“An ongoing investigation. In other words, I can’t tell you,” Luca said smugly. He’d always wanted to say that. Before anyone questioned him further, he guzzled down a glass of juice and jumped up from the table and headed out. “See ya,” he tossed over his shoulder.
“Have fun…consulting,” Gabriella called after him.
Luca strode down the street, hoping Dawn was at the corner coffee shop to meet him. He didn’t feel like waiting around, since he could possibly bump into one of his family members. There were enough of them floating around.
The idea of a date with Dawn had occurred to him but only fleetingly. Was he ready to give up on Lisa after two years of being together? It suddenly occurred to him that maybe Dawn could tell him if Lisa might have a change of heart. Maybe it was just “taking the next step” jitters that had prompted her to break it off.
* * *
Following Luca’s directions, Dawn made her way to the Richardson place. Luca had told her the Richardson couple rented the apartment on the third floor in the sprawling, red-brick, four-story townhouse, so she focused on that as she strolled down the street. There were several cars out front, including a police cruiser. Luckily, the house was across the street from a park, so Dawn found a bench and sat down. Gazing up at the apartment, she noticed the curtains were drawn in every window. She could understand that, given the tragedy that had befallen the poor woman and her child. There was one thing Dawn understood, and that was how life sometimes dealt the cruelest blows, and somehow, people needed to find the strength to carry on. She supposed her strength came from her grandmother, who raised her to be strong and self-reliant, to stand up to troubles…something Dawn’s mom seemed unable to do.
Dawn shook off her musings. The sun came out, so she put on her sunglasses and gazed at the house. Dawn took a few deep breaths, focusing on her breathing. Her body began to relax. All she heard was the sound of her own breathing and around her the wind whistling through the long grass, tickling the leaves…
A young man sat slumped on the floor in a little girl’s bedroom, a pink unicorn held tight to his chest. The soft pink walls decorated with princess decals seemed incongruous to the utter grief emanating from him in waves. “Why? Why didn’t I go with you? Why did I have to stay for a stupid guys’ football weekend?”
A knock on the door, and a police officer entered. He spoke quietly to the man and helped him up. They left the room, the man forgetting the unicorn on the floor.
The unicorn looked so lonely.
A sweet, girlish giggle echoed in the room. A young girl, blonde hair, blue eyes, in a purple polka-dot tunic and purple tights, bent to retrieve the unicorn. “Mama, we gots to take Sparkles with us to Grammy’s.”
“Honey, we’ve already got your two besties, Binky the elephant and Rommy the turtle,” a woman said from the other side of the room. She was packing a small child’s suitcase. Wearing a nurse’s uniform, she had the same golden hair and blue eyes as her daughter. “Besides,” she went on, “Sparkles would miss her playmates here.”
“I guess it’s okay if she stays here. She gots lots of friends here too.”
“She sure does, honey. Now, do you want to take your blue dress or your green dress? Grammy wants to take us out tomorrow night.”
“I want my blue dress, Mommy. It’s so much more fancy than the green one.”
The woman giggled and agreed that the blue dress was certainly more fitting for a night out.
The laughter faded away…
The pink room turned black.
“Mommy?” the little one whispered brokenly. “W-where are you?”
* * *
Dawn arrived at the Starbucks before Luca and ordered for both of them. If he didn’t like her choice, she’d take it home to her gran. After receiving her order, she scored two plush chairs in the corner and sat down, feeling the weight of the vision heavy on her shoulders. She took a sip of her coffee and didn’t notice when Luca arrived.
“Hey.” Luca plopped down across from her.
“Hey, yourself.” She quirked a half smile. “I took the opportunity of ordering for us. I like their cinnamon dolce latte, so I got one for you too.”
“Thanks,” he said, picking up the coffee and taking a sip. “This is good. Are you okay?”
“I’ll be okay after I have a bit more of this latte,” she replied.
“I take it you sensed something?”
“Yes. I saw the father in his daughter’s room, crying… He was holding a pink stuffed unicorn. He said he wished he had gone with them and not stayed home for a guys’ football weekend.”
Luca nodded, and pulling out a small notebook from his pocket, he began to take notes.
Dawn told him everything, every detail she could recall right down to hearing the little girl’s tiny whisper in the dark calling out for her mom—and how her heart broke when she heard it.
“Did you get a sense of where the girl might be? Any flashes of light or noises?”
