‘What the hell are you looking at?’
Kassie jumped, startled by the angry voice. Coming to, she realized that she had been caught staring. Already heads were turning towards her, the man’s aggressive complaint echoing round the silent library.
‘I asked you a question.’
He was rising now, irritated and unsettled by Kassie’s scrutiny of him. Backing away, Kassie racked her brains for a suitable response, something to diffuse the situation, but all she could think of, all she could see, was this poor man choking to death on his vomit, even as he continued to grip the dirty syringe.
‘I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to disturb you.’
‘Too late,’ he countered, heading directly towards her.
Kassie’s eyes were drawn to his arms – his sleeves riding up to reveal track marks. Why had she been so stupid? He wasn’t relevant to her main purpose, so why had she stared at him? Alarmed, Kassie speeded up her retreat from the tatty community library. The guy looked unhinged and clearly meant business.
Immediately, Kassie hit something hard, knocking the breath from her. Disoriented, she froze, bracing herself for the young addict to launch himself at her. But to her surprise, he now backed away, returning swiftly to his seat. Confused, Kassie turned, to discover that she had collided with the sizeable frame of the library’s security guard. He was looking down at her unkindly, distaste writ large on his face.
‘I think it’s time you got your bony ass outta here, don’t you?’
Stumbling out into the light, Kassie sank down on to the library’s cold, stone steps. The burly guard had marched her to the exit, outlining what punishment awaited her should she attempt to return. He clearly didn’t like the look of her – Kassie could tell from his expression that he thought she was suffering from mental health problems, something that scared and disgusted him in equal measure. Adding a few pointed insults, he had launched her from the premises.
Chastened, Kassie had wanted to run, to put as much distance as possible between herself and the scene of her latest embarrassment, but instead she crumpled to the ground, careless of the reactions of passers-by or the undercover cops who no doubt loitered nearby. Resting her throbbing head on her knees, she closed her eyes and let the darkness engulf her.
Each morning she rose with renewed hope, somehow shrugging off the disappointment of the previous day. But almost a week had passed now, and she was finding it harder to maintain her optimism. She knew she stood on the edge of destruction, that there was not a second to waste, but her body was revolting against her, paralysed by fear and despair. And, as ever, there was no one to raise her up.
Her mother was hundreds of miles away. She had no friends to turn to. And she had been expelled from school for persistently cutting class – the formal, typed letter had been waiting for her on her return from the Detention Center. With nowhere else to go, she now spent her waking hours on the streets, conducting her fruitless search, retreating home only when she was too exhausted to continue. The few hours she spent in the family home were filled with fear and regret, a forlorn figure rattling around in an empty box. A week ago, she would have called Adam, sought out his company, but, of course, there was no question of doing that now.
Kassie rubbed her forehead roughly against her knee, willing herself not to cry. But her loneliness was total, her misery complete. She’d liked Adam, Faith too, yet she had destroyed them both. One had left this world, the other remained, suffering in ways that Kassie couldn’t bring herself to imagine. This was the wreckage of the lives she touched. In truth, it had always been this way. Wherever she went, disaster followed. The fact that her time was drawing to a close provided no solace – she had done more damage in fifteen years than most managed in an entire lifetime. This would be her legacy.
How strange life was. Two weeks ago, after she’d collided with Jacob Jones on North Michigan Avenue, she’d been full of purpose, determined to challenge her gift, to stare Fate down, to save the lives of those whose death she had foreseen. But now? She would raise her bones and continue her quest no doubt – what else could she do? – but it was more in hope than expectation. She’d clung to the idea that her involvement in these murders meant something, that she had a role to play. But perhaps, after all, she was just a chance witness to a killer’s pitiless cruelty? Maybe all this frenzied activity was the pointless thrashing around before the inevitable end?
Reluctantly, Kassie picked herself up off the cold steps. There was nothing she could do but carry on. She knew now, however, that she was doomed to fail.
Her time was up and she was staring down the barrel.