The Final Omen: Second Sight Book Four (13 page)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Michelle was alone in her makeshift cell. Her abductor had left the light on at the top of the basement and the bulb cast eerie shadows on the objects placed in the basement. There wasn’t much in her cell with her, only random objects that wouldn’t help her escape—a milk crate, a bucket and a pile of old clothing. Her abductor had fed her; half of a cheese sandwich and a bottle of water sat at her side.

When she’d been taken, her captor must’ve thrown in her purse alongside her. She reached for the leather handbag and dumped out the contents of on the floor. She sifted through each object, possibly looking for something she could use to make an escape attempt or perhaps a weapon to use against her captor. Unfortunately, the items were of little importance. She had a box of tissues, a tin of breath mints and a few small toy cars. She held the toy cars in her hands for a minute and gazed wistfully at them. She choked back a sob as she hurriedly threw them back out of view inside the purse. After she regained her composure, she turned her attention back to the remainder of her belongings.

She searched through her wallet and, by her gasp, it was obvious the woman was surprised to find her cash and credit cards still in place. The motivation of the abductor must be something besides monetary gain. Besides her tired appearance, she appeared unhurt. It didn’t look as though she’d been physically assaulted during her captivity.

She dropped the wallet to the ground and several of her cards were strewn across the filthy basement floor. She balanced each card between her fingers as she slid them into their respective slots inside of her wallet. Her license disappeared quickly from view, but not before her name and address was visible: Michelle Hamley, 2567 Hillburn Street, Martinsville, New Jersey…

***

“I want to go on record as saying this is an insanely bad idea,” Declan protested as they drove through the dark streets on their way to Michelle’s Martinsville address. The plan was to break into her house in the hopes of finding evidence about who could’ve possibly taken her, and where he could be hiding her. Kate’s gut was telling her that whoever had taken Michelle had a personal relationship with the woman and her son.

With her last name revealed, Kate had attempted to research Michelle Hamley online. However, the search proved fruitless. Michelle was a ghost in the online world: no Twitter feed, Facebook profile and no significant Google results when her name was entered. Since Kate was trying to keep Jared out of the loop, she’d requested Declan use his police contacts to run a criminal background check on Michelle. The woman had no police record either.

Once Kate had hit a brick wall, it had taken some conniving to get Declan to act as her accomplice. As a return favor, she was in charge of shopping for Camilla’s birthday present. Her birthday was next week and Declan was still falling over himself trying to impress her.

Breaking into Michelle’s house was the only viable plan Kate could think of. She couldn’t expect the police to search for the woman based on her visions alone. Because of Michelle’s calls to her sister, no one knew about the abduction of the woman and her son. Kate’s other option was to approach Michelle’s sister and tell her about the visions showing Michelle in danger. However, the success of that scenario would largely depend on whether the woman thought Kate was full of it or not.

Going forward, she was going to keep Jared on a need to know basis. She could’ve benefited from his detective skills, but her fear for his safety outweighed the need for him to be involved. Not to mention she was about to commit a crime—something he could lose his job over.

“At the very least we should’ve taken the Hummer. You don’t even have air conditioning in your car,” Declan complained.

“Your car isn’t stealthy enough. You can hear that thing coming down the road a mile away.”

“Who cares? It has air and more entertainment options than a cassette player and AM radio,” he said looking at her stereo with derision. “If you were worried about being spotted, why didn’t we take Jared’s car? Didn’t he drive the Crown Vic to work?”

“Because I can’t take my boyfriend’s car to commit a crime. He’s a cop. That’s all kinds of wrong.” Jared had tried to share custody of his BMW with her, but she’d refused. Not only did she have a soft spot for her old Toyota, it felt wrong to ask her hardworking boyfriend to drive her clunker while she took over his luxury car.

He was working on a case and wouldn’t be back at their home until late. Declan had met her and waited as she prepared for their night of breaking and entering. Under the cover of darkness, she planned to find out as much about Michelle Hamley as possible to help her get back home safely.

