“Aaron stop,” she cried, “you’re hurting me!”
He let go of his shoulders, looking at his hands in horror and stepping back.
“This is exactly why I have to leave. You stopped, for years it seemed ok…and now, now it’s worse than before.” She sobbed. Evangeline turned and ran away from her husband. He shouted her name between his own cries.
Lindsey felt a tear slide down her cheek as she watched and lived this memory with Aaron.
Looking at the necklace in his hand, he shouted again, “Wait! Evan, Evangeline, my darling...Wait!”
He ran after her, clutching the necklace tightly. She turned around, and shook her head no, running further away.
“Please, darling, please. At least take your necklace so you have something to remember me by. I’ll get help, I promise.” He held the necklace out as a desperate cry.
Evangeline turned back, and the memory Lindsey was a part of, began to feel as though it was running in slow motion. She watched the woman fall, tripping over a crack in the sidewalk. Eye’s wide in panic, Mr. Peckley’s wife tried to balance herself, but Evangeline had overcorrected herself and fell hard. Lindsey noticed blood seeping from the woman’s head. A shout erupted from Aaron as he ran and reached his wife. He cradled her in his arms and she moaned.
“It’s ok Evan, baby. It’s ok. I’ll get some help.” Aaron rocked back and forth holding his wife.
“Aaron, I’m sorry. I wish I could say I could stay-“ she spoke.
“Shh,” he held her still, “I’ll get help, when you get better, you leave for a while and you’ll see how much I can change.” His wife smiled at him. Aaron lifted Evangeline in his arms and walked back to his car. The gash on her head looked pretty nasty and blood still fell from the wound. Lindsey watched Aaron as he gently laid her in the back seat and commanded his wife to lay down so he could drive her to the emergency room for stitches. He walked to the driver’s side, got in, and started the car…heading towards what Lindsey presumed was the hospital.
Lindsey, fading into the car with Aaron Peckley and his wife, watched the scene play out before her. She couldn’t control where the memory landed her, but she tried to focus on what was going on, cataloging anything that might be important for later.
The car swerved back and forth and to Lindsey’s surprise, she felt nausea from the swerving on the road. This was a first. She imagined peppermint and blessed be, the scent of peppermint filled her nose. Taking a side long look at Aaron Peckley, she noticed that he was drunk. His earlier sobbing, and heartbroken appearance had thrown her off from picking that up…probably the shock of seeing him showered too. It was amazing what a difference a shower and a sound mind could do, to make a person look completely different.
“Focus Lindsey,” she muttered to herself and immediately her attention was back in the car where Aaron Peckley drove, or swerved all over.
“Aaron, honey. Pull over, you can call the doctor.” Evangeline spoke from the backseat.
“Now honey, trust me. That gash looks right bad ok. I won’t take it for you to get a concussion and die on me.” He turned his head to smile at his wife. Aaron may have meant well, but that quick moment of not looking at the road was all it took for disaster to hit. Lindsey screamed as she felt the car slide off the right side of the road, a truck heading their way.
Lindsey found herself screaming along with Evangeline when bright headlights came several inches from their face. The car flew in the air, metal scraped against metal and Lindsey watched, trapped in horror, as Evangeline was tossed like a ragdoll through the windshield. Aaron’s shout of horror would haunt her dreams.
Then, it all stopped. The sound of metal against medal ended, and somehow, not even understanding how…Aaron had opened his broken and well dented door. He crawled towards the body of his wife. She lay still, eyes motionless. The driver of the truck that they collided with, was also unmoving. Pieces of each vehicle lay in debris around the ground.
Aaron Peckley hugged his wife’s broken body and sobbed. Lindsey watched him hold Evangeline, for what felt like forever, before he gently laid her back down. Looking at the other vehicle, he tested his strength and staggered over to the non-moving driver. He yanked on the door handle with no success. Crying and cursing, he tried again, but still…nothing budged. Aaron cursed again and kicked the door…and watched his foot fly right through the metal of the car door. He jumped, and fell backwards, rubbing his eyes.
