Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (108 page)

Several men came in and out. She
watched, blind to most of it. The office swelled with people.
Someone dropped a stack of paper on the chair beside her, someone
else came and picked it up. Sam saw a small piece of paper on the
floor. Not bigger than a half inch and was mustard colored like the
package. Surely, it was important, too. She couldn't let the idea
go as people walked over it and beside it – yet always missed it.
Taking advantage of a lull, Sam snatched up the tiny piece, before
plunking down on her chair again.

Instantly, the station disappeared as
an unexpected door opened. She couldn't think. She couldn't focus.
She couldn't see. She was lost in a black haze. Her hand holding
the hot coffee ceased to hurt. Her surroundings ceased to exist.
She walked in a grey fog, pulled down a path she'd never walked
before.

Evil called to her, laughed at her,
and even caressed her arms as she travelled. She knew there was
something she had to do. Some reason for being here. But what? She
didn't want to be here. It was dark, scary, and so very cold. The
smell, God, the smell resembled a garden planted full of
decomposing bodies. She felt compelled to walk forward. The fear
and uncertainty diminished. The need increased. By now, the
blackness soothed even as it hypnotized. She walked forward,
uncaring where she went.

Then she heard it.

Mocking laughter filled the air, her
ears, and even her soul.

Sam screamed.

***

1:30 pm

Jesus. Sam.

Brandt bolted in her direction and
still came in behind the group filling the hallway. Where was she?
Her high-pitched scream shut off abruptly. Brandt wrestled through
the crowd to her side.

The captain was already yelling at
everyone. "Give her room. Come on everyone, move back."

The crowd grumbled, giving way under
his orders – slightly. Brandt spun around and glared at them. "Come
on. Give her some air for Christ's sake. Sam? Sam, are you
alright?"

This time several of the spectators
broke away and headed back to their own duties. Only a few of the
braver souls remained.

One of them asked, "Do you want us to
call for an ambulance?"

Brandt checked Sam over. Pallid
whiteness defined her face. Blue veins pulsed steadily down the
gentle line of her throat. She was breathing slowly, evenly. She
was either right out from a vision, or she was comatose from an
injury. As she hadn't been on her own long enough and there were no
visible signs of injury, he presumed she was reacting on a psychic
level. Her hands gripped a piece of brownish-gold paper clenched in
one hand.

Not sure if he should be touching her
at all, Brandt plucked the offending piece out of her hand and took
a closer look. It appeared to be a piece from that grisly package.
If so, it could explain her fugue now. Turning around, he found
only the captain and Kevin remained.

"Is she okay?" Kevin stood to one
side, doubt and confusion in his eyes.

"What's the matter with her?"
whispered the captain, crouching down beside him.

Brandt opened his hand to show him
the paper. "I think she touched this, unwittingly, and it's sent
her in a psychic state."

"What does that mean?" The captain
studied her. "She's awfully pale. Is she okay?"

"I think so. I don't really
know."

Her position looked so uncomfortable.
Her body slouched sideways. She'd fall any minute. His office
wouldn't offer anything more comfortable. The captain was obviously
thinking along the same lines.

"Can we get her into my office? We
can lay her on the couch there."

"Only we're not supposed to touch
her."

"But we can't leave her here. She's
going to hit the ground in a minute."

Decision made, Brandt slipped his
arms under her legs and back and carried her to the captain's
office. Once there, he gently laid her down, her head on a pillow.
She moaned with the jostling movements.

"Sam. It's okay. Take it
easy."

Her eyes
flickered. Brandt eased back in relief. She was waking up. He
didn't know what had happened, though he could make an educated
guess. She really had no control. When visions took her over, it
was as if she stepped out. He couldn't protect her – not from her
own abilities. Not an easy thing to admit. He admired her guts. But
he was damn sure he could
not
live her life.

Sam's eyes had a glazed look as
awareness slowly returned. She glanced around the room, a frown
wrinkling her face. "Where am I?"

"This is the captain's office. We
moved you in here so you could lie down. How are you
feeling?"

"Huh? Did I have another vision?" Her
frown turned pensive as she thought deeply. "There was such
blackness. The world smelled dead." She turned to him, a wave of
sadness making her eyes huge wells of pain. "It was her ear, wasn't
it?"

At the reminder, Brandt winced. "I'd
hoped you hadn't seen that."

"Just a glimpse." She rolled her head
against the couch. "That was enough."

"I'm sorry. You should never have
been exposed to that."

She grimaced. "Really, what do you
think my nightmares are like?" Bitterness tinged her voice, melding
with the sadness. Brandt managed not to wince again but just
barely.

Staring around the room, he found the
captain sitting at his desk, listening in. Kevin stood beside him,
watching, a deep frown of concentration across his
forehead.

"Did you..." Brandt hesitated, "Did
you learn anything useful while you were in this place? Wherever it
was." He studied her reaction.

"I don't know where I was either. I
think..." she hesitated.

"Go ahead."

"I think I connected with the killer
this time. But I can't be sure." She looked at each man, one at a
time. "I think I was inside his mind. A black pit of darkness that
lost its way a long time ago. He thinks you're all useless idiots
and that you'll never catch him."

Kevin butted in. "That covers every
criminal out there."

Brandt nodded, but kept watching Sam.
"Anything else?

"He's old energy. He's been doing
this for decades. He won't ever quit. You'll have to kill
him."

"My pleasure." And Brandt meant it.
He'd bring him to justice if he could. However if not, well
sometimes that was the best way all around. "Do you know anything
about what he's planning next? Where he is? What he's
doing?"

