Visions Of The Past

by Elizabeth Mahood

  “What the hell is going on here, you are on my property Sheriff holding a gun on an unarmed man. I will have to talk to the Mayor about the safety of its citizens with a trigger-happy cop on the loose.” This brought Ellie out of her fear and she put a hand on Cade’s arm.

  “What’s going on in the shed Pastor?” She asked, nodding her head towards her nightmare. He glared at her.

  “I was cleaning it out. All the junk in there is getting donated for our rummage sale at the church.” He said trying to move forward. Cade still had his weapon drawn and his jaw was set.

  “I don’t give a fuck what you say to the Mayor. I know your history of violence with your daughter and I won’t let you touch her ever again.” Cade stated starting to lower his weapon. Her father considered him for a moment and then shook his head.

  “I did my best to raise my children but, in the end, they did what they wanted. They have too much of their mother in them and this one, too much of her grandmother.” He stated pointing at Ellie as if she wasn’t even standing in front of him. She rolled her eyes.

  “Where is mother?” She asked. She could feel her father start to push into her mind but she wasn’t going to allow him to do it to her this time. She pushed back. “Where is mother?” She said again. He flinched and then took a step back. He rubbed his head and looked back to her.

  “She’s in Green Bay at Shady Hills home for the clinically insane. I had no choice, she just kept rambling about things that made no sense and wouldn’t stop crying and laying around. I can’t have that in the church and a pastor’s wife is supposed to be strong, not an invalid.” Ellie shook her head.

  “You drove her to that. She wasn’t insane, you made her that way, you made all of us that way. Your messed-up sense of what a pastor’s family should look like ruined all of us. Who is Leslie Cooper dad?” Ellie said. She watched her father’s face drain of color and she could feel his mind trying to block her out. She felt a stabbing pain in her head but she continued to push. Cade put a hand on her shoulder.

  “Sir, one of the bodies have been identified and we just thought maybe since you know most of the families in town that you might remember her.” Cade stated calmly. Ellie was getting sick to her stomach as her father continued to stare at her. He finally broke eye contact and looked to Cade.

  “She was the daughter of Kate Beemer, the woman who runs the shelter. Have you contacted her yet? I should go see if she needs food or anything.” Her father stated heading towards the house. She felt stress and fear snaking through her father.

  “Dad, why did Alex leave?” Ellie stated. Her father turned around quickly.

  “Go HOME Elinora, we don’t need you here and we don’t need you digging up things from the past. It doesn’t concern you and you don’t belong here.” He said moving towards her. Cade stepped in front of her and put a hand on her father’s shoulder.

  “You come one step closer and I will arrest you sir. You will not put hands on her ever again.” Cade stated with a growl. Her father glared at Cade.

  “You love her. Oh, you are making a huge mistake my boy. You are better than that. She will take your soul and you don’t know how to properly punish a woman. They need to be controlled and this one,” Her father said pointing towards Ellie. “You can’t control her. She is from the devil. I tried to beat it out of her but he was too strong, too strong so I had to send her away. I had to.” Her father stated suddenly looking defeated.

  “We will find out what happened and there is nothing anyone can do in this town to protect you.” Ellie stated. Her father turned around and looked between her and Cade.

  “You keep going and you may not like what you find.” Her father said cryptically.

  “What’s in the shed dad?” Ellie asked. Her father looked towards the shed and then back to Ellie.

  “Nothing that concerns you.” Her father stated. “Now, unless I’m under arrest for something, I need to go console a woman who just found out her daughter was murdered.” Her father stated walking away. Cade stepped forward.

  “Sir, we never said anything about her being murdered. We are getting a warrant to have Greta Ridley exhumed.” Cade said with his hands on his hip near his holster. She felt her father’s mind close shut. He stared at both of them and then walked back into the house. Once back in the car, Cade turned to her.

  “What part of stay here didn’t you hear?” He said roughly. She looked at him but she didn’t see anger, she saw fear.

