Page 328 of Nobody's Girl

“He was just driving by my car. Just being curious,” I answer her.

She looks out the glass wall. “That’s a nice car. He was probably just admiring it,” she says.

I smile at her. “I’m sure that’s it. Thanks,” I say as I walk away from her.

I drive through the little town, looking for Laura’s car. I notice the same police car turns out onto the road behind me. It follows me for three blocks. I decide I should go back to the house. I’m careful to follow all of the speed limits and use my turn signals. The damn sheriff stays some ways behind me all the way back tp the house. Just as I turn into the driveway and push the code on the gate to open it, the lights on the police car turn on.

The gates open. I want to drive in and close them behind me, but I’m a little bit afraid to. The sheriff gets out of his car and walks up to the side of my car. He seems to be purposely taking his time before he tells me why he’s bothering me.

“Sir, can you tell me why you’re stopping me?” I ask him.

Pulling down his dark sunglasses, he glares at me. “I’ll ask the questions, young lady.”

I turn my head to look forward. “Okay, then, what questions do you have for me?”

“Can you understand me? I will ask you the questions. Now be quiet,” he says.

I close my eyes. I just remembered Kyle told him my name is Kat. If he wants to see my driver’s license, he’ll know it’s not the truth and that won’t be good. Not good at all. I picture Kyle’s face in my mind and then call his name out in my head. I open my eyes and look at the gate.

“I need you to step out of the car,” the sheriff tells me.

I turn to look at him. “Why?”

“I’ll tell you only once more. I need you to step out of the car,” he says, then puts his hand on his gun, which hangs on a belt around his waist.

I laugh at his actions. “You must be crazy. You can’t pull a gun on me just because I won’t do what you say. You’ve not given me any reason as to why you’ve even pulled up behind me.”

I hear Kyle’s truck start up from the garage. It’s loud. To my surprise, the sheriff moves his hand off of the gun. He moves away from my car and goes back toward his.

“I’ll let this go for now, missy,” he says, and then gets into his car and pulls away before Kyle can make it all the way out to us.

I pull through the gates as Kyle’s truck comes into sight. I see that he’s alone in the truck. I drive past him and motion for him to follow me. I pull up in front of the house and he pulls back into the garage. I walk into the front door with my bag of groceries.

Eden meets me at the door. “What the hell happened? Kyle said he heard you calling him and saw the front entrance in his head. What is that about?”

Before I can answer him, Kyle walks into the side door from the garage. “Did I see a police car driving off, Al?”

“A police car?” Eden asks.

“The sheriff followed me out here and then turned on his lights just as I pulled into the driveway. I did nothing wrong. I felt like he was going to try and take me in or something. I pictured Kyle in my head and called to him. I didn’t call to you, Eden, because I couldn’t have you in danger of being taken into custody,” I tell them.

“You did the right thing, Al,” Kyle tells me.

“I thought so. I was taking a gamble it would even work,” I tell him.

Eden unpacks the bag of groceries and says, “Maybe you should try to telecommunicate with Laura.”

“I can try. I’ll go up to our bedroom and try to concentrate. I bought steaks for you guys to cook out on the grill later this evening. Can you put this stuff up while I go try to communicate with her?”

I go upstairs to our bedroom and lay down on the bed. I see Laura’s face in my head. I call her name over and over again in my mind. I can’t hear anything back. I can’t be sure this is working.

I have to stop myself from thinking about how it might not work. I sit up and hold my hands up to my head. I try to see her face again. An image of her with tears streaming down her face comes into focus. I open my eyes, then get up and run down the stairs.

“I saw her with tears streaming down her face. I think it’s time to ask for help,” I say. “We need to ask our security team to find her.”

Eden stands up and takes out his cell phone as he walks out the back door to make the call. I look over at Kyle. “She will get over this. She’s really madder at herself than at you,” I enlighten him.

“I doubt that, Al,” he says, sadly.