Second Sight

by Sharon Sala

  “How old is Jordan?” Charlie asked.

  “She just recently turned twelve, but she’s tall for her age.”

  Charlie nodded. “If she hadn’t been in contact with him, then how did he know she’d be home and not in school?”

  Tara glanced at him, hesitant to use this as an excuse, but she knew in Jud’s case, he was the real deal.

  “Jud is psychic. He always knew stuff. I guessed that’s how he knew she was alone.”

  At that point, Wyrick looked up at Tara but said nothing.

  “You said in your email to us that you found her phone in her room. May we see it?” Charlie asked.

  Tara handed over everything, including the photos, the phone and the charger, and Jordan’s laptop.

  “May we keep them for now?” Charlie asked.

  Tara nodded.

  Charlie handed them to Wyrick, who took them without comment.

  “What else can you tell us?” Charlie asked.

  Tara went into detail about calling Jud’s old friends, and then shared what Gordy Butler had told her.

  That was when Wyrick interrupted the interview, and the moment she did, Charlie realized she was onto something.

  “Excuse me,” Wyrick said. “But did you say the invitation Jud received two years ago had to do with Fourth Dimension?”

  Tara nodded.

  “So Gordy Butler didn’t remember the name of the man holding the conference, but did he say where it was held?” Wyrick asked.

  “Yes, at a large private estate somewhere in the hills around Eureka Springs, Arkansas.”

  When Wyrick got up and walked out of the office without a comment, Tara was startled.

  “No worries,” Charlie said. “She’s already doing what she does best, which is research.”

  “Thank God,” Tara said and then started crying. “I’m just so scared. Jud was never a bad person. This is so unlike him, I keep thinking of cults, and how they can get people to do outrageous things. I’m afraid for Jordan.”

  Charlie pushed a box of tissues toward her.

  “Thank you,” Tara said, wiping her eyes. “I never asked because it doesn’t matter, but I’ll pay whatever you charge. What’s your retainer?”

  “Wyrick will give you the rates and a receipt. We’ll stay in touch with you by phone or text. When you get one from us, return them as soon as possible because we may be needing the answer to an important question in a timely fashion.”

  “Yes, of course,” Tara said.

  “Is there anything else you can tell us?”

  “Not that I can think of,” Tara said. “Oh, wait. About Jud being psychic. It may mean nothing, but Jordan inherited the gift. She doesn’t really know how to use it, and to my knowledge doesn’t practice it in any way...but she is her father’s daughter.”

  “How do you mean?” Charlie asked. “Does she see the future, or know things about people? How does it manifest with her?”

  “The things I know for sure are that she knows when someone is going to die, because she says their faces melt down to a skull. And the person does die within a month of her seeing that. She also has a photographic memory and has dreams of cataclysmic events before they happen.”

  “Anything else?” Charlie asked.

  Tara shrugged. “Not that she’s shared with me, but there’s no telling. Her powers may have changed as she’s aged.”

  “Okay, Tara. We have some good information to begin with. Go home. Eat some food. Try to get some sleep. You are no longer in this alone, understand?” Charlie said.

  Tara wiped her eyes again. “Understood, and please, find my baby. She’s all the family I have in this world.”

  “I don’t ever quit on a job I take,” Charlie said.

  Tara nodded. “I know. It’s why I chose you.”

  Charlie walked her out into the front office.

  “Tara is paying the retainer today,” he said.

  Wyrick stopped what she was doing and got out a receipt book as Charlie went back into his office.

  He waited until he heard Tara Bien leave before he went back to talk to Wyrick.

  “Is Fourth Dimension a cult?”

  Wyrick shrugged. “Some people think so.”

  “What do you know about it?” Charlie asked.

  “No one knows where it’s located, so there’s that. But the buzz about the place is that the only people who belong are psychics. No one knows what they’re doing, or if they’re doing anything illegal. But when they join, they do leave behind every facet of the lives they lived before, including family.”

