Chapter Three

MICHAEL BLINKED at Tess several times, wondering if he was dream­ing about her, just as he’d dreamed about Emma.

Then she opened her mouth as if to speak to him, but her teeth chat­tered instead. She was not only real, she was freezing.

He swore out loud and reached for her, deciding he didn’t care whether or not she feared his invasion of her space. He grasped her arms and pulled her into house with him, gasping, “My God, Tess, you’re freezing.”

She wore a different tee shirt than she’d worn this morning, but her arms were still bare. Her skin was ice-cold and covered with goose bumps. Once he had her inside, she shivered uncontrollably.

“He keeps f-f-following me,” she stammered.

His grasp still on one of her arms, he pulled her through his dark­ened house toward the bathroom. With the sudden flip of the switch, his bathroom filled with light that hurt his eyes, but he ignored it as he took in the woman before him.

She still shivered, and her teeth still chattered. Her face was as pale as the bodies on the slabs in his cooler, and her lips were slightly blue.

When he glanced down, he saw her nipples clearly through her wet shirt and did his best to ignore them. Then he let go of her just long enough to turn on the warm water to fill the tub. “Who’s following you? When did you notice them? Did they follow you home from my house?” If his heart wasn’t already pounding from finding her on his doorstep terrified and cold, it would have started pounding at the thought of someone stalking her.

“The m-m-man . . . the man f-f-f-from m-my vision.”

Michael stopped short. If the idea of someone stalking her didn’t scare him enough, this sent his heart into skids. “What? You’ve seen him? Did he follow you here? Is he still out there? Did you call Jake Williams? Never mind, I’ll call him.” He looked around, half expecting to find a man coming into the bathroom with them. What could he use for a weapon? The toilet plunger?

She shook her head. “It’s not l-l-like that. I saw him when I tried to s-s-sleep. He was in my d-d-dreams, just like in the v-v-visions I have when I t-t-touch a dead p-p-person. But it went f-f-further than that. It continued when I was a-a-a-wake. Or at least when I t-t-thought I was a-a-awake and thought h-h-he was in my room. But t-t-then I went back to his h-h-house. I can’t d-d-describe it. I don’t e-e-even understand it. It’s n-n-never happened like this b-b-before. It’s l-l-like I’m connected to him s-s-somehow.”

Michael bit his tongue before he swore again or started yelling at her for not calling him. Absently, he reached out and closed the bathroom door and locked it—just in case. “Let’s take care of one thing at a time. Like getting you warm.” It gave him something to do besides take her in his arms or shake her for not calling him or Jake. But this wasn’t the time for recriminations. He needed to get Tess warm. “Get in the tub,” he instructed.

She looked at the tub as if she’d never seen water before.

“You can leave your clothes on,” he said. “Just take your shoes off.”

She still didn’t move.

He raked a hand through his hair. “Hell, Tess, I think you’re in shock. I’ll take you to the hospital and then call Jake.”

“No!” she suddenly objected, but she didn’t look away from the wa­ter. “I’ll be all right.”

“Yeah, right,” he muttered. “Given the fact that you’re paler than the victims I see everyday, I’d say you’re right as rain,” he said sarcas­tically. “I’m going to touch you, and I don’t care if you don’t like it. I don’t care if it invades your personal space.” What he really wanted to do was strip off both their clothes, climb into the tub and warm her with his body heat as well as the water. It would be the best and quickest way to keep her from suffering from hypothermia. But he knew he couldn’t chance it. Right then she was too terrified, too vulnerable.

So with his hands on her shoulders, he moved her to sit down on the closed commode. She didn’t fight him. She didn’t try to move away from him, either. One after another, he slipped off her running shoes and her socks, both of which dripped on the bathroom tile. “How did you get here?” Since he didn’t dare pull her close, he did the next best thing to keep her coherent. He forced her to talk to him.

“I drove.”

“You got this wet and muddy driving over here? What did you do? Drive with the top down on your car?” He reached over and felt the temperature of the water in the tub. Perfect. He turned it off.

“I f-f-f-fell a few times.”

At least her teeth weren’t chattering as hard as they had been.

“Getting to my front door?” He helped her to stand, and she fol­lowed his lead without question. “Step in.”

She did as he instructed as she said, “I f-f-fell once when I g-g-got out here.”

“Sit down.”

She did as he instructed and said, “It’s h-h-hot.”

“It’s not that hot, and it will warm you up.” The water sloshed and got his shirtsleeves wet.

“It b-b-burns my knees.”

“Your knees?” She wore jeans, so he couldn’t see her knees.

