Extrasensory (26 page)

They were both gasping when he kissed her once more, an easier, gentler touch this time, and moved so her legs could slide to the floor.

“I hope I have the strength to get dressed,” he chuckled, kissing her forehead.

I hope you don’t regret any of this as soon as you’re dressed for the day.

* * * * *

“Two more days,” Mia mused, her forehead wrinkled in thought. They had finally managed to get dressed and had just finished breakfast. She was drinking a second cup of coffee, trying to pull herself together. Pushing from her mind the intruding thoughts that maybe none of this was real. That in the light of a second day Dan Romeo would think he’d made a big mistake and back away. The situation at Carpenter was a safer topic. “Counting today. That’s not much time to find out who’s behind all of this. And I can’t seem to make sense out of the jumble of visions.”

“Remember what you said last night about the instructions from Faith’s aunt and The Lotus Circle,” Dan reminded her. “Meditate and focus. Blank your mind of everything else. Something is reaching out to you just at the edge of your consciousness.

It’ll come.”

“I called Faith while you finished dressing.” She looked across the table at him, trying to read his face. Was he sorry he’d let his guard down? Made himself vulnerable to her? She wished she knew more about him besides the fact that he was an amazing lover and had strong protective instincts. She hoped he wouldn’t take that as an opportunity to push her off onto the Hallorans. Erect a barrier between them. “She said she gets up early so I didn’t think she’d mind if I called now. I told her about the latest vision and asked her if she could call her aunt and see if the women I met could help me figure it out.”

He reached across the table and covered her hand with his, squeezing her fingers.

Just a small, reassuring touch but it settled the butterflies in her stomach.

“What did she say?”

“That she’d do it right away. I’m hoping to hear back from her soon.” She set her cup down. “I just keep thinking how little time is left.”

“We’ve had tighter schedules than this,” Dan told her. “We’ll make it. Anyway, Oscar’s safe, which is at the top of the list. Chase felt a lot more secure after that second demonstration. So whatever else is going to happen we’re prepared for it. This is all just so much warfare of one kind of another.”

“They—whoever they are—must be pretty desperate to go around killing people without blinking an eye,” she pointed out.

“You’d be surprised at how little provocation it takes for some people to kill,” he told her. “Or how easily they shrug it off. Whatever it takes to succeed. I’m more concerned with their focus on you.” His eyes suddenly got the movement of her hands and he looked down at the table. “What are you doing?”

Mia had a thick pad of paper in front of her. Forehead creased in concentration, she was writing numbers in different combinations, using one, five and seven. They were written in strings, in square boxes, on things that looked like boxes.

“Sometimes after a vision that deals with numbers, if I try to play around with them something jogs my memory or gives me a clue.”

Dan leaned down and placed a light kiss on her lips. “Honey, we’ve got the Dragon working on it. If that piece of machinery doesn’t come up with something it isn’t there to find.”

“But the human element can often work better, you know. It might be something stuck in my head that this situation has triggered to give me some kind of clue.” He cupped her chin and turned her face again to look at him. “Nobody believes in your ability to help us more than I do. But I don’t want you making yourself sick over this.” He scanned her face. “Something else is eating at you. What is it? No secrets allowed here.”

She put her pen down and leaned back in her chair. “You know…” She stopped, took a deep breath and started again. “About…us. Everything.” She waved a hand in the air.

“What about us, Mia?” His voice was edgy. “Are you regretting what’s happening?

It sure didn’t seem that way in the shower.”

Her eyes widened. “
Me
regret? I wasn’t sure… That is, if
you’ve
changed your mind… I mean, I know your life isn’t…”

For a moment the muscles in his face tightened. Then he forcibly relaxed them.

“Going to be much without you in it now,” he finished for her. “Pay attention here. This isn’t just some temporary roll in the hay for me, Mia. I meant everything I’ve said. And I’m hoping you did too. Why would you think differently? Have I done anything to make you feel that way?”

His brown eyes had darkened almost to black.