  “Tara said Jordan is also psychic,” Charlie said.

  Wyrick frowned. “That might explain why her father came to get her.”

  “How so?” Charlie asked.

  “If he’s become deeply indoctrinated into the group, he might believe it would be best for his daughter to be with people like them. Adults who are psychic aren’t fooled by other people’s motives, but children who are psychic can be brainwashed to a level of loyalty that is often dangerous.”

  “Then we need to find her fast,” Charlie said. “If you can find the names of any people who quit the group, reach out to them and see if they will talk to me. We might get some details as to what Fourth Dimension is about and where it’s located.”

  Wyrick turned back to the computer and Charlie grabbed a sweet roll from the coffee bar on his way back to his office.

  * * *

  In another part of the city, Special Agent Hank Raines arrived for work. As soon as he reached his desk, he made a call to his boss’s cell phone, rather than his office phone.

  Deputy Director David Arnett glanced at caller ID and then answered.

  “This is Arnett.”

  “Sir, do we have any interests in a group of psychics going by the name Fourth Dimension?”

  “We do,” Arnett said. “Why do you ask?”

  “It’s a bit of a story,” Hank said.

  “Then come to my office and fill me in,” Arnett said.

  * * *

  After Tara Bien left the office, Wyrick spent the next couple of hours online, digging through information about psychic workshops, trying to find out who had held the one two years ago near Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

  It was noon when Charlie came out of his office.

  “I’m going to check on Annie. If anything breaks, just text me,” he said.

  Wyrick nodded but didn’t look up.

  Charlie frowned. “Don’t forget to eat,” he muttered and left, letting the door bang just a bit behind him.

  Wyrick sighed, paused long enough to put in an order at a sandwich shop for delivery and then kept working. The delivery guy with her food showed up about forty-five minutes later.

  “Delivery for Wyrick,” he said and then took an unintentional step back when Wyrick spun around in her chair and glared. “Uh...”

  “Well...set it down,” she said, eyeing the box he set on the edge of her desk, and yet he just kept staring. “Staring is rude. Take your ass out of my office.”

  In four long strides he was out of the office, moving so fast he didn’t bother shutting the door behind him.

  “Idiot,” Wyrick muttered and got up to shut the door before going into her washroom to clean up.

  She came out a few minutes later, got a cold bottle of Pepsi from the mini fridge below the coffee bar and took it to her desk. She ate as she worked, running a search for organizations called Fourth Dimension. By early afternoon, she knew a man named Aaron Walters had held the psychic workshop in Arkansas.

  She also found a connection between Walters and Fourth Dimension, and two more names connected to it. Peter Wendell Long, who had been a member of the cult, was now residing in a federal correctional institution in Phoenix, Arizona.

  The other name b
elonged to Farrah Leigh Walters, Aaron Walters’s ex-wife.

  Peter Long was in prison for kidnapping his eleven-year-old niece, Justine. But unlike Jud Bien, who got away with Jordan, the police had caught up with Peter Long at the border between Arizona and New Mexico. His niece had been returned unharmed to her mother, and Long was in prison, serving time for kidnapping.

  And now that Wyrick had two solids, she picked up the phone and sent Charlie a text.

  I have names.

  Charlie was in the solarium with Annie, playing music for her from the playlist on his phone. He’d taken her a stuffed animal—a long-haired white cat with shiny black eyes and a fluffy tail. She was holding it in her lap, her eyes closed, as the music swirled around them.

  When Charlie got the text from Wyrick, he quickly read it, then replied.

  On my way.

  Duty called.

  He ended the music, then leaned over and kissed Annie on the forehead, careful not to get close to the staples.

  “I have to go now, baby. I love you and I’ll see you soon.”

  Although she didn’t respond, she hadn’t let go of the stuffed toy, either, which was an anomaly. But with Alzheimer’s, there were no constants.

