Deadly Visions

by Aubrey Harper

  “As far as I know. But did you really come here to flirt with my brother?”

  “Not just that, of course. I’m going to help you with your little murder investigation.”

  “Who says I’m investigating a murder?”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You’re talking to me, Callie. I know you, girl.”

  She fixed her hair and makeup in the mirror, even though we weren’t even going anywhere.

  “My brother won’t be there. He has his own place.”

  She frowned. “You could have told me that earlier. Why did I reapply this makeup then?”

  “Because you’re desperate for a man?”

  “I’d hit you if you weren’t driving. That’s no way to speak to your friend. A friend that I might add is risking her life just being here. So tell me about this dead guy? Did you find out what his deal was?”

  “I searched online for any trace of him but couldn’t find anything, not even a Facebook page.”

  “Now that’s suspicious. Everyone has a Facebook page these days.”

  “I don’t,” I reminded her.

  “But you’re a weirdo. See, you just proved my point.”

  “If I wasn’t driving, I’d be hitting you right about now.”

  “Aww, Callie, you say the nicest things. But I have some friends back in Chicago who can take a better look at this dead guy. What did you say his name was again?”

  “Peter Hill. He went by Pete.”

  “Hill, huh? Peter Hill, living in Picking Hill, and he’s not even a local. I find that oddly suspicious.”

  “I didn’t even think of that. Do you think he was using a fake name?”

  “Anything is possible.”

  “I have a way of finding out. One of my exes used to work with the guy at his father’s construction business. Maybe he can look into what kind of documentation he provided when he was hired.”

  “I’d love to meet this ex of yours. Is it that Lucas guy you talked about?”

  “Yup.”

  “I’m definitely going with you when you go and meet up with him. I’ve always been curious about him.”

  “What’s happening here? First my brother, and now my ex. Please tell me you’re just having a laugh.”

  She shook her head. “I’m single and ready to mingle. What’s so wrong with that?”

  “Nothing, nothing at all,” I said as we crossed the town line. We were in Picking Hill now, and pretty soon we were going to be at my mom’s house.

  Mom had waited up for us. Curled up with the cat, watching television again at a low volume.

  “Why is the volume so low?” I asked as soon as we entered.

  “So that I can hear if any intruders are lurking about, of course,” she said. Then she turned her attention to Lily. “Is this the famous Lily I’ve been hearing so much about?”

  “You talk about me?” Lily said. “I’m flattered.”

  While mom and Lily got to know each other, I prepared Brad’s room for Lily.

  “I’m sleeping in your brother’s room? Is that…appropriate?” She joked.

  “The sheets are new if you must know.”

  “Too bad,” she joked. Or at least I hoped she was joking.

  “You can share a bed with me if you want. Or, there’s always the couch.”

  “Nah, I’ll be fine in your brother’s room. It’ll give us something to talk about when I meet him. Good night, Callie.”

  The next day, Lily was already up by the time I got up. She was always an early riser.

  I found her at the kitchen table eating some French toast.

  “Mom made French toast? And she didn’t wake me up?”

  “She went to your room, but you looked so peaceful she didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “It’s already ten o’clock,” I said. I got myself a cup of coffee to wake me up. And then I dug into some lukewarm French toast. I poured some syrup over it and went to town.

  “You know, while you were sleeping your days away like sleeping beauty, I actually got in touch with a guy who works for the law firm from time to time. He’s a private investigator. We should know soon enough what this Peter Hill’s deal is.”

  “Speaking of, I should probably text Lucas that I have some questions for him.”

  I did just that. Once we were finished with our breakfast, we were in a bind. We had no ride and no car anywhere in sight.

  “Maybe I should rent a car. I’m tired of always borrowing mom’s truck.”

  “Maybe you should call Lucas to pick us up,” Lily offered.

  I groaned, but it was either that or calling a cab, which might take longer to get here than Lucas. There was only one cab driver in all of Picking Hill, and he worked part-time last time I checked.

  I texted Lucas.

  “I’m on my way. :)” He texted back.

  “Why the smiley face?” I asked Lily.

  She took my phone and laughed. “I think he thinks this is a booty call.”

  “Lily, you have such a dirty mind. And I’m pretty sure he knows that this is just about me not having a mode of transportation.”

  “Sure. I guess we’ll see how he reacts when he sees I’m coming along for the ride.”

  Lucas came by five minutes later.

  “That was fast,” I said when he got out of the truck.

  “Well, I didn’t want to keep you waiting. Who might this be?” he asked when he noticed Lily.

  “This is my best friend, Lily. We live together in Chicago.”

  He extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Lily. I’m Lucas.”

  “Lucas Wright, I assume?” Lily said after they shook hands, pointing out the Just Wright Construction sign on his truck.

  “You assume right. My dad owns the company. Well, there’s room enough for three in the truck. So where are we going?”

  “Is your dad back at the office?” I asked him.

  Lucas shook his head. “He’s out on a job. Why?”

  “Because he might not approve of what we’re about to do.”

  Lily gave me a knowing look.

  I gave her a disapproving one.

  On the drive there, which admittedly wasn’t that long, Lucas and Lily got to know each other a little better.

