“What now?”
He sighed and rolled toward her. “You have to touch something of Toby’s.”
Her stomach clenched. He was right. This was what all their work together boiled down to. “His things are in my extra bedroom.”
“I know you’re upset about leaving Audrey there alone for so long. Would you like me to go to Omaha with you?”
She raised herself up again, laying a hand on his warm shoulder. “Would you do that? You wouldn’t mind?”
“You want my help, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“And getting back to the inn would solve one of your problems. I can wait a while to take more work.”
“Oh, thank you, Austin.” She leaned into a kiss, and his arm came up and pulled her against him.
“I do like the way you show your appreciation,” he said with a seductive growl.
His playful words nagged her briefly. She did appreciate him. She did need him. But she wasn’t willing to analyze her reasons just then. She gave herself over to this man whose lovemaking was the stuff dreams were made of.
And Shaine saw stars again that night.
He actually did make the plane reservations from his computer. Shaine called Audrey and they packed. Austin knew someone in Gunnison who cared for Daisy when he traveled. With a grin, Shaine watched him tell the dog goodbye.
They caught a commuter flight to Denver, and a late flight out of Denver to Omaha. It was after midnight when Nick Pruitt met them at the baggage claim.
Shaine introduced him to Austin.
“Sorry to keep you up so late,” Austin apologized.
“No problem. Shaine and Audrey have met me at the airport plenty of times.”
Shaine sat between the two men in Nick’s pickup, seeing the familiar sights of her hometown without much feeling. Her thoughts centered on the task looming before her.
What did her friends think of her bringing a total stranger home? She decided it was only fair to tell Audrey exactly what was going on.
Golden light spilled from the lace-curtained windows of her Victorian Inn, and finally Shaine felt a sense of coming home. Audrey was waiting for them in the kitchen.
“Shaine!” She gave her a welcoming hug, her belly huge between them.
“Oh, my gosh, Audrey, look at you!”
“I know. If this kid doesn’t come soon, I’ll be the main attraction in the pachyderm complex at the zoo.”
Shaine laughed. “It’s not that bad. This is Austin Allen.”
Austin moved forward and Audrey shook his hand. “I got a room ready. The Sophia room, if that’s okay,” she said, looking to Shaine.
Shaine glanced at Austin, and knew he wouldn’t object. They hadn’t thought to discuss arrangements, but he wouldn’t want to embarrass her. She couldn’t picture him in the lace-curtained room with its antique furnishings, and no twentieth-century embellishments. Besides, she wanted him near for as long possible.
“Thanks, Audrey, but he’ll stay with me.”
She had to give Audrey credit for hiding her reaction. “Whatever you want, hon. I made tea.”
Shaine reached into the cupboard for cups. “Tea sounds great. And I want to tell you what’s going on.”
They settled at the round oak table, and Shaine poured. “Austin is helping me.” Her friend already knew some of the situation and about the dreams of Toby. Beginning with the incident about Jimmy Deets, Shaine explained what had happened and why she’d been in Colorado.
Audrey accepted the information without batting a lash. “You’ve always had a second sense,” she said calmly, and turned to Austin. “A customer lost a wallet once, and she suggested he look under his car seat. There it was.”
Shaine looked at her in surprise. “I hadn’t attributed that to anything other than a lucky guess.”
“Well, you make a lot of lucky guesses,” Audrey said with a tired smile.
“Come on,” Nick urged his wife. “Off to bed with you.” The Pruitts said their good-nights and headed for their small house across the street.
Shaine rinsed the cups and turned out the lights. Together, she and Austin got their bags from the back porch and Shaine led the way around back and unlocked the door to her downstairs apartment.
She flipped on the lights and showed him the bedroom and bathroom. “It’s pretty small,” she apologized.
“We’ll just be all the closer then, won’t we?” He slipped his arms around her, and she leaned into his embrace gratefully.
Thinking how much he disliked being around people, and how hemmed in he would feel here, she appreciated his sacrifice all the more. “Thank you for coming with me.”
He stroked her hair. “We’re going to see this thing through together,” he promised.
He’d awakened her to an incredible talent that had lain dormant within her all this time; incredible but frightening when so much was at stake. And he hadn’t let her come back here to face it alone. She had so much to be grateful to him for.
As soon as tomorrow she might know where Toby was.
Having nothing to eat in her apartment, Shaine took Austin upstairs for breakfast. She shooed Audrey into a chair and took over the preparation. There were only two rooms occupied, so when Marge Andersen arrived, Shaine left her to clean and do laundry, then led Austin to the small bedroom Maggie and her son had shared for those few precious months.
He moved the stacks of poorly labeled boxes she’d packed Toby’s things in. Finally she opened a carton, and beneath a blanket, found toys and clothing. Overwhelming sadness gripped her, along with a fresh attack of nerves. Her stomach knotted. “Here,” she whispered.
Austin glanced inside. Their eyes met, his filled with a deep understanding concern. He picked up the box.