“I’m sure t-they’re skinned.”

Her words grew stronger, and he knew the water was warming her. In a few minutes, she’d be strong enough that he could leave her alone and go make her a hot cup of strong tea with sugar—lots of sugar.

“You skinned you knees when you fell getting to my front door? As soon as you’re warm and you have on dry clothes, I’ll take a look at them. I’m sure I have some antibiotic cream somewhere.”

Her next words nearly stopped his heart, and they were twice as fright­ening because her teeth were no longer chattering.

“I fell twice at his house.”

Michael touched her chin gently and turned her head so she could meet his gaze. He had to force himself to breathe, as he asked hoarsely, “What did you say, Tess?”

“I fell at his house.”

The flatness of her voice was just as frightening as her words. And if the warm water didn’t help with the shock he felt filling her, he would take her to the hospital, whether she wanted to go or not.

“Did you really go to his house?” Michael could barely breathe. There was suddenly a vice squeezing his chest.

“Yes. I dreamed about it. I saw the number, and I saw the street. I saw his garage. It’s big—big enough for him to park his van or truck or whatever he drives right inside, and he can drag or carry his victims into the house with no one seeing them.”

Michael forced a painful breath past the lump in his throat. Then he forced out words as well, as he clinched his fists to keep from grabbing her arms and really shaking her this time. “Tess, what the hell were you think­ing? You shouldn’t have gone there. Don’t you realize how danger­ous that was? Next time, just take a dull knife and stick it in my chest, all right?”

He raked his fingers through his hair to give his hand something to do before he punched the damned wall. It took every ounce of energy he had to keep his voice controlled and not scream at her for doing some­thing so stupid, so dangerous.

Her eyes were incredibly large as she stared up at him, looking as if she might cry. “Don’t talk about knives, okay?”

How stupid could he be? Michael wondered. The killer used a knife, and she’d not only seen what he did with it, when she’d touched the dead woman’s hand, she’d felt it.

He again fought the urge to punch the wall, but this time it was be­cause he was furious with himself. She was scared out of her wits, and she’d come to him for help. It was time he pulled himself together and acted like a professional instead of a jackass. “I’m sorry, Tess. What happened? Just tell me what happened.”

“I had to find out if I’d really seen where he lived. I had to know that it wasn’t all a dream, something my mind made up from lack of sleep or the fact that . . . you . . . you . . . kissed me. I’ve never had this happen before, and I couldn’t send Jake Williams on some wild goose chase when I might be suffering from an overactive imagination.”

“More reason to have called me or Jake—hell, anyone, even a neigh­bor—just to let someone know where you were and what you planned to do. God, Tess, don’t do anything like that again! Please prom­ise me you won’t do anything like that again.”

She stared at him with wide, fear-filled eyes. “You’re really con­cerned for me.” Her voice sounded so small, like a child who had just been sent to the principal’s office and scolded.

“Yes, I’m concerned. You’re damned right I’m concerned.” He re­fused to fall prey to her soft voice. He couldn’t. She had to realize she couldn’t again put herself in that kind of danger.

Michael took a deep breath and forced calmness into his body and his voice before he let his fingers rest on the softness of her cheek. “What if he had seen you?”

“He didn’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“He didn’t,” she insisted.

Michael swallowed down his lingering anger. “I’m going to go call Jake. Are you all right if I leave you alone for a few minutes?”

“I’m fine.”

She wasn’t fine, but she had a little more color in her cheeks and her teeth weren’t chattering any more. So he didn’t think she would fall over and drown if he left her. “While I go use my cell to call Jake, I’ll make you something warm to drink.”

“No coffee.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it. Then I’ll find you some clothes to wear.” He didn’t want to leave her. More than ever, he wanted to take off his clothes, climb into the tub with her and remove her clothes. Then he could hold her against him, skin to skin, body to body, to make sure she warmed up all over. But that would probably send her flying out of the tub and out the front door and he’d never see her again. “I’ll be right back.”

He took his hand from her cheek, gave her hand a small squeeze and moved away.

Hell, she looked so damned small and fragile in the water. He had no idea what was happening to her, but he decided right then and there that she wouldn’t experience it alone. He’d go through this with her, even if he had to do it with her kicking and screaming—which was a real possibility.

In the kitchen, he put a cup of water into the microwave to heat and then dialed Jake’s number. As the phone rang, he moved on to his bed­room where he managed to find some sweats that had a drawstring. Tess could clinch the waist and roll up the pants legs. He completed the ensemble with a pair of new white, thick tube socks.

