New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two

by Heather Topham Wood

  Kate almost swallowed her tongue. She knew that Declan purposely dropped this bombshell in front of Delaney. He expected her to not throw a conniption in front of the grieving sister. She kept her mouth shut—for the time-being. However, it would be a cold day in hell if he thought they were spending the night together in a hotel room.

  Delaney gave Kate a tight hug at the door. Kate was so surprised by the gesture and it took her a minute to respond. She wrapped her arms around the girl and gave a reassuring squeeze. When they moved apart, a slight smile appeared on Delaney’s face.

  “It’s incredible, what you and Declan do,” Delaney said sincerely. “Your visions have been the only thing giving me hope that my sister will be back home soon and this nightmare will be over.”

  “We’ll call you as soon as we know something,” Kate promised. Delaney hugged Declan as well before going back into the apartment.

  Kate waited until Delaney closed the door and she heard her retreating footsteps before turning on Declan. “What the hell is going on?”

  “What do you mean?” The innocent tone in his voice seemed to mock her.

  She spoke through clenched teeth. “You booked a hotel room? And apparently we’re staying overnight to meet with Melanie’s friends tomorrow including one of Delaney’s suspects. When did you plan on making me aware of any of this?”

  “Settle down,” Declan commanded in a low rumble. “Before your boyfriend comes after me with his gun, let me start off by saying I booked two hotel rooms.” Kate followed him as he took long strides through the hallways of the apartment building. “As far as staying over, I didn’t realize it was a big deal. We’re going to make a lot of money when we find Melanie. In the meantime, we have to put in as much time as possible to find out what could’ve happened to her.”

  “This isn’t about the freaking money, Declan,” Kate swore under her breath. “I told you from the beginning that I only want to do this to help people. Melanie is important to me and she needs our help.”

  “You’re getting too attached, Kate,” Declan admonished. “Think of being psychic like any other job. You help the people you come in contact with and then you move on. You get on with your life—regardless of the outcome. Otherwise you’re going to make yourself crazy.”

  “Don’t tell me how to feel,” Kate countered.

  “I’m right Kate and you know it. What if you were a doctor? Would you cry each time you had to give someone a bad diagnosis? Go to the funeral for every patient who died?” he demanded.

  Staggering down the front steps of the apartment building, she whirled on him. “I’m not in the mood for a lecture. You should’ve let me in on your plans before we left. Now I have to make a very awkward call to both my mom and my boyfriend.”

  Her fury had the effect of negating his self-righteous attitude. Using a gentler tone, he begged, “Kate, don’t be mad. It’s true, I should have let you know, but I figured you’d realized we may end up staying over.” When she didn’t answer, Declan suggested, “Why don’t we check out the town before we head back to the hotel and try to have a vision of CJ and Brad?”

  Kate crossed her arms across her chest and used her hands to rub at her arms. She felt a chill despite the mild temperature. “I’m really tired. It was a long drive and the meeting with Delaney completely drained me. Can you just take me to the hotel?”

  “Sure, we can work there and see if we’ll be able to get a clue about what kind of people we’re dealing with,” Declan remarked as they entered the Hummer. “Delaney seemed pretty sure that CJ isn’t the grieving boyfriend he’s pretending to be. Brad sounds like he can’t take a hint when a girl’s not interested.” He gunned the engine and peeled out of the parking lot.

  Kate shook her head. “Declan, I just want to be alone for a little while.”

  She picked up her phone and dialed Jared without waiting for Declan’s rebuttal. Her heart sank as his phone went directly to voicemail. “Hi, it’s me. It turns out I’ll be staying here for the night.” She paused and shot a deadly look at Declan before continuing. “I really hope you’re not purposely ignoring my calls. Please call me so we can talk.”

  After she hung up, Kate called her mom. Her mom had her on the phone for the entire drive to the hotel and badgered her with a string of queries. The thought of Kate even in the same hotel as Declan made her mother threaten to text her with all the local addresses to pharmacies that carried emergency contraception. Declan laughed heartily as he overheard her reassure her mom that the only way her mouth was going anywhere near Declan’s was if he collapsed and required CPR. Even then it was doubtful, she thought growing irritated all over again at his deception.