  He left the room, pausing once in the doorway to look back. One of the workers was already checking on her, but she hadn’t moved. When he got to the lobby to sign out, Pinky, the receptionist, was at the desk.

  “I’m sorry about Annie’s fall,” she said.

  “Yeah,” he said and signed out.

  He and Pinky had gotten off on the wrong foot early on at Morning Light, and now they sort of danced around cordiality without conversation. He left in a rush, on his way back to the office.

  Five

  Wyrick was waiting for him when he walked in with a look of satisfaction on her face. The same intent expression she wore when she had new information.

  “What do you have?” Charlie asked.

  “Aaron Walters is the name of the man who hosted the psychic workshop, but no info beyond that on him. I have the name and contact information for his ex-wife, Farrah Walters. And the name and location of a Fourth Dimension member who got caught trying to get away with his niece, and is serving time in a federal prison in Phoenix.”

  “Good work,” Charlie said. “Where does Walters’s ex-wife live?”

  “Boca Raton, Florida, now, but both she and Aaron grew up in Louisville, Kentucky.”

  Charlie frowned. “We have a number for her?”

  Wyrick nodded and handed him a paper with all the info she’d gathered. He looked down at it.

  “I’m going to call her now. In the meantime, get me a number to the warden at the prison where Peter Long is being held. Hopefully, he’ll let us interview him.”

  “The number is already on your paper, along with the warden’s name, Thomas Wilhite.”

  Charlie glanced at it, again. “Oh, right. So I want you to sit in on the phone call to the ex-wife.”

  Wyrick grabbed her iPad, along with a pen and a notepad, and followed him into his office.

  Charlie plopped down behind his desk, laid the paper in front of him and reached for the phone. A few seconds later, the call he’d just made to Farrah Walters was ringing...and then it went to voice mail. Charlie left a message.

  “Mrs. Walters, this is Charlie Dodge. I’m a private investigator from Dallas, Texas. I am calling on behalf of a client, hoping you can help me. My client’s twelve-year-old daughter was taken by her father against her will, and we have reason to believe they are on their way to an organization called Fourth Dimension, which is run by your ex-husband, Aaron Walters. She’s been missing for two days now and her mother is frantic. Please call me back as soon as possible.”

  Then he hung up. “Now we wait,” Charlie said. “Either she’s so pissed at him she’ll ignore the call, or she’ll be kind enough to cooperate. Is there anything sweet in here to eat besides the sweet rolls from this morning?”

  “Bottom draw of your desk, left side,” Wyrick said.

  Charlie opened it, his eyes widening at the assortment of chips and candy bars.

  “Wow! This may become a little too convenient,” he said. “Want something?”

  Wyrick eyed the sharp cut of his jaw and wide shoulders, and the way the sunlight coming through the windows highlighted the gray at his temples.

  “Anything chocolate,” she said and went to the wet bar at the end of the room to ice a couple of glasses.

  “Coke, Pepsi or Mountain Dew?” she asked.

  “Which one has the most caffeine?”

  “Mountain Dew,” she said.

  “That one,” he said as he chose a Payday candy bar for himself and pulled a Hershey’s bar with almonds out for her.

  They poured the pop over the ice in their respective glasses and then tore into the candy, eating and drinking in comfortable silence.

  It wasn’t until Charlie happened to glance up and saw Wyrick sucking chocolate off the end of her thumb that his gut knotted. He took another drink and looked away. Thankfully for the both of them, the phone finally rang.

  “Want me to answer?” Wyrick asked.

  He shook his head and picked up the receiver. “Dodge Security and Investigations. Charlie Dodge speaking.”

  “Mr. Dodge, this is Farrah Walters. I’m going to be up-front with you now and tell you I haven’t seen or talked to Aaron in over five years, but if I can help you in any way, I will, and please call me Farrah.”