In the living room, Shaine seated herself on the edge of her sofa. The surroundings were all different. Austin’s secluded log home had seemed the perfect atmosphere for a task like this. Would being here make any difference? Was she deliberately placing stumbling blocks in her own path? Yes. She tried not to think of all that was at stake.
“You’re as white as a sheet,” he said, dropping to his knees in front of her. “Relax.”
He rubbed her hands between his, and gave her a supportive smile. Her gaze moved from his hands to his lips, and thoughts of the previous night together brought a new warmth to her heart. Her bed was small, but he’d said they hadn’t used half of his anyway. He’d awakened her twice when she’d begun to dream.
She’d never spent the night in a man’s arms until Austin. She’d never known pleasure like she’d known at his hands and lips and body. She’d never felt these tender, yet fierce feelings of need.
He kissed her—an indulgent kiss that bolstered her confidence.
Without touching anything himself, Austin turned the box on its side, so that the contents tipped, a few things falling to the floor.
Shaine looked them over, remembering packing them, remembering Toby playing with them. A worn terry-cloth bear caught her attention. “He slept with that,” she said, gesturing. “That’s Bear.”
“Go ahead.”
Shaine picked up the bear and brought it to her lap, placing both hands on it.
Her chest grew warm.
“Go with it,” Austin said softly. “Use your reference points.”
She did. Her hands got colder. Her chest got warmer, the heat dipping into her stomach. The picture swam into focus.
Toby. He was sitting at a small table with some other children. They had crayons and papers in front of them. The other children were coloring, but Toby only watched.
Finally a woman knelt beside him and spoke softly. Shaine couldn’t see her face, but she wore camel-colored slacks and a beige sweater. She hugged him, and he wrapped his little arms around her neck. Still she talked, her voice gentle and assuring.
One of the other children handed Toby a purple crayon. He released his hold on the woman and accepted the crayon. Soon he had drawn a circle with eyes.
/> Shaine explained the scene to Austin.
“What’s in the room?” he asked.
“Brightly painted shelves with toys. Noah’s ark is painted on the wall.”
“Any signs? Any other people?”
She shook her head. “The edges are fuzzy.”
“Stay with it. Something will come.”
She stayed with the vision until it dissipated like fog on a sunny morning. “That’s all.”
With disappointment, she looked at the bear in her hands.
“That’s okay,” he said. “You saw something different.”
“But not helpful.”
“Not painful, either,” he reminded her.
“Thank God.”
“Try something else. You have so many to chose from. Something will be the catalyst.”
Shaine placed the bear aside and selected a plastic car. After five full minutes with nothing, she tried a small figure of the type kids get at the drive-thru.
This time, physical responses cued her to something new. Toby lay on a bed in a room she’d never seen before. A room with toys on shelves and a rocking horse in an alcove. Bear was snuggled beneath his chin.
“I’ve never seen this place before,” she said.
“You wouldn’t have seen it if it’s where he’s at right now, Shaine. Describe it.”
She did, giving him as many details as she could.
They went through the entire carton with similar results. Throwing the objects back in and closing the lid to hide them, she curled up in the corner of the sofa, disappointment knifing through her chest, exhaustion creeping into her bones. “I didn’t get a thing! Not a thing!”
Austin paced the small room. Finally he flipped on her television and watched the news.
“Mind if I run?” he asked later.
She shook her head.
“You need to sleep,” he said.
“I want to check on things upstairs first. There’s not much to do in the evening, but I want to make sure Audrey is resting.” She went to a drawer in the kitchen and took out a key. “Don’t forget this.”
“I would have. You had to remind me to lock my own house when we left it.”
“I don’t expect the moose have much experience at hocking software.”
“Elk,” he corrected, and kissed her nose on his way to change.
She checked on Audrey before returning and falling into wearied slumber.
She awoke early, discovering the other side of the bed empty. She found Austin seated on one of the stone benches beside the herb garden she’d started last year. He held a coffee mug and studied the plants.
“Hey,” she said.
He slid over to make room for her. She pulled her robe around her more tightly and sat beside him.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
“I slept.”
She buried her hands in the pockets of her robe, grateful the mornings here weren’t as cold as in the mountains.
“I’ve been thinking,” he said.
She turned her face to him.
“If Toby’s not dead, maybe it’s Maggie’s things you need to hold.”
“What good would that do?” she asked.
“I’m not sure. It’s just a hunch I have.”
She trusted his hunches. She remembered the horrible feelings of loss and anger she’d experienced through the little girl’s ballet shoe, and wondered what would come of touching something belonging to the sister she loved so dearly.
“It’s up to you,” he said.
Of course it was. It had all been up to her. And if this was the only way to get a handle on this whole crazy situation, then she’d do it. She’d do whatever it took. Undoubtedly Austin knew that, too. “After breakfast and a few chores?” she asked.
He nodded. “Mind if I do a little yard work?”
“Gee, I’ll have to think that one over. Hmm. No, go right ahead. Tools are in the shed there. Key’s on my ring.”
She took his empty mug and headed for the inn, her mind leaping ahead. Perhaps touching something of Maggie’s rather than of Toby’s was what had initiated her dreams.
