Mist on the Meadow (15 page)

“Didn’t you say something about not seeing
Wolf again?”

She couldn’t explain. They’d never
understand. “I ran into him at the mall and he asked if I could
help him with something.”

Her mother raised one eyebrow. “Do I want to
ask what kind of help?”

Marissa rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not going
over there for a little afternoon delight.”

Her mother had the good grace to blush.
“You’re a grown woman. You can do what you like. Will you be back
for dinner?”

“Don’t wait for me,” Marissa said. “I’m not
sure how long this will take.” She gave her mother a quick hug and
the cat purred inside her coat. “I’ll call if I’m going to be
late.”

As she drove across town, Marissa entertained
all the different ways she could explain to Wolf what she’d seen.
She didn’t understand how, when she had told him her secret, she
didn’t cramp—as long as she was in physical contact with him. Wolf
didn’t have red hair. Wasn’t that a requisite of the Uncle Balt’s
of the world?

She glanced at Hex.
Hex will help you
.
Marissa intended to analyze the vision she’d had at the mall, and
in order to do that, she planned to have Hex in her lap to subdue
the pain.

What if Wolf didn’t believe her? Marissa
shook her head, still not sure the trip wasn’t a waste of time. And
then she was in front of Harper Manor—creepy Harper Manor—in stark
relief against the blanket of snow. She drove through the iron
gate, inside the spiked fence, and parked in front of the double
doors.

“Why me?” she asked Hex, not anxious to get
out of the car.

He purred and nuzzled at her gloved
hands.

“Okay, okay.” She scooped him up and tucked
him into her coat again, one hand under Hex’s feet. She hesitated
on the front walk and one of the doors swung open.

Wolf stepped aside to admit her and pointed
her to the parlor where she’d first met Hex.

“Can I take your coat?” The words were
politely spoken, but he thrust his hand forward with a jerk. His
brow was furrowed and his lips were pursed in an expression that
demonstrated that he was, at the very least, not happy.

Marissa unbuttoned her coat and Hex leapt
onto the pillow in the corner of the velvety couch.

“What the hell?” Wolf asked.

“I need him,” she said.

“Whatever.” He took her coat and hung it in a
closet in the foyer. “Why don’t you start by telling me what a
Kundigerin
is.” Wolf took an open stance beside a
three-foot, artificial Christmas tree displayed on an end table.
The ornament her mother had given him was hanging on one of its
too-small branches.

“Someone who knows things.” She felt awkward
seated while he stood. “More specifically, a woman who knows
things. The direct German translation denotes an expert or a
connoisseur.”

“Why doesn’t it show up in the German
dictionary?”

“Try the masculine form,
Kundiger
.”

Wolf narrowed his eyes. “What makes you
better than anyone else at knowing things?”

Marissa shifted her position to face him.
“It’s a legacy, and it’s new to me. I inherited it on my birthday,
so I’m still figuring all this out.”

He broke his interrogation pose and looked
away.

Hex arched his back in a stretch and moved to
Marissa’s lap. For the first time in the days since she’d adopted
him, the cat gave a clear meow.

“What’s he want?” Wolf asked with a
scowl.

Marissa scratched Hex’s ears. “He wants you
to stop being such an ass.”

“I’ll stop being an ass when you tell me how
you know so much, because right now I’m thinking you have
first-hand knowledge and you’re withholding damning evidence.”

The accusation startled Marissa. “Okay. Here
it is. In all its glory.” She took a deep breath. “In plain
English, it seems I’m psychic. Evidently there’s more to it than
that, but as of today, I don’t know exactly what.”

Wolf sputtered out a laugh. “You expect me to
believe that?”

“Is it true that your grandmother wanted you
to find a
Kundigerin
?”

He pointed at Marissa. “That’s what I’m
talking about. How do you know that? Probably that slimy lawyer
sent you after me. Everybody wants a piece of Harper Electronics,
but you know what? There aren’t any pieces left, another fact you
seem to have inside information about.”

“You did the right thing with your uncle
today,” she told him.

He looked toward the ceiling. “And that. How
do you know what happened in the boardroom?”

Marissa stroked Hex’s gray fur. He kneaded
her legs and looked up at her. Wolf would think she was well and
surely crazy if she told him she’d seen it in Hex’s eyes.