  “Call me Charlie, and I’m going to put this call on speaker phone so my assistant, Wyrick, can take notes as we speak.”

  “That’s fine,” Farrah said.

  “Thank you for agreeing to do this,” Charlie said. “I guess the first thing we need to know is how much do you know about Fourth Dimension?”

  “I never heard of it until you mentioned it in your call. What is it?”

  “Supposedly, some kind of psychic organization,” Charlie said.

  “Oh, good lord! Aaron claimed to be psychic, and I guess he had some kind of powers. He had clients in his office in our home all the time, doing readings for them and helping them find lost objects...that kind of thing.”

  “Did he do that for a living?”

  “Yes, and made about fifty thousand a year in what he called donations.”

  “Did you know he began holding psychic workshops a few years back?” Charlie asked.

  “No.”

  “Would you have any idea where he might have chosen to locate his Fourth Dimension group?”

  “Not really. We’re both from Kentucky, and he missed living there, but I’d grown up in a small town and I wanted to live in the big city.”

  Wyrick slid a piece of paper across the desk to Charlie. He glanced down.

  Ask if they have children, and if so, where are they now?

  Charlie gave her a thumbs-up.

  “Farrah, did you two have any children while you were married?”

  “No, I couldn’t have children. He had two from a previous marriage, but one passed away when she was ten, and his son, who was always a kind of rolling stone, disappeared six years ago. He’d been living in Arizona at the time and is still listed as a missing person with the Phoenix Police Department as far as I’m aware. I’m really sorry I can’t be of more help, but that’s truly all I know.”

  “Thank you, Farrah. If you do think of anything else, please call.”

  “Yes, I will, and I wish you luck.”

  She disconnected. Charlie sighed in frustration and popped the last bite of his candy bar into his mouth.

  “The number I gave you for the warden’s office is his direct line,” Wyrick said.

  Charlie nodded, chewing and swallowing, and then made the next call.

  The call rang four times before it was answered.
/>   “This is Warden Wilhite.”

  “Mr. Wilhite, my name is Charlie Dodge. I’m a private investigator from Dallas, Texas, and—”

  “The same Charlie Dodge who found missing billionaire Carter Dunleavy?”

  “Yes, sir, and I’m working on another case that you might be able to help me with.”

  “And how might that be?” Wilhite asked.

  “I understand you have an inmate named Peter Wendell Long in your facility. He was convicted for kidnapping his niece.”

  “Just a moment. Let me pull up his name,” Wilhite said.

  Charlie could hear keys clicking, and then a brief pause, and guessed the warden was reading the charges against Long.

  “Yes, we have an inmate here by that name,” Wilhite said.

  “Would it be possible for my assistant and me to question him? We know Long kidnapped his niece and was taking her to a cult-like organization called Fourth Dimension when he was caught. That’s the same scenario for my current case, except this time a man took his own daughter—and got away with her. He shared joint custody with his ex-wife, so the mother can’t claim kidnapping, which is why I was called in. We don’t know where Fourth Dimension is located, and are hoping Peter Long would help us.”

  “Yes, I will grant you an interview with Long, but there’s no guarantee that he’ll cooperate.”

  “Understood,” Charlie said.

  “When do you want to do this?” Wilhite asked.

  “As soon as possible,” Charlie said, then watched as Wyrick slid another note to him. The chopper is ready and standing by. Charlie gave her a thumbs-up.

  “Would tomorrow morning be too soon? Say around 11:00 a.m.?” Charlie asked.

  “That will work,” Wilhite said. “Do you know how to get to the prison from the airport?”

  “Just give me an address and I’ll find it,” Charlie said, and then gave the warden his email address.

  “I’ll email you all the particulars,” the warden said.

  “Will we be allowed to bring recording equipment into the interview?” Charlie asked.

  “Yes, but they’ll search it first. As soon as you arrive, I’ll be notified. It would be an honor to meet you and shake your hand,” Wilhite said.