stopped and listened to what he was saying. That’s when the pain started. I can tell you, I freaked out my grandmother’s friend. Told her where to find her missing insurance policy. She didn’t know if she wanted to kiss me or run from me. But I couldn’t control it back then. It was like if I didn’t get the words out, it would hurt even worse.”
“You were a kid.”
Cass stood, too agitated to sit anymore. She turned her back to him since it was easier to finish the story without looking at him. “It got worse. It seemed like everybody I came into contact with had someone on the other side. I tried to tell my grandparents what I was hearing and seeing. All they saw were the bruises. They thought I was purposely hurting myself. Then Gram got sick and things got worse. When she died, she wanted to tell him goodbye through me. I tried to explain it to him, but he just couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe me.”
“It was him, wasn’t it? Your grandfather who had you committed.”
Cass nodded. “I was sixteen when he sent me away.”
“I’m sorry,” he said to her back.
Cass smiled sadly. “Of course you are. Because there isn’t anything you can do to fix that.”
“I know and that sucks.”
She turned around and saw sincerity in his eyes. “I don’t want your pity,” she warned him.
“Okay.” In a second, the sympathy she’d seen in his eyes was gone, replaced with something that looked suspiciously like a smirk. “I make it a policy to never feel sorry for someone who drives a scooter.”
Cass chuckled softly and felt her insides shift a little in admiration of his attempt to lighten the mood. She really didn’t want to like him, but it was getting harder.
“I prefer to call it a minimotorcycle.”
“Whatever makes you happy. Back to last night. You said at first you thought it might be someone trying to make direct contact. I take it you changed your mind. And what about tonight?”
“I saw someone. Across the street. A figure in jeans and a bulky hooded sweatshirt. I couldn’t make out any features. But the way he just stopped and seemed to be looking right at me…He could have simply recognized me. I couldn’t really see him.”
“You think that’s who the monster was trying to make contact with?”
Cass didn’t know. It all sounded so strange, even to her, who had lived with this ability for as long as she could remember. “I know it seems far-fetched.”
“Let’s not talk about what seems far-fetched, okay. So you saw this monster through the night,” he stated as if trying to lay out the pieces to a puzzle. “When you were alone. That morning you found a dead body.”
“A block down the street. I woke up and knew something was wrong.”
“Then you see this thing again tonight, but this time there is a figure within view that catches your attention. What about the night before last?”
The night Lauren was killed. Of course he wanted to know. It was a sharp reminder about what he was doing here in the first place. She shook her head. “Sorry. Last night was the first I saw it.”
He nodded but didn’t comment. His eyes drifted away from her to a spot on the floor. “Are you going to finish your tea? I can warm it up for you.”
“No, thanks. I won’t sleep tonight. I really need to.”
“Yeah.” He sighed. “I know what you mean. Are you going to call Brody?”
His question took her off guard. “Why?”
“You saw someone who may or may not be connected to-at the very least-the murder this morning. I would think he’d want to know about it.”
“About a faceless figure across the street? Some crazed monster loose inside my head? I doubt it.”
“You don’t know that.” He eyed her suspiciously. “What’s the matter? Lover’s quarrel?”
“He’s not my lover,” she countered, probably a bit too emphatically. She felt a rush of heat in her face and was sure that he didn’t believe her. She didn’t care. The idea of speaking to Dougie again made the nausea from earlier return. No, she wasn’t going to call him. Not tonight. Not until she could forget what he’d done. “If you want to, you call him.”
“I will.”
“Can I ask you something about this morning?” she blurted before she could take it back.
“Okay,” he answered cautiously.
“When you touched me…”
“I’m sorry…”
“I’m not looking for another apology,” she stopped him. “I want to know if you…if you felt something. Through me. You reacted…There was a change in your expression…I’m making a mess of this.”
“You want to know if I felt some kind of presence? Like all of a sudden Lauren was standing behind me? Watching me and telling me to ‘get a grip’ in the way she used to be able to do with just a soft sigh? If I thought that or felt that then I would have to believe all that stuff I said I didn’t believe in, wouldn’t I?”
“I suppose.”
“Naturally I didn’t feel anything. I simply came to my senses.”
His eyes remained steady on hers, and it seemed that there were about a hundred different things left unsaid between them in that moment. She understood what he was trying to say, but it didn’t make her any happier to know that she’d been right about the change in her gift. Right about Dougie feeling the connection, too.
“I’m going to leave now. Are you going to be okay on your own?”
An idea occurred to her, one that she couldn’t believe she was even considering, but she asked him before she could stop herself.
“Do you want to touch me?”
The question clearly took him off guard.
“I’ll let you. You’ve been nice to me. At least tonight. You’re trying so hard to believe me and that means a lot. More than you know. I’ll do this. For you. As drained as I am I’ll let you touch me so you can feel her. So do you?”
“I do,” he said softly. “I do want to touch you. But not so that I can feel her.”
Cass let out the breath she was holding. His blue eyes held her completely motionless as the air around them became charged with tension and heat and…wanting.
“Go try to get some sleep, Cass,” he finally said. “I’ll be back shortly.”
“You’re not going to look for the person in the sweatshirt? He’s long gone by now.”
“I don’t doubt it, but I might take a look around the area anyway. Makes me feel like I’m doing something constructive. Like I’m not as completely useless as I know I am. I’ll need the key to your chain and the key to your apartment so I can ride your scooter back and leave it inside.”
“I’ll wait up.”
“No, you’ll be asleep in five minutes. The keys.” He held out his hand in a manner that suggested he was used to people doing what he asked. Another sharp reminder, she decided, of the kind of man he was and why she should be wary of him.
“You know it’s pink,” she told him with a little too much pleasure. “Bright pink.”
He grimaced. “Yes, I noticed.”
Cass smiled but quickly quashed it. She absolutely did not want to like him. Reaching into her jeans pocket she extracted her key ring. She saw the coffeeshop’s key and realized she would have to arrange to have it returned. The idea of job hunting the next day resurfaced and only made her that much more weary.
He took the key ring and listened while she pointed out what opened what. “Go rest, Cass. I’ll be back.”
She felt Spook and Nosey walk between her legs, rubbing against her. Glancing down, she saw that their faces were pinned on Malcolm, who was walking toward the door. She was sure she was imagining it, but they almost seemed disappointed he was leaving. If she were honest, she was a little disappointed, too.
“Oh, and the bike…” she started to warn him.
“The scooter?”
“Whatever. It shimmies a little if you go too fast.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Have you ever ridden a bike? Because if you don’t know what you’re doing and you crash…”
“I won’t crash.”
