Chapter 20

 

THE DOOR TO the café had one of those bells above it that jingled as I headed into the warmth. I stood looking up at it and not remembering hearing the sound before. I would have noticed it, I knew I would have.

“Earl fixed it finally last night,” Martha informed me.

I turned to look at her and the bustling café. The crossed ski and hammer on the wall caught my eye again. “Thank cotton for that. Thought I needed to go back to the—”

I clamped my mouth shut.

Not a good idea. The last thing I needed was to go spilling my guts about being an inmate.

Martha didn’t seem to notice me cutting my sentence. She flitted about the customers like one of those honey bees but less cranky. I followed her path through the place. The pioneer flavor washed over me. She matched the décor. Hard working, kind-hearted, and hardy. Her red hair was all curls and tucked under one of those nets that catering folk wore. Her uniform was a white shirt and black skirt with an apron hung over the front—the same symbol of that hammer and ski like an emblem. As I watched her bustling between the tables and booths, I could see the energy she left in her wake. Happy energy, a maternal energy.

She reminded me a lot of Nan in that way, which was why I really didn’t want to cause no trouble in her café. I could pretty much hit most of the witnesses as they gathered for breakfast but there was no way I could go around touching folk without people starting to get the “eebies,” as Nan would call them.

Martha tilted her head in Hal’s direction as she hurried by, just in case I missed the wide-brimmed hat on the counter next to him. The doctor was sitting in a booth down from Hal, stooped over like he’d fall asleep in his breakfast at any second. Over from him, in a booth next to the window, were the two gossiping ladies from the other day.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the list of witnesses that Martha had made for me. Marie Salter and Grace Teller, which one was which I didn’t have one iota. They were muttering some dark mutterings. I didn’t catch much apart from “Hal, James, and that odd woman.” I pretty much guessed who “she” was with the glare shot my way. At least somebody thought I was a freak. I was starting to wonder if I’d woken up in another reality.

“Hey, Aeron!”

Mark waved like a madman at me from the back table and I went to him.

“You doing okay?” he asked, his chestnut hair flopping down into his eyes. He was the guy who’d seen me crashing about in the car when Renee and I stopped. The thought made me smile. I liked him, even if he did remind me of Sam. “You got enough wood?”

“Martha and Earl are looking after me,” I said, wondering why he was asking such a strange question.

His aura flickered and jumped about as though he wanted to say something different to what was coming out of his mouth.

“This is Simon.” He slapped the man opposite him on the shoulder. “He’s my cousin . . . I mean, St. Jude’s is small so technically everybody’s related.” His laugh sounded like he wanted to crawl into a corner and hide, but his mouth had taken over. “Anyway . . .”

“What’s up?” I asked, hoping I could help put him out of his misery.

He ushered me over further, his greeny-grey eyes full of worry. “It’s just . . .” He scratched the back of his neck. Then he sighed. “How is Serena?”

“They won’t let me see her,” I said, smiling at him. Why he was nervous about asking that, I didn’t know. “Last time I did was just after and she wasn’t holding up too well.”

He hung his head. “I’m so sorry. I mean, she doesn’t seem like the kind to go shooting people for no reason.”

“She isn’t.” My tone was blunt. I wanted there to be no illusions.

He rubbed his sizable mitts together and peeked up at me through his floppy fringe. “You holding up okay?”

A part of me wanted to ask, “why all the small talk?” but he was trying to be nice. I needed to remember that some folks could be genuinely concerned. “I’ll be better when I get her out.”

“You think they will release her?” Simon, the guy next to him, whispered. I turned to him, and he flicked his gaze to out of the window and his aura leapt a mile.

“You see something?” I asked him.

His aura flickered again.

“No, I didn’t see anything.” Simon got to his feet. “I gotta . . . I gotta go.” He fled from the table, making the quickest retreat that I had ever seen.

Both Mark and I stared on after him. Simon’s aura looked like whitewash, his exit was so hasty.

“There something with fangs on his seat?” I peered down at the deep brown leather half-expecting to see a nasty critter lurking there.

Mark sighed and grabbed his coffee mug. “He has . . . well, he’s had a hard time.” He slumped down into his seat and looked about as fed up as one guy could be. “You can’t choose your family.”

“Amen to that.” I sat opposite him, staring up at the skis dangling overhead. He needed to say something and I needed to listen. No matter how much I was distracted.

I glanced at Hal who was still munching away and chatting with Earl and Ronny around the corner bar from him. I guess I had some time before he left and I couldn’t figure as to how I could touch him without him thinking I was crazy.

Maybe the shiny countertop would work. I looked at all the folks leaning on it. Then again, maybe not. 

“I guess Martha told you that Brad is family too?”

Nodding, I brought my attention back to Mark. “Yeah, I feel for you there.”

“He’s got a nasty temper,” Mark said. His grip on his coffee mug tightened until the tips of his fingers turned white. “He is used to getting what he wants.”

That, I had no doubt of. There seemed to be one in every town. At least Sam had been a charming homicidal jerk. Brad was just, well, a jerk. “And no doubt his brother is the same.”

“Worse, Seth has got a screw loose.” Mark drained his coffee cup and I thought about reaching out to touch his hand, pretending I only wanted to stop him leaving. Icy cold jolted up my back and I leapt up until my knees clattered the underside of the table.

“You alright there?” he asked. He was trying so hard to keep the grin from his face and failing as I rubbed my throbbing knees.

“Shiver,” I said and muttered a cuss under my breath Nan’s way. “Still thawing out after the other day.”

“You were awesome,” he said. His eyes twinkled in a way that made me clear my throat. “Don’t know just how you managed it.”

“Dumb luck,” I admitted, hoping he would quit the praise before my cheeks turned crimson.

“Uh uh.” He waved his hand with a flourish, his grin wide. “No way. You were like a pro.”

I ain’t so good at being complimented, especially when the real credit should have been going to Renee. I shrugged.

“I gotta go,” Mark said, setting down his mug. “But I’m sorry about Brad and I’m sorry that guy upset Serena so bad.” His aura wriggled around again and I tried not to stare at it. “I guess that some guys won’t let the women they marry go.”

I knew I was looking at him dumb as he frowned.

