Images—faint, swirling, and blurry—but images nonetheless, began to form. Maybe it was an overactive imagination, but I would swear there was a hazy picture forming of me writing out the words and putting them in the envelope. Hardly a huge breakthrough, but it was a good place to end the day.
I tumbled out of bed with determination. Today I was going to buy my new car, a Toyota Prius. Being of a think-green mind and all, my new car had to be a hybrid, but not black. In the back of my mind I’d been toying with going for the in-the-wind, macho, badass look, but after driving Annie’s Acura, I’d changed my mind. I wanted to go with silver again—close to badass stealthy, but more like a smoky fog than in-your-face blatant.
I showered, and for the first time since the explosion, shampooed without bumping into sore spots. My leg was healing nicely, but not ready for scratchy denim, so slipped into a long cotton skirt, silver cami (to match my new car), and a favorite pair of Via Spigas. For us Libra types, great shoes make car buying so much easier.
Sunlight sparkled against a deep blue sky, bright enough to make me smile and reach for my sunglasses. I snagged my Oakleys off the kitchen counter, and did a fast-walk out to the Acura. After I carefully maneuvered down the driveway, I used the fancy, built-in phone system to dial Annie. Weird, saying the numbers out loud when no one was in the car but me. She answered on the first ring, “Morning. Great day isn’t it?”
“Yep, great day. I take it Sean is still at the top of your happy list.”
“So at the top.”
“I’m on my way to buy a new car. Thought you might want to come with me, besides you get so bent when I don’t keep you in the loop.” I’d reached the end of my private road and signaled to merge with traffic.
“I thought you were supposed to be retreating, not purchasing.”
“Yeah. Well, the weekend hasn’t gone exactly like I planned. I’ve worked through some things…truth is I was going to stay another day, but I woke up with the need to shop.”
“How soon can you be here?”
“Traffic is minimal. Say, ten minutes.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
She stood on the front steps when I pulled up in front of the townhouses. I got out and circled to the passenger side.
“You could drive. I’m not attached to being in control.”
“Uh-huh. Better for you to drive Black Beauty.”
She grinned. “Guess she’s been christened. So where are we headed for car shopping?”
“The Toyota dealer on Glenwood. I want a silver Prius.”
She slid me a look. “They have huge wait lists for hybrids you know.”
“I know. But if I don’t order one, it’s a sure thing it won’t show up in my driveway. And the Prius is a snappy little car.”
“A Maserati it’s not.” Annie had an excellent sense of understatement.
“Seriously? Me driving a Maserati?”
“Right. The Prius it is.”
Turned out there was a new Prius on the lot. Dark grey, which was okay with me. And there was a problem with an engine part. They offered to replace the part with a brand new one from the factory, and assured me it would be good to go in several hours. I ran my fingers over the hood.
“Get anything,” Annie asked.
I shook my head. “No. Not an image in sight.”
“So, what’s your plan?”
“I’m not getting any bad vibes, so I’m going for it.”
She shoved her hands in her pockets. “That’s what I’d do.”
It took a while to complete the paperwork, handle the bank transfers, and schmooze with the salesman. While they were working on the engine, Annie and I headed for the Angus Barn to grab some lunch.
Our server placed huge salads in front of us, and we dug in. It must have triggered my memory of having dinner with Mitch—that time we discussed my getting a security clearance—because next thing I knew the words were sitting there in the space between Annie and me.
Her face crinkled up. “So you can touch Mitch without screwing up his career?”
“Yeah. We’ve been lucky until this last assignment, but letting him go without a hug or kiss, it threw me more than I thought it would.”
“Not an easy situation,” she said, moving the bread out of the way so the server could refill our water glasses.
“I don’t want to go through all the testing again, but there’s probably no other way.”
Annie forked in a bite of salad, her forehead wrinkled in thought. “What testing? They do an extensive background check—right up to the brand of toilet paper you prefer. It’s invasive, not awful. Even going through a polygraph isn’t that bad. Especially not for you. Well, let me rethink that.”