“No.” Mia dipped her head. How to tell him that while she might be at the top of her game professionally, in personal situations she was a ragged novice. And this situation with him was just too important. “I was afraid when we weren’t in bed together you might have second thoughts. About, you know, everything.”

“Sweetheart, listen to me.” He put his hands beneath her elbows and lifted her from the chair. “I don’t say anything I don’t mean. Ever. Just like your visions come out of nowhere and rattle your life, that’s how I feel about what’s happened with us. Like you said, sometimes Fate just means things to happen. I think this is one of those times. So let’s get through this case and then plan the rest of our lives together, okay?”

“Okay.” She gave him a small grin.

He brushed a kiss over her lips. “I love you, Mia. It may have happened quickly but it doesn’t make it any less solid.”

She had truly been worried that he’d only been carried away by the moment. Not many men wanted a permanent relationship with a woman who had powers they didn’t understand. The fact that the words sounded so difficult to say only made them more special to Mia. This wasn’t a man given to expressing emotion easily. Her heart expanded.

“I love you too,” she whispered.

“Good. Get any other thoughts out of your mind.” He gave her one last light kiss.

“If we’ve got that settled I want to call Andy and see what the Dragon has coughed up.” But before he could do that his cell phone rang.

“Mr. Romeo, this is Frank Petrino, at Dr. Fleming’s house.”

“Yes, Frank?”

“We, uh, have a little situation here. Besides the media, I mean.” While he was talking Mia’s phone rang and she dug it out of her purse.

“Mia, honey?” The woman’s voice on the other end sounded distraught. “This is Mrs. Goodman.”

Her neighbor two doors down. One of the few people on her street she felt comfortable with.

“Oh, yes, how are you?” Mia frowned. Why was the woman calling her? And why did she sound do upset?

“Honey, those people are back. You know the ones with that woman?”
The woman whose child I couldn’t find.
Mia closed her eyes and swallowed.

“Yes, I remember. Is she causing a problem?”

“Oh, Mia, she’s got a bunch of people with her yelling and screaming. There’s some man at your house trying to make them go away. But Neil, you know how he gets…” Her voice trailed off.

Mia bit her lip in impatience. “Yes? Did Neil talk to them?”

“He tried but one of them pushed him and…”

Oh, dear God.

“Mrs. Goodman, is Neil all right?”

“He-He fell and hit his head. I think he’s okay but can you come and talk to them?

All she wants is to yell at you. I know that. After she gets that out of her system she goes away, just like always.”

Mia could hear Dan carrying on a conversation in low tones next to her. She was sure it had to be with the guard he’d left at her house. He’d pitch a fit at what she was going to do but she really had no choice. It was bad enough that she was a target of this venom but having her neighbor hurt was unacceptable.

“I’ll be there within thirty minutes. Just stay in the house and don’t let Neil go out again, okay?”

“Oh, thank you, dear.” Her relief almost crawled through the connection. “I hate to bother you with all the trouble you’re having now…”

“It’s all right. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

She clicked off her phone and turned to Dan, who looked at her face and shook his head, a stubborn look on his face.

“I’m guessing that call is about what happened at your house and what you want to do. The answer is no. Under no circumstances. Absolutely not. How many ways can I say it?”

“It isn’t as bad as it sounds,” she told him. “The same group of people has done this a lot of times. It hardly ever even makes the papers. There’s a woman who asked me to help the police find her child but by the time she came to me it was already too late. The visions I had were of her child already dead and she blamed me.”

“A perfect reason why you should stay away from her,” Dan insisted.

“All she wants is to yell at me for a few minutes, have her friends yell at me and she’ll go away.” She touched his arm. “Please, Dan. This woman has never dealt with her grief. If yelling at me makes her feel better, it’s the least I can do.”

“Mia.” He was in full Phoenix mode now, his face like granite, his eyes hard.

“And my poor neighbor got shoved down on the sidewalk trying to break them up.

That’s never happened before, so this time they must be even more agitated. I have to get them away from the people who live there before anyone else gets hurt.”

“What about when
you
get hurt?” he demanded. “Do you think I’m the least bit willing to risk your life? We’ve got you staying here so the idiots and the media can’t find you. Now you want to put yourself in their line of sight?”