“The guy she shot,” Mark said, echoing my frown. “I guessed from the way she reacted to Brad the other night and the shooting that maybe . . .” He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck again. “Ah, hell . . . I just mean . . . I assumed—”

“She was a battered wife?”

Mark nodded, and I bit my lip to stop from righting his misconception. It wasn’t my place to go blurting out Renee’s private life. Maybe it was better if the folks in town thought that, at least for now.

He got to his feet and we said our good-byes before I focused on Hal as he chomped away. Mark was easy to talk to, he had an easy way about him, a confidence that let him communicate openly. He was a cool guy. Hal was tied up tighter than a Puritan at a party and his energy was riddled with pockets of fear, regret, and bitterness.

I hadn’t seen the darker side of his aura before, he’d seemed like a pretty nervous but simple guy. The new information wasn’t going to make my job any easier. Negative energies were like walls. They stopped the person from getting out and healing and they stopped anyone getting in and lifting them out of the dark space.

The flash of an aircraft nearly knocked me clean off my feet and I clung to the brown leather barstool next to Hal to stop from collapsing.

“Okay?” He grunted my way. The leave-me-be-to-eat vibe pulsed from him.

“You any good with planes?” I asked, hoping that that’s what the flash meant. Thank cotton, his face unscrunched and he smiled.

“Sure thing,” he said. “What can I do for you?”

Great. Where was I gonna go with this one? I had to think of something to ask, something plane-wise . . . anything.

“When I was in the military,” I said, hoping I sounded in the least bit convincing, “I used to see these planes all the time . . . They were so awesome.” I tried to focus on the flash. “Matte grey, beautiful things.”

Hal was with me as if I was describing a work of art or the best food I ever tasted.

“Jump jet, I think,” I said, getting a name. “Thing is, can’t remember what they were called.”

“A Harrier,” Hal said, his eyes so intense that I was sure he was speaking about a true love. “The AV-8B . . . Subsonic attack aircraft, designed by McDonnell Douglas.” His aura shimmered, his half-eaten food long forgotten. “First in service in the 60s. A modification entered service in ’85.”

The man sounded like he was being possessed. So much so that I looked for the leech creature that fed on people with such afflictions but there was none. Nope, just crazy.

“It took off straight up in the air. Only aircraft I ever seen doing it.” I really prayed that was a real thing they could do. To me, planes needed runways. I’d never even been on one so what did I know.

“Yes,” Hal purred. “A Rolls Royce Pegasus Turbofan engine.” He was almost drooling. “Vector thrust gives them the capability of vertical take-off and landing.”

“Er . . . so that’s what they are?” I asked, kinda freaked out by his glazed expression.

“Oh, yeah.” He was now like a puppy dog. His eyes and aura opened up and he leaned on one fist. “You got to see one?”

“Yup,” I lied. “Never got to fly one or nothin’ though.”

“You fly?”

I shook my head. I was pretty sure that there were no cockpits big enough for me.

“I always wanted to fly,” Hal said. “Wish I could have.”

“Can I ask why you didn’t?”

He sighed. “Twenty-twenty is a must . . . even with surgery I ain’t got perfect vision.” He lowered his voice. “Sure enough I got sharp enough eyes that I can be a deputy.” He stared down at his food. “But not pilot’s eyes.”

“You think about commercial?” I asked. “Sure you ain’t got perfect sight but there must be some kind of flying you can do?”

“Not with my schooling,” he said, his southern accent oozing out of him now. I figured it for Louisiana way.

“You miss home?” I asked. Not sure why I was heading off the subject that he was happy with.

“I miss home something fierce sometimes,” he said. “But there ain’t no place for me there.”

I was about to reach out to touch his hand to feign comfort but something loud clattered from behind and we turned around. One of the two ladies, either Marie or Grace, stomped out of the door. The bell almost jumped off its hook with the ferocity.

Hal tensed up once more and he grabbed for his hat. “I gotta head off,” he mumbled, clambering off the stool and making a break for the door.

I sighed, catching Martha’s eye as she came around the counter.

“You get what you need?”

I rubbed my hand over my aching neck muscles. “Nope. Storming Sue foiled my plans.”

Martha chuckled. “Oh don’t mind her. It was Marie . . . she hates any woman talking to Hal.”

That explained the fireworks. “I’m not sure I can get him so open again. He’s a funny guy.”

Martha went to reach for the discarded plate and I held up my hand. Maybe cutlery would work the same way as jewelry. It was metal, it had touched his skin.

Worth a shot. I folded a napkin around the knife.

“You think I could borrow your sofa?” I asked. “Not really sure how I’ll react and I don’t want a fit in public.”

“You have fits?”

Uh oh. I turned to see that the doctor had woken from his stupor and was peering at me with that doctor gaze, which made me hunch my shoulders.

“I’m fine.” I raised my hands like he had a gun. “I just get over tired.”

“Having fits is serious.” His eyes narrowed in scrutiny. How come doctors could make you feel like a specimen in a jar with just a look? “Maybe I should check you over.”

That was never happening. Nuh uh, I didn’t do doctors. Not after Oppidum. Last doctor I had seen told me he was setting my jaw. What he didn’t say was when I woke up, I’d be drinking through a straw.

“You got folks who need you more right now. You know like the guy . . .”

I was pretty sure he was gonna tell me where to stick my nosey beak but he didn’t. “Bullets are out and he’s stable.” He smiled. “Your couple had a baby girl last night too.”

“They did?”

He smiled wider. “They named her Serena Aeron.”

A big ball of goop seemed to lodge itself in my throat. Renee would be as much of a mush ball about the news as I was. I made the decision that when I saw her, I’d make sure she knew. They named their kid after us, both of us.

I knew I was grinning like a fool. “I . . . wow . . . they all doing okay?”

The doctor nodded, he seemed to enjoy my reaction. “The mother has multiple fractures in her leg but they’re all set in place. It will need a pin when the road is opened though. The husband has whiplash, some broken ribs but nothing serious compared to how bad it could have been.”

“And the baby?” I asked, still trying to take in the fact that a little purple prune now had mine and Renee’s names.

“Perfect.”

I gripped the napkin tight. The news gave me the lift that I needed to head to the sofa and try to see Hal’s memories.