“Not funny.” I swallowed some water, the taste flat against my tongue. “It’s not the business-as-usual stuff that scares me. It’s the reason I need the clearance. The touch thing. Explaining it to people. People with power. And maybe some bias against weird, spooky things. You know how this goes with law enforcement.”
“Yeah I get that,” she said as she focused those deep green eyes on me and tried to tuck her too-short hair behind her ear. “So this is the psychological barrier you’ve put up to keep your head separate from your gift?”
I took my time, dipped a bit of salad into some bleu cheese dressing. “Could be. It’s a strong possibility. You know, because the explosion happened just a few hours after Mitch left.”
“I’m guessing here, but it’s bad, that kind of testing?”
“Um-hmm. I had to go through a battery of tests when I was a kid ’cause my parents wanted to be sure I wasn’t…unbalanced.”
“You know, that would be a typical parental reaction to a weird and spooky child with unusual gifts. Do you hold it against them?” She eyed me over the rim of her glass.
“No. Not anymore. I was tested every year from the time I was four until maybe seven or so. After I’d been in school for a couple years they relaxed and stopped with the testing.”
“I’ll mention the security clearance to Pierce. You know I don’t have unlimited access to that kind of information anymore, not like he does. He may know a way around it, or be able to finesse it for you. Probably not, but it’s worth asking. Or would you rather ask him yourself?”
“No, better it comes from you. I go off-the-chart twitchy when I think about having to touch stuff for the government.” I gulped down the last swallow of my soda.
“Um-hmm, good point. You can’t let this affect your gift, though. And the biggie: you and Mitch won’t make it if there’s something this big between you.”
“I know. I have to stop with the mental blocks. Surely that must be what’s wrong with me. It’s probably like a temper tantrum, I got tired of being weird and spooky, so I’m blocking the images. Too bad there isn’t an on-off switch.”
She checked her watch. “Mitch is a good guy. You need to talk about it, see if you can work it out. We better get going. I have a client scheduled soon.”
“Okay.” I pushed back my chair and dropped some money on the table. “You’re right about talking to him. There’s no way we can put this off—but I’m afraid he’ll be relieved my ESP has disappeared.”
She gave me a stony look as she clicked her key fob to unlock the Acura. “Then he’s not the man for you.”
“You’re right, again. I can’t change me, not and build a successful relationship with Mitch. Hell, with anyone. It’s time to get on with my life. Whatever that means.”
“It means there’s nothing wrong with you,” she explained as she pulled into the Toyota dealership to drop me off.
I posed with a smiling salesman while his assistant aimed a Polaroid camera at us. They made a show of his handing me the keys and the picture, and then I slid into the driver’s seat and gently placed my fingertips on the steering wheel. Tingling. No images. But tingling was at least something. Progress. Maybe talking to Annie about Mitch had helped.
I stopped by my parents’—my—house to lea
ve notes on the walls as to what colors I wanted their study and bedroom painted, then I wandered through the other rooms, allowing my mind to adjust to it being my home, and not a memorial for my parents.
Maybe the conscious effort to change my perspective would help me to return to my normal weird and spooky self.
I tossed a few things I wanted to take back to the townhouse in the back seat of my new car and took an extra-long way home so I could spend more time driving—bonding with the engine and all.
About a mile from home some idiot driver pulled in front of me. Fear slid down my spine and tightened my muscles. I sucked in an outraged breath, hit the brakes, and the seatbelt bit into my shoulder. “Idiot! You almost smashed my new baby.”
I maneuvered a lane change to keep from bumping into his very expensive rear end, then reached to push my hair off my forehead and wipe the sweat away. Damn all stupid drivers to—whoa.
I’d seen that car in the parking lot at North Construction the other day. Not that I usually notice cars but this one—a gorgeous, deep, cherry red, Mercedes convertible caught my eye. How could it not? I whipped off my sunglasses for a better look at the driver. Sure enough it was Justin North, and it looked like Marcy Blaine was a more-than-casual passenger considering the way her fingers caressed his neck.
