Dark Visions (16 page)

He looked around for a way to approach the
trailer. From the back appeared to be the best route. The trees
came up to it with five feet to spare.

Staying out of the trailer's line of sight,
Gert retreated to the woods in behind the motel and started to make
his way through them. He crossed a beaten down path that must have
seen better days when the motel was in operation.

Within minutes he was standing behind the
construction trailer, using a tree stump to remain unseen.

He reloaded his gun and made sure the safety
was off. His finger slid inside the trigger guard as he stood and
walked into the open.

It could be that he'd already killed the
muscle out by the Cadillac and he'd find no resistance in the
trailer. He hoped that was the case.

With the fake police badge in hand, he
knocked on the trailer door and stood to one side.

"Police! Open up!"

Chapter 37

Amelia jumped when the doorbell rang.
Whether it was the phone or the doorbell, she was a jumble of
nerves. Caleb got up to answer it, escorted by Detective
Johnson.

"I'm glad you could come, Dolan."

Greetings were made all around while Amelia
stood back, feeling wary. She watched everyone head to the dining
room. She went to the kitchen where she poured a pot of coffee into
an urn. It was around seven in the morning. Coffee would be needed.
She grabbed the cream and sugar tray and made her way to the dining
room.

She set the tray down beside the urn and
looked up at Dolan. Conversation subsided around the table.

"Hello Mrs. Roberts," Dolan said.

She nodded and looked away. There was
something about Dolan's eyes. It felt like he could see into her
thoughts. She wondered if mind-reading was one of his talents.

The seat beside her husband was empty. She
sat down and said, "I'm happy you're here, especially since you
said on the phone that you have an idea of where Sarah is, but I
still have difficulties with some things."

No one spoke. Caleb placed a hand on
Amelia's leg. She read it as a gesture to take it easy, don't
forget that he's here to help.

"I know how hard this must be for you. I'd
be happy to clear up any misunderstandings there may be, but we
haven't got a lot of time," Dolan said.

"I want Sarah back. That's first and
foremost." She looked at him again. Their eyes locked. Amelia told
herself not to look away.

"I understand completely," Dolan said.
"We're all on the same page. I've worked on a number of missing
person cases over the years and, thankfully, they've all turned out
well. With the information I have, I think we've got a good chance
of locating her today. But we need to act soon."

Her head swam a little. She looked down at
her coffee mug. He was saying what she wanted to hear.

"I just need a minute or two. Try to
understand something for me. My family visits a Psychic Fair that
you run. One of your people," she used her fingers for quotation
marks, "meets with my daughter and warns her of danger. We get
phone calls from the fair the next day and then my daughter is
kidnapped. But not before she tries to break into the Psychic Fair
grounds. There's got to be more to this than I know. What I need to
know is how the fair is tied into this?"

"I wouldn't say the fair is tied into it. My
people are all intuitive in some way and if one of them warns a
customer about their future, it doesn't make the psychic
responsible for that person's well-being. It's the same thing if
you are driving me somewhere and I notice you're a very erratic
driver. I say to you, if you're going to continue driving like
this, one day you'll be in an accident. Then two days later you
have a car accident. It doesn't make it my fault."

Amelia looked away, her eyes glazing over.
She decided not to pursue her suspicions this way. "We're all here
because you said you knew where my daughter was. I'm willing to
look past a number of coincidences if I can get my daughter
back."

Dolan turned to the cops, then back to
Caleb. She didn't want to come across as ungrateful, but there was
something about him or his Psychic Fair that she didn't trust.

Dolan shifted in his seat. "I met your
daughter at the fair. It was brief, rather quick actually. We
bumped into each other. She lost her balance and sat on the floor
where she jotted something down in her notebook. Before she stood
up, I noticed she'd written my name. She'd circled it and yet we've
never met. Would you know anything about this? You're her parents.
Is there anything you can tell me?"