  “You’re a secretary, huh?”

  “More like a paralegal, with all the stuff I do for that law firm,” Lily was quick to explain.

  “Do you want to become a lawyer?”

  “I did, but now I’m not so sure. I don’t think I like any of the people I work for.”

  “I’m sure there are some good lawyers out there. Right?”

  “Not in corporate law,” Lily said. “Now if I could work as a public defender or something, that might be different.”

  “But there’s no money in it,” I reminded her.

  “Yeah, sadly, I probably make more as a glorified secretary than I would as a public defender. It’s sad. Of course, the dream would be to open my own practice and take on clients I believed in pro bono from time to time.”

  “We’re here,” Lucas stated the obvious as he parked in front of his workplace.

  There were a few guys around, and a secretary at the front, but his father was nowhere in sight, thankfully.

  We went to the back, to his father’s office, which he had a key for.

  “What’s this?” The secretary asked him as we passed her desk.

  “Potential clients, Claudia. We’ll be in dad’s office for a bit. We don’t need anything.”

  “I’m ready to see my dream home come to life,” Lily said excitedly before Lucas had a chance to close the door behind us.

  We laughed as soon as the door was safely closed.

  “So you want to know about Peter Hill?” Lucas asked before heading to the filing cabinet. “All our employee files should be here. Dad is pretty thorough about that sort of thing.”

  “Yeah. There’s something fishy about his murder to me,” I said.

  “Isn’t there something fishy ab
out every murder?” Lily said.

  “She’s got a point,” Lucas said, agreeing with Lily.

  It didn’t take him long to find the right folder. He put it on the table, about to open it, but then he hesitated.

  “What if we get in trouble for this? Isn’t this a police matter?”

  “Lucas, please. You know I can help the police with this. If only the sheriff wasn’t such a jerk that is. If you let me handle his file, maybe I’ll be able to see who did this to him and this whole thing could be over.”

  He reluctantly handed me the file. “Be quick about it, though. I don’t think Claudia bought that whole client story. Plus, I’m pretty sure she recognized you.”

  “I have one of those faces, don’t I?” I said. Then I opened the file. Lily was quick to take some pics with her phone.

  “For the PI,” she explained.

  I read over the file. Everything seemed in order. He had a social security number, a driver’s license, the works.

  I laid my hands on the file and closed my eyes. “Come on, universe, show me how this guy died.”

  My gift didn’t usually work like that, but sometimes it did.

  Almost immediately I got that pressure in my head that told me that a vision was not far behind.

  I saw him then.

  Pater Hill, or whatever his name was, was standing by the lake. He turned around and saw someone there. He didn’t look surprised by who he saw.

  “You don’t want to do this,” he told the figure, who was just out of my sight.

  And then he was shot in the chest and fell to the ground.

  I saw the figure with the gun now, looking over the body.

  Then the vision abruptly ended.

  “Damn it,” I said, but then I realized why it had ended so suddenly.

  Lucas’s father was in the office and he wasn’t happy to see me and Lily there.

  He had the file in his hand and an angry expression on his face.

  “Get out of here before I call the cops,” he told me. “I will not have this kind of witchery under my roof.”

  “Dad, please…” Lucas started to say.

  “I’ll talk to you soon, don’t worry about it,” his father cut him off. Then he turned to me and Lily. “Get out of here. Now.”

  We hightailed it out of there. Lucas ran out pretty soon afterward.

  “I’m so sorry about that. Can I give you a ride somewhere?” He offered.

  “No, we’ve already caused enough trouble,” I said. “Lily and I will walk over to my mom’s store. It’s not too far anyway. Thanks for all the help, Lucas, and I’m sorry we made your father mad.”

  “It’s all right. Was it worth it, though? Did you see anything?”

  “I saw something, but I’m not sure how helpful it will be just yet. We’ll keep you updated if we find anything out.”

  “Lucas,” his father called after him.

  “Sorry, gotta go get my ass kicked. See you guys around.”

  With that, Lucas disappeared into the building. The door closed behind him a little harder than necessary.

  “So, spill it. What did you actually see?” Lily asked as we made our way to my mom’s store.

  “I saw Peter Hill die. I saw his last moments. And then just as I started to see his killer, Mr. Wright interrupted us.”

  “Well, hopefully, my PI has more luck than you.”

  “Yeah, let’s hope,” I said.

  Chapter 8

  My manager from Psychics R Us kept calling me until I finally answered him and told him I was taking the whole day off.

  “You need to quit that place,” Lily said while smelling some new soap my mom had recently created. “This smells like heaven, by the way,” she said to my mom.

  “I’m glad you like it. I’m still trying to decide on a name. Heavenly Delight, how does that sound? Not too precious?”

  “It’s perfect,” Lily said. Then she smelled the bar of soap again. “Heaven, indeed.”

  “I’m not sure if I should be taking career advice from someone who’s getting high on soap.”

  “And it’s all natural. No artificial chemicals or animal byproducts,” my mom said.

  “Perfect,” Lily said. “I might just tell some of my coworkers about this place. You have a website, right?”

  My mom gave her the web address. Lily put it in her phone and saved it.