“Call your man back and have him get backup from the local substation,” she suggested. “They’ve done it before. They’ll keep everyone back from the house and you can stand right there beside me while I calm them down. Carol Denoyer just wants another chance to act out her grief. Please,” she begged. “I really have to do this. If you don’t take me, I’ll find a way to go myself. Don’t you think you’d rather be in control of the situation yourself?”

“Jesus Christ on a crutch.” He ran his hand over his head. “All right. But give me a few minutes to make arrangements. And you do exactly as I say. Got it?”

“Yes, sir. And thank you.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek.

In less than five minutes he’d made the calls he needed to, assured himself he’d done what he could to keep things under control and they were rolling out of the garage.

“Don’t go down my street,” she told him, as they reached her intersection. They could hear loud voices all the way to the corner. “We’ll go in through the back.”

“Okay. Tell me where to go.”

She directed him to the street parallel to hers. A nature preserve ran the length of the block, leaving minuscule backyards but a thick covering of trees. Dan parked the car and he called someone on his cell to let them know where they were. They made their way through the trees to her back porch where Lloyd Wells, the other Phoenix man stationed at her house, was waiting for them. He took Mia’s keys from her, unlocked the door and hustled them inside.

Through the windows they could hear voices shouting at the house, some of them screaming loudly, calling her names.

Dan looked at her and shook his head. “This is such a bad idea.”

“Please,” she begged again. “You promised.”

“We called the substation like Dr. Fleming suggested and they sent two cops who set up barricades and stationed themselves in front of them,” Lloyd told him. “There’s one woman who appears to be the ringleader. Frank’s been waving all the neighbors away whenever they came out and assuring them it would be over soon.”

“Okay.” Dan turned to Mia. “We’ll open the door with Lloyd on one side of you and me on the other. Do
not
go out on the porch. Say your piece from the door, do what you have to and we’re out of here.” He looked at Lloyd. “I called Mike to fly air cover, just in case. He should be here in a minute. As soon as he arrives, we’ll do this.” Mia’s eyes widened. “You think I need a
helicopter
to protect me?”

“Honey, someone involved in this mess wants you dead. I’d call in the entire Marine Corps if I thought it would help.”

Soon they heard the distinctive sound of the chopper’s rotors and the miniature radio Dan carried in his pocket crackled.

“D’Antoni.” The voice sounded sharp and clear. “I’m in place.”

“All right,” Dan told him. “We’re opening the door now. Look sharp.” Mia had to swallow a couple of times to get enough saliva in her mouth to speak.

As often as this had happened, it was impossible to completely conquer her fear.

Especially now. She nodded at Dan, pulled the front door open and stood in the frame, one man on either side of her.

“It’s her, it’s her!” a woman screeched. “She killed my child!”

“Hello, Carol.” She had to shout to be heard. “I’m here to talk to you if you can calm everyone down.”

“Her little boy died because of you,” a man hollered.

“I can’t speak to you unless you all stop shouting,” she yelled back, hands up.

Despite her appearance of bravado she was shaking. She was glad Dan was holding her tightly against him, infusing her with his warmth and his strength.

The uniforms and Frank managed to quiet the crowd. Carol Denoyer stepped as close to the barricade as they’d allow her.

“My child is dead and you’re the reason,” she insisted. “What are you going to do about it?”

“Carol, we’ve had this conversation before. If I could do something I would. If any of you had come to me earlier, I might have been able to help find him.
Might
have. I’ve told you before, this isn’t an exact science.” She stopped and drew a breath. “I was the one who found his body with the police. That scene will haunt me forever, so please don’t think I’m cold and heartless. If I could change things I would.”

“I’ll never forgive you,” the woman cried.

“I can hardly forgive myself. But please, don’t hurt my neighbors. They have nothing to do with this. Please go home. Carol, let your friends help you.” She stood there for perhaps another five minutes, letting Carol vent her anguish, supported by the people with her. One man finally apologized for hurting Neil Goodman and the others began to murmur agreement, embarrassment in their voices.