“All right, forget the boardroom. What were
you doing at the mall?” Wolf asked.

Marissa swallowed hard. She watched Hex
settle on her lap rather than meet Wolf’s angry eyes. “There was
another car.”

Wolf advanced on her. “How do you know? Maybe
you were the one driving.”

Startled, Hex bounded out of Marissa’s lap
and back onto the pillow.

“I wasn’t old enough to drive eleven years
ago.”

“That would be a good reason for everyone to
want to protect you.”

She’d had enough of his attitude. The events
leading up to the accident must be painful for him to talk about,
even the problems at Harper Electronics, but the accusations had to
stop. “I’m here to help you. You can accept my help or you can find
yourself another
Kundigerin.
”

Wolf closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“I don’t suppose you might recommend one? It seems to be a private
club.”

Marissa shot to her feet. “Ask your
uncle.”

“So now you want me to believe he’s a
Kundigerin
too? Or would that be a
Kundiger
?”

“No, he’s a Secret Keeper.” She shook her
head. “Uncle Balt used a German name for that, too, but I can’t
remember it.”

Wolf bowed his head and held up a hand. “You
can’t blame me for struggling with this concept, can you?” He
clenched his teeth, closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.
“Please. Sit. I would appreciate whatever help you can give
me.”

As much as she wanted to walk away, the
Harpers continued to dominate her thoughts. Why else had she gone
to the mall on her way home? Marissa settled back onto the sofa.
Hex raised his head and winked at her.

Wolf flopped into a wing chair, his arms
draped over the sides. “The will said I was supposed to engage a
Kundigerin
but I don’t know why.” He glanced at her. “Is
there a fee involved?” He rested his forehead against one hand.

“No fee.”

“Want to make sure I’m not glossing over
anything. You’re going to have to tell me how this works, and as
for what I’m engaging you for—”

“It seems I’m already engaged.”

He leaned over his knees and clasped his
hands. “What were you doing at the mall?” Narrowed eyes zeroed in
on hers.

Marissa took a deep breath. Would everyone
look at her like she was a kook when she knew things she wasn’t
supposed to? Another reason to keep the information to herself, as
Wolf’s Uncle Pete hoped. She hadn’t seen anything to change what
Wolf already knew.

“I was watching the accident,” she said.

Wolf rubbed a hand across his face. “Really?
I must have missed it.”

“You were here,” she waved around the room,
“when the accident happened. With your grandmother.”

He stared at her. She
felt
him fight
the urge to ask her one more time how she knew. Instead, he said,
“Go on.”

She related what she’d seen, up to the point
where she heard the voice from the second car shout “move.”

“Who was in the second car?” Wolf asked.

Marissa shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“So what caused the accident?”

She closed her eyes to focus on what she’d
seen and the discomfort returned. Hex rubbed his head on her arm
and curled up in her lap. The pain eased and she stroked the cat
with one hand. “The second car cut them off.” The accident rewound
for her and she watched the driver of the Buick, Wolf’s father,
clutch at the wheel while he tried to avoid the second car, only to
spin out of control. The second car stopped for only a moment,
three frightened men—no, boys—stared open-mouthed.

“Brown Chevy,” she whispered. “Three boys.
Road rage.” As if in a trance, Marissa watched the boys panic when
they saw the results of their actions. And then the driver sped
away.

Marissa opened her eyes and looked at Wolf,
who watched her intently, the color drained from his face. “They
drove away,” she told him.

“Was there any damage to the other car?”

Marissa shook her head. “They never hit the
Buick. The other car cut your father off and he lost control.”

“Who were they?”

Marissa ran a hand across Hex’s fur, grateful
for the quiet vibrations. “I don’t know.”

Wolf sprang to his feet. “Bullshit.”

The epithet frightened Marissa, and even Hex
jerked. “Excuse me?”

“Why stop now? Who were they?”

“I—I don’t know. I could try to get a closer
look,” she said, unnerved by his outburst. A lone tear escaped his
eye. Wolf swiped at his cheek and tightened his scowl. “Would it
make a difference to know?” she asked.