He returned to the bath and found Tess standing in the tub, ready to climb out. As much as he would have liked to help her get out of her wet clothes, he simply set the sweats on the edge of the tub and pulled out a fresh towel. He also found the antibiotic cream in the medicine cabinet for her knees.

“Your tea should be ready by the time you’ve changed your clothes.” He stepped out of the room, leaving the door open a few inches so he would hear her if she called for help.

Tess waited until Michael was gone before she reached up and grasped the edge of her tee shirt to pull it over her head. She’d only been out of the warm water mere moments, but her wet clothing was already cold. At least now, she felt the cold instead of feeling numb. Tess fought down a shiver and quickly stripped, dried off and put on the sweats and socks Michael had brought in. A few minutes later, with her hair towel dried and her clothes tumbling in his dryer she stepped into Michael’s warm kitchen. The subtle, lingering scent of the sausage they’d had for breakfast touched her like the heat of a crackling fire.

“Feel better?” he asked. He leaned casually against the counter, a mug in his hand.

“Yes, much. Thank you.” She could tell by his clipped words, and the fact his knuckles were white as he gripped the mug, that he was still angry with her for her impulsive action despite his casual stance. That both irritated her and pleased her. She was used to being on her own, making her own decisions, but it was nice to have someone care about her safety.

“Here’s your tea.” He placed a second mug on the table and pulled out a chair for her. “Why don’t you sit down? Jake will be here in a half hour or so.”

Tess sat and reached out to grasp the cup of tea to warm her hands.

Michael, still holding his own cup, sat down across from her. “Care to tell me everything that happened or do you want to wait for Jake?”

Tess leaned forward, perched her elbow on the table and rested her chin on her hand. “So much of it runs together. I’m not sure where to start.”

“Just start at the beginning.”

Tess couldn’t ignore the way he watched her closely, nor could she stop herself from eyeing him. He was unshaven, and she knew she’d awakened him with her arrival. He looked ruggedly handsome with his unruly hair and sharp features, and she suspected he missed nothing with his piercing blue eyes. She watched him as he combed his fingers through his hair, and she wondered what his hair would feel like if he allowed her to do the same. She swallowed down a hot, sweet gulp of tea and ignored the burning in her throat.

“I was antsy after I left here. I thought I was just overtired. But it was worse after I got home. I didn’t understand, and I still don’t. I thought I was just—”

“Just what?” he prodded when her voice trailed off.

She hesitantly met his gaze. Then she licked her lips. “I thought I was feeling that way because of your kiss. It’s been a long time since I’ve been kissed. Touch for me is so . . . unique.”

“I’m sure it is.”

“Lips are exceptionally sensitive.”

“I don’t doubt it.” He sounded almost as if the kiss they’d shared was no big deal, as if he was just agreeing with her to be polite.

Tess searched for the right words to get her point across. “I don’t think you understand. Your kiss is still going through me, like an electri­cal current.”

“It is?”

“Yes,” she replied quickly. She had to lick her lips to bring some moisture to her mouth. And she still tasted him. “And I’m not telling you because it’s a bad thing. I’m telling you because it’s how I knew it was a safe thing.”

He nodded. “Okay,” he said slowly. “Go on. Explain how it’s a safe thing.”

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then afraid she might break the mug she held, she set it on the table. “First you need to under­stand that sometimes when I feel things, the feelings change as time goes on. It’s like the layers of an onion. Then ten minutes later, I might feel something deeper, something different. Anyway, I thought the antsy feeling I had was from your kiss. And as time went on, that zingy, electri­cal, good feeling from the kiss never changed.” Again she had to lick her lips. Her mouth was suddenly dry as a desert and her heart raced. She bit her lip absently and still the electrical current didn’t fade. “It just got stronger,” she let out in a whisper.

Then she cleared her throat and went on before he got the chance to interrupt. “Then my feelings did change, but the good feeling from the kiss didn’t. Suddenly, my house seemed uncomfortable or empty. I wandered around inside for a while, then I went outside and walked around the yard. I felt as if I was being watched or some­thing—something I can’t define. I still can’t put my finger on what I felt, and I can’t find the words to describe it.”

She paused and looked down to find that her hand was on the table, and his hand covered hers. She hadn’t even known he’d moved, nor had she been aware of his sudden touch. How could he do that? How could he touch her and elicit no reaction when even an innocent brush in a crowded elevator sent her heart into overdrive?

Tess took a deep, even breath, and let his touch warm her. His warmth mingled with the electricity that still flowed through her. It reminded her of lying on a beautiful sunny beach with only the softness of sand, the sound of waves, and the blue sky above.