“So, what’s the plan? Since this is your idea, I’m hoping you gave it some thought?” When Kate didn’t answer, he tilted his chin back and huffed out a deep breath. “You didn’t learn how to break into a house from YouTube, did you?”

Kate was pleased the car was dark; it kept her blush hidden from him. She had in fact been researching how to pick locks online before they had left. “Don’t worry; I may have some handy tools in my purse.”

“I’m only doing this because it’s your life at stake. We’re not going to make it a habit in future cases.”

“When did I become the risk taker and you become the stickler for following the rules? I could point out plenty of times where you dragged me into situations that weren’t the safest.”

“I know and it kind of makes me sick. It must be Jared’s good influence rubbing off on me. I’ve even been looking into legitimizing our operation, like getting an office space and advertising, all that boring stuff.”

She was surprised by his admission. “What do you mean? Do you want to open a psychic shop?”

“More like a psychic consulting service. We could have clients come to us for help instead of us chasing down reward purses on missing persons cases,” he said. “I know you’ve been unsure of what you want to do with your career, but I’d like us to stay partners. For you, being psychic means you get the chance to help people. There’s no reason you can’t still do that and profit from it.”

“But shouldn’t I finish a degree and get a real job?”

“This is a real job. You’re always fighting with your dad, but he’s still managed to warp your ideas of what’s a real job and what’s not. He’d be happier than a pig in shit if you got a degree in accounting and took a job in his firm. But that’s not you and it’ll never be.”

“Being psychic isn’t exactly a cake job, you know?” She turned down the volume on the radio. “I’ve been kidnapped, stabbed and terrorized in the three years since I’ve had my abilities. What if I don’t always want to live like this?”

“Jared and I will always protect you, Kate. Even if you decided to remain anonymous and work in the background with me, I’d be fine with it. You can protest all night, but you’re not fooling me. You’ll never walk away from helping people.” He allowed his words a second to sink in before adding, “As fucked up as some of our cases have been, most of them have turned out with us being heroes and saving someone.”

“Okay, but if we’re doing this, I get to name our company,” she said. Conceding didn’t feel as awful as she suspected. Accepting the permanency of her psychic abilities was a big step for her. For too long, she rationalized she’d only use her powers sporadically and only in dire situations. Declan was right. There’d been a lot of good that had come out of the two of them working together.

She pulled onto Michelle’s street and parked several houses down from her address. It had taken them less than half an hour to travel to the home. The street was quiet, and as Kate rolled down the window, the only sounds she could make out were a few kids shouting down the block. She scoped out Michelle’s house from their vantage point across the street.

There was nothing remarkable about it. It was an average sized property with a Cape Cod-style layout. Although the street lighting limited Kate’s view, it looked to have light blue siding with white shutters. The yard appeared unkempt and it had been some time since the grass had been mown. As she’d suspected, it was dark behind the windows of the house.

She turned to Declan. “Okay, follow my lead. We’ll head around to the rear of the house and see if there’s a backdoor we can sneak in. I don’t want to get caught trying to force ourselves in through the front entrance.”

“Let’s go,” he said.

They both quietly closed the car doors as they exited the Toyota. She jerked her head back and forth down the street to check for signs of anyone watching them. When she affirmed it was all clear, she used her hand to motion him to cross the street with her. They crept up to the house until they reached the side yard. She pressed her back against the siding and sidestepped towards the backyard. After opening the gate of the wooden fence, they came to the rear of the house. Kate jumped as the gate clicked shut behind them.

The grass in the backyard was tall and full of weeds. There were several toys left around the yard: a baseball bat, soccer ball and a scooter. She grimaced at the sight and felt her resolve strengthen as she thought about Michelle and her son being kept prisoner. Kate located the backdoor and tried the handle. It didn’t budge and she knew things couldn’t have been that easy for them.

