The Touch (27 page)

Lexi sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, heart hammering painfully as she wrenched herself away from Neil’s final death throes.  Completely disoriented, it took her a few seconds to fully come back to herself, working hard to soothe the burn in her lungs and lose the remnants of the vision. 
Allie was the killer? 
No… no, no, no, it couldn’t be… there had to be some other explanation
.
  The woman who poisoned Neil felt nothing like her sister; it had to be someone who just looked like her.  But that was crazy, how was something like that that even possible?  Still reeling from the last vision, Lexi picked up the cordless phone to call Gabriel, not knowing what he could do but needing to connect with somebody, anybody who could help her make sense out of it all.  Immediately she was hit with another rush of images, making her gasp from the shock of it.  Lexi didn’t have the time to consider dropping the phone and putting her gloves back on before she found herself caught up in the middle of another strong memory.

She tried to remember which one of the memory buttons went to Aunt Lexi, was it two or three?  Lexi would know what to do…

“Chloe?  Where are you?”
h
er mother’s voice came from the other room.  For a split second she considered not answering, taking the phone and slipping out the back door, but just as soon as the thought came to her, it passed.  There really wasn’t a good reason to be afraid of her own mom just because she was acting a little weird, was there? 

“I’m in here
,
M
om,” she called out, though she did hold the phone behind her back.

“What are you doing
, H
oney?  Are you ready for some dinner?”  Her mother came into the kitchen, a curious expression on her face
,
like she knew something was off
.
  How did her mom always know how to do that? 

“No, I’m not hungry,” Chloe replied in a quiet voice.

“You haven’t been eating enough lately
,
B
aby.  Now what if I make you some macaroni and cheese from scratch, does that sound good?”

Chloe wanted to scream back that food wasn’t gonna make anything better but that wouldn’t make a difference, not with what was going on.  “Mom
,
I don’t like it here anymore,” she tried again.  “It’s getting really scary and… I think maybe you’re… sick or something.” 

“Don’t be silly, I feel just fine.  What’s that behind your back?”

“Nothing,” slipped out instinctively.

“Give it here.”  She’d seen that look in her mom’s eyes before, that ‘I mean business’ look and Chloe swallowed uncomfortably, taking a step backwards.

“It’s just the phone, I was gonna call a friend.”

“Don’t lie to me
,
Chloe,” her mom’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.  “What are you hiding?”

How did she know?  Even before the craziness started
,
her mom always had a knack for knowing when Chloe wasn’t telling the truth.  “Nothing, I just wanted to call… well I thought it would be good to call Aunt Lexi.  I thought maybe I could stay with her for a little while.”

“Stay with Aunt Lexi?”
h
er mother blinked
, as if she didn’t understand
.  “Why would you want to do that?”

“I told you mom, I don’t like it here anymore.  I don’t want to stay here with them and I think it’s
bad for you to be here
.  You’re… sometimes you seem kinda… I’m scared Momma.”  As
Chloe
watched, her mother’s face change
d, losing that confused look,
eyes narrowing dangerously.

“Afraid of your own mother?  Don’t be such a difficult child and go up to play with
Bianca
.”

Oh no… she was doing it again, acting all… funny.  Not at all like normal, like she was… someone else, someone not her mother.  “I don’t want to play with
Bianca
and the others anymore.  I want to leave and you can’t make me stay here.”  Chloe took a step backwards, and then another; growing bolder as she reached the back door. 

“Oh
,
can’t I?”  The smile on her lips didn’t reach her eyes at all
,
and a wave of fear crashed over the little girl. 

“You’re not my mother,” Chloe whispered.

“I am now…”

“Don’t hurt me,” revulsion swept through her as the woman who wasn’t her mother reached out and caressed her cheek.

“I would never hurt you,
P
iccola; you are part of my family now.  Come, the others are waiting for you to join their games.  We’ve been waiting for you for a long, long time.” 

The vision ended abruptly as the phone dropped out of Chloe’s fingers and Lexi once again found herself fighting a wave of dizziness as she returned to the present. 
No, oh G
od
,
no… this couldn’t be happening… Allie couldn’t have done anything to her own daughter…
  Lexi forced a deep, calming breath; she had to think things through.  The vision left little doubt that it was Allison herself who had snapped; not a doppelganger taking her place.  For whatever reason, her sister had killed Neil, but she’d also said that she wanted Chloe to stay in the house and play with the
others
, including Bianca who she mentioned by name.  If there was even a remote chance that Allie was keeping Chloe somewhere in the house, she had to check it out before it was too late. 