“Wait,” Martha said as I got up from my stool. “That’s Hal’s.” She pointed to a gold pen on the counter. “He uses it all the time.”

I smiled, it had to be as good as jewelry. I nodded to the doctor, took my leave, and paused at the door with the pen-in-a-napkin in my hand. Another vision, another fit. I sighed. “May as well get on with it.”

 

RONNY CAME AND took Zack into the back yard after I’d been hugged half to death. The house out back smelled of cooking and I wandered to a picture on the mantle. It was of three guys with skis in hand and a load of rescue equipment on the floor. There it was, the hammer and ski crossed over in front of them. The middle guy looked like Martha but the photo was real old so I guessed he was her father or something. I turned from it, trying to find the courage to do what I’d come back there for. The walls were neatly painted, cream with some kind of a dado-rail splitting it from a dark yellow wallpaper with striped patterns. Hung in pride of place were some paintings of landscapes and many photographs of Ronny at various ages. Over by Earl’s chair was a framed football jersey and I walked over to look at it closer. Turned out Ronny got his football genes from his father.

It was strange to think of Earl playing any kind of sport but the jersey was for a college team so he must have been pretty good at it. Inset was a medal. It looked military which explained why he watched the parades.

Unlike the house I had grown up in, Martha and Earl’s home was lived in. Magazines on the battered-looking coffee table, ring marks on the side tables. It felt warm and comforting. It felt full of love. A place where people who cared about each other sat in companionable harmony after their day. It’s how any place felt with Renee to me. Funny how a person could make you feel a sense of comfort and belonging.

Somehow I had to get her back so I sat on the sofa and looked at the pen. It was heavy for a pen. I guessed it was more gold plated than the real stuff. Judging by what Hal had said about schooling, I guessed he didn’t have the funding to buy expensive pens.

Martha caught my eye as she hovered in the doorway so I shooed her away. She had customers to serve and folks to feed and standing around gawking at me weren’t gonna help nobody. When I was alone, I unfolded the napkin, slunk back into the squishy leather, and rubbed my thumb over my necklace.

My hands were clammy, the dread hummed through me, burning a hole in my stomach. Seeing things, touching things, using my burdens was a real energy sucking process and I wasn’t sure how much of it, energy I mean, I had.

“For Renee,” I mumbled, trying to shake off the nagging worry wrapping its tentacles through my gut.

 

Not much use for me with all this damn snow. Not like McKinley will trust me with no good jobs neither. There ain’t no real policing for a dumb Louisiana boy, well . . . I ain’t dumb and just ’cause I ain’t all proper schooled don’t mean I can’t be a good cop.

Where’s my burger? Wait, Ronny is fixing up another order, where’s Martha? Wish I could thank her in some way for taking pity on me. Wish I could do something for her . . . but what?

Who is that guy?

“Hey, buddy!” What does he think he’s doing charging round like that, he coulda hurt somebody . . . he coulda hurt Martha. I’m gonna haul his ass in, that’s what I’m gonna do.

“Hey, Martha!”

“I’ll get it for you, hun, just wait a second.”

What? No, forget the damn burger, I’m more worried about you. Wish I could just say it.

Oh back off, buddy. Earl is looking at me like he wants to skew me like a skillet. I ain’t after her you dumb oaf . . . I just wanna make sure she’s okay. Guess it ain’t my place anyhow.

“Thanks, Martha . . . I just got to hurry.”

“No problem.”

She’s always looking after everybody else. Mamma was the same. Man, I miss her.

Bill Hick in a hurricane! Marie . . . She looks as hot as ever. I love her eyes, I love her somethin’ terrible. Got to make somethin’ of myself . . . that way, maybe she’d look at me?

“Hey, Doctor.” She got a bee in her bonnet this morning that one. What is with her mood? Why do women get like that? It ain’t like it helps nobody. “Doc?”

She just damn walked straight past me . . . some mood she got.

Who is that guy?

“Hey, Ice Queen, where’s your knight?”

Oh, if it ain’t the jackass of the century. “Hey, Brad . . . How’s your paw. Heard Ice Queen showed you her moves.”

“You want me to fix that face of yours, hillbilly?”

“You want me to slam your ass in a cell?”

Whoa! He’s got a—

BAM.

BAM.

Whoa, you got a shot on you, lady . . . can’t get my damn gun out . . .

“Out the way, Hal.”

Yeah sure, Charlie, don’t pay no mind to me. You wear the same badge, you son-of-a—

“Told you she was a lunatic. Screw loose.”

“Shut your hole, Jewel.”

Great, Charlie. Now your loopy woman is crowding the scene. “Joyce, step aside.”

That’s blood? Lord, I hate blood. Where’s the gun? Did he have one? “Joyce . . . You can’t help him . . . step away.”

Great, now Aeron’s lurking over him. He ain’t got no chance against her.

“Will he be okay?”

Does she really care? Where’s the gun? There was a gun. I know there was. 

“Will . . . I mean . . . did she?”

Maybe I should move the doctor away. The guy could still be packing. “He has a good chance if I can get him in the hospital . . . with a little help?”

Where’s the damn gun? I swear he had a gun. What, Doc? What you looking at? Oh, you want me to move him? “Right.”

I hate blood, I hate blood. There ain’t no gun, no holster . . . maybe I just saw it . . . ah, shoot . . . What kind of a deputy can’t even tell if there was a gun. I shoulda stayed home like the rest of them.

“Up the steps, quickly.”

Oh, yeah, you just walk on up, don’t mind me. I’ll just haul this guy up on my own.

“Let me help.”

“Thanks, Mark.” Least one guy has a soul in this place.

“And me.”

Evan, well, you would help. If anything needs to be sorted in this town, it’s you two. I swear, there ain’t a better pair. “Thanks . . . just watch the blood . . . you ain’t sure what he got.”

“Right.” Evan’s got a good soul. Hope he gets somewhere. Kid deserves a good future.

 

I sat for a moment rerunning what Hal had seen. A flash in the man’s waistband, his arm reaching back. Martha and Earl had thought they saw the same thing but I had watched Hal search through the snow around the body, there was nothing there. So maybe it was just the light?

“Anything?” I heard Earl ask and I opened my eyes.

