I huffed out a breath. “You’re forgetting that I have psychic powers. That’s how I do it. Not with hypnosis, but with my abilities. I’ll be the first to admit that you know how to hypnotize someone, but, in Sophie’s case, it was a bad idea. She’s fragile enough, and reliving that experience would have sent her off the deep end. If she hadn’t thought Brock was there, it would have.”
“What was that all about?” Dimples asked. “Did you make that up? I thought for sure I’d felt something.”
Willow silently agreed, but wasn’t about to say that out loud.
“Yeah. It seemed like the best thing for her at the moment.”
“What should we do now?” Dimples asked, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.
“I want to talk to the bartender and take a look at the videos. Maybe something will stand out.”
Willow stiffened. “But the chief won’t like that. I’m on the case. He doesn’t need both of us.”
“Don’t worry. He doesn’t have to know I’m helping. And I won’t ask to be paid for it either, if that’s what you’re thinking.” I knew that was exactly what she was thinking, and it grated that she was such a mercenary. “All we have to do to solve this case is find the person who sat with her at the bar. If you’re convinced it’s one of these men, why don’t you bring each of them into the precinct and let me help you with the questioning.”
Dimples glanced my way through the rear-view mirror. “Yeah… I should have thought of that in the first place.”
Willow sucked in a breath, stung that he’d dismissed her so easily. “What in the hell makes you think Shelby will figure it out? Just by questioning these guys, you think she’ll know who the killer is? That’s absurd.”
“Maybe,” he said. “But, as she’s already explained, it’s what she does. And before you say anything else, you’d better think long and hard about it.” His message was clear. If she said anything nasty about me, she was crossing a line.
Willow changed tactics. “If you say so. I’m sorry I said anything.” She shrugged. “We all want the same thing, so let’s not get all worked up over it. I’m sure, with our combined talents, we can figure this out.” She glanced over her shoulder at me. “I’m glad you’re here if it helps solve the case. We all want justice for Sophie. Let’s not forget that. An evil man did this, and he needs to be stopped. That’s the most important thing.”
She knew we had reached the point where we didn’t need her anymore, and she was clinging to whatever she could to stay on. She was even thinking that she’d talk to the chief, before either of us could, and make sure he knew she’d been an asset. Using hypnosis on Sophie had been helpful, and she’d make sure she got credit for that.
Oh please. Listening to Willow was giving me a headache.
Dimples did his best not to roll his eyes, but he wasn’t fooled either. “Okay. We’ll track these guys down and bring them in for questioning.” He glanced at Willow. “Do you have their addresses, and where they work?”
“I’m sure I can get them.”
“Okay, good.” He glanced at me through the rear-view mirror. “We’ll get all that information and set it up for tomorrow. Will that work?”
“Sure. Just let me know.”
He nodded, happy that we’d made some progress, even if it would have been much simpler if I’d been helping him. In fact, we’d probably have the killer in jail by now. That brought a smile to my lips, and Dimples did that little head-nod thing.
With that settled, now was my chance to ask Willow about the lost girl. “Hey Willow, remember the search for the little girl that went missing? You helped with that, right?”
Relieved to have something good to talk about, she preened. “Yes, that’s right. I’m the one who found her.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Of course.” She opened her mouth to talk, but quickly shut it, suddenly suspicious. Her eyes narrowed. “Why the sudden interest?”
“I just wondered if there was a search-and-rescue team and their dogs involved.”
“Oh. Yeah, they were there too.”
“I thought one of them found the little girl.”
Her breath caught. “Well… that’s not exactly how it happened.”
“Oh yeah? Then what was it… exactly?”
“I’m the one who told them where to look, or they never would have found her.” At my raised brows, she continued. “The search wasn’t going well, and we were losing daylight. That’s why my client, Carolyn Brinkley, asked me to help. We’ve known each other for several years, and it was her granddaughter who’d gone missing.”
She was thinking that Carolyn was a regular client, and came to her monthly for tarot readings. Carolyn believed in Willow’s psychic gifts, so it was a win-win.
“After I got there, I used my psychic abilities to pinpoint the little girl’s location. The search-and-rescue people followed my directions, and that’s how they found her.”
I nodded, but I wasn’t convinced. It probably had more to do with the dogs and their handlers than she let on, and she was taking all the credit. “So how do your psychic abilities work?”
With a pang, it hit me that I was treating her just like most people treated me. Did I want to go down that road? Yes… yes I did. I had to know the truth, and if that meant giving her a hard time, then so be it.
Willow shook her head, suddenly weary. “Of all the people in the world, I thought you’d understand.”
I sighed. “I totally do… but you do things differently from me. I just want to know how it works for you.”
“Well… most of the time, I give psychic readings. In this case, I used a toy the child loved. Carolyn thought I’d have better success if I went to the last spot little Ava was seen.