Sam's eyelids drooped and a faraway
look came over her pale features. "He's waiting. He's rubbing his
hands gleefully and imagining your face, your reaction when you
open the gift."

"Why?
That
gift
doesn't
make any sense. We already have his victim. The ear makes no
difference." The captain spoke up for the first
time.

A large tear welled up in the corner
of Sam's eye. Brandt reached over and gently wiped it
away.

"It's not her earring. It's her ear,
yet another woman's earring."

"Another woman?" Captain Johansen
surged to his feet. "What, there's another victim?"

"He thinks you won't figure it out.
It's an older victim. His trophy from the drugged one. He doesn't
want to keep it. She's not a memory he wants to honor. She was a
failure for him."

"Sam." Brandt gently tapped the side
of her head. "Sam, wake up."

"Is she aware of what she's saying?"
Captain Johansen came around his desk to bend over and see for
himself.

Kevin jumped in. "Do you think she
was telling the truth?"

"The truth as she knows it. Yes."
Brandt stroked her cheek gently, willing her to come to awareness.
It took another moment before she opened her eyes again.

"Please quit doing that, will you? It
scares the hell out me." He was rewarded with a half-smile. "Are
you back now?"

It was weak but it was a
nod.

"Then sit up," he said and half
tugged her upright to lean against the overstuffed couch cushions.
"Maybe now you won't go under again."

Sam curled into a small ball,
huddling with her knees to her chin. A blue color highlighted her
cheekbones.

"Jesus, you're freezing." Brandt
searched the room for something to cover her. Captain Johansen
walked over to a coat stand in the corner and pulled down a large
wool overcoat. Sam gratefully snuggled under the warm
material.

Captain Johansen asked in a diffident
voice, "I know you're not exactly recovered but...do you have any
other information that would help us?"

Brandt jumped in. "If you connected
to the killer, does he have his next victim picked out?"

Her answer came out on such a soft
breath the three men bent to hear her.

"Yes."

Kevin looked to Brandt, shrugged
sheepishly, then returned his gaze to Sam. "Can you give us any
details? Anything helpful that we might help us to find
her?"

Sam shook her head slightly. "Only
that she's close to him geographically. He watches her, follows her
everywhere. His hunger is building. He's enjoying this stage. Soon
though, he'll have to appease his appetite. Not yet. He has time to
play."

Brandt wondered. "Do you get a sense
that he works or has a career? Does money ever enter his
mind?"

Captain Johansen added, "What about
his location? Can you see any landmarks? Anything that tells you
where she might be?"

"Only stores, a drugstore, a coffee
shop, sidewalks. I saw only some of the scenes from his mind." Sam
rested for a moment. "She's Caucasian."

All three men stared at her,
startled. "You can see her?"

"Only bits and pieces." Keeping her
eyes closed, Sam, in a monotone voice, said, "She's tall. He's
taller. She's young, mid-twenties with long brunette hair." She
fell silent again.

The men exchanged glances, everyone
anxious for the one or two details that could make the difference
between finding her, or not.

Not wanting to disturb her if she
were getting more information, only he didn't want her zoning out
again either, Brandt murmured, "Sam, you there?"

She opened her eyes slowly, as if
they were weighted down. "She has a vehicle."

Kevin snapped forward. "Can you see a
license plate? Make? Model? Color? Sam – anything?"

Brandt shot him an approving nod. At
least Kevin appeared to be taking a solid step toward accepting
Sam's abilities.

"Red, small, two door. Can't see a
license plate. He's watching her get in the car."

Brandt, on a sudden thought, asked,
"Sam, is he sitting inside his car?"

After a long moment, Sam nodded. "I
can't see much. The windshield is tinted blue green. The seats are
dark green."

"Bench seats or
individual?"

"Bench."

"Old or new?"

"Can't tell."

After that the questions came hard
and fast from all sides. Some she answered and more she couldn't.
After fifteen minutes, all three of them had run out. Brandt
couldn't believe it. He was exhausted, so he could only imagine how
Sam felt. In fact, he leaned over to find she'd fallen asleep. He
reached to tug the coat higher up her shoulders.

Nodding to the others, Brandt
followed the men outside and closed the door behind them. Once in
the hallway, Brandt leaned against the closed door and looked at
the other two. "So, what do you make of it?"

Captain Johansen grimaced. "I have no
idea. I sure as hell hope she's giving us viable information. But
we don't have much else to go on. Period."

Kevin spoke up. "We might find a
different DNA on the earring versus DNA of the ear. That will give
us some idea."

"That will help. Sam had mentioned
this victim before. I came up with two possible women. One is in
the morgue and one is in a coma at Portland General. We can check
to see if one of the women was wearing the matching earring. If the
victim is dead, then we're too late to help her. We'll need to
check her for forensic information, but other than that, we should
be trying to find his next victim."

Pursing his lips, Captain Johansen
agreed. "I'll go to the lab now and talk to them. What do we do
about her?"

"She needs to sleep this off. Her
energy level drops quickly with these visions." That was a given.
"I don't want to leave her for too long. She shouldn't wake up
alone."

Kevin nodded. "Stay with her and I'll
start with phone calls and running car data. I may just owe her an
apology." Leaving, Brandt staring after him open-mouthed. He smiled
and walked to his office. Brandt raised an eyebrow at Captain
Johansen who shrugged. "Don't know, but I'm heading to the lab to
make sure they don't screw this up."

Ten minutes later, after making a few
phone calls of his own, Brandt opened the captain's office door to
check on Sam. He must have woken her for she sat up, startled and
nervous.