“I was more than antsy,” she went on when he said nothing. She raised her gaze from their hands to his face. “I tried to read and couldn’t. I turned on the television and turned it off after about a minute. I felt frustrated, as if I was looking for something I couldn’t find. I laid down in my bed, then I got up. I took a shower, thinking that might relax me, but it didn’t. I finally settled on the sofa. The next thing I knew, I jumped up off the sofa. I thought he—the killer from my vision—was in my house. Only it wasn’t my house. It was my sofa in his house. The most horrible thing was, there weren’t five women tied to chairs any more. There were four. Two chairs, the one I’d been in and the one where the redhead had sat next to me were both empty. None of the women could see me. I kept screaming at them, but I had no voice. I tried to untie them, but I couldn’t. Something really strange happened then.”

She stared at the window behind him, watched the downpour of rain. Suddenly, he squeezed her hand and softly asked, “What happened, Tess?”

Tess had to force in a breath, and she brought her attention back to his face. His expression was so concerned that it brought tears to her eyes. She blinked back the moisture and said, “It was as if he saw me, really saw me, there, even though that had never happened before. I moved through his house to avoid him, and he followed me. I tried to break the windows to get out, but I couldn’t. They aren’t glass but some­thing else, something unbreakable. I continued to look for a way out, and he kept finding me. It was like this horrible game of hide-and-seek, and there was no place I could hide that he wouldn’t find me. I hid in the closet in his bathroom. I expected to find towels and washcloths, toilet paper and things like that, but instead I found rolls of tape and wire and strange things like that.”

Again her voice trailed off, and again he prodded her. “What hap­pened then?”

“I’m not sure. Suddenly, I was back in the living room on my sofa, and he couldn’t see me anymore. But I could see him, and I watched him drug the women, forcing them to swallow pills. When they were obvi­ously out of it, I watched him unbind them and then tie them back up once they were free of the chairs. He dragged or carried or led them to a van in his garage. I stayed there until I heard his van leave. Then I walked out his front door. That’s how I saw his house number and the street name.”

She looked deeply into his eyes wanting nothing more than to get lost in the ocean she saw there, the ocean where she didn’t have to face any of this horror. “I’ve never had a vision that followed me into my dreams. I jumped awake—I mean really awake this time—and I could have sworn he was in my house, as if he had followed me home. I looked in every room, and at the closet outside my bathroom—” Tess paused, remembering and shook her head as she ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. “I know this all sounds so crazy. It sounds crazy to me, and I’m the one who saw it.”

“And nothing like this has ever happened before?” Michael asked.

“No, but I swear to you, this really happened. You have to believe me.”

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. Just tell me what happened next. What about the closet?”

Tess let out another long breath. If Michael didn’t believe her, she didn’t know what she’d do. She had nowhere else to go, no one else to trust. Jake might believe her, would even follow up on any lead she gave him, but it was Michael’s safety and warmth she now craved. “I stood there for several minutes with my hand on the knob.” She had to pause to force down a swallow. “The door was open a few inches, like his had been. Only this door is never open. It’s a really close hallway and the door being open makes it almost impossible to get through. I was so certain that when I opened the door I would find him—or that I would at least find his rolls of tape and wire. But when I finally found the cour­age to pull it open, it was just my linen closet.”

She reluctantly slid her hand from beneath his, lifted her cup with both hands and took another sip of tea to warm her insides. She felt as if her teeth would start chattering again.

“But you still thought he was in your house?” Michael asked.

He sounded merely curious, and, thankfully, not as if he didn’t be­lieve her.

Tess nodded and sighed. “Yes. I felt him in every room, all around me.”

“Damn, that must have felt spooky as hell,” he muttered.

Tess set her mug back on the table, and when she put her hand down on the table again, Michael reached out without hesitation and took her hand in his. With his touch, she felt a storm of emo­tions— worry, concern, exasperation, and above all else, fear. But this time he didn’t reprimand her. “Spooky? It scared me to death. I couldn’t stay there.”

“So let me guess what happened next. This guy has terrified you, and instead of calling me or Jake, or just coming over here like you fi­nally did, you went looking for his house. It wasn’t enough that he scared you to death, you wanted to give him the opportunity to catch you, right?”

She ignored his sarcasm, sensing his underlying fear and knowing in­stinctively it was fear for her safety.

“Not exactly,” she replied. “I couldn’t get the image of being in his house, of watching him drug those women, out of my head. I slipped on my shoes and picked up my keys and ran outside. It was afternoon, and it was starting to rain. At first, I just drove aimlessly. Then it was like I picked up his feelings—or his essence—again. And suddenly there I was on South Lindell Street, standing out in the rain in front of his house, with the house number in gold stickers on his mailbox.”

