and Declan keeping watch round the clock. Not to mention I was laid up from my attack for months. I could barely get out of bed; much less attempt the reverse cowgirl.”

  Her crack at using humor to divert Julie failed. She demanded, “But what about now? You’ve been living together for over a week now. Why haven’t you christened each room of your new house?”

  Kate chewed on her lower lip. “It’s not that I don’t want to. Because, believe me, I’d love nothing more than to take that step with Jared. It’s just my head getting in the way of my heart.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not the same girl he met last summer. I’ve not only changed emotionally, but my body has changed. I was stabbed four times and I have these horrible scars covering my skin. They aren’t pretty and I’m afraid I’ll see disgust on his face when I undress in front of him.”

  “Kate, I love you, but you’ve got to stop being a victim. Don’t give that psychopath any more power over your life.”

  Kate swallowed roughly. Julie was on point with her words and it hurt Kate to hear the feelings she had attempted to conceal vocalized. Knowing the assailant was still at large did make for many sleepless nights. She couldn’t talk to Jared about how she felt because she needed him uninvolved. If she pretended to feel unthreatened, maybe the future she saw for him wouldn’t come true. She hadn’t even been completely honest with him about why she wanted to hold off on sex. If she admitted the damage done to her body caused her reluctance to be intimate, then it would only fuel his need for revenge.

  Jared would never pressure her for sex; it went against the way he was internally hardwired. She suspected he guessed the reason for her putting off sex, but he’d give her space until she was comfortable enough.

  “Kate, I understand how it must feel to see what that monster did to you, but don’t use it as an excuse. You’ve always had issues with how you look, despite how often I’ve told you what a total babe you are.” Julie was tall and thin with a perfect complexion and mahogany hair that had a natural shine. It was an ego boost when she gave a compliment.

  “What issues? I didn’t have issues,” Kate protested.

  Julie rolled her blue eyes. “I lived with you our freshman year of college. Do you know how many nights I had to listen to you doing the Judy Blume chant in the mirror?” She lifted her arms and pumped them back and forth. “I must, I must, I must increase my bust.”

  Gazing down, Kate said, “Well, it obviously didn’t work.”

  “My point is, you love Jared and he loves you, and that’s going to be the only thing on either of your minds when you finally sleep with him.”

  Kate decided offense was the defense. “Why is my sex life such a concern of yours? Maybe I should start harassing you about how things are going in the bedroom between you and Gage?”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about Gage. He’s as carefree as can be, Jared is the one who looks like he’s about to have an aneurysm,” Julie replied, pointing to him.

  Declan and Jared were still talking, but his spine had gone rigid and his fists were clenched at his sides.

  Perhaps Kate had prematurely assumed they wouldn’t brawl over her. “I better go see what’s going on.” She excused herself and hustled towards the men.

  Jared’s back was turned away from her and he didn’t notice her quick approach.

  Declan was saying, “I’ve been inside his head at least a dozen times and I don’t think he has anything to do with Kate’s attack.”

  Declan noticed her first and paled. He coughed uncomfortably before he said, “Hey Kate! Wow, you look really freakin’ hot today.”

  She rolled her eyes while Jared shot Declan an annoyed look. “Not okay, dude,” Jared said, shaking his head.

  Declan shoved his hands into his pants pockets. “I meant to say Jared is one lucky guy to wake up to that sexiness each morning.”

  “You can leave now,” Jared ground out.

  Declan didn’t protest the dismissal. Kate shook her head as he slunk off and called out, “You have to work on your deflection techniques, Dec.” He didn’t reply and instead headed towards the food spread.

  Once he was out of earshot, Jared questioned, “Why are we friends with him again?”

  “Because underneath the layers of smarminess is actually a loyal friend.”

  “He did have one thing right; you do look very sexy today.” Jared ran his hand down the side of her yellow sundress and pulled her close. With her newly formed tan and lightened hair color from the sun, she did feel the color complemented her nicely. The fabric was expansive enough it hid the scars on her hip, stomach and back.

  Jared rested his hand on her lower
back and grazed his lips gently across her mouth.

  She cupped his cheek. “You may be slightly better at deflection, but it’s not working. What were you and Declan talking about?”