Amelia looked at Caleb for support. He shook
his head and told everyone present that he had no idea what Dolan
was talking about.

"When you bumped into Sarah at the fair, why
didn't you warn her of the danger coming?" Amelia asked.

"I didn't do a reading for her. I don't have
knowledge about everything and everyone. You have to concentrate
and focus while doing a reading. Touch something the person owns,
feel the information trickle through my spirit guide."

"But you claim to be psychic."

"Yes I do and I am."

"Then let's get started."

Dolan turned to Detective Johnson. "Sam,
have you got a tactical team on standby?"

The detective nodded. He had a pen and pad
in his hand waiting to write down whatever Dolan told him.

Caleb reached for the urn that no one else
had touched yet and poured himself a coffee.

"I think Sarah is being held at a cabin on
Lake George."

Amelia listened as Dolan gave directions. At
one point he looked at Amelia and Caleb when the detective asked
what he was going to find there. Was Sarah alive? Dolan answered
that she was fine, other than some bruising. He said he wasn't
getting much more, except they needed to hurry. He felt that her
kidnapper was going to move her to a new location, or is moving her
as we speak.

Amelia watched everyone spring into action.
Detective Johnson got on a phone and started ordering people to the
site. Dolan got up and left the room. Other officers made
themselves busy with maps.

Caleb looked at her. "I want to go with
them," he whispered.

"Me too," she said.

Caleb leaned closer and lowered his voice.
"But I think we should follow them in our own car. There's no way
they'll let us come along on police business. Besides, they'd be
worried about the state they find Sarah in."

Amelia nodded. Out of the corner of her eye
she saw one of the tech guys staring at them. He looked around the
room and then beckoned them to join him. Caleb and Amelia stood up
and followed the tech guy into Caleb's den.

"What's going on?" Amelia asked.

They were alone. The cop closed the door
behind them.

"I think there's something the two of you
should know."

"Tell us. We want all the information we can
get," Caleb said.

"It involves Kim Wepps; the girl who was
abducted over six months ago and then found safe in a basement. The
description of her captor resembles witness accounts of the guy who
snatched your daughter on Birk Street. Kim Wepps was taken to an
abandoned farm where Dolan found her while utilizing his psychic
powers. I'm not a big believer in psychic stuff and with all these
girls kidnapped within six months of each other, and by what looks
like the same guy, just seems a little strange to me."

"Why are you telling us this?" Amelia
asked.

"I suspect Dolan is involved in some
way."

Amelia and Caleb look at each other. "Go
on," Amelia prodded.

"It's too close to where he is all the time.
The kidnappings look like they're following a geographical pattern.
It just came up recently."

"Are you saying Dolan may be masterminding
the kidnappings, just to be able to locate the victims and look
good so the Psychic Fair is profitable?" Caleb asked.

Amelia could hear anger in Caleb's voice.
She put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed back and forth to calm
him.

"We were running some scenario's, working on
the kidnapper's M.O. We've been able to link over a dozen
kidnappings to the same guy or group in the past five years.
Coincidentally, all of those kidnapper's lose their victim to Dolan
and his psychic abilities. There are kidnappings happening all over
the country, but Dolan finds the victims of just this one kidnapper
with the same M.O."

Amelia stepped back and leaned against the
wall, taking her hand from Caleb's shoulder. "Why are you telling
us this? Does Dolan know he may be linked to these kidnappings in
some way? Or that you guys suspect it?"

"Not yet. Detective Johnson doesn't want him
knowing anything until Sarah is brought home. Whether Dolan is
involved in a crime or he's really psychic doesn't matter with
Sarah still out there. If we tip Dolan off, things could go south.
But, if Dolan is kept in the dark, Sarah will come home safe like
all the rest of the victims before her and then we can work on
Dolan."

"Okay, let's go," Caleb said.

"Where're you going?" the cop asked.

"To Lake George to get our daughter."