  “I’m sorry. You said don’t go inside, I just wanted to see if anything was going on out back. The light of the shed was on so I thought I would take a look.” She said watching emotions play over his face.

  “When I walked out and he was looming over you and you were screaming, Ellie I wanted to shoot him. I pulled my gun on an unarmed man. I…I lost my objectivity.” He said not looking at her.

  “Cade.” She said softly. He turned to look at her finally.

  “I’m sorry. I will listen to you from now on. I put your job in jeopardy and I let my feelings lead me. It won’t happen again.” She said watching his face soften. “Think we could get a warrant for the shed?” She asked trying to get him to lighten up the mood and talk about what had just happened. He sighed and then nodded.

  “Maybe, we would have to have probable cause which right now we just have assumptions. We didn’t say Leslie Cooper had been murdered so your father tipped his hand slightly but that might not be enough for the judge. We need real evidence and please don’t take this the wrong way, but you having a vision of him doing something, isn’t going to be enough. We need real proof.” He said looking at her quickly and then back at the road. She knew he was right. Her visions had helped the FBI many times but it was her profiling that ended up in the courtroom on trial, not her visions. No judge in the world would be credible if they took the word of a dream that someone was a criminal.

  “I know, let’s put him on the suspect list and I will profile it.” She stated. He watched her.

  “You sure you can do that? He is still your father.” Cade stated looking back to the road. She nodded.

  “Yes, he might be blood, but he has never been my father. I can’t believe he still scares me after all this time. You would think I would be over it by now.” She stated looking out the passenger window. He took her hand and she turned to look at him.

  “Dinner, movie, hot tub, some adult activities?” He said waggling his eyes. She smiled at him and nodded.

  “Yes please, all of the above.” She felt herself relax and the rest of the drive was quiet and comfortable.

  Hours later, they lay in bed naked, intertwined after several hours of adult activity. He rocked her world over and over until neither of them could breathe. They showered and had barely made it out of there before crawling back into bed and snuggling up together. She leaned up and placed her chin on her hand and watched him.

  “What?” He said nervously. She smiled.

  “You are beautiful.” She stated. He frowned at her.

  “Thanks, I guess.” He said, with his forehead scrunched together. She leaned up and kissed it softly making him take in a breath as her body leaned into his. He pulled her down to him for a long searing kiss and she ended up on top of him. Once again, she placed her chin on her hands.

  “Want to tell me what happened overseas?” She asked playing with the scar on his shoulder and then moving to his chest. “I know it was more than just a bullet.” She said with concern. He played with her hair and she could see some distance in his eyes.

  “I don’t really talk about it. It wasn’t that big of a deal.” He said. She could feel his body tense and she placed soft kisses on his chest. Once she felt him relax, she looked back up at him. “Do you know how hard it is to talk about this with you on top of me? I want to take you right now instead.” He said, bucking under her. She felt heat pool between her legs and it would be easy to sit up and straddle him, but he needed to talk and she wasn’t going to let him get away with ho
lding in his feelings.

  “Do you want me to move?” She asked. He pulled her up to him and kissed her, tongue dipping in and out of her mouth. He finally moved her back down to his chest.

  “No, I like you just where you are.” He said. He closed his eyes. “We were on a routine security sweep when we got word that there was an inbound truck with no business being close to the gate. We all moved to go secure the gate when a large explosion happened. The truck had rammed the gate and had been full of explosives. Apparently, there had been a group of Jihad behind them that stormed the gate and I took a bullet and shrapnel. I took out three before passing out. My best friend, he didn’t make it. Hit on impact from the explosion. They flew me out the next day to Germany for surgery. I have shrapnel in my chest that they can’t get out and it’s moving closer to my heart. If I get hit in the chest, I’m toast. At least that’s what the VA says.” Cade stated. He placed his hands on her back and was caressing her softly up and down.

  “Have you ever gotten a second opinion? Seattle has some of the best doctors in the world. I went to the University of Washington and there are tons of new technologies out there that could help.” Ellie said. Cade opened his eyes and stared at her.

