Behind the wheel of the car, Max angled his head and watched
Theresa. She sat silent and unmoving, just as she had since
theyโd left
her shop. His gaze slid slowly along the length of her, and
he definitely
liked what he saw. He never paid much attention to her when
she and Remy
first began hanging out together. Sheโd been way too young.
Heโd rarely
been home then, staying in Shreveport while attending LSU.
Max didnโt really understand Theresa and Remyโs friendship.
They were so
diametrically different, yet their friendship endured all
these years.
Theresa had spent a lot of time at their house, all the
holidays,
birthdays, even family reunions. She was practically a
member of the
family, at least to everybody but him. Heโd never had the
remotest
familial thought about her. When he looked at her, she set
him aflame.
Every damn time there was a get-together, sheโd been
included. Until about
a year ago. Things started to change then. He stopped
seeing her as Remyโs
best friend. Instead he saw a sexy, vibrant, eye-catching
woman. A woman
he wanted in a primitive, gut-wrenching and wholly
masculine way. His body
ached with wanting her. Heโd been avoiding her like the
plague ever since.
A relationship was a complication he couldnโt afford in his
life right
now.
"Pull over here." Her voice drew his attention back to the
road. He angled
the car over to the side of the pavement. Coasting to a
stop, he swiveled
to face the passenger side, watching Theresa closely.
"Why here?" he asked in a deceptively quiet voice, careful
to betray
nothing. An amazing coincidence. Sheโd told him to stop at
the exact
location the police discovered Tommyโs cell phone. Just a
lucky guess.
Doesnโt mean a damn thing.
Opening the passenger door, Theresa stepped from the car.
Max got out and
walked around the front to join her where she stood. He
watched her take
several steps forward and then backtrack. Her eyelids were
shuttered, as
if by closing them, she could obscure her surroundings.
For a few tense moments, he watched and waited. In a
whispered tone, she
finally spoke. "Give me the cell phone."
Quiet resolve and determination filled her face. Reaching
through the
passenger-side window, he plucked the manila envelope from
the front seat
and handed it to her. Then he stood back and watched.
Theresa slowly opened the clasp on the envelope, her
movements tentative,
a slight trembling in her fingers. She didnโt want to be
involved in this
case. She had a bad feeling about this, a really bad
feeling. Mentally
bracing herself as she reached inside, she grasped the cell
phone. She
lifted it and held it in her right hand, her fingers
sliding around the
metal and plastic. It felt cool to her touch. Switching her
grip to both
hands now, the envelope drifted unnoticed to the grass.
Images began to form. Slowly at first, they gained
substance as she
allowed the psychic energy to wash over her. It happened
like that
sometimes. Some visions came in a great flash, immediate
and precise in
detail, crystal clear and sharp. Other things were vague,
fuzzy, out of
focus.
The closest sheโd ever come to describing it was a near-
sighted person
without their glasses, nearly blind. With tremendous
concentration, she
could sometimes get images to slowly and steadily come into
focus.
Even though it was late afternoon, in her mindโs eye it was
twilight. The
dusky time between day and night where everything fades to
shades of gray,
black and white. She extended her extrasensory flow,
hearing nothing
except the normal sounds of nature. Crickets chirped,
mosquitoes buzzed,
an occasional bird lifted in flight. The normal sounds of a
Louisiana
evening.
Things began coalescing into definition. She stood
alongside a motorbike.
The motor wasnโt running.
She let her psychic senses run free. In the distance, she
heard an engine.
Its growl grew louder as it approached. A vehicle pulled to
the side of
the road a short distance ahead of where she stood beside
the bike.
"Theresa," Max interrupted. Never opening her eyes, she
raised her finger
to her mouth, motioning for quiet.
She concentrated on the vehicle, but as hard as she tried,
it wouldnโt
come into a clear image. She could only determine it was a
light color and
large. Focus, she whispered in her mind. Go deeper. Bring
it into focus.
A sudden jolt broke her concentration. Her neck snapped
back, jarring her
from the vision and back into reality. Theresa stared up at
Maxโs face
inches from hers, so close she could feel the warmth of his
breath. His
grasp on her shoulders felt firm yet insistent.
"Theresa." A hint of anxiety filled Maxโs normally placid
voice. "Theresa.
Snap out of it."
"Whatโs wrong, Max?"
"Whatโs wrong? You were standing there, barely breathing,
shaking like a
leaf, and you ask me โWhatโs wrong?โ" Maxโs hold on her
eased and she
watched him run a hand across his eyes. "What the hell just
happened?"
The vision vanished, faded away like mist evaporating.
Nothing left but
the daylight surrounding her and Max. She handed him the
phone and managed
to stagger a couple of steps, resting her hip against the
hood of the car.
Her body trembled, exhaustion enveloping her like a heavy
cloak. This was
one of the reasons she hated this kind of reading. It wiped
her out,
leaving her emotionally and physically drained.
"Thereโs not a lot I can tell you, Max. I saw the bike at
the side of the
road. Right there." She pointed. "It wasnโt running. I
couldnโt tell why
not. I didnโt get the impression there was anything
mechanically wrong,
butโฆ"
She took a few steps away from the car and glanced toward
the woods. They
were dense, thick and mysterious, yet no sense of danger
emanated from
them. Sunlight poured through the few leaves, wiping away
all trace of the
twilight hues from her vision.
"Another vehicle pulled over there." She gestured toward
the road again,
indicating an area about twenty feet beyond where his car
was parked. "It
was large, light in color. Maybe white or a light yellow or
tan, I
couldnโt tell. It stopped. I sensed a brief moment of fear,
but just as
quickly it was gone. Tommy felt relief. He didnโt seem
afraid. He seemed
thankful, maybe even happy."
Theresa looked up into Maxโs eyes for the first time since
the vision
ended and met his gray-eyed gaze.
"Max, whoever took Tommy wasnโt a stranger. It was somebody
he knew."
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