  After checking in at the hotel, Declan walked Kate to the door of her room. He lingered for a minute as if he was waiting for an invitation. She stared at him coldly.

  “I’m right next door if you have a vision and need me.” He rested his hand against the door frame and gave her a lazy grin. “Or if you have any other needs you’d like me to help you out with.”

  “Unless I feel the need to punch someone in the face, you probably won’t be hearing from me,” she retorted.

  He moved to the adjacent door and stuck the key card in. Sending Kate a wink, he then went inside. She entered her hotel room and closed the heavy door behind her. She leaned against it and closed her eyes. Her head felt heavy and she wondered how a great day had turned to complete shit so quickly. As if Jared wasn’t furious enough about her going to Chambersburg, he would freak out—with good reason—if he knew she was meeting with possible kidnapping suspects the next day. Why didn’t she just have the word “dumbass” tattooed to her forehead?

  Kate replayed the conversations with Declan in her head. Was he right about her becoming too emotional over this case? Was this the reason she was ignoring all of the warning bells going off in her head? Kate hadn’t been aware of the danger while investigating Cori’s abduction. Now that she understood the risks, it was foolish of her to make her presence known to men who could be involved in a violent crime. Kate had to wonder if Jared was correct in telling her she shouldn’t come to this town.

  In one way or another, Kate personally invested herself in the lives of each person she had a vision of. She had to admit Melanie was more than just a client to her. In her head, they had an unreciprocated friendship. Declan had warned her about getting too close and she had repeatedly ignored him.

  The hotel bed was piled with fluffy blankets and pillows looking way too inviting to Kate. She collapsed onto the bed and stared at the plaster on the ceiling. Her mind and body were both exhausted. The only thing she wanted was to escape into sleep for a few short hours. Not dream of Melanie, Max, Cori or anyone else. For once, she would love to just escape into her own dreams.

  Chapter Nineteen

  CJ had worked himself up into an incensed frenzy as he made the long drive out to the cabin. It was almost laughable to think of how easy it was to hide away out here. No one in his family knew about the cabin. His uncle had used it to lure boys away with him and do unspeakable things. His uncle’s threats that he would kill him if he ever told were taken gravely. After his uncle’s suicide, it remained abandoned until he started going up there to get away from all the noise in his head.

  The cabin was the key to everything he had planned. Without it, CJ would’ve had to kill her right away. People would probably be shocked to realize Melanie was only forty minutes away from her own apartment. Everyone had wild speculations over where the pretty gym teacher could be. Was she hiding out in the city? Did someone murder her and dump her body in one of the many lakes or rivers that covered the area?

  If it wasn’t for his scheme, Melanie would’ve never experienced the pain and torture she had done to him. Every careless smile and girlish giggle had felt like battery acid was being poured on his heart. How could she be happy when all he felt was hurt? How could she move on so easily after telling him each day that she loved him?

  CJ had tr
ied to reason with her, but she would never let him back into her life. She was his world and it didn’t even matter to her. She just moved on as if he was nothing to her. Wearing her revealing clothes to the gym and flirting with every guy she crossed paths with. She gave that bald loser in her spinning class more attention than she gave him.

  His truck made plenty of noise as it went over the gravel driveway. CJ hoped the sound drove fear into the bitch’s heart. He stomped up the driveway and unlocked the door. The setting sun cast an eerie glow over the interior of the cabin. It was sparsely furnished with only a small kitchenette, bathroom and a bed with a lifeless lump stretched across it.

  She didn’t even move at the sound of his entering. Her eyes were unfocused and simply stared blankly at the ceiling above her head. Her arms were above her head and handcuffed to the metal headboard. By bolting the legs to the floor, he had assured Melanie wasn’t going anywhere. She had to be in a hell of a lot of pain stuck in that position, but you would never know it. After putting up the fight of her life the first day he had brought her to the cabin, she had simply stopped.

