“What about them?”
“Would Detective Bisset be working on Abby’s case too? Do you think they’ve made a connection?”
“Oh yeah. Drew’s got Abby’s case too. He saw the connection immediately, but he doesn’t know anything about the study. Or I don’t think he does.”
“Meeting,” Baxter whispered. “You three should have another meeting.”
“Wednesday is two days away.”
“Right.”
“What’s that?” Toni asked. She sounded distracted. “A meeting?”
“Baxter was suggesting we meet, but I reminded him that—”
“We’ll see each other on Wednesday,” Toni said. “I already have the wine. I stole another couple of bottles from my cousin.”
“Do you think you can find out anything more about what the police think of Abby’s case before then?”
“I’ll try. I can tell my cousin she’s a friend of a friend. He’ll get why I want to know.”
“Okay. Have you talked to Megan lately?”
“No, why?”
“I was just curious if she’d managed to speak to Justin McCabe’s family.”
“Was she going to try?”
“I don’t know. Something about the way she talked about his parents made me think she might.”
“Well, you’re the psychic, so you’re probably right.”
Katherine glanced at Baxter, but his attention had already been caught by the crossword puzzle on the back of the newspaper. He hadn’t heard.
“Toni, I better go. I’ll see you on Wednesday.”
“See you.”
She ended the call and tossed her phone toward the other end of the couch. She watched her husband, who was studying the puzzle as if it contained the secrets of the universe. For the hundredth time, she considered telling him about her visions. About Toni and Megan. About why they’d become so close so quickly.
“Is that what you’re really afraid of? Your husband digging in and trying to make sense of you?”
How would her analytical man analyze the inexplicable? Would she become an aberration? Disparate data in his well-ordered life?
No.
Baxter was too essential to her. She needed him. Needed his regard and his respect as well as his love. He was the most secure anchor in her life.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Are you playing a game, Professor Pang?”
He turned and raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes. But nothing as interesting as you.” He set the newspaper to the side and slid his arm around her waist. “Did you have something else in mind?”
“I have an in-person study proposal I’d like to go over with you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. In the bedroom.”
Baxter stood up so quickly he almost knocked her off the couch.
Chapter 19
The next day was Tuesday, and Katherine didn’t have student hours, but she crowded into her cramped office with Keisha and Sydney, two of her grad students who were grading Intro to Cosmology essays while she tweaked her notes for her lecture on Thursday.
She didn’t only have female grad students, but since women were still an unfortunate rarity in their department, she tended to grab any random female postgrads if she saw them wandering in the halls and scoop them up for her own.
“Professor Bassi?” Keisha asked.
“Yes?”
“You’re married to Professor Pang, right? The math chair?”
“He’s a cochair, thank God, but yes. Why are you asking?”
Keisha and Sydney exchanged glances. “So he knew that girl who stabbed her boyfriend?”
Katherine’s stomach dropped. She knew that in a small college like Central Coast, the rumors had to be rampant, but it hurt to have a bright young woman like Abby be the center of this kind of speculation.
“I know Abby,” Katherine said. “She was Baxter’s grad student, and she came to our house on more than one occasion for student dinners.”
“Oh.”
Sydney said, “I’m so sorry about what happened. It’s just really weird. Everyone is talking about it.”
“I’m sure they are.” Katherine looked at Keisha. “And don’t feel bad for asking. It’s a very strange situation, and I’d prefer you speak to me rather than listening to rumors. But yes, Baxter and I both know Abby. She’s a wonderful person and I’m not sure what’s going on, but she’s one of the least violent people I know. We’re all hoping she and Mario make a full recovery.”
“I heard he almost died.”
“I don’t know about that, but I know he’s doing better now.” She tried to turn her attention back to her lecture, but Sydney and Keisha were still talking.
“That’s just so freaky, you know? Like, you’re just hanging out and then your boyfriend or girlfriend flips out and tries to stab you?” Sydney said. “It’s like… is anyone safe?”
“That’s crazy.” Keisha glanced at Katherine. “I mean, the situation is crazy. Not the girl. I don’t know anything about her. I just mean it’s a crazy situation.”
Katherine offered her a polite smile. “I know what you were trying to say. Like I said, I hope they figure out what’s going on with her soon.”
Even if Abby was exonerated legally, she’d probably have to leave Moonstone Cove. The town was too small, and people remembered everything. Katherine was still occasionally reminded of a gaffe she’d made at a department dinner.
In 2008.
Small towns. They had their pluses and their minuses.
“Sydney, when you’re finished with those essays…”
The vision hit her like the sudden onset of vertigo.
The grey descended, and Katherine was in a high place where the wind cut sharply into her face. Immediately, she tried to step back, pull away, and look at the vision from outside the experience.
Time.
Her instincts were screaming at her.
She needed time.
It wasn’t her on the roof. Who was she seeing? Where was she? She looked over the Central Coast campus. The dunes were in the distance and the ocean beyond. To her right was the green pasture next to the animal science building.
The architecture building. The roof of the architecture building.
She heard shouts from below. She turned her head and saw the girl staring into the distance, the morning sun casting