Slowly, reaching up, he placed his hand on the door…Lindsey watched him close his eyes and Aaron’s hand went through the metal.
He looked at both of his hands, shaking his head. He plunged his right hand back in and reached in the dead driver’s pocket, retrieving a wallet and phone.
Picking up the cell, he dialed and spoke, “Listen, it’s me. I need help…she’s, she’s dea-“ a sob choked out before Aaron could pull it together, “my Evan is dead. We got in a car accident, I was drunk. I don’t need to tell you what that means. Please, and something else happened. That thing, the one you always talked about…” Lindsey watched him pause, listening to whoever was on the other end of the phone, “Yeah, that’s the one. It happened tonight. I know what it means ok. I get it. Just help me out of this and I’ll help you make some money. I’ll see you when you get here, hurry man.” And then he collapsed, a tangled heap on the ground, grief stricken and broken.
Lindsey felt herself pulled back, the world changing and swirling so quickly and someone calling her name.
“Lindsey, Lindsey, wake up.” Ryan’s voice echoed in her ear.
“I didn’t mean to do harm-“
“Shut-up and stay where you are or so help me, I will cuff you.” Ryan spoke.
Lindsey opened her eyes, blinking slowly. She turned to see the world back to the way it was, overgrown plants and all.
“There you are,” Ryan smiled down at her, and she couldn’t help but smile in return. She lifted her hand to the back of her head and pulled away wincing. She touched a tender spot on her skull, and pulled away feeling wetness on her gloves. Lindsey shivered from the freakish similarity to the long gone, dead wife. Still regaining her balance, she heard sobs in front of her and tried to push herself up to a sitting position, only to find Ryan’s hands firmly holding her still.
“Hey, hey, take it easy ok? You took a bad fall, and for a minute…well you weren’t here,” Ryan pointed to his head, “and it freaked me out. Thought maybe I couldn’t pull you back from wherever you went inside your head.”
Moaning, “Yeah, about that…” finally Ryan released his hold and allowed her to push herself up to a sitting position.
“That’s definitely your guy, but not in the way you think.” She said.
“You’re gonna have to explain that one,” Ryan said as he gave a side long glance to the foul smelling Aaron Peckley, who stood in a broken lookin heap, now sobbing on the brick walkway.
“He’s your thief and he did kill his wife, but that part wasn’t on purpose. Drunk driving.” Lindsey said.
“I didn’t mean to.” another choked out sob came from the broken man. Lindsey finally found an ounce of pity in her heart for him. Evangeline must have been an amazing woman if she could turn Aaron Peckley into a decent man…even then, it looked like it wasn’t enough.
“It all happened so quick ya know? She was hurt already and I wanted to drive her to the hospital…my Evan. I knew she was gone, was nothin I could do you see?” Mr. Peckley reached out a dirty hand towards Lindsey, Ryan was on him quick, cuffing the hands behind his back.
“Wait! Wait! Please,” he sobbed.
“I know that killing your wife while drunk was an accident,” Lindsey finally gathered herself to stand, “but covering it up? Hmm, was that an accident too? How about the stealing…or,” she was shouting now, “what about how you’ve been treating your son?” Aaron was sobbing even harder now.
“You’ve turned into everything she didn’t want you to be, h
arming the one person she loved most…her son.” Lindsey didn’t hold back, the emotion thick in her chest.
“You killed my mom.” Averick stepped out from behind the door. The teen sported a black eye and disheveled shirt, no wonder Mr. Peckley didn’t want Ryan to speak to him.
“I’m sorry Averick.” Lindsey said, wishing she could ease his pain.
“You killed the only person in my life who cared about me. YOU RUINED HER! YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!” Averick was shouting now and Lindsey saw a black pistol in his hand. She looked at Ryan, he nodded. He saw it too.
“Son, put the gun down. You don’t want to do this.” Ryan spoke, inching closer. Lindsey was close to the sobbing father, who shook with what she hoped was remorse.