I was surprised to see that I was still on the sofa and I looked like I hadn’t flailed about like salmon in a stream.

“You thought you saw a gun,” I said. “So did Martha . . . and so did Hal.”

“But there wasn’t one when he was on the ground.”

I rubbed my hand over my eyes. “No, but the three of you thought the same thing. That’s got to mean something.”

“It could just mean that Renee saw it too and that’s why she fired?”

I looked down at the pen. “I need to get this back to him and I need to see her . . . I need to touch her.”

“You think McKinley will go for it?”

Shaking my head, I stared at the pen. “No, but maybe Hal will.” I got to my feet and thanked him, hugged Zack in the yard, and headed on over to the station.

 

Damn slippery steps . . . what . . . No!—

 

“Hal!”

I hurtled across the street. People turned to gawp at me as I sped past. Hal’s foot slid on the top step and I charged into him, sending him hurtling forward. We clattered to the ground. He grunted at the impact. At least he didn’t bounce backward on his head like I’d seen.

“You okay?”

Hal looked up at me with wide eyes. “How . . . I . . . how did you do that?”

“It’s easy,” I said, hoping to cover his real question. “Just got to tackle you in the right place.”

He blinked at me. “You were calling, you knew.”

I tried to look as innocent as I could. “What?”

Hal took my offered hand and I pulled him up. “You knew I was gonna fall.”

I laughed, it sounded shrill. “Like that could happen . . . I was calling you . . . for your pen . . . I have your pen.”

I pulled out the golden pen and handed it to him. “Saw you sliding as I got to the step.”

“Your voice,” he said. “Your tone . . . you were warning me.”

“Nuh uh,” I said. “I’d have to be psychic or something for that, right?”

He nodded. He wasn’t convinced by my dismissal but I wouldn’t dare say a word. I followed him into the station, feeling his eyes tracking me, looking for some indication that I would reveal my secrets.

“I just was on my way to see Serena. Can I see her?”

Martha and Earl had to know because I needed them, but Renee’s warning about the truth putting people in danger rattled around in my brain. I couldn’t take a chance, especially with a guy like Hal who would go looking for answers and end up getting hurt.

He glanced around and then nodded. “Sure, I’ll take you.”

The station was staffed by the rescue team today. They were deep in conversation about how to fix the cell tower that could help them to reach the outside world. It didn’t sound all that promising and it buoyed me. I needed more time to get Renee out.

“She’s through there,” he said as we got to the cells. “She ain’t eating nothing. She won’t drink nothing either.”

“Open it up.”

It sounded like an order and Hal opened the cell door. I walked in and knelt down in front of Renee. She was pale. She was giving up.

“Hey,” I whispered. I put my hands on her face. She was clammy. I brushed the hair away. “I’m here now. I’m here, you ain’t alone.” I took some slop from the plate and put it on a spoon. “You need to eat, okay?”

She stared out at nothing and my heart ached like I was having some kind of attack. If we’d been back in the institution, she would have been in observation on a drip and constant care.

I placed the spoon to her lips, and she took the food and ate it. No one was in there, but at least the body still remembered that it needed to feed itself. I got her to drink a load too, but I was worried as to how well they were looking after her. My hands trembled as I fought to keep the tears back. I couldn’t bear seeing her like this.

“Can you get the sheriff, Hal?”

He nodded, and the second he was out of the door, I placed my hands on top of hers. Like I expected, there was no memory to find as her mind was off someplace I couldn’t reach. Still I pulled her to me, wrapped her up in my arms, and prayed that somehow she could take energy off me. I couldn’t do this without her. 

“I need you to eat, drink, take care of yourself while I fix this,” I told her, holding her tight. “I need you back enough that you’ll do that, okay?”

I took my necklace off and placed it on her, sending every bit of energy I could into it. The second it touched her skin, she got up, kinda like a robot and went over to the bathroom stall. I was thankful for the partition. The cell that I’d been in had no such luxury. Dignity was one of those funny things that could get you through most situations and a loss of it could be a nail in any chance you had at surviving. She deserved dignity.

She stepped out of the stall and went back to sitting on the bed, staring at the wall. I sat beside her and noticed something in her hand. The napkin eagle I’d made was snug in her palm. The sight of it made it hard to swallow.

“That’s it. Hold on. I’ll fix it. I’ll fix everything.” I leaned my head to hers as we waited for the sheriff. I hoped that wherever she was, she could sense me being near.

“You aren’t meant to be in there.” McKinley’s tone was blunt and considering I’d saved his leg, not to mention his life, his attitude stank.

“She ain’t been eating or drinking,” I snapped. “You know you gotta call in the doctor when a prisoner is like that.”

Procedures involving mentally unstable folks were an expert subject.

“She’s fine.” He sounded like an arrogant ass.

“No, she ain’t.” I glared at him. “And your gratitude sucks.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Excuse me?”

So he thought he was better than me ’cause he wore a damn badge. Where had I seen that before? It didn’t work for my father and there was no way this fool was getting away with it.

“You heard. You and I both know that stomach of yours is feeling a load better since I fixed your leg.”

His eyes flickered along with his aura. He was freaked. I damn well wanted him to be.

“I give you another chance at living and you repay me by neglecting the one person I care about most?”

He tried shaking off my comment and rested his hands on his gun belt. “Thought she was a doctor.”

“I don’t give a damn what you think she is or isn’t.” I stood up to my full height. He looked like he wanted to hide. “She’s a human being and you are a crappy man.”

He had the good grace to lower his eyes. Yeah, he’d been wandering around in a bitter, terrified state for heaven knows how long but he was fine now, and there were no more excuses.

“I get that you been through hell,” I said. “I get that you faced how human you are.”

“Alright . . .” He held up his hands. “Alright . . . I’m sorry.”

“Martha is gonna bring her food from now on,” I told him. “We’re gonna make sure she’s okay. I’m gonna prove to you that she had a very good reason for shooting that guy.”

He sighed. “Doubt that you will. I saw the smirk on the guy’s face before she shot him.” He shrugged. “And Brad pretty much said that she was shooting at him.”

“At him?” I was pumping with fury. The guy needed to be pummeled with something large and spiky.

“Yeah. He was standing behind him. It’s not like they have been friendly.”