Chapter 38

Gert took a deep breath, steadied himself,
and then knocked again. Rustling sounds came from inside the
trailer. Someone was definitely inside.

He turned and checked behind him. Nothing
moved except the natural flow of foliage in the gentle morning
breeze that cruised through the area. Even the highway was
quiet.

He turned his eyes back to the trailer. More
sounds came to him from behind the door. He leaned closer, almost
touching the wood with his ear. It sounded like two people were
whispering an argument.

He knocked on the door with the butt of the
gun. "Police! Open up!"

The lock clicked. Gert stepped back a
little, his gun raised.

The door opened and a woman stepped into
view.

"Come out slowly, with your hands up. Is
there anyone else in there with you?" He winked one eye, batting at
a drop of sweat.

"I need to see a badge. I heard shots and
now I'm being ordered out of the trailer at gun point. You don't
look like a cop."

Gert knew a gun could be trained on him
right now. What the hell was this place? If security was tight
enough to use goons like the two dead guys in the back, then these
people were being extra cautious for some reason. He lowered his
gun in a friendly gesture.

"I'm spooked too, ma'am. I drove around back
for a routine visit of these premises and I get shot at. I have
back-up en-route. An officer went missing sometime last night.
Witnesses reported seeing his patrol car heading out of town in
this direction. We're just checking everything out."

Gert loved it when he thought quickly. The
trailer was here yesterday so it was safe to assume someone saw him
dump the cop car.

He lifted his fake badge high enough for the
woman to see. She leaned forward and squinted in the sun. Only an
expert would be able to tell this badge was a fake.

The woman stepped from the trailer. "Is it
okay if I keep my hands at my side? I'm not armed."

Gert nodded. "Just no sudden movements.
Who're you and why are you here? What is this place?"

"My name is Denise Hall. I own this
property. We were going to renovate the motel, then sell it."

"So why the two goons in the back? Why would
they start shooting at a cop without provocation?" He felt like he
actually sounded official.

She moved away from him, her head hung down
like she was thinking.

He heard a cell phone ringing.

"Do you mind if I take this call?"

It would look suspicious if he said no. "Go
ahead."

He watched her reach into her pocket and
slowly pull out a cell phone. She flipped it open and said
hello.

He took the opportunity to scan the area; no
one in sight. He looked at the trailer and saw nothing.

When he looked back at her she had a strange
look on her face. He couldn't quite read it. He guessed she looked
shocked and afraid. She said she'd call the person back and put her
phone away fast.

"Everything okay? You look like you've seen
a ghost."

"That was my mother. After over fifteen
years, she calls me on my cell to warn me."

Her face lost color. The woman started
shaking her head. She took another couple of small steps away from
him.

Something was wrong. Something he didn't
understand.

He adjusted his grip on the gun handle where
sweat was cooling his palm. At any moment he might have to drop and
shoot.

"Why did you knock on the trailer door?"

What an odd question. She must be pretty
stupid. "If you had two people shoot at you for no reason you'd
check the area out too."

"Right. But why not wait for back-up. Who
knows how many people could be in that trailer."

She continued to move around until she was
on the highway side of him. Now he stood with his back to the
trailer. He wasn't an idiot. He knew there was someone else in the
trailer and he figured it was the girl.

She stared at him.

He'd run out of time. She was stalling.

Something was wrong.

He drew his gun up, fired, and jumped to the
right all in one motion. His bullet missed the woman.

This isn't something he'd practiced a lot.
It made him feel like he was in the movies.

The ground was hard, nearly winding him when
he landed on his right shoulder. The landing didn't quite go as
planned.

Dust plumed up in a small torrent about his
face. Someone was shooting at him now. Small explosions erupted
inches from him.

He rolled toward the trailer. Within seconds
he was under the shelter of the trailer's wooden steps.

The woman was running past the SUV parked in
the lot. She was going for the highway. He pointed and fired three
quick shots off. He saw at least one hit her.