Only where would she be keeping the girl?  The police had searched the house from top to bottom.  Her fingers shook as she dialed Gabriel’s number, stomach dropping when it went straight to voicemail.  Not wanting to take the chance that Allie might somehow overhear, she made her voice sound lighter than she felt as she left the message.  “Hi, it’s Lexi.  Give me a call when you have a chance, okay?  I’m at Allie’s and I really need to talk to you about… stuff.  Bye.” 

After a moment’s thought she called Maddie, pacing back and forth as she waited for her to pick up.  “Come on Maddie… be there…” she murmured, leaning her head out into the hallway to see if she could hear anything amiss in the upstairs bathroom, but the house was silent.  Too silent; she snapped on the radio in the kitchen just as Maddie’s phone went to voicemail as well.  At least she felt more comfortable in leaving a message this time.  “Maddie, I need you to check something for me if you can.  Remember that research project I had you working on last night?  Check if there are any hiding places in there that might not turn up on a regular search, can you do that for me and call me back as soon as you can?  It’s a matter of life and death.” 

The smart thing to do now would be to get out of the house, call the police, let them try and sort things out.  But what would she tell them? 
I had a vision that my sister is the killer? 
They’d already arrested her for god’s sake, and then Allie would know that she was onto her and never let her back inside to look for Chloe.  No, what she had to do now was find Chloe before it was too late; and this was the perfect time to take a look around with Allie dozing in the tub upstairs.  Lexi tugged her gloves back on, not wanting another repeat performance of the string of visions she encountered in the kitchen.  They were useful, but just about incapacitated her while she was in their grip and she needed her wits about her with Allie home.  The next time she looked, she wanted to be prepared for what she saw. 

Only where to look?  The attic seemed like the best place to hide a child but she’d been up there a couple of times now with no sign of Chloe and there was no way she’d be able to pull down the attic stairs without Allie hearing.  There were no storage sheds on the property, no crawl space under the back porch, no basement… at least… Allie had told the police there was no basement.  But what if there was?  Where would there likely be access to a basement? 

Lexi started a slow circuit through the ground floor, opening every closet, looking for a trap door or any sign that there might be something under the flooring.  Every minute that ticked by put her that much more on edge.  Every sound made her freeze, heart in her throat, as she waited to hear if it was real or imagined.  When she came to the hall closet, Lexi cursed herself for not trying there first; wasn’t that where the trapdoor to the crawlspace was in Paul’s house?  Afraid to turn on the hall light, she peered into the darkened closet, crouching down low to the floor to feel for a break in the wood floor. 

Nothing.

The old floorboards were worn smooth as a baby’s bottom, with no sign that there was any kind of panel or trapdoor giving access under the house.  Lexi’s behind slumped to the ground in defeat; it had seemed like such a good idea!  What was she going to do now?  Maybe it would be best to plead a forgotten appointment to Allie and get out of the house to track down Gabriel?  He would know what to do… and even if he didn’t, she’d feel a damn sight better with him by her side.  But how could she abandon Chloe like that when she was so close? 

Lexi was just about to consider how risky it would be to try and slip a sedative into Allie’s coffee when she noticed the crack of light from under the baseboard at the back of the closet.  Pulling the closet door most of the way shut, the light became all that much more noticeable and it was all she could do to contain the whoop of joy that rose at the sight.  There had to be another room behind the closet! 

The trickier part was figuring out how to get in.  Pushing the coats aside, Lexi found there was no obvious door handle on the back wall of the closet, nor did anything spring open when she pressed against the wall.  Too chicken to start tapping on the wall for fear that Allie would hear her; the mounting frustration left a bitter taste in her mouth, so near and yet so far… 

There was one more thing she could try.  Lexi tugged off her glove, intent on finding out how to get into the other room.  With trembling fingers, she reached for the wood panel, bracing herself for whatever horrible memory the house would show her next.  To her pleasant surprise, the memories she got were tame in comparison to what else she’d seen that afternoon.  There were images of Allie opening the door over and over again; sometimes with a covered tray, sometimes with a change of clothes, sometimes with games or toys.  It took a few tries to see how Allie was getting the door open; for all intents and purposes it looked like she was pushing against the wall in the same spot Lexi had already tried a few times.  But gradually she started to see that each time Allie approached the wall she stepped on the same section of flooring. 