I snorted out my exasperation through my nose. “Are you freaking kidding me?” My voice filled the cell and my temper was close behind. “She proved her point to him the night before by cracking his wrist. Why the hell would she go and shoot him?”

McKinley didn’t know what to say but I did.

“You always listen to the bullies in your town?”

His eyes locked on mine. A flash of anger rippled through them. I stepped forward. The fury and worry mixed into something potent. “You think it’s okay for a man to touch a woman who don’t want him to?”

“No.”

I took another step. His anger changed to fear. “No? Are you sure? ’Cause I didn’t see nobody having a quiet word with him for his actions.”

McKinley scowled. “Look here—”

“Treat her like the hero she is.” There was gonna be no messing on this. “Martha will bring her food between my visits.” I fixed him with a glare. “I’m gonna go see Brad Jewel and if I so much as get a sniff off you or your deputies, you’ll get why you really don’t wanna see me mad.”

With that I planted a kiss on Renee’s forehead. “I’ll be back, promise . . . don’t leave me . . . please,” I whispered to her.

I turned and marched out of the cell. Brad Jewel had better hope he could apologize faster than he could run because I was all set to impale him on something sharp.

  

IT WASN’T HARD to find Brad. He was nursing a beer at the bar in The Ice Cooler. Not surprising, the dimly lit place was his. Pictures of barely dressed women were on the walls. Old fashioned and on tin or something. Sports gear was next to truck memorabilia. A large TV screen hung from the ceiling at one end of the wooden bar and I spotted Brad glued to some sports show. The guy on the door tried to put his arm out to stop me but I was in too bad a mood to let him bar my way. He ended up rubbing his yanked arm as I stormed over to the sneering piece of crap.

“You want to join your friend in the cells?” he asked.

I grabbed hold of the back of his stool and spun him around so hard he gripped the wooden bar just to stop from flying off. I could smell the stale beer on his breath and it only made me want to wring his neck more. The barman fled. The swinging door behind the bar clattering in his wake. 

“You been lying about her,” I growled. “You think it’s funny to go around targeting women?”

Something in my brain said, “Uh oh.” I still had issues from my experience back in Oppidum and right now they were not only roaring to the surface, they were threatening to break free. Thing was, I never got mad. I was just not one of those people who possessed a short fuse. It took something pretty damn crappy to get me raging but when I did, it was not something most folk liked to witness.

“Where will it stop?” I asked, seeing his pupils shrink as his fear billowed from him. “Next time a lady doesn’t want to look at your sorry ass—”

“Leave it!” a voice called.

I glared at Simon as he and Mark stepped into the bar.

“You ain’t nothing but a coward,” I snapped at him. “You can’t even admit that you seen everything.”

“I didn’t see a thing,” he protested but his aura jumped a mile. “I swear.”

“Aeron . . .” Mark began.

“No,” I said, turning back to Brad. “I ain’t done. He is saying that she tried to shoot him.”

“What?” Mark sounded as angry as I felt. “Brad?”

“So,” Brad said.

He laughed in my face.

Not clever.

I leaned over him.

He stopped. “She asked for it. Besides, I was right there next to the guy.”

“No you weren’t,” Mark snapped. “You were nowhere near.”

Brad went to push me out of the way. He was a lot weaker than me but his hand touched my arm . . .

 

Stupid dumb bitch thinks that she can do that to me. She’s lucky that I looked at her, stupid, ungrateful—

“Hey, you going to the bar?”

Simon, you smell like fish all the time. What do you wash your crap in?

“Yeah, where else.” Not like there’s a lot going on in this stupid place.

“Mark, you coming?”

Mr. Perfect? Drink in the day, oh come on, the guy is wetter than my mother.

“Nah, heading to the café though.”

Oh, look. It’s the ungrateful bitch. “Hey Ice Queen, where’s your knight?” If it weren’t for the freak, I would have taught your pretty face a lesson.

Bang.

Bang.

Save me! Oh God, I don’t want to die, please save me . . . I promise I won’t gamble anymore, I promise . . . Where’s the gun? . . . Help!

 

My roaring laughter made Brad yank his hand away. The guy was pathetic.

“You scared of a little gunfire . . . Braddy.”

He glared at me for using the name his beloved, overbearing mother called him.

I leaned in, gripped him by his collar, and glared into his eyes. “The freak here will rip your head off the next time you say a damn thing about her.”

He nodded. I shoved him back. His fear so clear to everyone now that Mark’s grin lit across his face even though he was trying to stop it.

“I know now,” I said, leaning in to glare at him. “Not. Another. Damn. Word.”

With that, I turned on my heels and stomped out of the bar, heading for the café. Putting one Jewel in his place made me feel better but I hoped Martha could help me look after Renee until I figured out if the guy really had a gun like a few people thought. What had really happened and who was this guy anyway?

  

I GOT TO the café, and it seemed like a few folks had already gotten word about my threatening Brad. It was funny how news in such a small place travelled so fast, even faster than it had taken me to walk the distance from the bar.

The culprit of the gossip was the barman who must have gone into the café to get Mark and Simon, and I was pretty sure, by my experiences in Oppidum that by now, there was probably a fire breathing dragon involved.

Martha hurried over to me with her eyebrows so knitted together that I was sure her brow would permanently crease that way.

“What happened? I heard you punched Sheriff McKinley and threatened to kill Brad?”

Small town assumption vindicated.

“Nope,” I said. “But I told him that I weren’t too happy with his treatment of . . . well . . . Serena.”

Martha nodded, her gaze glued to my face as if I would crack and tell her that I really did punch McKinley. “She’s not good?”

“She ain’t been eating or drinking nothin’ and they just left her like it.” I flexed my hand, still feeling the anger thudding right to my fingertips. “I told him she deserves better and that she needs proper feeding.”

“I’m happy to help there.”

All I could do was blink at her for a second. I wanted to wrap the woman in another bear hug. “I was hoping you’d say that. It’ll help her, if she knows there’s somebody there.” I tried to return the smile that Martha was shooting my way but I felt tired all of a sudden. “She ain’t talking, she ain’t responding but if you feed her . . . help her . . . she’ll take it.”

“You can count on me—”

“Who do you think you are?”

