Touching the Past (5 page)

“A rock.” Before she could say anything, Zac went on. “Beth’s boys bought it for her. For luck.” He shook his head. “It didn’t work.” He looked at Mallory. Her face was alight with suppressed excitement. Her dark eyes glowed. There was nothing sad or haunted about them. “What is it? What are you seeing that I’m not?”

“They all have the same feeling. I think they all came from the same place.”

“Really?” Zac reached out to take the stone, then hesitated. “May I?”

Mallory nodded. “Go ahead. None of these things had strong impressions attached to them. They’re probably new or didn’t mean anything special to any of your missing people.”

Zac took the stone. His fingers brushed against Mallory’s warm palm. A spark seemed to jump from her to him and go straight to his gut. Zac looked up quickly. He caught Mallory watching him. Her cheeks darkened. She looked away, licking her lips with a nervous flick of her tongue.

She’d felt it, too. Hadn’t she?

Before Zac could pursue the thought, Mallory spoke. Her voice sounded slightly breathless. As if she’d been running. Or her heart was racing. “They give off the same kind of impression I got from the street where Kim was taken.” Her words came in a tumbling rush. “It’s very faint, but I’m sure they’re the same. Your people were in the same place. With the same person who took them. All you have to do is…” She faltered. “I—” Her brow furrowed. “How will—” She lowered her face. Her dark hair made a sleek curtain, hiding it. “I really haven’t helped you at all, have I? I’m sorry.”

Without thinking, Zac caught her chin between his fingers and tipped it up, looking into her eyes. “Don’t apologize. You
have
helped. You’ve come up with a connection I hadn’t.” For the first time in days, he felt a sense of hope. Mallory had done it. Given him his first lead.

A doubtful smile lifted her lips. “If you say so.”

He realized he should release her chin, but he couldn’t make himself do it. Her skin was warm and smooth. He stroked it with his thumb, rubbing it softly, feeling her slight trembling. Her eyes, which had widened in surprise, turned slumberous, inviting. He prodded the soft fullness of her lower lip. She sighed, her breath warm against his flesh.

Zac lowered his head. He was going to kiss her.
Had
to kiss her. His lips were aching to touch Mallory’s. To taste her.

Outside, something crashed into the wall. A string of curses filled the air.

Mallory pulled away from him, her skin taking on a rosy cast. She looked away from him. “Umm.”

“Uh.” Zac cleared his throat, letting his hand fall to his side. “Right. Um. I think I know how to find out where they were.”

“That’s…that’s good.” Mallory stared at the carpet with fixed intensity. “You…you should probably check on it.”

“Right. Right,” Zac repeated more firmly. He pulled out his phone, thumbing in the number he’d memorized weeks ago. He had to get it together.

“Hello?” His ring was answered with an eagerness that squeezed Zac’s heart and brought his attention fully back to the case.

“Mrs. Kennedy. This is Detective Herrera.”

At the other end, he heard Nelda Kennedy’s voice catch. “Oh. Oh, Detective. Have you found—”

“I’m working on a lead in your daughter’s disappearance. The painted stone she carried. The one the boys got for her. Do you know where they purchased it?”

“That gray stone?” Zac could hear the confusion in her voice. “What does it have to do with anything?”

Zac tried to keep the impatience out of his voice. Nelda Kennedy had been waiting—praying—for news of her daughter. But he didn’t want to raise her hopes. Not until he had something more concrete. “If you could just tell me where the boys got the stone. Do you know where it came from?”

There was a pause, then Nelda’s voice. “They got it for her at a fair they all went to.”

“Fair?” There were over a dozen county fairs within an easy drive of Midland during the summer. Every town and village put on some kind of festival or fair to raise money and encourage tourism. If Nelda couldn’t remember any more than that, they weren’t any farther than they’d been before.

“Yes. One of those things where you go to get your fortune told and they read angel cards.” Nelda Kennedy snorted. “Angel cards. God and his angels don’t have no truck with those kinds of things. I told Beth—” The sound of a choked-back sob came through the receiver. “I—but Bethie, she loved ’em. She…she says someday they’ll tell her her ship’s coming in.”

