“Overly complicated,” Orla said again.
I leaned into Declan.“Maybe we can use that against them.”
“Okay.”Declan stood, pulling me with him.“It’s late.We’re going home.”He turned to Orla.“Thanks for contacting us.Arwyn’s vision isn’t evidence, but now Arthur and Nick know where to focus their investigation.”
“Yeah,” Osso said.“Thanks.Unfortunately, you’re going to have crime scene techs in your woods, but at least these are your awake hours, I guess.”He turned back to me.“You think Milo was the one with the hammer?”
I nodded.“I do.I didn’t see his face clearly, but my gut says it’s the Swan twins, Milo and his sister Milena.”
Declan walked me down the stairs and to the passenger door of his rig.
“Oh, one more thing,” Osso said.“We’re bringing in the FBI on the camp case.The agent is going to want to talk to you.”
I think my insides froze.Shitshitshitshit.“Come on.You can’t do that to me.I’ve been helping you.You can’t throw me to the feds.What the hell?”
It took me a minute to realize the sound I was hearing under my racing heart was Declan growling.
Osso held up a hand.“Relax, the both of you.If we get the agent I asked for, we’re fine.I’ll know better tomorrow.”
Declan was still vibrating behind me.I turned to him and started pushing him back.“There’s no point in getting angry.We’ll deal with whatever it is.Let’s go home.Okay?”
Blowing out a breath, he turned his gold eyes from Osso and back to me.Ushering me gently back to the passenger door, he opened it and helped me in.The door closed without slamming.I heard his low grumble.I couldn’t make out the words.Whatever he said, though, had Osso stepping back.
The drive home was quiet and tense.Exhausted, I wanted to sleep but my mind kept batting around the worry of the FBI taking an interest in me.Nothing like getting punished for trying to help.
Declan reached for my hand.“You know the police and FBI sometimes use psychics.Therefore there’s precedent to recognize your gifts.If this agent isn’t open to psychic ability and instead wants to treat you like a suspect, you can refuse to help.I’m sure your mom has a lawyer on speed dial who can get them to back off.It’ll be okay.”
“Yeah, it’s—wait.”How could I have forgotten.“We need to go back to Aunt Elizabeth’s.That pain in the vision was like what I felt when I looked at Frank earlier.”
Declan nodded, continuing to our home.“You’re going to see him tomorrow.You can talk to him then.I’m sure the family is already on edge right now.If they’ve hopefully fallen asleep, we don’t need to wake them up.You warded their home and car.He won’t be out in the open where they can double-team him, especially if Milo is still in jail.”He turned, driving through the gates of Quinn Woodcraft, circling behind the building, and parking by the back stairs.
“You need sleep too.”He opened his door and came around to mine as I was sliding out.“Let’s try to figure out next steps after we’ve rested.”
I trudged up the steps, worried I was going to miss something and Frank would pay the price.
NINETEEN
Overlapping Stories
Iwoke again in the middle of the night.Rolling away from Declan, I grabbed the pearl and went to the window.Was she back?
When I didn’t see anything, I went to all the windows in the flat, looking for her.Nothing.I was about to go back to bed when I stopped at the couch.It wasn’t dreamless sleep I needed.Tonight, I needed my nightmares to help me, to show me what I wasn’t seeing.
Grabbing the blanket off the back of the couch, I settled in and covered up.My mind cycled through bodies hidden away in an abandoned camp and body parts in the woods until I fell into a fitful sleep.
Moonlight dances on the pond and the water slaps against the shore.Breathing heavily, he stands up with a huff of a laugh.That was even better than he’d imagined.As he does up his pants, he nudges her leg with the side of his shoe.
“Come on.I’ll drop you off at that party.”
When she doesn’t move, he steps closer, realizing that her head is underwater.The jolt he feels is both horrifying and exciting.It’s like that time years ago when that kid moved and ended up getting hit by the arrow.He had to think fast then too.
He goes to his car and opens the trunk.He’s seen movies.He can dump her body somewhere.To his credit, it only takes a moment before the adrenaline spike clears and he remembers that he’s somewhere right now.He rifles through the trunk, looking for something to help.
He still has two bags of old clothes he was supposed to drop off at the donation spot last week.He unties and dumps out all the shit he’s outgrown and takes the bag to where he left Laurie.
She’s short, but stuffing a body in a bag is unexpectedly awkward.There are too many limbs and she’s heavier than she should be.He lifts with his legs and finally rolls the bag up the back of his car and into the trunk.He can drive to the equipment cabin and drop her under that loose board.That worked before.They never found that stupid kid.
When he pulls up beside the cabin, it feels like I have double vision.Mike is struggling to get the body bag out of the trunk while I also see Frank and two other teenagers standing together off to the side.Mike is huffing and swearing in one vision, trying to lift the bag, but my focus is on Frank in the overlapping vision.
