Bone Deep (16 page)

Sarah took a deep breath
and
collect
ed
her panicked thoughts. “Okay. So if you’re
getting impressions of her, she’s
alive. Can you see the place she’s at?”

He gripped the chair
and swayed
slightly, his
gaze drilling
through the wall. “Small. Dark. No air.”

“She’s trapped somewhere? Do you see anything that could give a clue where she is?”

He frowned. “Stone. Rocks. Dirt.” There was a long pause. His eyes scanned back and forth as if reading an invisible book then suddenly blinked and focused on Sarah. “That’s all.”

A
drenaline rush
ed through her veins leaving her shaken
. She realized she was still clutching the bloodied paper towel in one fist and she set it on
the counter.
S
he
tried
to gather her wits and shut out her primitive fear of the unknown. There
must
be a practical way to use
Tom’s
gift to locate the girl. “Are your visions only sensations or pictures too?”

“Sometimes both.”

“Do you think you might get a stronger impression if you saw
Aileen’s
photo?”

“
I don’t know.
I’ve never tried to see these things. They just come.”

She bit her lip. “But you could try. It might make a difference.
W
e have to go to the sheriff. We have to try
to
help find this girl.”

He looked down at his hands for a long moment then back up at her. “All right.”

Sarah
took one of his hands
and squeezed it
. “I’ll be with you
the whole time
. It will be all right. I’ll make the
sheriff
listen to what you have to say.”

He looked into her eyes with his profound gaze and nodded.

She realized how much trust she was
demanding
of him. “You’ll be safe.”

Sarah slipped on a jacket
and
got the keys to the
Plymouth
. As Tom slid in beside her, she
saw him
as others would.
He wore
John’s dark jeans, chambray work shirt and navy jacket
, clothing
any man around here might wear
. B
ut
Tom
looked like an alien being
with his
head and hands
tattooed in those swirling blue designs
. She considered offering him a cap to wear but
thought
it
might
come across as
if she was
ashamed of hi
s appearance
.

Tom sat in the passenger seat, staring at his hands resting in his lap. She reached over and touched his forearm. “It’ll be okay
.
”

He looked at her,
then grabbed
her arm and pulled her to him. He gave her a lingering kiss before letting her go. It felt
as if
he was saying goodbye.

“Don’t worry. Everything will be fine
,
”
she reassured him—and herself—yet again.

He looked out the side window.

Sarah put the car in gear and drove toward town.
A
fter several miles of
tense silence, s
he turned on the radio
and nervously tapped her fingers on the steering wheel in time with the Glenn Miller Band.

She
stopped
the car in front of the sheriff’s office
and
turned to Tom. “Why don’t you stay here? Sheriff Ziegler is probably out with the searchers, but I want to check here first
and, if he’s there, explain who you are
.”

She got out and closed the car door behind her.
Tom
scooted down in the seat as low as he could.

The sheriff’s office consisted of a front room with a couple of desks, the sheriff’s private office and a couple of jail cells
in back
.

Ziegler’s wife, Anna, who acted as receptionist, dispatcher and secretary, sat at one of the desks talking on the two-way radio.

“Hold on a minute Jack. Somebody just came in.” She tapped a switch and the static buzz of the radio went dead. “Hello, Mrs. Cassidy, I suppose you heard about
Aileen
.”

“Yes. That’s why I’m here.” Sarah
exhaled
, trying to find the
right
words to present her case without sounding
crazy
. She didn’t know Anna very well, but had the impression the woman was a practical person
. Hopefully
she would listen without judging.

“I have something to tell the sheriff. It’s kind of strange, but may be useful in finding Aileen. I’d like to talk to him privately if possible
—not in front of an entire search party
. I don’t suppose you could have him meet me here.”

Mrs. Ziegler cocked her head and looked at Sarah curiously through her thick glasses. “What’s your information?”

Sarah forced herself to relax
and
not clasp
her hands
together like an anxious schoolgirl. “It’s more of a premonition really.
A
friend’s
premonition, not mine
, but he’s very reliable.”
Noting
the woman’s skeptical expression, Sarah added, “I know it sounds
nuts b
ut he honestly has a gift. I thought if he could look at a photo of Aileen or touch something of hers...” She trailed off, her face burning.

Mrs. Ziegler tapped a pen against
the
tablet of paper in front of her. “Who is this friend?”

“Oh, golly.” Sarah laughed nervously. “Here’s the problem
. M
y friend is the man from the carnival they’ve been looking for.” She took a step toward the desk and began speaking quickly. “But he’s not dangerous or retarded like people think. That man who owns the carnival
kept him basically a prisoner for most of his life
.
I didn’t tell the sheriff or deputy about it before because Tom was afraid they might try to return him to Reed. I know this all sounds
absolutely
insane, but it’s the truth. If I could talk to your husband privately about all of this, I know I could make him understand. Tom, that’s the man’s name, has these visions sometimes and he saw that Aileen was hurt and trapped somewhere dark and
—
”

Mrs. Ziegler held up her hand
and interrupted
. “He
saw
her? When was this?”

