New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two (4 page)

“I was thinking of cooking dinner for Jared
,” Kate responded.
“
Any menu suggestions?”

“How about making him my red pepper sauce with tortellini?”

“Yes! Great ide
a, thanks M
om.”

Kate
reached over and gave her a spontaneous hug. Although they had always been close, the past couple of months had really bonded them. Without the psychic secret hanging over their head, Kate really felt like she could talk to her mother about anything. With her newfound
desire to help the missing, Kate
understood
she’d need her more than ever.

“What kind of person doesn’t have any basil or olive oil in their home?” Kate questioned Jared later that evening with her hands on her hips
. She glared at him as she stood in front of
his
stove.

Jared
gave her an amused look. “You make it sound like a crime.”

“It should be! I picked up all of the other ingredients from the store, but figured you would at least have the basics. We need to
start cooking here more. D
o you know how much weight I’ve gained with all of our takeout dinners?”

“No, but I’m sure you’re about to tell me,” he teased.

“It’s not funny! I’m already planning to do a fast as it is.”

“A fast?”

She shrugged her shoulders and
turned back towards the range
to
give the pasta a stir. “A
pparently you eat nothing but maple syrup and cayenne pepper for a few days and lose like ten pounds.”

“That sounds disgusting. You better no
t do that or I’ll be mad at you,
”
he warned.

Jared
came up from behind her and pulled her towards him. While still holding the wooden spoon, she ended up sitting on his lap as he returned to his chair at the kitchen table. He nuzzled her neck. “I like you just the way you are.
You look particularly cute in that apron.
”
Over her tank top and shorts, she was wearing her mother’s ‘Shitake Happens’ apron.

Her grin was unabashed.
“
You’re not so bad yourself.” Kate
gestured to the laptop that sat in front of him. “What are you working on?”

“Just a report for work.”

“What’s the case? Maybe I can use my psychic skills to help?” she asked hopefully.

“No, I’m good, but thanks for the offer.”

“Jared, you really should be taking advantage of the fact that you’re dating a psychic. You could be
,
like
,
the head of the department!
” She threw up her arms for emphasis.
“
I could be your
own personal
Cliffs Notes—
give you all of the answers without you having to do any of the grunt work.”

“Having a child kidnapped was not a normal thing to happen in
Franklin
,” Jared emphasized. “
If something like that happens again, I promise you’ll be the first person I call for help. The fact is
,
most of my cases aren’t that important,” he said lightly.

Pu
lling her eyebrows together, Kate said in a shocked voice,
“What a mean thing to say! I’m sure the victims feel that their case is important!” She pulled the laptop closer and began reading his report. “Mr. Melville
must
really need
...” she trailed off before finishing, “
to find out who wrote those bad checks
. Ok
, maybe that’s not exactly a life or death situation.”

“Welcome to the glamorous life of a small town police detective,” he said wryly.

Hoping off his lap, Kate
hurried over to the stovetop and
gave the sauce a quick stir. She hoped the butter and oregano she substituted would still keep her mom’s recipe delicious.
Peeking over her shoulder at him, she gave him a long look.
“Hey, are you able to get self defense stuff from the department?”

An eyebrow shot up
as he asked her inquisitively,
“What type of self defense stuff?”

“Brass knuckles? Mace? A stun gun?”

Jared’s tone was weary.
“Do I even want to know why you’re asking me that?”

“There was this weird guy at the college watching me
. I
thought I should carry around something to protect myself,” she explained.

Taking th
e boiling pot off the stove, Kate
decided to bite her tongue when she realized he didn’t have a
colander
either. So annoying, she thought, and
vowed to
forward on any hospital bills
if she developed second degree burns from using a p
late to drain the pasta.

When Jared
didn’t answer, she turned to face him. Instead of the concern she expected written all over his face, he looked rather undisturbed. “Don’t you think I should be worried?”

“Not overly.
” He continued quickly,
“You’re a beautiful girl
, Kate.
I’m not surpris
ed somebody was staring at you
. But if you’re nervous, I’ll get you a can of pepper spray you can carry in your purse. It’s probably a good idea anyway, if you’re walking alone in the parking lot,” he explained. She didn’t respond because she couldn’t put into words what about the boy had bothered her. His look
hadn’t
convey
ed
he was attracted
to her. Instead, his gaze was predatory.

***

She found herself in an unfamiliar kitchen sitting at a small table
cluttered with soda cans and candy wrappers
.
The air was stale and the temperature stifling.
Parts of the floral wallpaper were peeling off the walls
and the paint was yellowed with age. From a distance, she could hear someone softly humming, but could not recognize the tune. In her hands, she could see a
forest green
crayon broken in
half and the picture of a cluster of trees
in front of her. Except they weren’t her hands she was seeing. They were small with a few miniscule scratches on top.