  He gave her a defeated look. “You’re not going to like it.”

  “It’s about my case, isn’t it?” A rock formed on her chest and cut off her ability to fully breathe. “You’ve been working with Declan to help find out who attacked me. And I stupidly thought all the phone calls with him were really updates on the fantasy baseball league the two of you joined together.”

  Jared gave her a guilty look. “Some of the calls were about the league.”

  “Jared, you promised me in the hospital you’d would stay out of it and let the detectives handle it. Detective Thompson and everyone else in the department has been great and he seems sincere about wanting to find the person responsible.”

  “I only said I’d leave it alone temporarily. How can I sit back and not try to find the bastard when six months have gone by with no movement in your case?”

  “I’m frustrated, too. But I can’t stress to you enough how disastrous things will turn out if you pursue it. I’m fine with Declan using his abilities, but I want him to turn any information over to the police. And it’s not like I’ve given up on uncovering the person. I’ve head-hopped through our suspect list time and time again, but nothing has come up.”

  Her second coma hadn’t changed her gift; she could still view a person’s memories. As long as she had a visual image of the person, she could see inside his or her head. Although she was getting better at controlling whose memories she witnessed, she still ended up in an unsuspecting target from time to time.

  She worked a lot of cases since her abilities manifested, but Kate’s involvement had landed three men in jail: Barry Franks, CJ Bradford and Billy Rizzo. Police were questioning Barry during her attack for another crime and CJ and Billy were behind bars with lengthy sentences. She still looked into their heads since the men could’ve enlisted someone on the outside to do their dirty work.

  “What if I promise not to kill anyone? Can I still be involved?” Jared was asking.

  “No, because I had my last vision of you less than two months ago. That’s telling me your fate is still sealed and you’ll go to prison if you go after this person.” She softened her screeching tone. “I love you and I want to protect you as much as you’re trying to protect me.”

  “It kills me knowing this person is walking around free.”

  “He’ll mess up somehow and get caught. We have to be patient and wait until it happens.”

  “I’m impatient, Kate. I feel like our lives are on hold until this is over.” Jared closed his eyes. “It makes me sick to imagine you could be hurt again because I didn’t do enough to protect you.”

  “Jared, we have to move forward whether or not he’s caught,” she insisted.

  “I can’t say I’ll stay out of it completely, but I won’t do anything stupid. You’ve told me the risks and as much as I’d love to see him suffer, I want us to build a life together, too.”

  The tension eased over his statement. It wasn’t the exact promise she was looking for from him, but it would have to do for the time being. She was being optimistic and hoping Jared wasn’t giving a politician answer and only telling her what she needed to hear.

  She pressed her body against the hard muscles of his chest. She said softly, “Most importantly, I don’t want our first time together to be a conjugal visit.”

  His lips quirked in response to her remark and a flush started in his neck. “No, that wouldn’t do at all.” He opened his mouth to say more, but shut it quickly as her mother strode over and snaked her arm through Kate’s.

  “Katie and Jared, you have guests. If you don’t start making rounds, people will start to talk,” Darlene said with displeasure lacing her voice.

  “Fine,” Kate reluctantly agreed. She had a gleam in her eye as she smiled at Jared. “But I look forward to continuing this conversation later, Mr. Corbett.”

  Chapter Eleven

  After an endless amount of small talk with Jared’s coworkers and their wives, Kate was able to steal away to track down her psychic partner. She found him by the desserts; filling up his plate with cookies and brownies she and her mom had baked the night before. Kate’s stomach ached from the raw batter she’d consumed, but the final product was delicious.

  “Great party, Kate. Although you could’ve invited a few more hot women for my benefit.” Declan said as she advanced towards him. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m going through a bit of a dry spell.”

  “Maybe it’s because you look like you belong on the pages of a Where’s Waldo? book,” she joked, motioning to his striped red shirt and black glasses. “I’ve never seen you wear glasses.”

  As silly as he looked, she could admit from a clinical perspective he was extremely attractive. He had the muscled and tattooed bad boy look down pat. He’d been keeping his dark hair buzzed off and it accentuated the edgy look. Declan had scars too—his body had been demolished in a ski accident five years prior. He wore his scars proudly, didn’t hide behind them the way Kate did.