  “You know, if you hate your job so much, maybe you should think about doing something else,” my mother said to me.

  “If only it was that simple. Plus, there’s that whole thing where I have bills to pay. I’m pretty sure Lily likes the fact that I can pay half of everything. Isn’t that right, Lil?”

  “You’re just being silly now,” Lily said. “I keep telling you to open up your own psychic business. I bet once word of your accuracy spreads, you’ll be in demand and making a lot more than you do now. That phone psychic gig is basically slave labor if you think about it.”

  “Slave labor? That’s a bit strong, but I get your point. I’ll take it under advisement.”

  “You know, Callie, Lily here is making a lot of sense. Why haven’t you tried doing psychic readings on your own?”

  “Because it would take time to setup, and when I do get the time, I’m exhausted from my phone psychic gig. And not to mention these random visions I get where the universe wants me to save people I’ve never even met.”

  “Speaking of people you’ve never met, where’s this Dax guy? I kind of want to meet him. I’ll tell you if he’s the killer or not. I have a sense for that kind of thing,” Lily said.

  “Oh?” My mother said. “Do you have some psychic talent as well?”

  “No. It’s just female intuition,” she said. “What about you, Mrs. Ranger? You gave birth to this one, you must have some ability.”

  “I’m afraid it skipped a generation. My mother always used to talk of headaches and seeing things she didn’t want to see. Unfortunately, she never embraced her gift like my Callie has. She just tried to medicate it away. It was mostly successful, though not healthy in the end.”

  “That’s sad. I wish people were more open-minded,” Lily said. “I mean, everyone is either too religious or too materialistic. Why not just be something in-between?”

  “Spiritual?” My mother offered.

  “Exactly. Or at least open to new ideas, instead of just sticking to one worldview no matter what. And when something strange does happen to them, they write it off as a coincidence. Isn’t it maddening sometimes, Callie?”

  “It’s most frustrating when I’ve been proved right, and instead of believing in my gift, people try to explain it away. I’ve even been locked up on suspicion of doing the crimes myself! Isn’t that crazy?”

  “That’s why I think you should open your own business,” Lily said. “And then you can use these cases you help with to boost your profile. Maybe you could even get a reality show or something. You could become a celebrity psychic!”

  “I have enough reality to last me a lifetime,” I said. “I don’t need manufactured reality on top of that. No thanks.”

  While Lily was busy thinking up ideas of making money from my gift, I was thinking about Peter Hill and Dax and what the possible connection between the two could be. That there was a connection was in no doubt.

  “Any news from your PI friend?” I asked Lily.

  “You’ll know when I do,” she said. “Now stop worrying and smell the soap.”

  We both laughed.

  We spent the day helping mom around the store. Packaging shipments, as well as dealing with real live customers. When it was lunch time, Brad decided to stop by. This gave Lily a chance to meet him.

  They actually hit it off right off the bat.

  Were my best friend and my brother flirting? Possibly. The only thing that helped that awkwardness was that Lily and I lived in Chicago, far away from Picking Hill.

  “So anything new in the investigation?” I asked Brad once he and Lily were done lau
ghing at yet another joke I didn’t even understand. They had the same taste in TV and music and God knows what else. I started tuning them out after a while.

  “You know I can’t talk about that.”

  “C’mon, give us a hint at least,” Lily begged him.

  “As much as I want to talk about it, I can’t. It’s super sensitive at the moment. Maybe once our investigation is wrapped up?”

  “You’re not as fun as I thought you were, Bradley Ranger,” Lily said, pretending to be sad.

  “If a man doesn’t have his principles, what does he have?” Brad said.

  “Friends?” Lily offered.

  “Girls, you need to back off. Bradley has made it clear that he’s not spilling any secrets,” our mother said.

  “Sorry, Mrs. Ranger. I didn’t mean anything by it,” Lily said. “We were just joking around.”

  “Murder is no joke,” Brad said. “A man is dead and from what Callie has said, another might be in danger as well.”

  “Have you talked to him?” I asked him. “Dax, I mean. I already told him about my vision, but I don’t think he took me seriously.”

  “He talked to the sheriff, not me. But from what I hear, he’ll stay in Picking Hill until the killer is caught, for whatever that’s worth.”

  “I already know he’s FBI,” I informed my brother, who seemed genuinely surprised.

  “How’d you find that out?”

  “I guessed and then he confirmed it. And pretty soon, I’ll know what the deal with that Peter Hill guy is.”

  “Even we aren’t privy to that information. Dax pulled rank on the sheriff on that matter,” Brad said, looking more than a little annoyed.

  “Huh, so when you said you couldn’t share anything with us, that was it? That this Dax guy is FBI?” Lily said.

  “Pretty much,” Brad said. “Though we still have to look like we’re investigating, so as not to raise any suspicions.”

  “FBI, a mysterious murder, my daughter getting visions of the FBI agent dying. What’s happening to this town?” Our mother said.

  “I don’t know, mom, let’s just hope it’s over sooner rather than later. While it’s been nice chatting with you ladies, I gotta be on my way. The sheriff likes to keep us punctual, even when there’s not much for us to do.”