“No, not saw her physically, but in his head
. I
t was this morning, I guess. At least that’s when he told me about it.”

“Where is this man now?”

“Out in the car waiting. I thought it would be better if I talked to someone first.”

“Can you get him to come in here?”

“Of course
. T
hat’s what we came for
,
so he could talk to
Sheriff Ziegler
and tell him about the
, ah,
vision.” Sarah swallowed the last word in an embarrassed mumble.

“Mrs. Cassidy, why don’t you go get
the man
and I’ll
radio
Jack.”

As Sarah turned to
obey
, Mrs. Ziegler sp
oke
into the handset. “Uh, Jack, you there? I’ve got somebody here you’re going to want to talk to.”

Out
side
the sidewalk was empty. The town appeared deserted since most people had gone to join in the search. Sarah was grateful for that. For a second as she peered into the dim interior of the car, it looked like Tom was no longer there. He had pressed himself back into the seat and was slouched down so far he was almost invisible.

Sarah opened the car door. “Are you ready to come in? The sheriff is going to talk to you.”

Tom’s
jaw was tight and his lips compressed in a straight line
, but he nodded and got out of the car.

As she
walked with him
into the building, Sarah felt
as if
she was leading an
innocent
animal to slaughter. Alarm bells clanged in her head telling her that this heartfelt effort to help would somehow end up with Tom behind bars. But now that she
’
d started the process, she didn’t know how to stop it
. A
ll she could do was try to make
the sheriff
listen and believe.

Mrs. Ziegler looked curiously at Tom then
adopted
a neutral expression. “Why don’t you two take a seat until Jack gets here? Can I get you a cup of coffee or some iced tea?”

Sarah admired the woman’s
aplomb
. “Iced tea
would be nice. Thank you
.” She and Tom sat down in a pair of scarred, wooden chairs with no padding in
the
waiting area along one wall.

Mrs. Ziegler went into the back and came out with a thermos and a pair of coffee mugs. “This should still be cold. Fresh from my refrigerator this morning.” She poured and passed them the tea, studying the sun on the back of Tom’s hand as he accepted his cup. She perched on the edge of the desk facing them and sipped from her own mug.

“I know it’s not my business to ask questions, but do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

“It’s exactly like I said.” Sarah
retold
Tom’s story, adding
her experience of nearly getting crushed under the
Plymouth
to give credibility to his
psychic abilities
.

When she was finished, Mrs. Ziegler
regarded
Tom thoughtfully. “Well, I’ve heard stranger tales. Not much stranger, mind you. Truth to tell, I’ve read about this kind of thing before, somebody with visions solving a case no one else could.
Of c
ourse that was in a pulp magazine but still, I guess anything is possible.”

Sarah relaxed
slightly
for the first time since she’d entered the office.

The phone rang and the
Anna
set
down
her mug
and stood
. “I have to say, it would have made things a whole lot easier if you’d have come in right away and told Jack your story about this carnival fellow Reed. Jack and Phil wasted a lot of man-hours this past week beating the bush and going door to door trying to find
him
,” she nodded
at
Tom. “Jack’s in kind of a sour mood
so
he may tear into you. But don’t you mind his yelling. He hasn’t had enough sleep and it makes him cranky.”

She went to answer the ringing telephone. “Endora County Sheriff’s Office.”

Sitting in the straight-backed chairs waiting for Sheriff Ziegler to arrive, Sarah felt like a naughty child waiting to face the
school
principal. She considered numerous ways of telling the story that might make it sound more reasonable and her actions logical, when from the moment she
’d
met Tom, she’d been reacting with her heart instead of her head. She looked over at him.

His hands were clasped in his lap, clenching and unclenching.

She rubbed
his arm and gave him an encouraging smile
. When she glanced at Mrs. Ziegler,
the woman was
still talking on the phone
but
watching them speculatively.

After
ten minutes the sheriff’s cruiser pulled up outside. Sheriff Ziegler stomped through the door and straight over to Sarah and Tom. He stood before them, legs apart, arms folded over his considerable gut and a scowl on his face. He nodded at Sarah
.
“Mrs. Cassidy
.
”
T
hen his gaze settled on Tom.

Tom
sat up even straighter in his chair.
Sarah could almost feel the tension vibrating through him.

“And
who is this
?”

Sarah answered for him. “Tom.”

“Well, I wasted a lot of my time over the past week searching for you, Tom. Why the blazes didn’t you come in right away?”

“He hasn’t broken any laws and he didn’t feel he could trust the authorities to recognize his rights
as a fully sound and functional individual
.”