“I do want to do this officer. Ever since he told me my mom left, he’s gotten worse. Turned into the loser I always knew he was. I could live with it, knowing I was almost done with school and could be done with him…find my mom.” The teen’s voice broke, overwhelmed with hatred, “I knew she wouldn’t leave unless she had to…but now…now he deserves to rot in hell.” Averick pointed the pistol at his father and fired. Lindsey screamed.
Ryan lay on the ground, the sobbing Mr. Peckley pushed aside.
“RYAN!” Lindsey ran to him, hand over mouth, trying to hold it together. She bent down over him, and cradled his head into her lap.
“Hey, I’m ok pretty lady,” he winced, grasping his shoulder. Sirens blared in the distance.
“Called for backup when you went somewhere else inside your head,” Ryan said through clenched teeth, “looks like that was a good idea.”
The boy stood still, eye’s wide and hand shaking.
“PUT THE GUN DOWN.” Came a command from a familiar voice. Lindsey turned her head to see Detective Jake Laurens armed and ready to shoot.
Stretching the Limits
“Jake don’t,” Lindsey cried, “he didn’t aim for Ryan. Please.”
Jake gave Lindsey a hard look, but whatever she said must have worked. He lowered his gun. The boy’s hand shook fiercely and he fell to his knees, still grasping the pistol.
Lindsey felt something strange inside her, overwhelmed with empathy and remorse for the teen. She watched Averick rock back and forth, huge sobs escaping him. Waves of emotion floated off the boy and for the first time, she realized she was experiencing something much more than memory reading. Closing her eyes, she reached. Reached out to the boy’s mind and thought calm. She repeated the words and slowed her breathing, thinking “calm” over and over again. The boy’s rocking slowed, his cries more mellow, and his breathing slower. She felt the pull inside her lesson and a wave of peace settle on them both.
Lindsey opened her eyes and found Jake looking right at her. He shook his head and walked towards the teen’s father. Taking off the cuffs that Ryan had placed on Mr. Peckley, Jake pulled out another pair and placed them around Aaron’s wrists. Lindsey noticed a strange current running through the new ones. She furrowed her brows and looked up to see Jake wink.
“He won’t be disappearing through these.” Jake said as he walked Aaron Peckley to the police car.
Ryan assured Lindsey the wound wasn’t fatal…she hoped he was right as she stared at the boy. A couple EMT’s pulled Ryan out of her lap and placed him on a stretcher before loading him into the ambulance. She watched it drive off, heading towards the hospital.
Several other police officers had approached the teen, Averick. With his emotional energy spent, and pistol gone, he didn’t fight as they loaded him in one of the police cars. Lindsey saw they hadn’t used cuffs and she hoped they would help the boy.
Pretty soon, the chaos from minutes before, subsided. All was quiet and she realized that Ryan was gone, along with the keys to his car…
“Need a ride?”
She turned to see Jake, hand outstretched.
“I sent the police car on, I drove my own…looks like you may be stranded.” He nodded towards Ryan’s empty, keyless car.
“I suppose you’re my only option.” She said.
Jake laughed and threw her another wink, “The best option around and don’t you forget it.”
“Ha!” Lindsey couldn’t help but laugh in return, “Ok Jake, let’s go.”
She placed her gloved hand in his.
More than One Mystery Solved
Lindsey held a vase of flowers in her hand. She found the pretty vase at a thrift store in town, and something about it reminded her of warmer days. Painted butterflies in multiple colors, appeared to swirl around the small jug in a magical way. She had grabbed the wildflowers from Mamma Joe’s grocery and as she stared at the two together, they felt like a perfect match.
“Too much…no, just right.” She thought, as she placed them on her tiny dining room table.
Already released from the hospital, Ryan had called and wanted to “talk.” Lindsey had gone over every scenario in her head and worked herself up to a new level of anxiety. The vase and flowers helped ease her nerves, at least a tad.
“Stop it,” she said to herself, “I must be really losing it if I’m going to start talking to myself out loud. This is a whole new level.”
Her cell rang. Not recognizing the number, she picked it up and replied, “Lindsey here, where I help you solve the mystery.” Perhaps a new case?
“Thank you dear, but I’m afraid I’m too old for mysteries.”
“Felmira?” Lindsey asked.