I felt Grace Teller’s anger before I heard her voice. Her aura was a yucky green. I pretty much knew she didn’t like me all that much before but now . . . Wow, the cold coming from her was worse than outside.

“You have no right to come in here and threaten people!”

“Grace—” Martha started.

Grace shook her off. “It’s not James’s fault that your friend is . . . is a . . . a nutcase.”

I folded my arms. Who was this James? Her anger should have made me angrier, should have made me lose it but something odd happened instead, I laughed. “Nutcase? Is that the best you can come up with?”

Grace took a moment and blinked a couple of times as I continued to chuckle at her. As vicious put-downs went, that was the dumbest I’d heard.

“Assaulting people is funny to you?” she demanded, opening up the conversation to the rest of the fixated café. “Who will you attack next, huh?”

Now that was almost like being back home.

“Get a life.” Whatever her motives, I really didn’t care and so I turned back to Martha. “Will you be able to take . . . Serena . . . her favorite?”

“Of course—”

“I’m talking to you!”

Thud.

Grace kicked me in the back of the leg. She had on those heavy snow boots.

The doorbell jingled. Simon and Mark. They froze, as the entire café did. The doctor dribbled coffee down himself.

I clenched my jaw and turned, slowly, to look at the wide-eyed woman cowering from me.

“You want to tell her, Mark?” My voice was eerily calm.

“Grace,” Mark said in the kind of tone that parents used to speak to children who were being dumb. “Aeron went to see Brad because he’s spouting a load of lies, like always.”

I noticed the irritation in his voice and wondered how many other people in the town felt the same way.

“He wouldn’t do that,” Grace protested, arms folded, pout on her glossy lips and a scowl that made her scraped back hair shift on top of her head.

She was dumber than I thought.

Mark sighed and shot a glance at Simon. “Grace, he’ll tell you whatever he can to get you.”

“That’s not true,” she said but her resolve sounded shaky to me. “He wouldn’t . . . he just wouldn’t.” She glared at me and her scowl grew, her hair jumping as she did so. “Besides, she,” she poked me in the stomach with a sharp nail, “hit James.”

I looked down at where she’d prodded.

Grace snapped her finger away and rubbed it as she stared wide-eyed at my stomach. Did she think it would be anything less than rock hard?

“James?” Still that odd, calm but not so calm tone came out.

I flexed my biceps. Grace raised her eyebrows. Yeah, they were bigger than her thigh.

“Who is James?”

“Sheriff,” got fired back at me from all directions.

“Why in blackbear would I hit McKinley?” I unfolded my arms, making Grace flinch. Her eyes lingered on my biceps. “He’s an idiot sure, but I ain’t got no need to hit the guy.”

“Liar!” She launched herself forward. Drew back her hand. I caught it before it was even half raised . . .

 

“Hey, Grace!”

Oh, Marie, thank heavens you understand. I just don’t know how I get up in the morning. Why can’t I just forget the dumb oaf?

“Marie, did you talk to Hal?”

Why woman? Why don’t you just tell him that you love him. I don’t see it myself, I mean look at him. He’s a weird little man. Besides he can’t even cook his own food. You’re better than some fifties housewife.

“How are you today? Did the doctor give you anything . . . you know . . . to help?”

“Oh, Marie, there’s nothing that can make it better. Mamma says it’ll just take time but it gets worse every day.”

“The least he owes you is an explanation. He said anything at all?”

No, he never says a word. He won’t even look at me. How can he go from wanting to marry me to forgetting I exist? Maybe it’s her. He’s been silent for months then she shows up and he stares at her like she’s an angel. Ugh, I hate her. Who gets that tall anyway?

OUCH . . .

“Hey, watch where you’re going!” Damn tourists, if it wasn’t for the hotel I would have them shot, every last one. “Don’t say sorry then!”

Idiot.

“You should tell James. He could have hurt you.”

Oh, ouch . . . my side. What did he have in that coat anyway? Probably a bottle of something or tools. He’s scruffy enough to be one of those contractors.

“Go on, Grace . . . Maybe he’ll see sense then.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Okay, I’m just going to—”

Bang.

Bang.

“James!” Oh please be okay. “James!”

“I’m fine, Grace. Go get the doctor—” He’s looking at me. He’s worried. “Please, Grace . . . just get the doctor.”

Doctor, right . . .

 

I let go and Grace rubbed her throbbing hand. I knew that I’d probably half crushed it with the vision. I didn’t know what to think. She had bumped into the same guy too and there was something hard in his jacket . . . or waistband.

“Simon,” I said, turning to him. “What did you see? Please, tell me.”

“I didn’t see a thing.” He shrugged and made a break for the door again. The bell jingled as he fled and I stared at the open/closed sign as it flapped in the breeze. What was wrong with him?

“Mark, will you walk Aeron home?” Martha said before patting me on the arm. “You need to rest up . . . I’ll take dinner to her and Evan is itching to help.” She squeezed my arm once more. “She needs you strong.”

I nodded, jarred by the vision and confused by Simon’s continued denials. That was three times now.

“And as for you, Madam,” Martha snapped at Grace in the kinda motherly tone that made most kids run for cover. “You have caused enough chaos for one day.”

Grace burst into tears and fled from the café, Marie hot on her heels.

I met Mark’s gaze and he shrugged. “They’re even more of a mystery to me.”

“Sometimes I wonder if I’m a woman at all,” I mumbled as we headed out of the café.

  

THE SUN WAS setting in a big orange-and-pink display bathing the well-trodden snow with dabs of color as we trudged our way back to the cabin. “I don’t think I have ever once wailed like that.”

Mark grinned at me. “I’d say that means you’re sane.”

I laughed harder than I should have but Mark had no idea how ironic his words were. I thumbed behind at the café. “How come you don’t have one of those crazies nagging on at you?”

Mark smiled. “I do. My wife is more of the active type and she flies all over the country.” His thoughts headed off somewhere into memory as we strolled down the road. “She’s a regular guy,” he said with a smile. “Taught me how to change the oil on the truck but don’t tell anyone.”

“What does she do?”

“Joanne?” He kicked the snow. “She coaches ice hockey.” He looked up with a crooked smile. “Used to be a goalie.”