The humming came to a stop and a middle-aged woman entered the room. Her hair was held back with a
red
bandana, but a few frizzy blond strands peeked out of the back. Her eyes were wild and her panicked gaze darted everywhere as if she expected someone to jump out of the shadows. Taking a deep breath, she finally focused on the picture on the table. “What are you drawing Max?”

As soon as she said the name, Kate felt alarm shoot through her. When she first entered his head, his thoughts were completely jumbled
. She decided that
this
was the reason she
initially
had no idea whose memories they wer
e
. Since it had been days
since he disappeared
, Kate had assumed
Max
had been killed.
Stopping her own inner monologue
, she tried to concentrate on the scene taking
place in front of her and glean
as much information as possible.

Max was uncertain about the woman, but not scared. She
seemed to sense
his reluctance to speak with her as he mumbled, “
The park
.”

She clapped her hands together. “
How wonderful! I love the park
!” Max winced at her enthusiasm and a hurt look passed over her face.

Max replied, “Can we go there?”

His heart sank as she frowned at him. She gave him a stern look before speaking. “Max, I explained this to you over and over again. It’s not safe for you! The bad guys who killed your parents are still looking for you! We must stay here and be very quiet until the police catch them.”
She chewed on a thumbnail before continuing, “I could never live with myself if you were hurt.”

“But what about my grandma? Can’t I stay with her?”

“They know where she lives, Max. She told me to take care of you until it’s safe again,” the woman assured him.

Tears filled his eyes, but he gave a small nod. He couldn’t believe his mommy and daddy were really gone and he would only get to see them again in heaven.

Max
thought back to
the
first time he met the woman.
The woman had come up behind him while he was trying to shake a gumball out of the machine at the mall. She
let him know that his mommy and daddy were in trouble and he had to go with her right away. He didn’t see his grandma and figured he better go with her to stop anything bad from happening to them. When they drove away from the mall, she let him know the truth. His mommy and daddy were dead and
they
asked her to take care of him. She asked him to call her mommy, but he told her no way. Instead, she made him call her ma’am.

“It’s almost time for bed, sweetheart. Finish up your picture and I’ll be in to read you a story,” she said in a singsong voice.
The humming began again and a distant look entered her eyes.
As the woman turned away, Kate felt the vision dissolve around her…
.

***

Her heart was pounding as she opened her eyes. It
was pitch black in her room
.
Looking at the clock, she saw it was barely after three in the morning.
Kate swore under her breath as she knocked
over a glass of water while reach
ing for the
lamp. In the drawer of her nightstand she stored
her hot pink leather journal. It helped to have the book nearby in order
to jot down her visions as soon as she woke up.
Immediately, recording the things she saw while sleeping
helped her remember as many details as possible.

After Kate
was finished
writing down Max’s memory
, she exhaled slowly as a way to get some of the tension to leave her body
. No one seemed to understand
how much she abhorred her gift.
The reason was because most of the time the visions
left her with more questions than answers
.

The good news was she could tell Max’s parents that their son was alive. The bad news was she had no idea where he could be.
It was
n’t like the woman had handed over
her address to Max.
Kate only wished she could
get the information she needed instead of
seeing
these rand
om glimpses into memories.

Kate planned to
give
the police the description
of the woman, but
didn’t have
high hopes
this would lead to Max
’s recovery
. Although she had the woman’s
facial features memorized, her hair and body type would be hard to describe because of the bandanna and oversized clothes. Also, police dep
artments didn’t always put
much manpower into tips
called in by psychics. The key
reason her visions about Cori were taken seriously was because of Jared’s involvement with the case.

Kate tried to quell t
he sadness threatening
to overtake her. The poor boy thought his parents were dead while some crazy lady held
him
hostage in her home. She couldn’t really get a feel on the woman’s motives, but knew Max was unh
armed at the time of the vision
. However, the woman was psycho enough to snatch hi
m from a shopping mall, so Kate
kn
ew it was imperative he was returned
to his parents
promptly
.
Her erratic attitude made it seem possible the woman could snap any minute.

Recognizing
she wouldn’t
be able to fall back asleep, Kate
hopped
out of bed and slipped on a pair of fluffy slippers.
Maybe a few hours of online research w
ould lead he
r in the right direction and Kate
could unearth the identity of Max’s abductor. After Cori’s
kidnapping
, Kate had vowed to no longer be
a casual observer. She would do whatever it
took
to help the people in her visions.