Vibrations (5 page)

* * * *

Nick was hoping he would wake
up from this dream, or suddenly find a way to make sense of it all. He was too
tightly strung to try sleeping. Were the other so called psychics all frauds,
or just not as talented as Whitney? How many other people out there could do
these kinds of things? Why couldn’t she just reach out with her mind and find
the creep if it was that easy? He jumped off the bed and decided to get some
ibuprofen for his throbbing head. Maybe it’s just a brain tumor and I’m
hallucinating.

He heard her scream “No!” and
then a loud thud. He took the steps two and three at a time. “Shit! I was
supposed to be taking care of her.” She was lying on the floor next to the
couch. Was he supposed to leave her there? Did she say not to touch her? He
bent over as low as possible to listen for her breathing. Good, she was
breathing. That must mean her heart was still beating. Now what? He sat
watching her for two full minutes and decided he had to call Hollerman. What
kind of operation did they run? He didn’t know how to take care of her. If she
was so talented, they should be guarding her with an army. Just as he was
opening his phone he heard her moan. He bent down and listened.

“Are you all right?” he
whispered? “Can I help you up?”

“Umnnn. Ohhh.” He could see
tears rolling down her face. He tentatively placed his hand on her arm and she
didn’t acknowledge him. He slowly lifted her onto the couch and smoothed the
hair back from her face. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment and then closed.

“Sleep,” she whispered. “Just
let me sleep.”

Nick left her and moved to the
kitchen. He grabbed a glass and downed four ibuprofen in one gulp. There, now
his headache would get some relief. If only he had something for his nerves. He
patted his pocket for the cigarettes. He never smoked in the house. He hated
that stale smoke smell you could never get out of the rooms. He peeked in on
Whitney and, when he was sure she was still breathing, he quietly slipped out
the kitchen door. He stood on the back steps so he could see her on the couch.
She looked so peaceful now. He wondered if she could hear his thoughts even as
she slept. Probably not. How could she ever get rest if that could happen?

He took a long drag and sat
down on the steps. It was only two in the afternoon and he wanted to crawl into
bed and sleep for a week. The steps were so hot from the afternoon sun that his
legs were burning. He stood up and field stripped the cigarette. He tossed the
butt into the bushes. It still tasted nasty and made his head spin. If he kept
this up he was going to have to dig out some of his ashtrays that were hidden
away. He stepped back in the kitchen and decided to make some sandwiches. She would
probably be hungry again when she woke. Maybe a full stomach would help his
nerves.

* * * *

Whitney opened her eyes only to
shut them quickly again. The sun was glaring through the window over her head.
She sat up and took a cleansing breath. She did tend to shut down after the
first impact of a crime scene, but not when she reviewed it. This case was
going to test her limits. She stretched and lifted herself off the couch. Her
head hurt but the smell of coffee in the kitchen kept her moving forward. She
was hungry again. She wondered what kind of food a single guy had in his
kitchen
.
He was in there worrying about her. She could feel it. No
wonder she never had any lasting relationships. Who would want that kind of
stress all the time? Thank goodness he was at least over his mood from this
morning.

“I smell coffee.”

“Hey, you’re up. I made some
sandwiches. Wow, looks like you hit your head a good one. Does it hurt?” His
hand reached up to touch it before he could think. Whitney jumped back.

“Sorry. Should I be careful not
to touch you right now?”

“No”, she laughed. “It just
hurts. I’m actually not used to anyone fussing over me.”

“Can I touch it? Touch you?”

“Sure. I do have to tell you
that touch does make it easier for me to…hear your thoughts.”

“I already guessed that. I
could see you keeping yourself at a distance from everyone. Does it bother you
if I happen to touch you?”

“No. Not really. As long as you
don’t mind the intrusion into your privacy.”

“Okay then, tell me when it
hurts.” He reached up and felt around the area that was starting to swell. When
he finally touched right on the bump she took in a sharp breath.

“Do you feel dizzy or
nauseous?”

She shook her head no.

“Should we take you to get an
x-ray and make sure you don’t have a concussion?”