“Do you know when she went to this one? The one where they got the stone. Where it was?” Zac’s grip tightened on the phone. They were getting somewhere. He felt it.

He looked at Mallory. She was on the edge of the chair, her hands clenched tightly together. Her gaze was fixed on his face. She was biting her lower lip.

“It was at the Plaza Resort.” Nelda’s tone was sure. “It was a big one. They had one of those women who’re supposed to read your minds come over from Grand Rapids.”

“And the date. Do you remember the date?” Though he had enough to look it up.

“Umm. June. Sometime in June, I think. It was after the boys were out of school for the summer. Detective Herrera,” she rushed on. “Could you tell me what’s this all about? Did those fortune-tellers have something to do with my girl disappearing?”

It was hard to resist the plea in the older woman’s voice. He wanted to offer her something. Hope. Reassurance that it would be all right. But he couldn’t. He didn’t know that. He had only Mallory’s impressions and his faith in them to go on.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Kennedy. I can’t explain now. I’ll let you know as soon as we know anything for certain.” He ended the call before she could ask any more questions.

Mallory didn’t ask, but he could see the question in her eyes. “Beth Kennedy attended an event at the Plaza Resort. There were fortune-tellers and mind readers.” He was bringing up Daniel Yeun’s parents’ number when her voice stopped him.

“A psychic fair. It was a psychic fair.”

“Psychic.” Zac blinked. He hadn’t made the connection when Nelda Kennedy was talking. “Like what you do.”

“No. Well, maybe.” Mallory shifted on the chair. Her posture and expression showed her discomfort. “I’m sure some of those people think they have abilities.”

Zac sat on the edge of his desk. “Have you been to one?”

She nodded stiffly. “When I was little. My mom took me to one near the base where we were living. She thought—hoped—there’d be someone there who could help us understand what I could do, but…” Mallory sighed and shrugged. “There was no one there like me. They said…but…” Her voice trailed off. She looked up. Zac was surprised at the anger in her expression. “Most of the so-called psychics at that fair were telling the people what they wanted to hear. Not the truth. I was just a kid, and I could tell that. There was one old man―” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. We never went near another psychic fair again.”

“A lot of the people who call themselves psychics are just very good at reading people.” Zac shrugged. “They’re kind of like cops that way.”

Mallory leaned forward. “But you believe in psychics. You came to me for help.”

Zac shifted on the desk. He’d never thought of it that way. Mallory being a psychic. She wasn’t the person at the end of a hot line offering advice for three bucks a minute. Or someone who went on the afternoon talk shows and made contact with people on the other side. She was Mallory, the girl who’d tried to hammer the definition of quadrilaterals into his head. He’d seen what she could do. He’d never needed to name it.

He leaned forward until his face was only inches from hers. He looked into her eyes. “Psychics I’m not sure about. I believe in
you
. I have faith you’re the real thing.”

Chapter 6

He hadn’t called. It had been a week, and Zac hadn’t called to tell her what was going on.

Mallory leaned back in her chair and pulled off her reading glasses to rub her eyes. She’d been thinking that too often. It wasn’t that she didn’t have enough work to keep her busy. The spreadsheet on her computer screen was evidence of that. The pre-tax season rush was beginning, and her schedule was filling up with calls and visits from clients. But far too often for her comfort she found her mind wandering away from tax credits to Zac. Had he found out anything?

I have faith you’re the real thing.

His words had given her a warm tingle. Or had it been the look in his eyes as he said it?

Mallory turned her thoughts away from that particular memory.

Was she the real thing? Had she helped him at all?

A couple of calls had confirmed that Kim Gerson and Daniel Yeun had also attended the psychic fair. That’s when he’d had an officer take her home. “Now comes the tedious part of the job,” he’d said. “Checking and cross-checking.” His white teeth flashed as he smiled. “I’ll let you know when we find anything.”

But she hadn’t heard from him. Did that mean there hadn’t been anything to find? Had she led him up a blind alley?

Mallory spun the chair away from the desk and stood up. She couldn’t sit still anymore.

There’d been nothing on the news. Or in the
Midland Times
.

In the kitchen she sipped from a cup of coffee. Why was she so unsettled? She’d done what she could. Told Zac everything she’d sensed.