We turned off the main street and up the wooded lane to the cabin. “That how you met?”

He nodded, brushing the snow off the tree branches as he walked. I got the flash of him as a boy trying to reach up and do the same. “I played for a good while in the NHL . . . Retired a couple of years back to a simpler life but Joanne . . .” He kicked the snow again, his floppy brown hair whipped into his eye. “She lives it still.”

“Guess that’s hard,” I said. “Being without somebody you love so much.”

We trudged up the steps to the cabin in silence. The clomping of boots mingled with shrill birdsong. The smell of damp wood filled my nostrils and almost took me back to Nan’s cabin. It was one of my favorite smells. For a second, I was back there with Nan and Renee, listening to the waterwheel churn. 

An oddly calm feeling rustled through the snow-filled trees, drawing me back, and I shoved my hands in my pockets. That feeling. I scowled up at the sky. What else was gonna happen?

“Aeron. Pay no attention to my idiot cousin, okay?” Mark leaned against the wooden rail as I watched him, the walls slipping away in front of my eyes as the truth fell like glitter from his lips. “Brad, he’s a nasty piece of work. He wants anything that someone else has. He’s always been the same.”

“Why?”

“Him and his kid brother, Seth.” He wandered to the snow-covered swinging bench and slumped down onto it. “They drive their parents crazy. They weren’t all that spoiled . . . at least no more than me.”

“The temper?” I asked.

Mark sighed. “Not from their parents. I mean, ah . . . their dad is a surgeon and commutes from Denver and their mom is . . . well . . . just the sweetest woman on two legs.”

The rough feel of my jeans against the back of my hand pinched as I leaned on the wall to study him. Mark had run the whole situation over and over in his mind, I could see how wearily it churned around him like years of deliberation had worn away at his zest for life. It was the first time I’d seen just how tired he really was.

“Did something happen to them?” I asked. “Did they lose a dream or maybe get hurt?”

Mark shook his head. “Thing is, Brad was like it as a kid. He’d thump Seth just for looking at him. His parents didn’t know what to do with him.”

“Ah, so Seth’s attitude comes from his brother.”

“No doubt,” Mark said, leaning onto his knees. “Last year or so though, Brad has been worse . . . been . . . well, I don’t know . . .”

“Brooding?” My senses swirled with what I’d picked up from him. “Are you sure his dad doesn’t hurt him?”

Mark looked at me with a frown etched across his handsome features, and I smiled to try and show him I wasn’t judging just listening.

“I was never there twenty-four-seven but no.” He shook his head to emphasize it after a moment or two. “Their dad dotes on them.”

“So Brad is just a violent jerk then?” I asked. My voice sounded quiet even to my own ears. I’d missed out on the signs before, had I done so this time?

“His father is forcing him to enlist,” Mark said. “I talked it over with him last week . . . the whole family did. Brad is still young enough to be let in.”

“Bet he’s real happy with that.”

“He doesn’t know yet.” Mark leaned back and closed his eyes. He looked so much older than when I’d first seen him now. Life had weathered him. “God help us when he does.”

“Probably best you should keep him away from Grace.”

Mark opened his eyes. He frowned as though he wanted to shake off my observations but then he nodded. “If there’s one man he wants to tear apart most, it’s James.”

Jealousy would do that to a guy.

“What will you all do with Seth?”

“There’s not much I can do. He’s still in high school and his dad is convinced that he may grow out of it once Brad is gone.” Mark got to his feet. The sudden burst of energy from him startled me. “Sorry. I gotta go or I’ll sleep right there.”

He offered his hand and I knew that now was the right time so I stepped forward and hoped I didn’t end up in a heap on the wood.

 

Joanna, wish I could talk to you. Wonder if you got there safe. You should have touched down hours ago. Oh great, Brad . . . hope the service straightens you out or you’ll end up serving time. I should have done something, should have done anything . . . why didn’t I see it?

Same reason Joanna doesn’t see a damn thing. If she was having an affair it wouldn’t be so bad but having her love a damn puck more than me . . . Dammit.

“Mark, you coming?”

I get why you want to drown yourself, Simon, but what hardship has that idiot ever faced? It’s not even noon.

“Nah, heading to the café though.” At least line your stomach. I don’t want to have to pull your sorry ass up off the floor, again. Who is Brad sneering at now? Serena? What is it with him and blonde women?

“Hey, Ice Queen, where’s your knight?”

“Hey, Brad . . . how’s your paw . . . heard Ice Queen showed you her moves.”

Hal, shut up. You have taken one beating, just learn to back off.

“You want me to fix that face of yours, hillbilly?”

Hillbilly? Brad you are the biggest idiot I’ve ever met.

“You want me to slam your ass in a cell?”

What is that guy doing? No—”Down!”

Bang.

She turned. Gun Raised. Fired.

Bang.

“Stop wailing, man!” Where was the other bullet? Where, what?

 

Mark gave me a quick hug and headed off down the steps. I watched him, replaying the vision over and over. He’d only seen Renee hit the guy with a bullet, only one bullet. Two shots, one bullet and I felt exhausted. I headed into the cabin with one idea only . . . sleep.

  

I CURLED UP onto the sofa ready to snooze with Blob. He had decided that sleeping next to my feet was a good place. He was weirder than I could cope with at that moment so I just went with it.

A knock at the door stole any chance of peace. I got a disinterested huff from Blob as I swept my feet through his icy coldness.

“Comin’.”

The knocks got louder this time. They were nervous and it made me feel all jittery before I’d even opened the door.

“Simon?”

He nodded, looked around the darkness as if somebody could be following him, and rubbed his nose with his hand. “Can I come in? I won’t stay long, it’s just—”

“Sure.” I stepped out of his way and he eyed the room as if he was looking for cameras. “Can I help?”

“See, I don’t want any trouble,” he said. His tangled black hair was curly, his gruff beard in patches. “I’ve seen enough trouble.”

“At sea?” I asked, getting a jolt of his panic as response. “I heard from Mark that you served.”

He rubbed the tip of his nose. The guy was as weather beaten as it got. I was pretty sure from his energy that he was not much older than me but boy, did he look a lot older.

“It’s money,” he said. “Dad did the same . . . Navy . . . For a boy who’d never seen the sea before, it was an adventure . . . see the world . . . money.”