Okay, then.
I slid my Oakleys back on, eased off the gas, and let a couple cars cut between us. This was the perfect opportunity for some harmless snooping, and to spend some quality time with my new car. It looked like Justin and Marcy were heading for Highway 64 in the direction of Jordan Lake, and from his dazed expression, reflected perfectly in the rearview mirror, her fingers had found a whole new area to explore.
More information than I needed, and enough to have me wondering about the wisdom of following them too closely. Considering where the bulk of his attention was focused, he could drive off the road at any moment.
The possibility that one of them may well have tried to kill me a few days ago slammed into my sloggy brain. What was I thinking, following them? To who knew where? There was a lot of country out this way and not a lot of people. Plenty of places to hide a body. I reached for my cell again. No way would anyone let me forget it if I didn’t give Annie a heads-up.
She answered on the first ring. “You home?”
“Nope. I’m headed out sixty-four, following Justin North and Marcy Blaine. And I can confirm they have an active sexual relationship.”
“I’m not going to bother asking if you’ve lost your mind, since it’s obvious you have. Why didn’t you call Adam to have him pick up this tail?”
“My mind is in working order. I chose not to call Adam, because I need to feel useful since my fingertips have checked out. Holy macaroni! She shouldn’t be down there, doing that, in an open convertible with the rear-view mirror flashing X-rated images of his blissed-out expression.”
“Way too much information. But probably not much chance they’ll spot you since they have better things to think about.”
“I’m in a vehicle they couldn’t possibly recognize since I’ve only had it for a few hours.”
Annie huffed. “I rang Adam on my land line. Soon as he answers, I’ll send him after you.”
“Um-hmm, good plan. Gotta go. They’re turning onto Route seven-fifty-one.”
I pressed End before she could tell me to back off. Not that I was trying to go all vigilante or anything, I just needed to be useful.
Who was I kidding?
There was no way my curiosity could let go of this juicy opportunity.
THIRTEEN
North and Marcy turned down a side road off Route 751. I knew better than to follow too closely. I zoomed by, went up to the next turn-off, did a ten-point turn—it was a tight space—and followed them down a single lane road. My maneuvers should have given them plenty of time to put all suspicion of a tail aside. Especially since their minds were likely focused in more lascivious directions.
I scanned the area for a place to pull over and hide my car, because, seriously, I did not want to come nose-to-nose with them if they headed back to 751. Less than a quarter mile in, I spotted the perfect place—a handy turn-off where I could nestle my car in a copse of pine trees while I did some reconnoitering.
It wouldn’t take long to check out a few driveways for the whereabouts of a cherry red convertible, but still, I seriously missed my hinky touch ability. It would be so much easier to touch the road and see where they’d turned. I pulled my hair back and secured it in my sturdiest clip. Now was definitely not the time for a hair mishap.
I closed the car door with a slow push, keeping it as noiseless as possible. It rewarded me with a whispered thunk. New car giddiness took over and I grinned at absolutely nothing.
Head bent, keeping my eyes on the road, I noticed fresh tire tracks leading down a dirt driveway. They were just off the edge of the concrete, and the only explanation I had for spotting them? Fate.
Naturally, I headed down the driveway. Images featuring dead heroines who rush in where stupidity and curiosity lead them, and who are totally oblivious to the evil villain, danced through my head.
I touched the cell phone in my pocket for reassurance that I wasn’t totally alone, then eased my way along the edge of the trees lining the driveway. It was quiet, without the usual chattering squirrels and chirping birds. Time for me to regroup. Did that mean Justin and Marcy had disturbed the wildlife in the very recent past?
The air was fragrant with summer scents—jasmine and dry pine needles that crunched under my feet—but there were no telltale human smells, like Marcy’s perfume, lingering in the air.