Sliding her foot to the spot at the base of the wall, Lexi pressed her weight against the floorboard, gratified to hear a small click from within the wall.  This time the panel swung in easily, revealing a dark, cramped room, dimly lit by a single oil lamp set on a scarred wooden table.  Lexi barely had time to register that this was the same room from her vision of the abducted children before she noticed two children sitting at the table, one of them sitting perfectly upright, the other slumped over to one side. 

Recognizing Chloe’s honey blonde hair, Lexi rushed to her side, swallowing back the sick fear that she was too late and her niece might already be dead.  “Chloe?  Can you hear me?”  A quick touch of the cheek found the little girl warm and responsive but sluggish, her mouth bound with a strip of cloth.  “Oh thank God… just hold on Baby, I’m gonna get you out of here,” she promised, her heart sinking when she noticed Chloe’s arms and legs were tied to the chair.  Lexi didn’t waste the time putting her glove back on, she just pushed aside the rush of images that came from touching the ropes, sending her own personal stamp of energy out for fear she’d be caught up in whatever horrible memories were stored in those restraints. 

Chloe whimpered softly, a sound that caused Lexi to curse her clumsy fingers as they struggled with the knots, not knowing which hand was giving her more trouble, the gloved one that kept slipping against the rope or the bare one that felt strange uncovered.  “I know, I know,” Lexi soothed softly, the pressure to break her free almost unbearable.  “I’ll get you out of here, just hold on, I’m almost there…”

“Mmmph!” Chloe snuffled with greater insistence, further fueling that sense of urgency.

“Shhh quiet,” she whispered.  “I don’t want her to hear us.”  Lexi dared not look up to comfort Chloe; she had to get her out of there before it was too late.  She only hoped that Chloe was strong enough to walk on her own to get out of there and call the police while she got the other child free.  With a rush of triumph, the first hand came free and the last thing Lexi remembered was the feel of Chloe’s fingernails clutching painfully at her arm before everything went black.

Chapter Seventeen

It was late when Gabriel got back to the precinct in a growly mood.  Recognizing the thunderous look on his face, most fellow officers gave him a wide berth.  When he noticed the voicemail from Lexi, he didn’t know whether to be annoyed or relieved at the message.  He’d been expecting an apology, but maybe that was the reason she wanted him to call her back?  Either way, it was another sign of a day gone horribly wrong when he couldn’t reach her either.  The voicemail he left was short and neutral, simply stating that he was returning her call and offering nothing more.  After trying Lexi a couple of times throughout the day and getting her voicemail with no call back, Gabriel decided he wasn’t going to call her again and be
that
guy.  He’d done his part; if she wanted to call him back, the ball was in her court now.

There was paperwork galore to be done, but Gabriel found himself staring morosely at the computer screen, no closer to getting it done. 

He looked up when Amy dropped a file off on Cooper’s desk.  “Hey Ryan, there’s a lady down at the front desk asking for you.”

That was a little unusual, and he wasn’t expecting anyone to drop by at that hour.  Could it be Lexi, he wondered?  “Why didn’t they just call me?” 

“I think Levine is a little distracted by the girl,” she grinned.

That sounded like Lexi alright.  Even though they’d parted on not so great terms, he couldn’t deny that he wanted to see her again; if only to straighten things out between them.  “Thanks Amy, I’ll be right there.”  Feet off the desk, Gabriel caught himself checking his hair in the reflection of a picture on the wall and ducked out of the office before anyone else noticed.   The carefully rehearsed words he’d started to prepare fell out of his head when he spotted the blonde talking to Officer Levine at the front desk and his forehead furrowed before he retrieved a cordial smile.   

“Excuse me Miss, you’re looking for me, Detective Ryan?  Can I help you with something?”

The blonde looked away from Levine, recognition in her eyes when she spotted Gabriel.  “Hey, I don’t suppose you’ve heard from Lexi in the past few hours?”

“Do I know you?”  His head canted to one side in confusion before it clicked for him, “You’re Maddie, right?”  There were no photos in the reports but she matched the stats.   5’1, petite blonde, blue eyes, and best friend to one Alexandra Morgan.

“Right,” she dismissed the identification.  “So have you?  Heard from Lexi?”

“I’m sorry, I can’t help you.  I haven’t talked to her since I saw her at the courthouse,” Gabriel started to turn away, not wanting to get into how he’d left things with Lexi the last time they talked but Maddie came around the side of the front counter to catch hold of his sleeve.

“Not so fast Detective, I need your help.”

She was a pushy little thing, but he had to admire her tenacity.  “My help?  With what?”