He took hold of her arm. “Yes.” He spoke with
controlled calmness.
The same control he’d been exercising since
the accident,
she realized via the physical connection they now
shared.

“They killed your family.” Marissa blinked,
surprised that she’d voiced the thought that came from his fevered
brain.

Noah had been right about Wolf. He needed
professional help.

A Kundigerin was an expert.

Marissa gathered her wits about her. She’d
concentrate on the accident one more time, focus on the Brown
Chevy. “Sit down,” she told Wolf, and surprisingly, he did, beside
her, but he didn’t let go of her arm.

She scratched Hex’s chin while she gathered
the courage to look at the horrific accident one more time. Hex’s
pupils dilated and Marissa was back at the mall, on the opposite
side of the street, but this time Wolf stood beside her—
he’d
stepped into the vision?
The Buick turned from the mall parking
lot onto the two-lane road. The brown Chevy gained on them from
behind, traveling much too fast. The bass line rumbled again and
she recognized the song,
Crazy Train
. Marissa focused on the
driver, a clean-cut kid with sandy brown hair, singing along. In
the passenger seat, another boy with longish blond hair hung an arm
out the window as he shouted “Move!” With nowhere to go, the Buick
sped up while the Chevy drew close to its bumper. The Chevy
jockeyed to pass and veered into the oncoming lane. When it finally
drew alongside the Buick, the blond boy cursed Wolf’s father before
the Chevy cut dangerously close in front of the Buick. Marissa
flinched at the squealing brakes, the impact with the light pole.
The crash as the light pole landed on the roof of the Buick. The
Chevy screeched to a stop and a boy peered out the back window, his
mouth open with a silent scream.

“Marissa?”

The voice came from far away, away from the
mayhem.

Wolf had disappeared from the vision, but his
voice called to her. “Marissa!”

She blinked and Hex gave a frightened meow.
The cat jumped to the floor and Marissa curled into a ball of
agonizing pain. She was only vaguely aware of the warm hand that
stroked her forehead.

Wolf lay on the floor beside Marissa. She was
cold as ice. He curled behind her, and wrapped his arms around
her.

He’d done this to her.

This was no parlor trick, and the vision, or
whatever she’d done to him, definitely wasn’t what he’d wanted to
hear—or see. Rudy Kadlec’s Chevy. Elliot Bederman—he’d always been
a punk. And Chuck.

A shudder shook his own body and for a
moment, Wolf was sure he was going to vomit. He tried to
rationalize what had happened. Marissa must have hypnotized him, or
what he’d seen was a sick magic trick.

“I saw them,” Marissa whispered.

Wolf nodded.

Marissa jerked in his arms and rolled over to
face him. “You were there.”

Wolf looked away. How had she done that?

“Did I do it?” she asked.

He hadn’t spoken the question out loud, and
yet she’d answered it. For a few brief moments, they’d become one
person. Wolf stroked a dark red curl off her forehead. “What?” he
asked, unable to comprehend what they’d shared. In those few short
minutes, he’d been more connected to her than he’d been to anyone
since the accident. Or before, for that matter.

She backed away.

It wouldn’t help to deny what had happened.
He’d seen her thoughts, been inside her head.

“You saw them, too?” Marissa asked.

He nodded. He ought to be frightened, but he
wasn’t. He was quiet inside. Quiet, the way his grandmother used to
make him when he’d struggled to deal with the aftermath of the
accident, the same accident he’d just witnessed first-hand.

“Did you recognize them?” Marissa asked.

Wolf nodded.

“What are you going to do?”

She looked at him with those great big,
beautiful eyes and he didn’t want to think about the accident
anymore. He wanted one of her desserts, the kind that would give
him the courage to kiss her, to make love to her, to lose himself
inside of her. One of those orgasmic, delicious—

Wolf closed his eyes. He didn’t need one of
Marissa’s desserts. Wolf stroked her cheek and bent to kiss
her.

Marissa scrambled away, staring at him as if
he’d lost his mind. Well hadn’t he?

“What are you going to do?” she asked
again.

He wasn’t sure if she meant him, personally,
or if she referred to the vision she’d shared with him. He opted
for the latter. “I’m going to the police. I can ask them to reopen
the case and point them in the right direction.”