Maybe there was something among her sister’s possessions that held the answers she insisted on having.
At the same time she dreaded it, she hoped like crazy it was so. She didn’t know how many more disappointments she could handle. Nor did she know how long Austin would hang around to assist her. He’d get bored and restless here soon, and she had no right to expect him to stay.
She needed results. Now.
Chapter 11
Austin raked leaves and banked them around the rose bushes that lined the stone walkway through the ornamental garden. He paused to watch squirrels gathering food for winter, his thoughts on Shaine’s growing frustration and her inability to read anything concrete in the boy’s possessions.
She should have been able to see something. Her accuracy with the FBI’s files had proven that. Maybe she was too close to the case. Maybe...
He didn’t know what was holding her back, but he still had the nagging feeling that there was something obvious he should have recognized by now.
At least she’d been able to sleep last night, and that had been a blessing. Obvious in the smudged-looking skin beneath her eyes and the slight trembling in her hands, this ordeal was wearing her down. Today’s session had to go better. For both their sakes.
Since he was already dirty, he decided to run and then grab a shower. He’d dressed and was tying his shoes, when the intercom in the kitchen crackled. “You there? Meet me at the garage.”
Meeting Shaine as she unlocked the side door, he helped her sort through boxes until she decided on one. He carried it to her apartment.
This time she knelt on the floor beside the box and reached in without hesitation. Perhaps she’d spent the morning doing as much self-talk as he had.
She pulled out a photograph of the boy he knew from her expression was Toby. Straight blond bangs and a dimpled smile characterized the tiny boy. Austin watched her for a reaction, but the only one was a natural one: sorrow filled her eyes, and she laid the picture on the floor. A small jewelry chest came next, and opening it revealed more mementos than jewelry. Shaine fingered ticket stubs, a silver charm and a small plastic hospital ID bracelet.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It was on Toby’s ankle when she bought him home from the hospital.”
He studied her closely for a connection to any of the items, but she displayed no signs of sensing anything.
Finally she held a watch and placed her other hand over the top. Minutes passed. Her breathing remained steady, her eyes open and serious.
“Find somewhere inside to start,” he advised gently. “A guiding point.”
“There isn’t one.”
He placed his fingers over hers, finding her hands warm, not cold the way she described while she channeled in.
“I remember things,” she said, opening her eyes and going through the contents of the chest. “These things all have memories and feelings attached, but nothing more. There’s no—” she made a fist, searching for the word “—connection. It’s like I’m trying to tune in to a station and the radio’s not plugged in.”
“Try something else,” he suggested, losing hope fast.
She did. She went through the entire box, holding one thing after another, until in frustration, she dumped it all back in and hit the lid with her fist. “It’s no use! I can’t do it!”
He placed the carton by the door and stood at the window, staring sightlessly at the already leaf-strewn side yard. Doggedly, he went back over all the dreams she’d described: the woman with the apron; the Deets child; Toby; Daisy. And the visions: the hiker in the woods; Tamara Sue Jenkins’ mother at the cemetery; the McCullough woman at the Florida motel.
She’d known the Jenkins girl was dead, but she’d seen only her parents and her headstone. She’d known the boy who’d been stabbed was dead, but she’d seen nothing. She could se
e nothing of her sister, but had nightly dreams of Toby.
What was the difference? What was the connection?
A nagging idea occurred to him. His first reaction was to dismiss it, but nothing was too bizarre in matters of this nature. How could he test his theory?
“Shaine?”
She looked up, her eyes dark with misery.
“Where’s Audrey?”
“At her house across the street.”
“The little white one with the porch?”
“That’s it. Why?”
“I’ll be right back.”
He shot out the door and sprinted across the lawn. With a curious expression, Audrey came to the door when Austin knocked, and opened the screen.
“Give me something for a few minutes,” he asked. “Something close to you. Something with a lot of meaning and emotion in it.”
“Are you guys still testing Shaine’s vision?”
He nodded. “This is important, Audrey.”
“Okay.” She thought a minute, and then waddled back into the house and returned with a ring between her thumb and forefinger. “I haven’t been able to wear this for a couple of weeks.”
He looked at the wedding band in his palm.
“Lose it and you’re dead meat.”
“I won’t lose it,” he promised.
Shaine hadn’t moved from her place on the floor, her elbow draped on the sofa.
“Here,” he said, kneeling beside her. “Hold this.”
“What is it?” She looked at the ring curiously.
“It’s a ring, obviously. Now just take it in your hand and focus.”
She released a sigh, but did as he instructed, opening her palm and closing her fingers over the band. Her lips moved.
“Relax,” he told her. “Feel the impression of the gold in your palm. Let it show you.”
Seconds passed.
“I’m warm,” she breathed.
“Good. Go with it.”
She squinted a little. “The sun’s so bright.”
“Where? Where are you?”
“There are blinds at the window, but I don’t want to get up to close them. There, the nurse did it for me. That’s better.”
“Where are you?”
Behind her closed lids, her eyes moved. She frowned in concentration. “A hospital room.” A smile came to her lips.
The Truth About Toby Page 12
