Authors: Maggie Toussaint
I glanced over at Daddy. “Ready?” In one hand I held the framed painting of an old woman on a stool gazing at the water; the fingers of my other hand were interlaced with Daddy’s. He placed his other hand on my shoulder.
He nodded.
With that, I guided us into the spirit world. Spirits crowded around us, but I focused on Verbena’s granny. She’d been a slight woman with completely gray hair. Keeping the framed picture firmly in my mind, I walked right up to her spirit. I relayed her granddaughter’s message, and she thanked me.
We turned to go, and there was Joe. His face was a distorted mask of fury. His eyes glowed bright red. “You can’t keep me in here.”
“I’m not keeping you anywhere. C’mon, Daddy, let’s get out of here.”
I envisioned the tree where Daddy and I had left our bodies and soon we were back. We blinked our eyes open in the shade of the oak tree. Excitement pulsed through me. I grabbed Daddy in a big hug. “It worked! I found her.”
Daddy’s eyes gleamed with fatherly pride. “Yes, you did. Now if you could catch that murderer, the town could breathe easier.”
“I’ll catch the killer; don’t you worry about that. I’m going right over and asking the sheriff for the victim’s clothing. And I won’t be leaving any more messages with Joe or any other unclean spirit. I learned my lesson.”
My boots kissed the edge of Sheriff Wayne Thompson’s cluttered desk. “I need to examine the dead woman’s clothing. As soon as possible.” Confidence rang in my voice.
The sheriff stilled and searched my face. He nodded. “I can do that.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding. Euphoria cartwheeled through me. This psychic detecting was a snap. I was on such a roll, I’d have this case solved before the school buses left the playground today.
Wayne skirted his desk with a long, prowling stride. I trailed after him, trying to keep a giddy grin off my face. The more of this I did, the easier it became. I’d soon earn the sheriff’s approval and start drawing regular wages for my crime-solving efforts.
“What?” he asked as we walked toward the evidence cage.
I shook my head, not wanting to jeopardize my good fortune. After fixing Verbena and getting the message through to her granny, I felt invincible. One more dreamwalk and I’d solve this case. I knew it in my bones.
But I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut. No sense in inviting trouble. I shook my head and kept walking.
“You know something,” Wayne said. “I can tell.”
“You psychic?”
“Nah. Cop instinct.”
Our steps echoed down the tiled corridor. Fluorescent lights flickered and buzzed overhead. Tamika hurried by with a stack of files, a fleeting smile for us.
“You should trust it more often.” At his puzzled look, I continued, “Your instinct.”
He fished a fat wad of keys from his pocket and unlocked two doors in our path. “Instinct doesn’t close cases. Evidence does. Wait here.” He closed the cage door, blocking me from physical access to the chaotic shelves of boxes and bags.
At this close range, a Pandora’s box of emotions pulsed through the wire cage. Even with my senses buffered, rage, despair, fear, greed, and horror bombarded me. With my well-being foremost in mind, I edged down the hall a bit to reduce my proximity. For good measure, I summoned an invisible cloak of white light and metaphorically wrapped it around me, cloaking me from head to toe. A sense of order returned to my thoughts, but the taint of strong emotion persisted.
Whispers of doubt flitted at the edge of my mind. Sure, I’d helped Verbena, but I’d made a huge mistake first. What if I ran into another unforeseen circumstance? Whose life would I wreck this time? Mine?
“Baxley?”
The sudden male voice startled me from my fugue. I blinked as the familiar sights, slightly antiseptic smells, and the unrelenting hum of the law enforcement center returned to my perceptions. It worried me that I’d been so lost in my thoughts that I’d lost track of my surroundings. That was a first for me.
Wayne stood before me, box in hand. “You okay?”
The despair of Angel’s weeping resurfaced in my thoughts as I eyed the box of her personal belongings. Resolve stiffened my spine. This time I wouldn’t be put off by her sadness. I would demand answers.
I met his worried gaze. “I’m fine. Where are we going?”
“Interview Two.”
Figured. He wouldn’t take me to a place where I could be alone with her things. Even if he walked out of the immediate vicinity, he could watch me through the two-way mirror. There would be no privacy.
But I’d just dreamwalked in a public park in front of God and everybody. I could handle one here with Wayne watching. No big deal.
