Gifted Touch (18 page)

“So, it’s gotta be David,” Anthony said. “That jerk. I can’t believe he framed me. We’re supposed to be friends. Sort of.”

“I did get a thought where he was telling himself you’d get caught for something eventually, anyway,” Rae offered.

“Yeah. I go around trying to kill people every couple of days,” Anthony muttered.

“I still don’t get why he—or Cynda—would want to off Rae,” Jesse said.

“You mind keeping your voice down a little?” Anthony asked, with a glance toward the guy supervising the room. “I don’t know why, but for some reason, they don’t really like us to talk about offing people during visiting hours.”

“Sorry,” Jesse said, a faint blush creeping up the back of his neck. “But like I said, I don’t get it.”

“Me neither,” Rae added. “I’d never even seen either of them before my first day at group, so it’s not like they have something against me.”

“But it was all about you; that’s what you picked up,” Anthony said.

“Yeah,” Rae answered.

Anthony ran his fingers through his hair. It was a little greasy and a little long, and it definitely gave 196

him that bad-boy look. “We shouldn’t bother trying to figure it out until we’re positive David’s the right guy.

It’s not as if liking motorcycles is all that unusual.”

“I’ll bring him to the 7-Eleven after group tomorrow,” Jesse volunteered. “Nunan can get a look at him.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Anthony agreed.

“What about Cynda?” Rae asked. “She could’ve been in on it.”

“Probably not,” Anthony answered. “Even though she dresses like G.I. Jane, she’s kind of a wuss. One time I saw her make David catch a spider and put it out the window. She didn’t want it near her. But she didn’t want him to kill it, either.”

“If I get Nunan to ID David, then we can worry about the Cynda thing,” Jesse said. “He might not even be our guy.”

“I’ll go with you tomorrow,” Rae told Jesse.

“No,” Anthony and Jesse said together.

“You don’t even know David, and it’s not like you and Jesse have been buds or anything. It’ll be too suspicious if you try to tag along,” Anthony explained.

“Jesse’s hung out with me and David a few times at the 7-Eleven. It won’t be weird for him to maneuver David over there.”

Rae nodded reluctantly. It made sense. But she wasn’t all that happy with the idea of Jesse and the potential wanna-be killer drinking a Slurpee together.

197

“You guys should go. My mom might be stopping by, so . . .” Anthony let his words trail off. It was obvious he didn’t want them meeting his mom.

What is he embarrassed about? she wondered.

She couldn’t imagine anyone whose mom wasn’t a murderer like hers actually caring. She would give anything for a mom who just talked a little too loudly or gave her big hugs in front of her friends. But there was no way she’d let Anthony, Jesse—or anyone—

know the real truth about her mom.

Rae sighed, standing up alongside Jesse.

“See you later,” Jesse said.

“Bye,” Rae mumbled. She started to say something else, some kind of thank-you, but everything she thought of sounded lame, so she just followed Jesse out of the room. About halfway out of the detention center she decided she was being a total wimp.

“I, um, forgot my sunglasses,” she blurted out to Jesse. “I’ll be right back.” Without waiting for an answer, she turned and ran back to the visitors’ room.

She wasn’t sure if she was happy or not when she saw that Anthony was still at their table.

Oh, show some ovaries, she told herself. She hurried over to the table and started speaking without bothering to sit down. “I just wanted to say thanks,” she told him. “What you did for me—God. Do you even know?”

198

Anthony stared up at her, his expression unreadable.

Rae sat down and leaned toward him. “When I was having all those, you know, not-me thoughts, I figured I was going totally insane. I mean, they’re why I ended up in the hospital. To know that I’m . . .” She swallowed hard and rushed on, her words crash-ing into each other. “To know that I’m okay, sane, it changes my whole life. And you did that for me.” She stood up fast. “So, that’s it. Thanks.” She bolted without waiting for Anthony’s reac-tion.

199

Chapter 12

Anthony watched Jesse head across the visitors’ room the next day. He could tell just by looking at the kid’s face that the 7-Eleven plan had worked. Jesse looked like he’d swallowed a lightbulb or something.