“Of course! I just wanted to check on you and see how you were settling in.”
“Oh, um, just fine…thank you.”
“That’s wonderful to hear,” Felmira spoke, “Don’t forget about the welcoming gift I sent you. I forgot to tell you it’s good for the nerves.”
Before Lindsey could reply, she heard the click of Felmira’s phone. Turning around, she saw the still wrapped package from Tea’s and Fortunes on her kitchen counter. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided to open it.
“Now’s as good a time as ever.” Lindsey said.
Thinking it would be a shame to ruin the lovely gold wrapping paper, she peeled it back inch by inch, feeling a slight tremor of excitement to see what was inside. A note fell from inside the wrapping. Lindsey sat it aside and opened the box. She gasped. Inside was the most beautiful teapot she had ever laid eyes on.
The teapot was gold porcelain with butterflies surrounding it. They appeared to emerge from the pot itself, in a swirl of flight. Everything was a pretty shade of gold except the wings. They sparkled, the sunlight from the kitchen window hitting them just perfect and each set of wings had a new color. Lindsey gently lifted the pot and found it disconnected from the bottom, where a tea cup was revealed. It was in that moment that she remembered the note. She picked it up and read:
Lindsey,
I hope you don’t mind the touch of extravagance. When you came into my shop, I knew this teapot was meant for you.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Why give you a teapot when you have one of those fancy coffee machines that can do hot water…trust me, tea is much better brewed this way. Promise me you’ll try it.
I hope I’m not too forward in stating that I think you and I will become fast friends. For like the butterfly opens its wings and flies, so does the heart when it finds it can thrive.
Yours Truly,
Felmira
“Now, how on earth did she find time to write this?” Lindsey said, smiling to herself. The woman might be strange but she was growing on her.
Lindsey turned her head to the sound of her front door opening.
“Knock, knock,” Ryan said smiling, “It wasn’t locked, so I just let myself in.”
“Getting a little cozy in my home now aren’t you Officer?” Lindsey raised an eyebrow and Ryan laughed holding up his good arm, the one not in a sling.
“Hey, if you’re calling it home…that must mean you’re staying then?” He asked.
“For now,” Lindsey replied.
“Well good, I like having you around.” Ryan leaned down towards Lindsey, brushing his lips against hers in a subtle kiss. No swirling lights, no room fading, just that moment happened…and Lindsey found herself smiling at being able to live in the now without being pulled into the past.
“You said we needed to talk?” She said, turning back to the counter, tidying up the ripped wrapping paper.
“That’s an interesting discovery.” Ryan nodded towards the teapot Lindsey was handling.
“And why is that Officer Ryan Vance?” Lindsey quirked an eyebrow.
“I took you for a coffee woman…or more like coffee addict. Ow! Watch the sling!” Ryan winced, still smirking.
“I can enjoy both, thank you very much,” Lindsey said, “but just so you know, this was a gift from Felmira and I figured I ought to make some tea in it so I don’t have to lie when she asks me if I’ve used it. It is pretty though.” Lindsey moved it in her hand, letting the light reflect on the butterfly wings.
“Almost as pretty as you.” Ryan said.
Lindsey blushed a deep red, “Listen-“
Ryan groaned, “Nothing good ever comes from a woman starting off a sentence with listen…”
“If you don’t behave yourself, I’m going to hit your sling again,” Lindsey raised a brow and continued, “I don’t know what we are. I don’t understand how you can kiss me and I don’t get sucked back into another memory. Don’t look at me like that, this is serious. But you’re going to need to take this, whatever it is, slow.”
“Fair enough,” Ryan said, “How about we order take out, my treat, and I fill you in on the latest case news.”
“I’m all ears.” Lindsey said, “After I brew some tea.”
Sometime later, Lindsey had a freshly brewed pot of tea, a wonderful smelling chicken salad, and lemon scones on the table. How it all fit without falling off her tiny table, was some kind of magic in its own right.
Ryan one handedly scooped some salad on a plate, and grabbed several scones too. Lindsey quirked an eyebrow in his direction.
New Town, New Thief Page 6