He placed the box on the table, sitting next to it. “Close the door, will ya?”
I pulled the door to. The catch snicked into place. I crossed to sit in a molded plastic chair. Wayne was staying in here with me? Fear surfaced in my head like a mythical sea monster, cavorting and frolicking through my chaotic thoughts. Did I trust Wayne not to mess with me while I was dreamwalking?
I wanted to trust him, but he’d slept with every woman in his path. Except me. And I’d be vulnerable while I was under. “I’d prefer to do this alone.”
“Think again. These items are evidence. Police procedures must be followed, particularly the chain of evidence, or a good lawyer will get the case dismissed.” He initialed the log and opened the box. Then he handed me a sheet of paper. “Here’s the index.”
The list was brief. A shirt. A bra. Slacks. Panties. One shoe. Her watch. That was it. Her clothing would be bloodstained. I’d rather not see that again. “Let me see the watch.”
Wayne slipped on a pair of disposable gloves and tossed a pair to me as well. “Put these on.” He rooted through the box and withdrew a sealed manila envelope.
A protest worked its way up my throat. I softened it in the spirit of cooperation. “I don’t know if it will work with gloves on, but I’ll try it your way first.”
I fumbled the stretchy gloves on, my fingers getting trapped in the wrong places, then getting everything right but having the large gloves dwarf my small hands. “Good thing I’m not doing surgery.” Wayne broke the evidence seal on the bag, and the watch spilled out into his gloved hand. He offered it to me. “Do your thing.”
Doing my thing had been easy with Daddy at my side and an object from the deceased firmly in my hand. It wouldn’t be so easy in this antiseptic room. Plus, disbelief emanated from Wayne. He wanted me to be successful, but he couldn’t stifle his natural skepticism. I remembered from our tutoring days in high school he’d always understood things better when he could see them. With my request, I was asking him to take a leap of faith while I did something that couldn’t be seen.
He’d already sidestepped protocol to allow me access to the murdered woman’s belongings. But he wouldn’t derail his career by leaving me alone with the physical evidence. Good cop instinct.
My instincts clamored, too. “Either believe in this process or move farther away from me.”
The grin he flashed was all rogue and charm. “You getting bad vibes from me?”
“Something like that.”
He retreated to the door, folding his arms across his taut belly. His gold badge gleamed on his belt, his holstered weapon within easy reach. “This is as much space as I can give you.”
I nodded and summoned my courage. Most of my encounters with Angel/Lisa had been at her instigation. This time I would ask hard questions and get the answers we needed.
Rubbing my thumb over the drugstore-brand watch, I pictured Angel’s decadent bower, and her rumpled sheets. A pathway appeared, and I slipped through the sensory veil.
Lights flashed. Then eerie darkness descended. I whirled like a teacup ride through the spirit world, spinning in a small orbit through ever-widening swaths of souls as I searched for this single spirit, the weeping woman with violet eyes.
Joe the unclean spirit intercepted me, his red eyes boring into mine. “I know where she is. Let me help you.”
“Leave me alone.” I shouted the words, but they came out as a low whisper. Something was different about this experience, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I hurried away. After awhile I turned around. To my dismay, Joe was still with me. Joe and a few others. I’d been dragging them behind me.
I confronted them, uncertain of how to proceed, but positive this had to be addressed right now. What would Daddy do? He wouldn’t tolerate it, that was for sure. I summoned the surety that I was right, that I needed to banish these beings from my sight so that I could find the murdered woman. I remembered the moldavite pendant at my neck and the amethyst crystal in my pocket. Strength and confidence returned.
Words appeared in my head. I used them.
“I command thee to leave me alone. To trouble me or others no more. Begone. You are not welcome to be with me or to follow me. You may not use me as a portal.”
Joe and his pals convulsed and shouted. They slunk away.
The thick, unwholesome darkness subsided into the gloom I normally encountered here. I breathed easier, hoping the challenge was concluded and that I’d passed.
Now to find Angel.
I summoned the image of the watch. Angel’s bedroom appeared before me. She wept as usual. Her sorrow touched me, but I didn’t allow empathy to sway me from my plan of action. The way to help her was to get justice for her murder.
I sat on the edge of her rumpled bed. In the pale light, her creamy skin stood in stark relief to the dark furnishings in the room. “Angel, I’m here to help you.”