My toe caught under a partly rotted log, and I tripped, catching myself on tree before I landed on the ground. My heart pounded against my ribs as I bent to ease my foot from under the log. A dull pain shot through my ankle. “Damn!” Heeled Via Spigas were not the best shoes for this sort of expedition. I rubbed my abused muscles and twisted my ankle this way and that until the pain disappeared. Everything was back in working order, but I palmed my cell and punched in Annie’s number. Didn’t hit Send. Yet. It was an extra level of caution now that running wasn’t an option.
The driveway turned and I crept more deeply into the trees, moving slowly to avoid attention and not damage my ankle with another misstep.
Sure enough. There it was. The tail end of a cherry red, Mercedes convertible with the top still down, and no sign of Marcy or North.
I blew out a sigh of relief. Justin North in the all-together, doing the nasty—definitely the stuff of nightmares. I ran my teeth over my lower lip a few times while I played with the idea of checking out the car. Could be they left something incriminating behind. Or not. Was it worth taking a chance? I glanced at my cell. Annie’s number winked at me with bright green reassurance. I poised my right thumb over Send, and ran my left index finger over the diamond in my navel. Yeah, it was worth it.
I approached carefully, stopped before I got too close. They could have one of those locks that sounds an alarm if anything gets within shouting distance of the car’s interior. My hand moved before I thought, my fingertips brushing the door.
It took a minute before I realized what I’d done. Stupid. My breath caught, but no alarm went off. I blew out, clearing the air from my throat. No more action without thinking, El. You know better.
I took a couple deep breaths to slow my heart rate, and then ran my fingertips over the driver’s headrest. A clear image of Justin North popped into my head.
A squeal erupted from my throat, and I jerked my hand back.
An image. From my fingertips.
Couldn’t breathe. Heart doing double time. Sucked in a breath and tried it again.
Nothing.
Okay. So if my mind was busy with something else, like getting caught with my hand in the convertible, my fingertips did their thing and images appeared. If I tried to pick up images, consciously, my weird and spooky, hinky touch thing remained on the fritz.
; Good to know.
In an emergency, if I didn’t think about it, my weirdness was back in working order. Not an overwhelming endorsement. But hey, no complaints here. Partially functioning hinky touch was better than none.
I glanced up at the house. It appeared deserted, as if no one had been here for a while. I eased behind the tree line and circled to the back of the house. Far enough away from any action that I wouldn’t be heard, so I called Annie to check in.
She answered on the first ring. “Where are you?”
“Wandering around the woods that surround some house with interesting architecture—lots of windows and angles, modern design. Looks out of place here in the woods. North’s car is parked in front.”
I could hear her taking a deep, calming breath. “Let me get this straight. You didn’t wait for Adam, and you’re trespassing on private property…what are you thinking?”
“Not slinking around. I’m walking around like I own the place. Totally safe. They’re way too busy with each other to care about what I’m doing.”
“Uh-huh. That thing they’re busy with, the sex stuff, reaches a crescendo, and then other things become noticeable. Like someone stalking their house.”
“I’m not stalking their house, just taking a stroll through the woods on a warm, summer afternoon.” It was my story, and I was sticking to it.
“And I’m the Energizer Bunny. Have you forgotten that North knows you by sight? That he may well have tried to murder you?”
“Huh. Will you look at that? The side door is open.” I wandered over, peeked around the edge. Apparently having Annie on the phone gave me courage. Or made me instantaneously stupid.
“El. Stay away from that door! You don’t know where these people are, what they’re doing, or if even if they have weapons.”
“Actually, I do.” I whispered. “Open window. Clearly distinguishable sounds of a bad porno flick. I’ll be a lot safer inside where my voice won’t carry upstairs.”
I slipped through the door, skin bristling with prickly fear. North and Marcy wouldn’t be showing up downstairs for a while. And I’d have fair warning, unless they suddenly went silent. A chill crept along my spine. This wasn’t one of my better moves.
a Touch of TNT (An Everly Gray Adventure) Page 13