“I guess it’s pretty hard though?”

He nodded, wringing his salt-worn mitts-for-hands in front of him. “I lost a guy . . . a buddy . . . storm . . . wave just smashed him off the deck.” He hugged himself, looking like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Don’t know why I’m telling you this.” He shook his head. “Just . . . can’t get it out of my mind.”

If there was one person who knew survivor guilt as Renee would call it, it was me.

“I lost somebody close to me once . . . I blamed myself until it tightened a noose ’round my whole life.”

I wasn’t a doctor but I hoped that how I’d scraped through it could help him.

“Thing is, nothin’ can bring your buddy back. You can stand there and watch him die until it drives you crazy but it changes nothin’.”

“Should have been me,” Simon said. “I should have been where he was . . . Should have made sure he had his lifeline attached. It was my job but he said he’d go.”

“Then maybe you owe him enough to stop drowning in liquor and take the chance you’ve been given?”

He glared at me first and I got that I was being blunt but I’ve learned that deep pain makes folks, and that includes me, blind to everything but its suffocating walls. Pain, doubt, fear in my eyes are the dark that tries to suck the light right out of their victim like vampires. I prayed I was throwing the guy a lifesaver and socking one to the dark at the same time.

“Maybe,” he mumbled and squeezed himself tighter. “I can’t go back.”

“That why you won’t go up against Brad?”

Simon nodded.

“He giving you money or somethin’?”

His shoulders slumped as he let go of the secrets that were eating him from the inside out. “He owes me money from back when we were dumb kids . . . bailed him out . . . I called in the favor.”

“He paying up?”

Simon met my eyes and he didn’t need to tell me “no” out loud.

“Tell you what,” I said. “How ’bout we just shake on it and you don’t have to tell me nothin’. That way you ain’t betraying Brad.”

“I was next to the wall on the left,” he said. “I was over from the other two ’cause I was trying to tie my damn shoe lace.”

He laughed through his memory.

“I was so hungover that it took me a couple of minutes. Mark and Brad didn’t even notice.”

I pointed to the breakfast bar but Simon shook his head. I thought he wanted to say his piece and go but I didn’t want him to think I was throwing him out.

“The guy your friend shot looked up at her . . . His eyes were so cold, you know?” He rubbed his arms. “He called her something . . . I saw his mouth move but I couldn’t hear.” Frowning, he stared down at the floor. “Next thing I know there’s a load of brick dust flying at my head.”

“Brick dust?”

Simon shoved his hands in his pockets. “Second time I nearly got killed . . . freaked me out . . . you know?”

My heart was way ahead of my brain and was booming away in my chest before I made the connection. “You think he shot at you?”

“No,” Simon said. “I think he shot at her but she was faster.”

“Can I touch you?” I asked and Simon’s eyebrows disappeared up into his hair almost. “I mean . . . Look . . . I . . .”

“You one of those people who sees things, like Joyce.”

I opened and closed my mouth. “Joyce?”

“Yeah,” he said. “Woman told me not to go back to sea . . . didn’t listen . . . she’s always right.”

“Joyce . . .” My brain had overtaken my heart and both of them seemed to be competing in a sprint. “Two shots . . . she saw it!”

“Most probably,” he said. “You aren’t as manic as her.”

I shrugged. “I had a lot of help.” Had I? Sure Renee had been there and Nan had left me her letters and visited but why wasn’t I as wired as she was?

“I don’t see the future,” I told him. “But I can see what happened if you let me . . . I could help stop the guy . . . save her . . . if you help me.”

He held out his hand. “Least I can do.”

 

“Mark, You coming?” Hope so . . . Maybe you can talk some sense into Brad. I just want my money . . . I need the damn money!

“Nah, heading to the café though.”

I got my reasons for drinking . . . why can’t you see that. Oh God, there’s Joyce . . . I can’t face her . . .

“Gotta tie my shoelace.” Just try not to look at her, at Charlie. I’d give anything to bring him back. Wish I could make it alright. Wish I could have swapped places. Joyce was right . . . why didn’t I listen. Every mother has a right to protect their child. My fault . . . all my fault.

“Hey, Ice Queen . . .”

Who is that guy, what is he saying. Is that French? “Lady, I think you should get inside—”

Bang.

Bang.

Shit, the guy nearly took my head off . . .

“Down!”

Whoa, she hit him . . . She had a gun.

“You okay?” Come on, up, that’s it . . . gotta get you inside. “Charlie!”

“Coming! Out of the way, Hal!”

“Told you she was a lunatic . . . Screw loose.”

Come on, you gotta move, the guy could get back up. “Are you hurt?” No blood. Thank God there’s no blood. “Let’s get you inside.”

Where’s Charlie? “She’s unharmed. You got it?”

“I got the gun, Simon . . . Sheriff . . . you coming?”

 

SIMON LEFT WITHOUT another word as I paced around in a crazy circle until Blob got so mad that he pushed a stool over, and I jumped and squealed like a little girl.

“What you do that for?” I barked, but judging by how dizzy I was when I tried to glare at him, he’d done me a favor.

“I can see the guy’s face,” I told Blob. “I can see his mouth moving but I can’t hear what he said.” I ran my hand through my hair. “He shot at her though . . . What do I do with that?”

Blob sat on the breakfast counter beside me. “Find out who I am?”

I felt a wave of guilt add to the growing tide of frustration and panic, all of which sent me to do one thing.

“You spend a lot of time doing that,” Blob remarked as I headed to the bench. “Why?”

“Helps me think.” I wasn’t even in workout clothes but I didn’t care. “McKinley is the guy we think killed you, right?”

“Right.”

An idea formed in my head and it made me smile. “You’d like to scare the living daylights out of a guy like the one who killed you?”

“You don’t know who it was.”

I started my reps. “No, but I know the type . . . bullying people . . . hurting people.”

Blob was now floating in front of me. “I’m listening.”

“Thought you might. There’s a boy called Seth who really needs to be . . . enlightened.”

Blob was well and truly on my side and I told him my plan. He vanished with a pop. I lay back on the weight bench in between sets and my eyelids grew heavy and the last thing I heard was my own snoring somewhere in the distance.