“David’s the guy Nunan gave the pot to,” Jesse whispered as he swung himself into his usual chair.

“We’ve got him.”

This has nothing to do with him. But he’s acting like he’s the one something great happened to, Anthony thought. Jesse had been pretty friggin’ amazing during this whole thing. He’d believed in Anthony 100 percent, which Anthony’s own mother definitely couldn’t manage.

“We’ve got something,” Anthony agreed. He didn’t want to make Jesse feel like a loser. But he didn’t 201

want Jesse to think everything was all fine, either.

That would be treating him like a baby, and if Jesse was anything like Anthony—and he was, sort of—

nothing would make him more ticked off.

Jesse’s eyes darkened. “What do you mean?

David’s goin’ down. And you’re gettin’ out of here.” Bible Bob strolled over to the table before Anthony could explain. “It’s nice to see you getting so many visitors,” he told Anthony. “Not everyone does.” He rested his hand on Jesse’s shoulder. “Is this one of your brothers?”

“Nope,” Anthony answered. “He’s just a bud.”

“Yeah,” Jesse muttered, not sounding too happy.

“An honorary brother kind of bud,” Anthony added. Jesse smiled, a smile so big, it hurt Anthony to look at.

“That’s the best kind to have,” B. B. said. He glanced at his watch. “You guys will need to wrap it up in about five minutes. Anthony’s group is setting up the dining room tonight,” he explained to Jesse.

Then with a half salute he wandered off.

“So what’d you mean about us having something? ” Jesse asked as soon as B. B. was out of earshot.

“It’s not like we can just tell the cops that David set off the bomb,” Anthony explained. “There’s no way they’d believe it without proof.” 202

“Is that it?” Jesse looked extremely pleased with himself. “Not a problem, bro. Rae’s getting proof right now.”

“Wait. Where is she?” Anthony demanded, adrenaline starting to slam through his body.

“She’s at David’s,” Jesse answered. “I found out that David was going over to Cynda’s after he left the 7-Eleven. I told Rae, and she said she was going to go search his place. I wanted to go in with her, but she said there would be less chance of getting caught with one person, so I just told her where it is. Then I came straight here.”

“I can’t believe her,” Anthony muttered, fury and fear building inside him. “David tried to kill her. And she’s just going to go strolling into his house?” He felt his heart squeeze into a hard ball in his chest. “You have to go stop her,” he ordered Jesse.

Jesse’s eyes widened. “It’s way too late.”

“Oh, great,” Rae muttered when she saw the car in David’s driveway. She and Jesse had been so psyched at having a little stretch of time when they were sure David would be out that they hadn’t even thought about anybody else in his family.

Rae shook her head. She wasn’t turning back.

There had to be a way. All she needed was someone to distract whoever was home at David’s while she 203

did her search. She snatched up her cell phone, tuning out her old thoughts, and dialed Jesse’s number. No answer.

Who else? Who else? She realized she was standing right in front of David’s house, staring. Not too bright. She turned and walked away at a casual stroll.

Just out on a little walk, everybody, she thought. No need to alert the neighborhood watch.

Her fingers tightened around the cell phone. Who else? Not Marcus, that was for damn sure. And not Lea. Lea was already afraid of her. If Rae called her, babbling about needing backup on some secret info-gathering mission, she’d flip out.

Who else? A name sprang into her mind. Yana. In a way they didn’t know each other nearly well enough for Rae to be dragging her into this. But she was the only one, other than the not-home Jesse and the locked-away Anthony, who Rae trusted enough.

She didn’t give herself time to debate. When she turned the corner, moving out of sight of David’s house, she just dialed. Yana picked up on the second ring. Rae gave her the rundown as quickly as she could—how she and Jesse had found out some stuff that convinced her Anthony really had been framed for that bomb, and now she just needed to get the evidence that could clear him. She didn’t mention the fingerprints stuff. She was still weirded out that 204

Anthony and Jesse knew. And she really, really wanted a friend, one friend, who she could just be normal with. Yana was cool about the hospital. But that didn’t mean she was into the psychic friend thing.