  No matter what CJ did to her, she would not submit to him. It enraged him to no end. He wanted her to spend the last moments of her pathetic existence pleading for her life, promising him anything he wanted. An unresponsive filthy lump on the bed wasn’t how he pictured this in his mind. Melanie had somehow managed to ruin this aspect of his life as well.

  The smell was nauseating. When he realized that he was going to keep her here for more than a night, he had bought diapers. Even the humiliation of her ex-lover diapering her wasn’t enough to get her out of her stupor. It had been two days since he had been able to make the trip into the forest. She had been sitting soiled for hours upon hours as he was enjoying his life. It gave him some satisfaction since she was giving him none.

  CJ fed her the last time he came and she ate like a mechanical doll. Open mouth. Close mouth. Chew. Swallow. He had tried to incite her, but she wouldn’t react. He had first burned her by overheating the soup. He then grabbed a fork and repeatedly poked her with it. Her body would tense over the pain, but she did nothing to stop it. He wondered if he had sent her into madness too quickly. This would be his only regret. The sting of her rejection wiped away any other feelings of remorse. Dying miserable and alone would be retribution for her callousness towards him.

  This morning he realized it had been more than a week since he took her from her apartment. It had been too easy to take her. Melanie was always trying to be the nice one. When he stopped by her apartment, she invited him in and even tried to have a friendly chat with him. He slipped the GHB into her soda when she went to the bathroom and soon after she couldn’t even stand up on her own. It was effortless to slip away with her in his uncle’s pickup truck and take her to the cabin.

  When she came to and found herself shackled to the bed, her screams of outrage were audible through the gag. When he walked over to the bed, Melanie tried to fight him off with her legs. His fists and a knife had stopped her quick enough. After he had raped her the first time, she retreated into herself and seemed to never return.

  CJ was being stupid to keep her alive. He just didn’t know how to let her go. But the longer she lived, the more chances of something happening to ruin everything. Someone could find her. She could escape. The police would realize he had been the one to take her. His panic at the possibilities forced him to drive out here and finish what he had started.

  “Beg me to take you back, Mel,” he spat at her face. Her eyes did not move from the ceiling. Repeatedly he had asked her what she was thinking about and she had not answered him.

  He ran his hands through her blonde hair. His once beautiful girlfriend was now barely a shell of her former self. Her hair was knotted and oily from lack of bathing. Bruises and dried blood covered her arms and face. Her green t-shirt and shorts she wore on the day he had taken her were caked with blood that had turned a rust color. In this state, she was a wretched and unlovable thing. Hatred coiled in his belly and he felt the urge to cause her more pain.

  He grabbed a hunting knife with a wooden handle off of the kitchen counter. Stalking over to her, he taunted her with the knife. “Maybe after I’m through with you, I’ll have some fun with your sister. You know I always had a thing for blondes.”

  He was shocked when she still didn’t respond. It only fueled his anger and he leaped on top of her. “I’m going to kill you tonight, Mel. You’re never going to see anyone you care about. And I’m going to make it hurt, I promise you that.”

  His hands shook and he felt almost dizzy over the intensity of his loathing. As seconds stretched on, she finally focused on his face. After she unsuccessfully tried to speak through the gag, he removed it. “I’m already dead,” she whispered. “I’ll never give you what you want, CJ. You can’t have me anymore.”

  The knife seemed to plunge down on its own accord. Blood splattered everywhere. It drenched his body and seeped into the bedding. He had no memory of bringing down the knife again and again. He couldn’t even recall if she screamed or not. It was as if he had completely lost touch with reality and blacked out. When he came to, blood was all he saw until he looked deeply into Melanie’s unseeing eyes…

  ***

  “Kate! Open the door! Dammit, Kate!”

  Melanie was screaming. No, Kate realized, Melanie wasn’t screaming. She was dead. It was Kate screaming as she came out of her vision. As her terror subsided, sobs erupted from her. She had failed again. They had been too late to save Melanie. CJ had killed her just last night.

