Lifting the Veil (18 page)

****

Sophie blinked her eyes open and stared up at the ceiling. She could hear the voices in her kitchen but didn’t really care to listen. Her mind replayed what the shop owner had said. She remembered her holding out her palms.
You’ll find him here.

Sophie’s eyes widened as she tried to stand, the room spinning in front of her eyes. She grabbed

the arm of the sofa to stabilize herself. “Jack.” Her call was a whisper.

“Jack,” she said louder, and she heard the legs of the chairs scratch against the linoleum. Jack and her brother hurried into the room.

“You shouldn’t be up.” Jack guided her back to the couch.

Sophie grabbed her head to stop the spinning. “It was the owner from Mystic. She scratched him.

There’s DNA beneath her nails.”

Max sat in the recliner, on the edge of his seat. “Her body was burned beyond recognition, Soph.

I’m sure whatever DNA was there is long gone.”

Max pulled out his phone and called in the information for his guys to start looking into. She’d given him a name, a person, when they didn’t even have a face.

Sophie’s shoulders sagged, her mind processing the loss of evidence. What were they going to do

now?

“Did your guide tell you that?” Max asked.

Sophie’s gaze shot up to meet her brother’s. “He told you?”

Max nodded. “Not willingly.” Max glanced at Jack before looking back at her. He slid down to his

knees and took Sophie’s hands in his. “Sophie. You’re my sister. I’ll love you no matter what.”

A tear escaped from her eye, but a huge weight lifted off her shoulders. “You don’t think I’m

crazy?”

Max grinned. “Oh, I don’t
think
you’re crazy. I know it. You’ve been crazy all of your life. I would think something was wrong if you acted normal.”

Max pulled her into his embrace and whispered into her ear. “I love you, Soph.”

“I love you, too.”

“Why are we here again?” Sophie asked as she licked the dripping chocolate from her fingers.

“Because it’s your birthday and you scared the shit out of your brother.”

“Shouldn’t we be interviewing the mayor?”

Jack chuckled. “Your brother thinks it’s better if he does it personally.” He shrugged. “I guess I might not have the same finesse as him.”

She nodded and sat down at one of the tables outside of the ice cream shop. Jack was continuously

looking up and down the road, and at all of the pedestrians on the street, never completely off the clock. She touched his arm. “The killer isn’t going to strike in broad daylight.”

“But he could be watching.”

She glanced around and pointed at her neighbor walking by. “What if it’s her?”

Jack chuckled. “She’s too frail to lift the bodies.”

She glanced around again to find a man sticking a clothes hanger down into a car through the slot in the window. “What about him?”

Jack shook his head. “Not smooth enough. Poor schmuck locked his keys in the car. I have a feeling, if it was him, we would have caught him by now.”

Sophie touched Jack’s arm and she was assaulted with a vision.

She watched the unfamiliar scene unfold before her eyes. This vision wasn’t like the others.

Nowhere close.
Sweat slithered down her chest between her breasts. The heat was unbearable. She
lifted the ice cream cone and licked the melting drips that threatened to fall. Jack was holding her hand
as they sat in the little café. His phone rang, the obnoxious male fight song played through the air. He
told her it was the office. He stepped away for privacy, after kissing her head, and then it all happened at
once.

The alarm blared at the bank across the street. Four men came running out. Each had a bag of

money in one hand and a gun in the other. Jack pulled his revolver a second too late. Before his finger
squeezed the trigger, a shot rang out. Jack’s body flew backward with the impact, knocking him off his
feet.

Sophie screamed. The man paused for just an instant. His gaze held hers before he hurried away,
sliding into the getaway car, and peeling out of sight, sending smoke up from the tires.

She dropped her ice cream and ran to Jack before the smoke from the screeching tires had cleared
the air.

She skidded onto her knees next to his limp body. His eyes closed as blood gurgled, spewing from his
mouth.