  Declan moaned. “I’ve been seeing this philosophy major from Rutgers University. She’s into books and stuff.”

  Kate laughed. “And you thought what? Wearing glasses would make her think you read something more challenging than the back of a cereal box?”

  He gave her a mock indignant look. “I read plenty. I had to read some stuff by this Simone de Beauvoir chick because Camilla loves her stuff. The gist of what I read was men oppress women and steal their identity. I think that translates into I won’t be getting any play soon.”

  “I think it’s sweet you’re making an effort. You might as well settle down. You’ve seen the downstairs of more women than a gynecologist. Doesn’t it get old after a while?” By the skeptical look on his face, Kate guessed it wasn’t the case. Clucking in disapproval, she dropped the subject. Instead, she asked, “So, how long have you been working with Jared on my case?”

  “I never stopped trying to find out who stabbed you. I’ll be honest with you; I keep hitting a brick wall when it comes to figuring out who did it. I’ve been inside the head of probably every person you’ve spent more than five minutes with and still haven’t seen anything suspicious.”

  “I’m not protesting because I don’t want him found, I only want to keep Jared out of it. We’re partners,” Kate said, pointing between her and Declan, “and if anyone should be working together to solve my case, it’s us.”

  “But Jared’s more fun to hang out with than you are,” he joked.

  “Jared has a higher threshold for taking your shit than I do. But I’m serious about keeping him out of the loop. You know better than anyone our visions are never wrong. If we solve the case without Jared, we can make sure the bastard goes to jail and I don’t have to worry about Jared sullying his good name.”

  “Fine,” Declan relented. “But I hope you have some new suspects in mind.”

  “Well, jinkies, Scooby Doo, maybe we should just throw in the towel and leave this mystery unsolved.”

  Declan laughed. “My Hummer could be the Mystery Machine and I can see you as the Velma of our crew.” He gave her a sarcastic smile. “She was always blowing the case in one way or another. Every episode she lost those damned glasses of hers.”

  “Well, you’d be cast as Shaggy. However, instead of being motivated by food, you’re motivated by money and sex.” After ensuring Jared was ensconced with his friends, she asked, “Is there anything you and Jared haven’t told me about the investigation? I get that the two of you are trying to protect me by keeping me out of the loop, but I have to start fighting back. The guy seemed determined to kill me, and I’m sure my survival isn’t sitting well with him.”

  “Honestly, Kate, you probably know more than we do. You need to really dig down deep and try to figure out if there’s some clue you’re missing that could lead
us in the right direction.”

  She did feel like she was floundering. Drawing in a shaky breath, she tried to return to the night she was stabbed. Instead of terror taking over, she tried to think about something distinguishable about her assailant. He was hovering over her, and her eyes were only drawn to the hunting knife he held menacingly. His clothing was dark and covered every inch of his skin—making it impossible to discern his skin color or find anything distinguishable about him. He was taller than her by at least a few inches, but his movements were lightning fast and made it hard for her to pin down an exact height.

  She had referred to him as a “he” because of the strong sense of masculinity she detected. His build was stocky, and when she fought back his grunting noises had been distinctly male.

  Her visions before the attack hadn’t revealed anything significant, either. It gave her advanced warning of what would take place, but in the end she hadn’t prevented it. Once she woke up from the coma, she thought it would be only a matter of time before he was caught. But no one was coming forward who saw anything suspicious that night, and no physical evidence was left behind.

  The men she’d crossed paths with during her former investigations were her most likely suspects. However, revenge against Kate was the last thing on their minds. Instead, they were still focused on their victims—the memories of their crimes were chilling. It was unpleasant to spend the night in their heads and wake up pretending to be carefree next to Jared.

  Kate had a strong sense Nikki was involved in the assault. She hated Kate and all of Facebook knew it. But being inside of Nikki’s thoughts could only be compared to traveling through the nine circles of hell. It was torture to witness her and Jared together as a couple. Declan had taken over when Kate swore to him she’d claw out her own eyes if she had to see Jared kissing Nikki one more time. Declan’s visions proved fruitless and he reported the visions of her were inane and boring.