He squeezed her hand. She again marveled at his touch. It felt like a lifeline. She shifted her hand so she could hold his tighter. His heat, his strength, grounded and warmed her. He said nothing, seeming to know she needed his touch, not his words.

Finally, she continued her story. “I have no idea how long I stood there in front of his house—which definitely is in need of paint­ing—while the world just grew darker and darker, and the rain came down harder and harder. Then I thought I had to know for sure. I had to see.”

“Oh, damn.” His words were little more than a breath. He covered his eyes with his free hand while he squeezed her hand again. “Tell me you didn’t go up to the house.”

“I did. I walked around. I looked in the windows.” Tess paused and shivered violently.

“Take a drink,” Michael instructed. He finally looked at her, hard. “If I didn’t have to let go of you, I’d get us something stronger than tea with sugar. I know I definitely need something stronger.”

Tess clung to his hand while she took a drink of her tea and let its warmth seep to her middle. But it couldn’t stop the chill that passed over her at the memory of the killer’s house. “When I looked through the windows, I saw the chairs where all the women were tied. I saw his living room. I saw into his bathroom and saw the closet where I hid from him in the dream. The only thing missing was my sofa.”

“And did you see him?”

Tess heard fear in Michael’s voice, and she had to clear her throat be­fore she could go on because she shared it. “No. He’s gone. He’s taken them somewhere else.” She met Michael’s gaze. “I think he felt me, Michael. He somehow knew I was there. I think that’s why he left.” She again shivered.

Michael reluctantly let go of her hand, stood and walked out of the kitchen. A moment later, he returned with a cotton throw, obviously from the living room. Gently, he wrapped the warm cover about her shoulders. His hands lingered on her arms as he settled it around her, the heat of them reaching her through the layer of cotton.

“Better?” he asked.

“Much, thank you.” This time it was her turn to reach out and take his hand while he stood gazing down at her. “I know what you’re think­ing.”

“Now you can read my mind?”

“It’s not hard to do. You’re very easy read, so you should never play poker,” she teased. Then she sobered and said, “You’re thinking I was stupid for not calling Jake Williams as soon as I saw the killer’s house in my dream.”

“Not stupid,” he corrected. “Foolish, maybe, and definitely care­less. I think you should have called Jake or me, or better yet, 9-1-1, as soon as you woke up and felt that the killer was in your house. Hell, if you thought anyone was in your house, you should have just gotten out of there. And you certainly shouldn’t have searched the house looking for him. What would you have done if you had found him hiding in your closet?”

“I don’t know. I guess I would have run then.”

Michael moved around the table and again sat down across from her. He didn’t hesitate to reach out to her and they held hands again. “It might have been too late for that.” He paused. “Tess, this man is danger­ous. What if he’d really been in your house? Or what if he’d still been at his house? What if he’d seen you or grabbed you? When I think that right now you could be tied to one of the chairs or worse . . . well, that scares the hell out of me. And if he had captured you, we wouldn’t have even known where to start looking for you.”

Filled with guilt, she looked down at her cup of tea. “I know. But the entire experience was so bizarre. Like I said before, I couldn’t seem to get a grip on what was real and what wasn’t. I needed to be sure about what I’d seen before I talked to anyone about it.”

He reached out and, with two fingers, gently lifted her chin, forcing him to look at him. “Yes, well, I’d hate for you to be dead sure. And you don’t have to do any of this alone. I’ve seen your ability. I’ve seen how you work. Please don’t shut me out. Let me help you determine what’s real and what isn’t.” His voice was calm and his words even, although they were still laced with a subtle hint of fear and concern.

“All right,” she agreed. “Especially since I’m not even sure what hap­pened or how. I just know it was so terrifying to think perhaps he could see me somehow. And I don’t even know if I can do it again. But if he could really see me, I think that sooner or later, he’ll simply know where I am.”

“Now that’s making me feel warm all over,” he muttered, but he re­fused to let her see how cold and terrified the idea left him.

“I just wish I knew how to do it again.”

“What?” Michael thought that until she did learn to control what­ever new ability this was, he might have to act like the killer and tie her to a chair in order to keep her safe.

“Well, if I could do it again, and I could control it, I could keep him from finding me or getting too close. Yet, I could lure him to where the police could catch him.”

“I certainly hope you’re right about keeping him from finding you. In the meantime, I hope Jake stops him before we have to worry about him getting close.”

She nearly jumped out of her chair as the peal of the doorbell rang through the house.