“Like I was trying to tell you, I can’t find Lexi anywhere…”

Gabriel put up a hand, stemming the flow of words.  “It’s barely nine pm, I’m sure she’ll turn up.”

“Wait, aren’t you at all worried about where she is?” Maddie blinked.

“Lexi’s a big girl; she can take care of herself.”  She’d made that abundantly clear when she’d told him off for not doing his job. 

“Yeah, unless she was kidnapped by whoever took Chloe, or koshed on the head and dumped in the trunk of her car like Neil, or...”

“Whoa, slow down a minute.  What makes you think anything bad happened to her?”

Maddie gave a strained smile, her eyes darting to the waiting area which was half full despite the hour.  “Is there someplace a little less public where we can talk maybe?”

“Yeah, come on back with me,” Gabriel waved her on, leading the way to the bullpen where his desk waited. 

Cooper straightened perceptibly, feet coming down off the corner of his desk as they approached.  “Well hello… nice to see you again, Miss Parker,” he grinned with obvious pleasure.

“Detective Cooper, shouldn’t you be off making the world a safer place?” she cocked a single brow.

“Are you looking for a personal bodyguard?  I’d guard that body anywhere.”

Maddie’s eyes narrowed, “Ugh, don’t make me hurt you, I’m here on a mission.” 

“Sounds like fun, can I come?”

“Cooper lay off, she’s here about Lexi.  Have a seat Miss Parker, now do you want to tell me what’s got you convinced she’s in trouble?”

“She left me this voicemail earlier today, it was so odd… but when I called her back she didn’t pick up and she hasn’t answered since.  I tried calling Allie’s phone but there’s no answer there either.  I thought about going up there but… to tell the truth, the place kinda freaks me out.”

“Because it’s haunted, right?”  Cooper stuck himself back into the conversation.

“Lexi told you about our ghostbusting last night?”

“She did,” Gabriel nodded, refraining from adding anything to that.  He still wasn’t convinced the two of them had experienced anything truly supernatural, but then again he hadn’t gotten much in the way of details, he’d been too upset with Lexi’s accusations.  “So what was so strange about the voicemail she left you?” 

“Lexi told you about the kidnappings that happened there seventy-five years ago, right?”

“Yes, she said those were the ghosts she was hearing in the house, she heard them singing or something.”

“Wait, what is this about?” Cooper interrupted.  “What other missing kids?”

“There was a rash of kidnappings back in the 1940’s; it turned out the lady of the house had them all trapped there and they all died, including her own daughter,” Maddie replied, unconcerned with the interruption.  “Lexi asked me to look into where the kidnapped kids were being held in the house, to check into any hiding places that couldn’t normally be found in a regular search.”

“Okay, what’s so strange about that if she’s interested in learning more about what happened to those kids?  Maybe she’s trying to help their spirits move on and cross into the light or something.”  Gabriel could see Lexi wanting to try something tenderhearted like that, maybe even hold some kind of ritual in the room they’d been kept in. 

“She said it was a matter of life and death.  More than that though, it was the way she sounded, like there was someone listening in to her side of the conversation.  Instead of coming right out and asking me about Allie’s house, she called it the ‘research project’ we’d been working on.”

“And I’m assuming you looked into it?” Gabriel prompted.

“I searched for every reference I could find online and there was no mention of where the children were being kept, only that they were found in the house.  I even went down to the Sentinel to check their archives on microfiche but the news was a lot less into sensationalism back then.  Most of the articles were centered on the bare facts and the families that were affected.”

“Okay, so why come to me?” Gabriel shrugged.

“It got me to thinking; do you guys have access to the blueprints for Allie’s house?”

“Oh yeah, I’ve got those right on my Blackberry, do you want me to email them to you?” Cooper smirked.  “What kind of question is that?”

“An investigative one,” Maddie snapped.  “I’m trying to find out where the woman who kidnapped those kids back in the day stashed them.  The kids were missing for much longer than Chloe has been so far, she would have kept them out of sight.”

“You think Chloe is being kept in her own home?”  Gabriel’s brows rose, it would be the last place anyone would ever look for her.  Provided the perp had ready access to get in and out of there. 

Maddie nodded, “And maybe Lexi stumbled onto something that got her in over her head.  Allie too for all we know, she’s not picking up either.”

Gabriel tapped his finger against his lips as he thought it over.  There were some holes there, but it wasn’t a terrible theory.  It beat the pants off of any theory they’d been able to come up with so far on their own.  Wherever Chloe was, it was under the radar, she hadn’t been spotted by anyone, even after all of the press coverage.  The real question was, how much did Allie know about all of this?  It was hard to believe anyone could be coming and going without her knowing about it.

