behind us, creaking on hinges badly in need of oil.
“Once the crime scene unit clears this place,” Ben told us, “someone is gonna have a hell of a mess to clean up.”
Darkening stains smeared the floor where Karen Barnes’ body had laid. Spatters of blood spread forth, rusting from bright crimson to dull reddish brown. Smooth surfaces, such as the basin and walls nearby, were greyed by the powders that had been used in the futile attempt to find fresh fingerprints, and all but the smallest shards of the shattered mirror had been removed from the scene.
“It’s cold in here,” Felicity stated, hugging herself and shivering slightly.
“Whaddaya mean cold?” Ben asked in disbelief. “It’s close to a hundred degrees out here.”
“Not that kind of cold,” she told him. “The cold of death. It’s strong enough for me to feel it.”
“So you’re gonna go all spooky on me too,” he said, then turned his attention to me. “What are you lookin’ for in here anyway?”
I walked around the interior of the restroom slowly and silently. I had no earthly, or even unearthly, idea what I was looking for. I only knew that something had suddenly begun to gnaw at the back of my brain. A relentless nagging that told me I had missed something that had been staring me straight in the face the night before.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “But if it’s here, I’m going to find it.”
I continued to shuffle around the small room, intently inspecting walls and fixtures that had already been perused by eyes more prying than mine. I could feel the same coldness Felicity had mentioned and gave a barely noticeable shiver as it danced subtly up my spine.
“Did I say anything last night when I spaced out?” I asked aloud.
“No.” Ben recalled, “You just kinda went blank and stared off. You weren’t zoned for long before I decided to snap you out of it… With what Felicity said and all… Ya know…”
“It’s all right,” I told him. “I understand.”
“Why do ya’ think ya’ might have said somethin’?” he queried.
“Just a thought,” I replied, still making my way around the stalls. “I’ve just got this nagging feeling that I missed something.” I glanced over at him. “And for some reason, I think that something might be important.”
“Well, guys,” Felicity spoke up. “My feet are killing me. I’m going to run out to the Jeep and see if my tennis shoes are in my gym bag.”
My wife started for the door with a deliberate turn. The gritty shuffle of her shoe soles against the concrete was rapidly followed by a sharp, tinkling sound as she inadvertently kicked a small piece of the broken mirror, sending it skittering across the floor.
“HOLD IT!” I exclaimed. “Don’t move.”
She froze. Ben froze. I froze.
“What is it?” Felicity finally whispered.
The sound triggered a memory, the memory induced a thought, and the thought congealed in my brain as I closed my eyes and listened to an imaginary pane of glass shatter inside my head. Slowly, I opened my eyes and looked to my wife, then to Ben.
“The mirror,” I told them.
“Yeah. You told us why ya’ thought he broke it last night,” Ben stated. “Somethin’ about not wantin’ ta’ trap whatever he was callin’ up, or somethin’ like that.”
“I know,” I returned. “But that’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Then what?” Felicity asked as she relaxed her stance.
“If Karen Barnes was standing in front of the mirror when she was attacked,” I began.
“Then she might have seen the killer’s reflection,” she finished for me, light dawning in her eyes.
“Excuse me,” Ben interjected, “but Karen Barnes is not gonna be givin’ any eyewitness descriptions. In case you’ve forgotten, she’s dead.”
“This is true,” I told him. “However, I might be able to do the same thing with her that I did with Ariel.”
“Channel her?!” Felicity exclaimed. “Don’t you think that’s a little too dangerous?”
“Not if you help me,” I replied.
“Whoa,” Ben interjected. “This ain’t one of those things where you could die or somethin’ is it?”
“Yes it is.” Felicity turned to him quickly. “If it isn’t done correctly.”
“Well I dunno then…”
“Hey,” I interrupted them both. “The operative phrase there is ‘done correctly’. If you help me,” I indicated to my wife, “and we take some precautions, I shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”
“What precautions?” Ben queried.
“An anchor on this plane, for one,” I answered. “Getting me the hell out of there before the moment of death for another.”
They both looked at me as if I had totally lost my mind. I knew it was because they were worried about the possible consequences, and to be honest, I was too-but I was also bound and determined to proceed with the idea.
“We have to stop this S.O.B.,” I told them. “If doing this could keep him from killing someone else, then I would never forgive myself if I didn’t go ahead with it. I don’t think the two of you could either.”
They fell silent, first looking at me, then each other, then back to me, and finally, to the floor.
“I’m going to go change shoes,” Felicity eventually said. “If we’re going to do this, I plan on being as comfortable as possible.” With that, she pulled the door open and headed for the Jeep.
She had only been gone a few moments when Ben broke his thoughtful silence. He broadcast his current state of mind by smoothing back his hair and letting out a short sigh.
“Ya’know,” he spoke, holding his hand at the back of his neck. “Even if you do ‘see’ somethin’, it’s inadmissible as evidence. There’s no way I can trot you in to the D.A. and say ‘here’s an eyewitness’… You realize that don’t ya’?”
”I know,” I answered. “But if I see something, and it gives us a clue or some place to start looking, it’s worth the risk.”
“I can’t ask ya’ ta’ do this.”
“You’re not,” I told him. “I’m volunteering.”
He shuffled about in place. “So, how long is this gonna take?”
“If it all goes as planned, it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes or so.”
“What can I do ta’ help?”
“Make sure no one disturbs us.” I paused for a moment, and then added, “And I wouldn’t be opposed to you keeping your fingers crossed.”
The door once again creaked open, and Felicity reentered minus the pumps and sporting her aerobics sneakers.
“I don’t want to hear it,” she told us as she came through the door. “I know the shoes don’t match the outfit, but they’re comfortable. So, how do you want to do this?”
“Ben,” I said as I turned back to him, “if you’ll just watch the door and take notes if necessary…”
“You got it,” he replied, backing up to the door and taking out his notebook.
I took a position near the washbasin and motioned for Felicity to join me. I selected this point in the room for its obvious proximity to the once-intact mirror. The simple fact was that I wasn’t necessarily ecstatic about what I was going to do either. I wanted to be in and out as quickly as possible, so I planned to use every advantage available. If my idea worked, physically positioning myself here would allow me to enter the vision close to the point I wanted to see and then get out quickly, before Karen Barnes took me into death with her.
“Simple cone,” I told my wife. “Raise it and project a rope. One end of it should be around my waist, and you should have the other end. I’ll try to stay with you, but if necessary, I’m going to let myself fully immerse in the regression, so it’s up to you to pull me out if you sense that I’m in trouble…You gonna be able to handle this?”
“Let’s do it,” she replied, nodding in assent.
We joined hands, left palm up, right palm down. Felicity and I relaxed in unison, our breathing falling easily into sync. We had cast many a circle together, just she and I, and this process had become nothing if not automatic. We both centered ourselves and grounded with the earth, feeling ethereal forces swirl about us in an ever growing, ever tightening, choreographed helix. Energy began flowing from her left arm and into my right. It