  “I never thought about it. Once the VA told me what was happening, I sort of took it on fate.” Cade stated. She could see that he really hadn’t thought there was any other option.

  “I don’t want to push you into doing something you don’t want to do but Cade, if they could help you, you wouldn’t have to live with the fear, nor would I.” She said softly. He ran his hands through her hair.

  “God Ellie, you are beautiful. I’ll think about it, ok.” He said softly pulling her towards him again. She nodded as he took her lips. Their kiss intensified and she found herself lifting up and sliding herself down onto his hardness. She sat up and started a slow ride as Cade’s hands slid down to her hips helping her along. She threw her head back, every thrust sending her deeper and deeper into her pleasure. Cade was bucking under her making it even more intense causing her to move faster and faster. She screamed out when her ecstasy hit her and his name left her lips over and over.

  “Oh God Cade, Yes.” She screamed. He rolled her over and drove into her over and over as she held on to the rungs of the natural wood head board. Ellie wrapped her legs around him and felt herself start to build up again. A few more thrusts and both of them erupted, Cade groaning loudly kissing her temple, her mouth and her neck. They lay intertwined for a while until she felt him relax, still deep inside her. He looked down into her eyes.

  “I love you Ellie. I don’t expect you to say it back. I just know how I feel and with everything going on, I don’t want to miss my chance to tell you.” Cade stated with sincerity. She felt the same way, but she was afraid to say it. If she did, everything would change and she didn’t know if she was ready for that. It wasn’t fair to Cade, she knew that, but saying those words meant more to her than anything in the world.

  “I…” She started to say, but he put his fingers to her lips

  “When you are ready honey.” Cade stated and kissed her softly.

  When Ellie woke, light was seeping through the curtains but the bed next to her was empty. She hadn’t even felt Cade leave. She couldn’t remember a night of sleep that had been so peaceful. She smelled coffee and her stomach rumbled. She found one of Cade’s Milwaukee Brewer’s t-shirts, wrapped herself up in the sheet and padded out to the living room to find Cade sitting in his large cushioned chair looking out the window. Snow was falling and it was beautiful. He turned and smiled at her.

  “Good Morning beautiful.” He stated with desire in his eyes. “I will never look at that t-shirt the same.” He said looking her up and down. She moved towards him and climbed on his lap. They sat in silence watching the snow fall. Finally, he leaned in and kissed her softly which quickly turned to more. “I can’t stop wanting you Ellie. Eventually I have to go to work.” He said smiling and moving his hands under her t-shirt. She arched into him and sighed.

  “But not today.” She stated closing her eyes.

  “Want some breakfast and Coffee?” He asked still playing with a tight nipple. She nodded but didn’t speak. She heard him laugh. “Well it’s hard to do with me being, well hard.” He said with a chuckle. She opened her eyes to see him smiling down at her. “You can’t walk around like that or we will never get out of this house.” He said lifting her off of him. He swatted her bottom. “Go shower and I’ll make food and have coffee waiting for you when you come out.” He stated nudging her forward. She sighed and stuck out her lip. He moved forward and took it between his teeth. “Don’t worry, there is more, but you need food.” She sighed again.

  “Fine, but I’m keeping the t-shirt.” She said winking at him. She found the shower which was big enough for 8 people and delighted in the amazingly hot water. When she emerged, a nice steaming cup of coffee sat on the table and a plate full of eggs, bacon and toast sat next to it. It smelled amazing. He watched her move towards the plate with desire in his eyes.

  “Um, the t-shirt?” He said trying to focus on what he was doing. She smiled.

  “My clothes are dirty, I’m sure you have a washing machine and if you will remember, the rest of my clothes are locked up in evidence.” She stated with a smirk. He took a breath and then tried to refocus on making his own plate.

  “What do you want to do today? It’s Saturday, so unless something major happens in the case, I won’t get called in. Would you like to go work on the house?” Cade asked taking a bite of his eggs. She dug into her own food. Adult activity made her extremely hungry.