“So what do you think?” Rae asked, wrapping up her story. “Are you up for it?”

“Are you kidding?” Yana exclaimed. “I always wanted to be a Charlie’s Angel.”

Rae knew better than to thank Yana. She’d already figured out Yana hated that. “I’m on the corner of Madison and Winchester. It’s—”

“I know where it is. I’m there.” Yana hung up without saying good-bye.

Rae kept the phone to her ear, trying to look like she was in the middle of an important call, just in case anyone was wondering what she was doing hanging around in the neighborhood without even a dog to walk or anything.

She didn’t have to wait long. About ten minutes later Yana’s yellow Bug came flying around the corner. Not exactly inconspicuous, but hey, at least Yana was there. That counted for a lot.

Yana parked and jumped out of the car. “I have a plan,” she announced before Rae could say anything.

“Take me to the house.”

“Do I get to hear this plan of yours?” Rae asked as she led the way back around the block.

205

“Nope. You have to trust me.” Yana grinned.

Rae couldn’t help but grin back. “It’s hard not to trust someone in a Happy Burger uniform.”

“I actually work there, if you can believe it,” Yana answered, staring down with disgust at the big purple smiling face button pinned to her collar. “I put this on because I thought it would be a good disguise.

Generic and all.”

“Crafty,” Rae said. “But really—the plan? What is it?”

“You gotta trust me. I told you. I just need to know if this guy David has a girlfriend,” Yana said.

“Yeah. Her name’s Cynda,” Rae answered. Even without knowing the plan, she was starting to feel confident she and Yana were going to make this work somehow. It was that Yana vibe kicking in. The girl was nothing if not confident.

“That’s all I need,” Yana said.

“Good. ’Cause we’re here.” Rae jerked her chin toward a cozy little house with gingerbread trim. It looked too sweet for a wanna-be killer to live in.

“Just whatever I say, don’t disagree with me,” Yana instructed as she led the way up the flagstone path and gave a double knock on the door. A woman with yellow hair— yellow—opened the door. Rae figured she had to be David’s mother. Yana’s bottom lip started to tremble the second Mrs. Wyngard looked at 206

her. “Where is he? Where’s David? You have to tell me,” she pleaded.

A frown line appeared between Mrs. Wyngard’s eyebrows. “He’s not home,” she answered. “Is there something I can do for you?” Mrs. Wyngard was clearly hoping Yana would say no. Instead Yana pushed her way into the house, dragging Rae behind her.

“Well, we’re going to need a car seat. And some bottles and stuff. And Pampers,” Yana rattled off.

“What?” Mrs. Wyngard cried. “Pampers? What?” Yana put her hands on her hips. “He didn’t tell you, did he? He promised me he would. And he promised he’d go shopping with me today to pick out a cradle. But he never showed up.” She let out a wail that Rae was sure could be heard for blocks.

“Are you telling me—” Mrs. Wyngard began.

“I’m telling you you’re going to be a grandma. In about seven months,” Yana interrupted. “And that girl Cynda. She’s history.”

Rae choked back a burst of hysterical laughter.

Yana was amazing.

“I’m sorry. What’s your name?” Mrs. Wyngard asked, sounding dazed.

“It’s—oh God. I think I have to puke again.

Where’s the bathroom?” Yana burst out.

“First door on the right,” Mrs. Wyngard answered, pointing to the hall.

207

“Come with me,” Yana told Rae. She grabbed Rae by the sleeve, and they flew down the avocado-colored carpet and into the bathroom. Rae shut the door behind them. “Do you think you could get me some soda crackers, Grandma Wyngard?” Yana called, plopping down on the fuzzy purple toilet seat.

There was a muffled sound from the hall that sounded like half a yes and half a moan. “I’ll stay here and make puking sounds,” Yana whispered. “You go search David’s room. She’ll think you’re still with me.” Rae cracked open the door, checked the hall, then crept out. She tiptoed to the next door, feet silent on the carpet, and took a fast look into the room. It was a sty. This has to be the place, she thought. She ducked into David’s room and closed the door—