Hide'n Go Seek (21 page)

They knew about Julie. How?

Even though he knew about Kali's black magic, it had been a stunning blow to hear Kali mention Julie's name. Still, knowing wouldn't help her find Julie. Not this time. He'd stashed her for the night and would move her tomorrow.

He couldn't contain the ripple of excitement. Finally, Kali had gotten in the game.

She probably thought she was safe, her evil strong enough to go against anything. So naive. A contented sigh washed over him. Evil aligned with evil, but good always won out. It had just taken him a while to understand his true mission and how SAR rescues were negatively impacting the Lord's wishes. And Kali was the queen of the infidels. She had to be stopped. First, though, she had to learn the error of her ways. He owed her that. They'd been friends once. She'd be given a chance to turn the devil aside...to fess up to her black magic before he returned her to her Maker.

Slipping from the bower, he wandered to the edge of the woods and a favorite tree stump. The leaves crackled dry and crisp under his feet. The summer heat had baked the earth. Surprising for this time of year. The undergrowth usually kept the ground moist, if not actually damp.

Tilting his head back, he beamed a smile into the night, his eyes closed, almost in benediction. His soul walked lighter these days. He was grateful.

He hoped Kali slept well tonight.

She'd need it for the challenges that lay ahead.

She had to prove herself worthy of salvation.

K
ali snapped her head up. What the hell? Dusk had started to settle, giving the sky an odd half light. She searched her surroundings, groggy and disoriented. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she frowned. Surely, she'd only closed her eyes a second ago.

"Hi. Feel better?"

Grant's face came into focus. "Hey." She cleared her throat and tried again. "How long did I sleep?"

"Ten to fifteen minutes."

Her mind struggled to put the foggy pieces of reality back together. She massaged her stiff neck. "Julie?"

"No news yet. We're waiting for a profile that should be coming out of our office anytime. We tracked the phone number to a disposable cell phone."

He dropped a piece of paper on the table in front of her.

Kali yawned, her brain fuzzy. "What's this?"

"The short list of names."

Her brain clicked on, now wide awake. "Of potential suspects?"

She picked the sheet up and peered closer. And blinked. The first name listed caught in her throat before shocked surprise took over. "Brad? Are you serious?"

"Not really but we have to consider it. He was at the site where the first victim was found."

"So were many other people. He's gone missing, remember?" she snapped, outraged that her best friend could have been considered.

"Kali, this isn't about personal feelings, it's about who had motive and opportunity. Please. Take a look at the names and cross off the ones you don't feel could have done it - just give me a reason." He held out a pencil.

She glared at him, snatched the pencil from his hand and with a thick bold stroke knocked Brad's name off the list. "If you put him on
this
list, you might as well add him to the list of potential victims."

Silence. "I did."

She winced and turned her attention to the other eleven names. She knew four from the center. Francoise, a Frenchman, was a good man and a close friend of Brad's. Briefly, she wondered if anyone had told him about Brad's disappearance before remembering, no one was to know yet. "Francoise works with several centers, so I'm not sure where he is right now. You'll have to check on that. I haven't seen him in years."

She crossed the third name off the list. "Sam had a back injury two years ago on a site. He can't do any heavy lifting."

Grant raised an eyebrow and noted the reason in on his notebook. He'd probably double check everything she said. Then again, he had to, didn't he?

"Johnson was supposed to go to the Sacramento site but pulled out at the last minute when his wife went into early labor. His name would have been on the original manifest, which probably has yet to be updated." She put a line through his name.

"Good. Keep going. "

Eight names left.

All male.

All white.

All young.

But not all single. That surprised her. "I can't see anyone who is happily married doing this." She glanced over at Grant, but his face was a blank slate. Did he place anyone here higher than any others? She didn't want any of them to be the killer. She knew them all, friends, coworkers, people she depended on at disaster sites.

Kali swallowed hard and studied the other names. "I saw Stephen and Ron from the San Francisco center at Sacramento, but didn't have much to do with them. I've worked with them both on various sites. They're both good hard workers."