She scanned the windows on the first floor to determine how easily she could get through them. To her left, she found a smaller window that had been left open a crack. The window had frosted glass and she assumed the room was the first floor bathroom. She wasn’t sure if Declan would be able to squeeze through, but she was confident she could make it in.

“I think we should try and pop out the screen and I’ll climb through,” she said pointing to the window.

“Okay, do you have a weapon? The house looks abandoned, but I don’t want to take any chances,” he whispered back.

“I have a knife and my mace. Maybe I should’ve taken Jared’s gun out of the safe…” she trailed off and felt a chill as she looked through the glass into the dark house. She couldn’t help but remind herself that in her vision Jared had gone to an abandoned house and ended up dead.

Declan looked ready to lay into her, but relented. He must have noticed how terrified she had suddenly become over the thought of sneaking into Michelle’s house.

Kate always developed bonds with the people in her visions and Michelle had been no different. She cared about the woman and it hurt to be at her house and realize no one was looking for her besides Kate.

They both walked over to the window and she examined it shrewdly. She reached into her bag and removed the screwdriver she’d brought along in case they had to remove any window screens. She instructed him in a low whisper, “Give me a boost and I’ll push in the tabs holding the screen in place and pop the entire thing out.”

He pushed his back against the side of the house and entered into a low squat. She climbed up onto his legs while he used his hands to support her body weight. He held her steady while she used her thumb to press the screen into the window frame. It gave her enough room to squeeze the screwdriver through the left side opening between the frame and the screen. Depressing the screen tab, she was then able to finagle the left side of the screen out of the frame. She repeated the process for the right side until she was able to pop it out completely. He set her back down and she leaned the screen against the house. She looked uncertainly into the dark interior of the house before turning back to Declan.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” she hissed at him. The gravity of the situation was starting to get to her. She was lying to Jared and breaking into someone’s house. If he found out, he’d feel betrayed. Their relationship had only blossomed after they agreed to be honest with one another. She trusted him wholeheartedly, but she wasn’t sure if he’d understand even if she told him her lies were for his own good.

Another thing holding her back was the quaking fear she had over getting close to her attacker again. She wanted to be badass, but she was afraid if she ever came face to face with him again, she’d shrivel to the ground and beg for a quick death. As she peered into the eerie house, she had a sense she was taking a foolish risk by chasing down her would-be killer without police backup.

Declan’s dark eyes filled with determination as he addressed her. “You can frickin’ do this. Just go inside and use your flashlight to find the backdoor and let me inside. We’ll search for clues together. Dig deep inside of yourself and find what you need to get it done.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t use your workout video quotes on me.” She pulled her bag to the side of her body and said, “Fine, give me another boost. Let’s get this over with.”

Declan bent his legs again and interlocked his fingers. Wrapping her arm around his neck, she set her foot into his hands. He pushed her up until she was level with the window while supporting her body weight. Slipping her fingers beneath the window, she hoisted it up to make a larger space for her to fit through. She began to slip out of his grasp, forcing him to put his hands on her backside and shove her towards the window opening.

He whispered, “Have you been losing weight? Your ass feels smaller since the last time I felt it.”

“You better hope I end up dead because otherwise I’m going to beat the crap out of you when we’re done here.”

He laughed and with another powerful shove from him, she was able to slide in completely through the opening. She lost her balance as she clamored through and fell with a thump into a bathtub. Her knees smarted and she rubbed at the tender skin. She fished the flashlight out of her bag and turned it on to illuminate the bathroom. Rising to her feet, she got out of the tub and made her way out of the bathroom.

The house had a deserted feel and a distinct musty odor permeated through the walls. There was also a rotten smell she couldn’t exactly place and wondered if it was garbage or food that had been left out since Michelle and her son were taken. She kept the flashlight trained on the ground as she moved down the hallway. She stuck close to the wall to guide her towards the backdoor.