She took a deep breath as her vision was restored, her heartbeat still pounding in her chest. Bile threatened her throat. She could see Jack saying something to her. His arms holding onto her. His face was the first thing she’d seen as she snapped back into reality.

“Jack.”

She blinked rapidly. Her gaze flew across the street toward the bank. The same car from her vision was just pulling up.

“Are you all right?”

She nodded, unsure if she should tell him what she saw. She swallowed hard. “There is about to be

a bank robbery.” She nodded toward the car. “They’re in that car and haven’t gone inside yet.” She turned to look at Jack as he reached for his gun. She placed her palm on his arm. “You can’t go. They shoot you when they’re trying to get away.”

He looked from her to the car and back down again. “They aren’t inside yet. I can still stop this.”

“Let’s just go,” she pleaded.

He slid his arm from her grasp. “Go back inside the shop and call your brother.”

“Jack, please, let’s just go.”

“Sophie, I can’t just leave.” He shook his head, pulling out his badge and his Glock. “I can stop it before anyone gets hurt. I’ll just scare them off. Now go,” he demanded.

She took the phone from her pocket and stepped back into the ice cream shop. She watched from

the window as Jack approached the car, the assailants still inside. He held up his badge and tapped on the window with the butt of his gun as Sophie was telling her brother what was going on. She told him what she’d seen and gave him the tag number off the car.

Her breath caught. The phone slipped from her fingers as the car took off, sending white smoke up, engulfing Jack. Her hand slid down the glass as the smoke cleared, and Jack was standing, no worse for wear, with his gun pointed in the direction of the car. No shots were fired; no blood was spilled. She released a breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

Her brother’s hollering through her phone drew her attention. She picked the phone back up and

pressed it against her ear while Jack stalked back in her direction.

“He’s fine. They left. They never even got out of the car.”

“Good. I’ll send out an APB on the car but, since they didn’t commit the crime, I’m not sure we’ll be able to hold them.”

The bell above the door rang when Jack walked in. He stomped over to her and pulled her into his

arms, pressing his lips to hers in a savage kiss. His hands held her arms tight as he pulled her against his body, deepening the kiss in a fit of despair.

“Ahem!” She heard a throat clearing and broke the kiss.

“Do you two need to get a room?” Amber asked, unable to hide the grin on her face. She glanced

back and forth between them. “Because it
is
her birthday.”

Heat flamed Sophie’s cheeks. Sophie placed her palm on his cheek, ignoring her best friend. “Are

you all right?”

He nodded. “I’m fine. You probably saved my life.”

Amber’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. She stepped closer to them, her voice a

whisper. “Were you on a stakeout?” She glanced over her shoulder and spoke even quieter. “Did you

get a vision?”

Sophie stepped back, putting more distance between her and Jack. “No and yes.”

“Cool.” Amber grinned. “Can I help?”

“Now I know where you get it from.” Jack shook his head and walked over to the counter to get

them both a cup of coffee.

“I’ll have to tell you about it later.” Sophie laced her arm through Amber’s and stepped outside the shop. The sun was starting to lower behind the buildings.

Amber glanced over her shoulder into the café. “Is that the tattletale?”

Sophie smiled. “If you mean the hunky cop who knows my secrets; then yes, it’s him.”

“I thought you said cute, conceited, and something else,” Amber teased before she waved the

statement away and her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Never mind. I expect deets.” She raised her brow.

“A man doesn’t kiss a woman the way he kissed you if you two haven’t already gotten down and dirty.”

Sophie couldn’t stifle her laugh and changed the topic, gesturing to the bag. “What did you buy?”

Amber swung the bag behind her back. “It’s a surprise for later.”

Sophie glanced at her watch as Jack stepped up and handed her a cup of coffee. “Crap. We only

have a half an hour before we meet for dinner.”

Jack placed his hand on Sophie’s back. “Then we need to get you home and get you ready.”

“Yes…get her home and get her ready,” Amber teased.

****

He led her out of the house and back into the SUV.

“What is that?” he asked, unable to read the tiny label.