She put question marks beside two names. "Allen and Joe are both happily married, a half-dozen kids between them and are heavily involved in community affairs. I can't see them having the opportunity to kidnap and murder these people."

"Strike them off and I'll make a note of them here."

Six names remained.

"As much as I want to, I can't find a reason to cross these guys off."

Grant accepted the list. "We'll check them over."

"Ask Stan, too. He knows stuff about everyone, way more than I do."

"Okay. I'll turn this over to the team to start on."

Kali frowned. "So what's next? How else can I help?"

"Rest. Do laundry."

She glared at him. "Aren't you funny?"

Tapping his thigh with the rolled up list, he cocked his head and considered her. "Draw?" His face turned earnest. "We need any and all help possible. I know that's not FBI policy, but I know what Stefan can do. Stefan hasn't connected to this guy. You have. Let's see what you can do."

Kali considered him. "We need tangible leads, not more conjecture. I may have been right once or twice, but I can’t count on being right all the time."

"Leads are good, yes. But as we're lacking those, we have to consider everything. And we don’t expect you to be right all the time - we won’t know what you can do unless you try."

Giving him a disgusted look, she agreed.

"I have to go inside and make these calls, as much as this area is under surveillance and this deck isn't accessible from the ground, I don't want you out here alone. I didn't mention it earlier as you were asleep, so I kept watch, but..."

Kali blinked. Then shuddered. She'd never given it a thought. She followed him inside and locked the door behind her.

With the sketchbook open to a clean page, she sat under the golden halo of the light in the living room and pondered the strange turn of events in her life. How had her only input to this mess become psychic art, when she excelled at searching for victims, especially murdered victims?

She sat back stunned.

Could she find the missing victim?

And if she could, then why was she sitting here?

If the victim was dead as depicted by her sketch, she could find her if she managed to get close enough. But what did 'close enough' mean? She had no idea. She'd accidentally fallen over their energy before. More or less. Pursing her lips, she considered the concept.

She went to locate Grant and test it out. Finding him in the kitchen, she said, "I need to go out."

Grant frowned. "Where?"

Kali sighed and wouldn't meet his gaze. "I don't exactly know."

Grant's gaze narrowed. "Explain."

This time Kali met his gaze, calmly. "I need to try something." She waved toward the sketchbook. "It occurred to me that my specialty up until now has been
finding
not
drawing
people." She came to a stop, not knowing how else to explain. With a defiant toss of her head, she added, "I want to give it a try."

"I'll go with you."

Kali stared at him, nonplussed. If nothing came of her attempt, she'd feel like an idiot. Who needed an audience to that? "You don't have to. I can go alone."

The niggling sense prodded her.
Go. Now.

"No." Grant placed a hand on the small of her back, propelling her forward. "It's with me or not at all. There's a killer loose, remember?"

"Fine." Kali hurried to the front door. At the familiar sound, Shiloh bounded toward her, her tail wagging. Kali bent to cuddle her. "We're just going driving for a little while. We won't be long."

"You don’t want to bring her?"

Kali paused, frowning. "What I’m trying to do tonight isn’t something I’ve tried before. I don’t want to be distracted or influenced by Shiloh and her energy. As we’re only going to drive around for a bit, I think I’ll leave her behind. She could do with the rest, too."

Opening the door, she stepped into the cool night to check the temperature. Turning back, she snagged a jacket from the hooks by the door. Glancing at her slip-on shoes, she opted to change into sturdy hiking boots...just in case.

Grant waited for her on the gravel path. Stern, patient, professional, he was never really approachable. No, that wasn't quite true. With a casual glance his way, Kali blurted, "You rarely smile. Why?"

He raised one eyebrow and frowned. "That's not true. I smile a lot."

She hid her smile and said lightly, "Really, have I seen you smile?"

Shooting her a look, he added, "Yes, you have. Besides, there isn't much to be happy about right now."