“No, I’m fine. I’m just hungry.
What’s for lunch?”

He turned and brought the tray
around from the counter. “BLT’s and chips.”

“And coffee. Perfect. Thanks so
much.” She poured herself a cup of coffee and added lots of cream and sugar.
Nick enjoyed watching her savor the sandwich.

“Do you always enjoy eating
this much? You don’t look like you could eat like this all the time. I saw how
much sugar you put in that coffee.”

“Are you saying I eat too
much?”

“No.”

“I have a very fast metabolism,
especially when I’m absorbing so much energy from other people. I suppose if I
stayed secluded in my house for a long time I’d probably get fat. I don’t think
I’d lose my appetite for food though. It’s one of my favorite hobbies.” She
laughed and popped the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth.

He watched her lick her fingers
fascinated with her ability to make eating such an event. When he realized he
was staring at her, he jumped up and started clearing the table. Whitney could
see his discomfort. She knew what he was thinking and decided to push a little
further. She enjoyed seeing the macho detective squirm when he thought about
her. It kept her mind off the terrible images that threatened to take her
sanity.

“Are you saying I am skinny?”
She sucked in her stomach and ran her hands down it.

“No. No. I’m not saying that.”
He turned to rinse the dishes. “You are …”

“Yes?”

“You are not skinny, not fat.
You are…” He turned to look at her and realized she was teasing him. His
shoulders relaxed and he smiled. “You’re just perfect. Now stop teasing me
unless you are as good at taking it as you are at giving it.”

“I can’t really stop. Then I
would have to think about the other things in my life. I like to distract
myself sometimes with a little humor. You know what my friends call me?”

“What?”

“Whit.”

When he looked at her like it
was totally obvious she laughed. “It’s the way they say it. Yes, it’s short for
Whitney, but they say it like an insult at times referring to my sarcastic wit.
Sometimes I can really get on their nerves. My Dad was really sarcastic and I
guess I got it from him.”

“Cool. Know what my friends
call me?”

“What?”

“I’m not gonna tell ya.”

“Too late. You thought it.”

“Geesh. This is going to take
get used to,” he said turning back to the sink.

“Nicky Nail-her? You must have
some reputation with the girls. I’d better watch myself.” She walked away
laughing at the blush creeping up his face. She could tell he hated the name,
but his buddies loved to watch him react so they used it quite often.

Whitney walked back out to the
porch and couldn’t help hearing him stressing about his reputation. He was
thinking that it didn’t really fit. He wasn’t really a ladies’ man. He couldn’t
seem to do the casual dating thing, but he had never been successful in long
term relationships either. It just seemed easier to avoid women. His friends thought
it was funny because he always had someone chasing him. They wanted to see him
take on some of the ladies that flirted with him, so they kept encouraging him
to ‘Nail-her’. He really hated it when they would ask, “When you gonna
Nail-her, Naylor?”

She was glad that he wasn’t
involved with anyone right now. Since they would be working closely, she would
have been exposed to all the sordid details on his mind. “Thank goodness he’s a
loner like me. Now if we can just keep our minds on the job, and off of each
other
.”

Whitney saw Nick stiffen and
heard a car pulling into the gravel driveway. His reaction made her on edge
until she realized he was hoping it was Hollerman. He was still nervous being
responsible for her safety. The cop could face down a crazed gunman, but taking
care of a psychic lady whose heart tended to stop scared the crap out of him.

“Stay here. I’ll go see who it
is,” Nick said glancing out the window. Two minutes later Teddy walked into the
room, a big smile on his face and a bag of donuts in his hand.

“Is everyone doing alright
here?” He looked back and forth between Whitney and Nick. “Whitney, you’re
looking much better than last time I saw you. Well, except for the bump on the
head. Nick been a little too rough?”

“Very funny,” Nick said
glaring.

Nick didn’t like seeing him so
comfortable with Whitney. Why wasn’t he nervous about the mind reading thing?
Maybe because he wasn’t thinking of getting her clothes off? Nick realized that
thought made him feel better. Where had that come from? He had no right to feel
so possessive of her. He tried to convince himself it was because her safety
was his new assignment.