She cradled her face in splayed hands. “No one can help me. No one.”
“I can help. I promise. Tell me more about your baby in Wetumpka. What’s her name?”
Her long black hair parted to reveal mascara-stained tear tracks on her pale face. “My son. Oh, my poor son. I thought he would be safe. My mother is in danger. My son’s life is in danger.”
“I don’t understand the danger. Tell me your son’s name.”
“Dyani calls him Little Warrior because his cries are so fierce.”
“What do you call him? What’s on his birth certificate?”
“I can’t tell. She’ll know. And she’ll hurt my baby.”
My maternal instinct swelled. I used it to further my plea for obtaining justice. “I need the child’s name. The sheriff can make sure your baby isn’t in danger.”
“I don’t believe you. She knows you talk to me.”
That stopped me. Whoever Angel feared knew about my dreamwalking? “How does she know this? Is she a dreamwalker, too?”
“No. She doesn’t visit me like you do. But she hurt Jay. She’ll hurt Little Warrior, too. I must keep my baby safe.”
“Did she hurt you? Did she kill you?”
“She killed me and burned my place. She wiped out all traces of my life. If not for Dyani and Little Warrior, no one would even know I existed. But you could help me. The jewelry Jay bought for me is in a safe deposit box in Macon. Could you tell Dyani?”
“I can once we locate her. Did you live in Macon?”
“Yes.”
I hardly dared trust my good fortune. “Tell me about the safe deposit box. What name is it under?”
“Lisa Noble. Box two-five-eight-nine at the Mid-State Bank in Macon. But the key. The key was in my place when it burned.”
“Don’t worry about the key. We’ll figure that part out. How come you go by Angel and Lisa?”
“Angel was my stage name. Angelique is my middle name. Lisa Angelique Noble. That’s who I am.”
Her words winged through me, lightening my heart. I’d done it. I’d found hard evidence the sheriff could use to solve the case. I patted her hand. “Thank you. I’ll work on this right away.”
My physical surroundings swam into focus. Light-green-colored walls. Laminated tabletop. A cheap watch. A pile of discarded gloves. Molded plastic chairs. Fluorescent lighting. Sheriff Wayne Thompson holding my trembling hand.
I tried to jerk it free. He held tight. Primal fear roared through me. I sipped in shallow bursts of air and sought balance in my thoughts.
“Easy there, easy.” Wayne spoke in the soft tone one used for injured animals.
His gentleness further confused me. Was I hurt? I glanced at my limbs, all of which were intact. My shirt was damp, and my feet weighed a ton. I tried to speak, but my voice came out as a croak. I caught the sheriff’s gaze, willing unspoken questions into my eyes.
“You were out a long time, babe.” His thumb stroked my hand. “I was worried. You okay?”
“Water,” I managed to whisper.
Water appeared. I drank. We were alone, but I sensed the presence of another, watching from the corridor. I had information the sheriff needed. But how would I honor my promise to Angel to ensure that the news didn’t reach her killer’s ears?
“What time is it?” I asked.
“After five.”
“I have to go.” I tried to stand. While I’d been here saving the world, Larissa had been home alone. “My daughter—”
“Shh.” He gently tugged me back down with his grip on my hand. “Your parents have her. I got your back.”
Comforting and yet worrisome. I’d been dreamwalking for hours? I’d never been gone so long before. All that searching and wrestling with unclean spirits had messed up my internal clock. But the journey hadn’t been for naught. The information I’d learned glittered in my thoughts.
I leaned close to Wayne, blinking against his woodsy aftershave, and spoke softly. “I know who your victim is. But we have a problem. Her killer knows someone in your office and is getting information in real time. We have to keep this between us, or a child’s life is at risk.”
He startled, but he kept his mouth near my ear. “I’ve got a leak? Who?”
I closed my eyes in relief. “I’m not the answer woman. I’ve only got one answer for you. But you’ve got to keep it under wraps until we secure the child. Give me your notebook.”
He clasped my hand to his chest and held my gaze. “Does this mean you won’t whisper sweet nothings in my ear anymore?”
My good mood soured. “We agreed—”
“Yeah, yeah.” He reached for the notebook and handed it over. “You’re fun to tease.”