“The charm lady gave them to me in Salem. Will says it will help me to communicate with him. I’m

hoping it’s like a radio antenna where I can tune into him when I need to without going to lala land and blacking out.”

“Why would you need to?”

Sophie slid into the passenger seat of the SUV and hooked her seatbelt. “Maybe I can get him to tell me who the killer is.”

Jack couldn’t keep the skepticism from showing on his face. He didn’t know how any of this worked.

He’d just started believing in her ability. When he’d walked up to the car to find the guys sliding ski masks over their faces, he finally believed her.

“What’s in it?”

Sophie glanced at the tiny bottle and smiled. “Flower extracts.” She grinned as if it made perfect sense. She twisted open the bottle and pulled out the dropper. She squeezed a few drops under her

tongue as directed while he drove back to his house.

“What does it taste like?”

She shrugged. “It was only five drops. It didn’t taste like anything.”

“How do you know it works?”

Sophie grinned. “Will told me it would.”

Jack gave a slow nod. “And you believe Will?”

Her mouth dropped open as if she were offended. “He’s my guide. Of course, I believe him.”

Jack kept quiet the rest of the way back to his house while digesting that information. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye after parking. She looked normal, with no reaction to the liquid. He unlocked the door and walked into the house. She went into his bedroom. He heard the shower starting and grinned. Three showers in one day were a bit excessive, but the impromptu shower had him

grinning from ear to ear. He fixed a pot of coffee and changed into slacks and a dress shirt, not knowing what the dress code for a birthday party at Flannigan’s would entail. He’d thrown on his shoulder

holster, loaded the weapons, and grabbed his suit coat before he sat down and drank two cups of coffee while reading the daily paper. The paper was boring, at best, if you didn’t count the growing obit section. He spotted an advertisement for the mayor’s upcoming election. Jack stared at it. His mind raced with the implications of what would happen if the mayor truly had skeletons in his closet.

“Can you zip me?” Sophie asked as she walked into the room.

Jack rose and his mouth dropped open. He’d seen her in a dress before but tonight it was different.

She was wearing a black dress with what he hoped were thigh-highs and heels. His mouth watered and his hand itched to find out. She was wearing makeup, and her hair was cascaded down her back in curls, the better to hold her tight while he was ramming into her. His straying thoughts had his pants growing tighter by the second.

“How about we skip the party?”

“Why don’t you consider the party foreplay?” She smiled and teased. Her eyes sparkled.

She stepped over to him and lifted her hair. His fingers ran over the creamy expanse of her back.

Even better, she was braless. His fingers trailed under the fabric to the front of the dress, his breath a whisper in her ear. “No bra?”

She wiggled her butt into his crotch. “Nope, now zip me. I’m sure you don’t want to be late. My

brother might send out another search party, and we both know how the last one ended.”

Her words put a damper on his libido. Vigilance, with her wearing that dress, was going to be hard to muster. He berated himself as he zipped up the dress and stepped back. She was quick to cover the disappointment on her face, but he’d seen it nonetheless. It had been there. She wanted him and he’d have her tonight when they got back.

Jack started to clear the table and ran his hand over the wood.

“What are you doing?” She asked while watching.

“I don’t think we’ll make it to the bed when we get home.”

She sashayed out of the kitchen and his cock grew harder. She glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t

think we’ll make it to the kitchen.”

He tossed on his jacket, covering his weapons, even though there would be plenty at the party. Her safety came first, and it always would.

“Let’s just try to make it in the door.” He pressed his erect cock against her ass so she could feel what was waiting for her later.

He reached around her, unlocked the door, and pulled it open. Her teeth were biting her red-

painted lip. She moved to the side but cupped him before walking outside. “I can hold out if you can.”

He was hypnotized by the sway of her hips as he followed her to the SUV, his mind clearly in the

gutter and not on their surroundings. He adjusted himself before climbing in the car. In his mind, he recited the latest baseball stats of his favorite players as he tried avoiding even a single glance her way.