That was a great conversation killer.

Grant continued to his car, opening the door for her. "We'll take my car. You can tell me where to go."

"Love to." She smirked and slipped into the front seat. Grant started the car and pulled up to the edge of the road.

"Which way?"

Kali closed her eyes and let the sensation roll over her. When she followed one of her twinges, a fuzzy bristling would usually nudge the back of her neck, sending her in a specific direction. She felt no such sensation this time. Knowing that Grant watched her, she closed her mind and opened the door to her alternate senses and relaxed. Since he'd witnessed odd behavior from her before, surely this wouldn't throw him.

"Left," she whispered. Kali slid into a relaxed state and blocked out the world. She kept her eyes closed for a while as they drove onto the main road. Sitting blind gave her an eerie insight into the bizarre world of darkness and trust.

She trusted Grant to keep her safe.

Her mind hiccupped. Her eyes opened. What the hell did that mean? Safe in the car? With her life? With her body? Oh God. She couldn't do this right now. She couldn't do energy work with all the unanswered questions. She had to focus. Slamming her eyes shut, she forced herself to draw on Stefan's instructions. Calm down. Relax. She was so caught up following her instructions, the twinge on the back of her neck that came out of the blue, making her flinch.

"Whoa!"

Grant hit the brakes.

Kali opened her eyes as they passed a road sign. They were on the outskirts of the city. "Left again."

Grant glanced at her, but obliged.

The road curved through hillsides and wooded areas. She searched the region. Now where? She waited for a couple of minutes. Nothing. She settled into the seat and closed her eyes again. Bringing thoughts about the victim to the forefront, she imagined her lost and alone and needing to come home. Kali concentrated on the fear, pain and horror of her last days, then brought in conscious awareness, a willingness, a need to find her.

Nothing crystallized. Frustrated, she set up a map in her head, waiting for the next step to appear, only to find herself blocked. Of course. Like her drawing, she'd tried to force the information highway to give up its secrets.

Kali relaxed the building tension, releasing a heavy sigh, shutting down her mind.

"Problems?"

Kali shrugged. "I don't know where to go."

"You knew the last two turns. They came clearly, didn't they?"

"Yes."

"So, let's not doubt the process. We'll keep driving in this direction until you say otherwise."

"Fine. But that's an odd attitude for a black and white FBI agent." How disconcerting to have him so amiable. Contrarily, she wanted to prod him out of the reasonableness. "What if I'm wrong," she muttered. "What then?"

"Then we drive home and no harm done." He shot her a curious glance. "How did you get the idea that I am a black and white kind of guy? Haven't we spent most of the last few days living in a gray area?"

Kali addressed the first comment and chose to ignore the rest, stymied for an answer. "I was wrong last time."

"No. Don't say that. You might have been wrong in regards to the identity of the victim, but you weren't wrong about there being a victim or where he was located."

"It might be different this time."

"Relax. The inklings won't come if you don't give them a chance.

"Maybe, but it's never worked like this before."

A pregnant pause.

"Before."

"That's something I haven't mentioned yet." Kali stared out at the window. Christ, she'd look like a certifiable nut case when this mess was finally over.

"Explain?"

"Shiloh makes a great rescue dog because she finds people that are alive. Finding dead people upsets her, but she can do it."

"Can she tell the difference?"

Kali glanced at him. "Definitely."

"And you're saying you can do the same thing."

"No, not quite," Kali answered slowly, considering her words. "Shiloh uses her nose and I...well, I use The Sight. With it I can find cadavers, but a certain type stand out for me. Shiloh can find them all."

"Cadavers come in types?"

"Yes." Kali took a deep breath, bracing herself. She'd never told this to anyone. "I see dark, seething energy in ribbons. They are always attached to people who have died violently - especially people who have been murdered."

Grant continued to drive, even though he had trouble processing her statement. He’d known about her psychic talents, but this? Could she mean it? Years ago he'd have run like hell to get away from such a concept. It had taken Stefan to open his mind.