Shaking it off he gave a fake
laugh. “I’m just an innocent bystander.” Nick headed back to the kitchen and
they both followed.

“So good to see you again
Teddy,” Whitney said, meaning it. She liked his energy. “I guess I fainted and
fell on my head. Did I mention that I am accident prone?”

Teddy grinned at her as he
grabbed a cup of coffee. “Just let me know what I can do to help. Wouldn’t want
that pretty little head to suffer any more damage.”

Teddy and Whitney both eagerly
searched through the donuts for their favorites.

“So tell me what’s been
happening at the station. Any news?” Nick leaned on the counter and watched
them find their choice of donut.

“Well, I stopped back there
after court and the place was like an oven. The AC was finally fixed, but
everyone was jammed around the air vents waiting for some relief. Agent
Hollerman has most of his men out digging up all they can on each of the boys.
They have a command center setup and computer geek working on compiling all the
data. Oh, by the way Nick, the perp from the ASU rape confessed. He’s claiming
temporary insanity based on an overdose of Ecstasy.”

 “At least the Carter girl
won’t have to take the stand and face it all again in a courtroom. Did he admit
he was dealing with Bobby?”

Whitney could see that they had
other business to discuss, so she walked back to the other room. She sat down
and started entering her notes into the laptop. About thirty minutes later Nick
and Teddy came in to see how she was doing. She could see that Nick had relaxed
now that life seemed a little normal again.

“Hey guys, did they recover the
boys shoes from the cave?”

Nick and Teddy looked at each
other and shrugged. “Not sure,” said Teddy.

“Well, he was abducted near his
home playing outside, and when he was killed he only had his socks on. I was
just wondering what condition his shoes were in. I didn’t see anything in the
files about it. Did the other boys have all their clothing on?”

“Let me call Hollerman and have
someone check on it”. Nick punched in the number and started talking in low
tones. Whitney noticed his expression change. He was on the phone for a while,
and came back with a perplexed look on his face.

“Well, they have come up with
some weird stuff. Whitney, you were right. All the boys were recovered with
everything except their shoes. They had all been wearing some kind of athletic
shoe, and it never turned up. They think that our unsub is keeping them to
remember each victim. That’s a common thing with serial killers. He probably
has them stashed away somewhere, and he checks on them from time to time.”

“But listen to this. They all
played on teams associated with the SVWC. That’s the Sun Valley Winners Circle.
It’s a valley wide group that started about twelve years ago. A group of
parents that sent their kids to the Boys and Girls clubs decided they wanted to
encourage excellence in sports to give the kids a chance to build self-esteem.
It started with the lower income kids, but then the other parents started to
see the great results and everyone wanted to join. They groom the kids toward
professional sports from a young age, like you’d train an Olympic champion.”

Nick was reading from his
notebook as he paced the room. “Some of the ones that started as teenagers have
actually made it to professional teams. The starting age is six, and once
you’re in college or out of school you’re no longer eligible. They play games
all over the valley and they have scouts visiting all the time. There’s a game
here in Gilbert tonight. It’s T-ball with the little guys. They’re having a
party later to celebrate the latest success. A young man just made it onto the
Diamondbacks here in Arizona. Many of the founding parents will be there. We’re
supposed to cover that event since we are in the area.”

“Let’s go,” said Teddy.
“Whitney, you coming?”

“Is that okay?” she asked
looking at Nick. “I’ll sit in the car if I get too tired. I don’t always do
well in big groups like that.”

Nick’s brows furrowed in worry.
“If you aren’t up to it, you can stay here. One of us can stay with you and the
other one can go check it out.” His hand came up to touch her shoulder.

She shied away from the touch.
“I know you’ll have more success with extra eyes checking the crowd. I’d like
to give it a try. Really, I can just stay in the car if I don’t feel good.”

On the drive there Nick
couldn’t stop wondering. Finally he spoke up. “I have a question.”