“You know Lexi, she’s not out clubbing somewhere.  Most nights she’s either holed up in her room or painting in the studio.  When she didn’t come home I thought maybe she might be out with you but…”

“Yeah, we had a little bit of a disagreement the last time we spoke,” Gabriel admitted.  “She left me a message earlier today too, but I thought maybe she changed her mind about talking to me when she didn’t pick up.”

“She did?  What did your message say?” Maddie asked.

“Just that she wanted me to call her as soon as I could and that she was still at Allie’s, but that was around two o’clock.  She could be anywhere by now.”

“So let’s drive out there, see what we can see,” Cooper suggested.

“Why don’t we start with trying to call Allie again, I don’t want her attorney having any kind of case against the department for harassment if we can avoid it.”  Gabriel pulled her number out of the computer and picked up the phone, but the answering machine picked up and he hung up without leaving a message.  “No answer.”

“So what do we do?” Maddie asked, looking between the pair of detectives. 

“I could probably get that information on the house’s blueprints from the city planner’s office, but not at this hour without a court order.”

“Which we don’t have,” Cooper pointed out.

“Alright, let’s take a drive out there,” Gabriel conceded, “But no busting down the door looking for Lexi, we have to tread carefully here.”  He exchanged looks with Cooper, satisfied that he caught the subtext.  Allie was a big fat unknown in this equation, and she was to be treated as dangerous until proven innocent. 

“We can take my car,” Cooper volunteered cheerily.

Gabriel laid a hand on his chest.  “What makes you think you’re coming?”  It was hardly a two man job, and it might put Allie on the defensive to see the pair of detectives on her doorstep.  He was much more comfortable going with Maddie.  She wasn’t the least bit threatening, until she opened her mouth. 

“Come on partner, you know I got your back.  This situation sounds like it could get out of hand fast, I just wanna do my part.”  Cooper darted his eyes in Maddie’s direction.  

Gabriel hid a smile behind a cough.  Far be it from him to deny his partner the chance to act the hero in front of a pretty girl.  “You might be right at that; it’s never a bad idea to have too much back up.  But I’m driving.”

“I’ll follow you guys okay?  I want to have my own car,” Maddie declined.

“I call shotgun,” Cooper’s hand went up.  “For your protection of course,” he grinned.

A roll of the eyes was given.  “Who’s gonna protect me from you?”

***

In the end Maddie took her own car alone and Tim and Gabriel took the Towncar out to Allie’s house.  The first thing he noticed was that the house was completely dark and Lexi’s car was nowhere in sight.  Stopping at the end of the driveway, Gabriel killed the engine, pleased to see Maddie pull in directly behind him instead of driving all the way up to the house. 

“Hold on a sec before we go in like gangbusters,” Maddie whispered, leaning against the car as she pulled out her phone.  “Let me just make a quick call to Paul and make sure Lexi didn’t turn up at home before we go make total asses of ourselves.”

“So what’s the deal with you and Paul; is he your boyfriend?” Cooper asked, taking up the spot beside her.

“This
so
isn’t the time or the place,” Maddie murmured distractedly.

“But you’re saying there’s a time and place?” he grinned.

Gabriel fished out his phone, dialing Lexi again, frowning when an automated voice reported that her voicemail was full and no longer accepting calls. That wasn’t a good sign; it meant she’d been unable to check her messages for a while.  Unless she was holed up in her studio painting, it was looking more and more like Maddie was right and something had happened to her.

Maddie hung up after a brief chat with Paul.  “He said there’s no sign of her and it doesn’t look like she’s been home all day.  He assumed she was staying here with Allie.”

“She’s still not picking up the phone either.  Alright, let’s go check in with Allison, but leave the talking to me, just follow my lead, okay?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Maddie nodded and Cooper did the same.

“You’re the bossman.”

The house looked completely deserted, no sign of movement or lights when they approached the front door and rang the bell.  As the silent seconds dragged on, Gabriel began to think there wouldn’t be an answer and he started to weigh the pros and cons of probable cause and any justification for breaking in.  After all, no one could reach either Allie or Lexi; they might have been attacked or worse, and in need of help.  But then the hall light snapped on and Allie came to the door, blinking in the light.

“Yes?” she asked blankly.

A little taken aback by the lack of greeting, even if she was ticked off at him, Gabriel plunged ahead. “We’re ah, trying to track down Lexi, can we speak with her?”