  Declan’s voice yelled at her from behind the closed door of her hotel room. Running over to the door, she swung it open and collapsed in his arms. He was firing questions at her, but she couldn’t find her voice. It was as if saying the words out loud would make them real. Kate shut her eyes as Declan held her. Behind her eyes, all she could see was Melanie’s blood—dripping off of the hunting knife—drenching Melanie’s body. Nothing could have prepared her for witnessing such a brutal act. Her sobs turned into dry heaves and she felt it hard to maintain a grip on reality.

  “Kate, please,” Declan begged. “Tell me what happened.”

  Kate shook her head emphatically. “I can’t…” she moaned.

  Declan cupped her face and he leaned down to meet her eyes. His thumb brushed away a few tears that streamed down her face. Her breath came out in gasps and she felt the panic continue to rise in her. It seemed as though she was falling without anything solid to grab onto.

  “Look at me.” He waited until her hazel eyes locked onto his. “It’s over. Whatever you saw has already happened. You don’t have to go back there ever again,” he promised.

  Kate hiccupped and stepped out of his embrace. Walking over to the nightstand, she grabbed a tissue and wiped at her face. She sat at the edge of the bed and hung her head down. She felt the bed lower as he took a seat next to her. “Melanie was killed last night. CJ murdered her in his uncle’s cabin.”

  There was a sharp intake of breath next to her. “You’re sure?”

  “Unfortunately I am,” she replied. “I saw into CJ’s mind. He drugged her and kept her bound and gagged in his uncle’s cabin. For nine days, he tortured her. What kind of sick monster is capable of such a thing?

  “Last night, he flipped out and stabbed her so many times that I lost count. It was horrific…” her voice trailed off. Declan pulled her close to him until she was practically on his lap.

  “Where’s the cabin? Why wouldn’t anyone check it out?” Declan sounded enraged over the unfairness of it all. As much as he had denied any emotional attachment, this confirmed that Declan had developed a connection to Melanie too.

  “It’s in Michaux State Forest.” She recalled the name from CJ’s memories. It hadn’t surprised Kate when she found herself inside of his head. He was obviously demented and didn’t have the mental faculties to conceal his thoughts from her.

  Kate squeezed her eyes tight as she furt
her explained the information she gleaned from the vision. “Guess that’s a little over a half an hour from here. His uncle took boys there to molest, including CJ. CJ was the only one who knew about it and used it after his uncle killed himself.”

  Declan made a noise of disgust. “I tried to get into CJ’s mind tonight, but I didn’t see anything. Instead, I had a vision of Brad when he first met Melanie at the gym. I thought it was maybe a hint he was involved since he had been thinking about her. I had no idea we were too late to find her.” He groaned in frustration before adding, “We have to call Delaney and the police.”

  Kate had promised Delaney mere hours ago she would bring her sister home to her. This was never the way she expected it would happen. Only last night, she had seen a vision of Melanie. It must have been right before she had been killed. They had been so close to saving her. She couldn’t help but play out the many “what ifs” in her head as she thought about Melanie’s slaughter.

  “CJ hated her for leaving him. He wanted to cause her pain and beg for his forgiveness. But she wouldn’t. No matter what he did, she never gave him the satisfaction of pleading with him for her life,” Kate murmured. “I think that’s the reason we never saw a vision of what happened to her. She retreated into herself and relived all of her happiest memories,” she explained.

  “At least that’s some consolation. Maybe it helped her avoid some of the pain,” he said and shook his head. “Do you want me to call Delaney?”

  She nodded and arose from the bed. As Declan dialed her number and set off to the corner of the room, Kate reached for her own phone on the nightstand. It was almost ten o’clock at night and Jared had still not returned her call. She tried to feel livid, but the only thing she felt was raw need. His phone went right to voicemail. “Jared…” her voice trailed off. The voicemail recorded her silence for several seconds before she spoke again. “Something happened. I had a vision tonight and well…Melanie’s dead. It would mean a lot to me if you would call me back. Well…bye.”