It was Zac. He was what was unsettling her. She missed him.

She laughed. The sound was loud and harsh in the stillness of the kitchen.

She’d spent less than two days with him after how many years? How could she be missing someone she hardly knew now?

She set the cup down on the counter sharply. Zac had needed her help. She’d given it to him. That was all. It was done.

She didn’t want it to be done. She wanted to see him again. Wanted him to finish what he’d almost started in his office. The kiss. She wanted him to kiss her. To know what it felt like to have his lips against hers.

Mallory snorted. Just thinking about Zac kissing her was enough to make her heart race. If he ever
did
kiss her, she’d probably turn to mush.

Pulling an almond cookie from the jar, she chewed on it without tasting it. She was acting like a schoolgirl with her first crush. She was acting like the girl who’d
had
a crush on Zac all those years ago.

She took another bite, chewing thoughtfully. This week of waiting had made her realize how isolated she’d become since her father died. She saw her clients and went to church, but it wasn’t the same. While she’d been taking care of her father, it hadn’t mattered so much. He’d been enough company for her. Afterwards, she’d gotten into the habit of being alone. She’d lost touch with her Seattle friends when she returned home. Her old school friends from Midland had either moved away or gotten married and were busy with families and jobs.

Maybe that was why she was reacting to Zac the way she was. She was lonely and hadn’t realized it. Maybe she should get a cat. It would be company.

A cat won’t make you tremble. Or kiss you.

Mallory put her fingers to her lips. Maybe that was a good thing.

As Mallory brushed the cookie crumbs off her hands and into the garbage pail, the sound of a car pulling into the driveway brought her head up. A quick glance through the window told her it was Zac’s. She let the curtain fall back in place, her heart pounding.

He only wants to tell me what he’s found out. It’s just business. Nothing to get excited about.

She didn’t listen to herself. Instead she hurried to the door and had it open before Zac could knock. “Did you find them? Are—” The shake of his head stopped the questions on her lips. She saw then the shadows of exhaustion beneath his eyes and the lines of tiredness etched into his face. She stepped aside and motioned him in.

He headed for the living room without a word, tugging at his tie.

Mallory reached for the coffeepot, then, changing her mind, stopped. Instead she turned on the teakettle and pulled the box of mint herbal tea from the cupboard. It looked like Zac needed rest more than caffeine.

He was sunk in the corner of the couch when she took the tea to him, his legs sprawled in front of him, his head back and his eyes closed. His suit jacket, along with his holster and gun, hung off the arm of the couch. Mallory hesitated. He looked like he was already asleep.

He wasn’t. “That smells good,” he said without opening his eyes. “What is it?”

“Spearmint peppermint tea.”

He held out his hand.

Mallory curled up in the chair next to the couch while Zac sat up and tasted the tea. His cheeks puffed out as he swished the liquid from side to side in consideration. He swallowed and took another sip. “It’s good.” He leaned back and sighed. “This is nice.”

Sipping her coffee, Mallory watched him. The restlessness she’d felt earlier was gone. There was something
right
about Zac being here with her. It didn’t matter that they weren’t talking. Just his presence was enough.

His hair fell over his forehead, into his eyes. She wanted to smooth it back. The urgent need to touch him surprised and frightened her. She clutched her cup tighter.

“There was a stand-off this morning. At the East End site.” Zac took a long swallow from the cup without opening his eyes. “Did you hear about it?”

She’d heard. It was the top story on the news. A routine traffic stop the night before developed into a high speed chase through Midland. The driver abandoned his car, took his passenger with him, broke into the new development, and shot at the pursuing officers.

Mallory felt the blood drain from her face. “You were part of that?” She had only the vaguest idea of how the police department worked. She hadn’t thought a detective would be involved. She’d been happy that Zac was behind his desk. Out of harm’s way.

“Yeah. SWAT was called in.”

It took a beat for Mallory to understand what he was telling her. When she got it, her heart seemed to stop. “You’re—you’re on the SWAT team.” She swallowed. “But that’s—” She caught her breath. She’d had no idea. And she had no idea why the thought of him in danger was affecting her this way.