“Oh my God!” Megan exclaimed with a broad smile. “You’re Black!”
Katherine blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
Toni muttered, “What the fuck?” Her eyes darted between Detective Bisset and Megan.
Katherine looked over her shoulder.
Detective Bisset’s expression was blank. “Yes, I am, Mrs. Carpenter.”
“Sorry.” Megan’s cheeks went flaming red. “I am so sorry. That probably sounded strange. It’s just that I’m from Atlanta, and there are like… no Black people around here compared to back home. It’s really strange.” She stood quickly and held out her hand; her cheeks were still flaming. “It’s nice to meet you, Detective.”
The mood in the room had shifted quickly from tense to amused.
Detective Bisset took Megan’s hand. “Nice to meet you too. And you’re right. There aren’t many Black residents in the Cove. My family and I are some of the few. I’m originally from Chicago, so I know what you mean. Love the accent, by the way; my mother’s people are from Georgia.”
“Thank you,” Megan said. “I think most people around here think I’m dumb.”
Toni rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Megan’s smile was strained. “Like her.”
Katherine felt the twin urges to walk away quickly and to pacify the situation. After a second of internal debate, she forced herself to go with the latter impulse.
“You know, when people are working from different cultural frameworks, it’s easy for misunderstanding to take hold,” she said. “Kind of like… right now.”
All eyes in the room turned toward Katherine. It reminded her a little of being in a classroom, which set her at ease.
She motioned toward Toni, who was sitting in the corner, glaring at Megan. “For instance, some people might assume that a person working in skilled trades like Toni didn’t excel in traditional education.”
“They wouldn’t be wrong,” Toni said. “I hated school.”
“But your line of work requires you to constantly update your skill set as technology develops, so practically speaking, you’re probably more educated than the majority of college graduates.”
“Maybe,” Toni muttered. “Thanks, I guess?”
“And others” —Katherine looked at Toni, then at Megan— “might assume that someone with a Southern accent conforms to the negative stereotypes about Southerners promoted by mainstream American culture without recognizing that really, all people have accents that are mostly an accident of geography.”
All three of them were staring at her, so Katherine just kept speaking. “In fact, people have multiple accents they use in different situations, all of which have nothing to do with intelligence. I imagine Detective Bisset’s voice sounds very different when he’s interrogating a suspect versus when he’s speaking to his daughter.”
“Depends on how clean her room is,” he muttered.
“I hadn’t thought about that ’cause it’s what we’re used to hearing on the television and in movies,” Megan said. “But y’all have California accents. They’re kind of… flat. Sorry if that sounds rude.”
“No offense taken,” Katherine said. “My husband has a very unique accent since he was born and raised in Hong Kong but educated in England. He also speaks four languages, so that’s changed his accent over time.” She smiled a little. “I was born and raised in San Francisco, so I think my accent is—like you said—very flat.”
Megan was staring at her intently. “You are such an interesting person. I think I could listen to you talk about anything.”
Katherine smiled. “You’d probably disagree if you took one of my classes.”
“I don’t think so,” Megan continued. “I’m not sure I’d understand all of it, but I bet it would be interesting.”
Detective Bisset cleared his throat. “Ladies, I hate to interrupt, but we really need to continue with the interviews. Toni, I know you’ve been here a while, but do you mind—”
“I’m cool, Drew.” Toni had already turned her attention back to the television. “I told the guys I’d be busy today.”
Katherine held her hand out to Megan. “Good luck, Megan. I hope you feel more welcome in Moonstone Cove soon. After all, you’re a local hero now.”
Megan shook her hand vigorously. “It was so nice meeting you. And… um.” She glanced at the detective. “You’ve got a great tackle.”
“Thanks.”
Katherine suspected that Megan wanted to talk more about the odd statement she’d blurted out about the gun leaping into her hand, but not in front of a police detective.
“It was very nice to meet you both.” Katherine nodded at Toni, smiled at Megan, then walked toward the door. “Maybe I’ll see you around town.”
Toni nodded. “Nice to meet you too.”
“Same.” Megan obviously wanted to say more. “Hopefully I’ll see you.”
Katherine walked away from the break room with a more settled feeling in her stomach. The detective had obviously believed her, and as for Megan and Toni?
Whatever strange event they’d shared, it was more than likely she’d never see them again. After all, Moonstone Cove wasn’t that small.
Chapter 5
Katherine ran through the events of the day before while she sat on her front porch and watched the sunset.
A gun that jumped into a person’s hand.
A man who had to have an extreme amount of adrenaline coursing through his system suddenly going limp at the sound of a small woman’s voice.
Telekinesis, telepathy, even ghosts. All of them could exist in theory. She knew science didn’t have an answer yet, but she strongly believed that at some point, a logical explanation would be found for all those traits, likely as evolutionary relics of the nervous system that modern humanity had little use for.
Megan could be a telekinetic whose skill was triggered by an extreme fear for her life.
Toni could be an empath, though Katherine suspected the woman would dislike even the idea of influencing anyone with her emotions.
But emotions were chemical reactions in the brain. Telekinesis was the manipulation of energy and magnetic fields. All those things could theoretically be accounted for by science.
Nothing could account for the screams she’d heard in her mind. The blood she’d seen. The scent of gunpowder in the air.
“What do you think about visions?”
“Visions? As in precognition?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, I don’t think that’s possible.”
As Megan