  “I would like to go see my mother. I know it’s a few hours away but, I want to see just exactly what condition she is in and if there is anything I can do.” Ellie said. Something her father said about her mother just made her feel like it was his way of getting rid of her and who was going to say a pastor was lying?

  “Sure, it’s not that far. We can wash what you have here and then stop and get you some clothes if you like. Your stuff will more than likely be released on Monday as long as they don’t find any evidence to hold it. What is your take on suspects?” Cade asked. She liked that he wanted her opinion.

  “My father for one, He may not be directly involved in the murders but he knows way more than he is telling. Mrs. Kramer, I can’t explain why but I got a weird vibe from her, Mr. Devlin and Mrs. Beemer.” Ellie stated. Cade stopped chewing and looked her. He swallowed and took a sip of his coffee.

  “Why Mrs. Beemer?” Cade asked questioningly. Ellie thought about it.

  “I don’t know, just a hunch. She didn’t seem very distraught over her daughter being found but perhaps it’s just been so long. Maybe she was just relieved to have an answer. I think we need to talk to Hank’s son.” Ellie said. Cade nodded.

  “Agreed. I would like to get the ME report back on the bodies out near your property. I think there is a connection there that might help shoot this case forward and we have all those case files to go over. Do you still think your grandmother was murdered?” Cade asked. Ellie felt it in her soul.

  “I think she knew who it was.” Ellie stated. Cade put his fork down.

  “How the hell do you know that?” Cade asked. Ellie stood and cleaned off her plate and placed it in the dishwasher. When she turned around, Cade was not looking at her face but at her legs. She smiled and went to her satchel. She pulled out her grandmother’s journal.

  “This last journal someone was in her house. She refers to other journals and she says that they will be in a safe place and hopes that I will see them one day. I wonder if they are in the cabin or somewhere else, but where.?” She said feeling frustrated. He moved towards her and took the journal out of her had to read it.

  “We have the warrant to get her exhumed. Megan will be in Monday so if she can get her autopsied, at least we can start that process. Ellie agreed and felt sick to her stomach that she would have to have her grandmother taken from her final rest
ing place, but in light of the situation, she felt like her grandmother would have agreed and wanted to find out what was going on. She bent back over to place the journal in her satchel with the others. She heard Cade groan.

  “You, are doing that on purpose.” She heard him say and before she knew it, he was behind her lifting up her shirt. His hands rubbed her bottom and then then reached around to pull her back up against him. “Do you feel that? That is what you do to me constantly.” He stated kissing her neck.

  “I…I really…didn’t…” She tried to say she hadn’t meant to turn him on and she had forgotten she wasn’t wearing any underwear but it came out all breathy. His hands moved lower and reached their destination only to make her arch back into him.

  “Cade, shit.” He turned her around, picked her up, squeezing her bottom as he carried her into the bedroom.

  Chapter 19

  Megan Martin didn’t usually work on Saturday’s but something about the bodies they found out by Nora Ridley’s property was bothering her. When something like that happened, there was nothing she could do that would help her relax until she figured it out. So, here it was Saturday morning, when everyone else was sleeping in after partying all night or doing family things or just having a nice lazy Saturday, she was in the morgue talking to dead people. It wasn’t that she didn’t like doing her job, she loved it. But sometimes, sometimes she wished she was just, normal. She had seen the way Cade had looked at Nora and the way he had fretted over her when she had had her vision. It was sweet and caring and something she had never experienced ever before in her entire life. She wasn’t jealous, just the opposite. She liked Cade and was happy for him and Nora was beautiful and funny and got her sense of humor. She could see being good friends with her.

  No, for her, she just never found a person that she could connect with. She knew she was odd and that turned a lot of men off. She also knew that men hit on her all time but not because of any other reason than to have sex. She wanted the romance; she wanted the Han Solo to come sweeping in with his Millennium Falcon and kill the death star for her and save the day. She wanted her Indiana Jones to swing across an open pit and wrap her up in his arms and keep her safe. But it was all fantasy, and there were no real hero’s out there anymore. For now, she needed to quit dreaming about her Harrison Ford fetish and concentrate on the case.