The Vision (26 page)

Genevieve nodded, looking from him to Nikki. “They help solve murders,” Nikki said.

“But…a seance?” Genevieve said uneasily.

“Don’t worry, it’s not like what you’ve seen in movies,” Adam told her.

“The table is best,” Audrey said. She shrugged. “It’s where I pretend to contact the dead

all the time.”

They formed a circle around the table. Genevieve found herself between Brent and Nikki,

and she was certain they’d planned it that way. Just joining hands with the two, she

nearly jumped. There seemed to be a flow of electricity going through her.

“There are no gimmicks under the table, right, Audrey?” she asked.

Audrey looked at her, hurt.

“Sorry,” Genevieve murmured.

“Not today,” Audrey admitted with dignity.

“So…what do we do?” Genevieve asked softly.

“Just hold hands. Imagine your vision,” Brent said.

She held tight, all the while thinking it was pointless and that despite the fact she had

been the one having the visions—this was really ridiculous, a bunch of mature adults

sitting around a table holding hands.

“Clear your mind,” Brent said, his tone deep, yet oddly quiet. “Close your eyes for a

moment.”

Outside, night was coming at last. It was a time that folks waited for: sunset on Key

West. The sky would be a burst of beautiful colors. In fact, there were few places in the

world where sunset was quite so beautiful. Rays of last light playing atop the water, then

diving into it, changing sea and sky at lightning speeds. Shadows falling…

She opened her eyes.

And there was the woman.

Jay drove Thor to the lab, which gave him a chance to quiz the police officer.

“You might have mentioned your new pals were with Adam Harrison,” he said dryly.

Jay shot him a glance. “The captain said they were sent by the feds. Harrison wasn’t

mentioned.”

“Right. And you didn’t suspect anything?”

Jay shrugged uneasily. “Yes. But what difference does it make? You knew.”

“Yeah, I knew.” He was quiet for a moment. “I asked Harrison to stay away, but I guess

it’s not going to happen.”

“The guy seems decent enough,” Jay commented.

“Yeah? Well, the son is a smart-ass.”

“The son?” Jay said, sounding surprised.

“The man’s son is here, too. Josh Harrison. I met him this morning when I joined his

father for breakfast.”

“That’s impossible,” Jay said.

“What makes you say that?”

“Harrison had a son once, all right. And the kid’s name was Josh. I don’t know who or

what you saw, but it wasn’t his son. Josh died in a car accident over ten years ago.”

13

T he woman stared at Genevieve. For once her hair and clothing didn’t seem to flow in

the water, as they did in the sea and in her dreams.

Her eyes were a deep, almost violet, shade of blue. Her hair was the color of sunkissed

wheat. Genevieve saw her more clearly than ever before.

The woman looked around the room.

Genevieve tried hard to keep her breathing even, tried not to blink. She didn’t want to

lose the vision.

She wasn’t alone in seeing the woman, she quickly realized. Brent Blackhawk spoke

softly to her. “Hello. Don’t be afraid.”

But the ghost didn’t acknowledge him. She turned to stare again at Genevieve and gave

her the usual warning.

“Beware.”

“Beware of what? Please, help me.”

The woman’s arms stretched out, covered in the silky white cloth of her gown. “Help

me,” she whispered. “Help me. Beware.”

“I want to help you,” Genevieve assured her. “I want to help you. Tell me how.”

The ghost was suddenly distressed. Afraid.

Was it possible for a ghost to be afraid? she wondered.

Possible or not, the woman looked around frantically with her huge blue eyes and then

began to fade from sight.

“Wait! Please!” Genevieve begged.

But the woman was gone. And in her wake she left only the whisper of her warning.

“Beware.”

Then there was nothing. Nothing, Genevieve realized, or the absence of something. There

had been a subtle change in all of them. She looked at Brent, at Nikki, and realized she

had nearly broken their hands, she had been gripping them so tightly. At the end of the

table, Audrey was staring at her in shock.

Genevieve swallowed. “Brent, you saw her.”

“Yes.”

“Nikki?”

“Something…I knew she was here.”

“Audrey?”

“Not a damn thing,” Audrey admitted dolefully. “Some mystic I am.”

Genevieve smiled. “It’s just a good living, remember?” she said.

“Some of us have great eyesight, and some are born myopic. Some make great acrobats,

while others are mathematicians,” Adam said kindly.

“Yeah, but…” Audrey said with a sigh.

“I wonder why she disappeared the way she did,” Brent mused.

“‘Beware’ and ‘help me.’ Not enough to give us much information,” Genevieve said. She

was stunned to realize she wasn’t feeling terrified. She felt…relieved. There was a ghost.

Audrey brightened. “I know. The poor woman was murdered. She never had a decent

burial. We need to have a service.”

“Oh, Audrey,” Genevieve said, “we don’t even know who she is.”

“Well, she hangs around with pirates a lot—were they here, too, by the way?” Audrey

asked.

Genevieve shook her head.

“Still, you’re looking for the Marie Josephine. She was attacked by pirates before the

storm that doomed her. The ghost has to be Anne, the captain’s daughter. We should just

have a nice funeral service at sea and let her rest.”

“I’m not sure….” Genevieve murmured.

Nikki Blackhawk shrugged. “It can’t hurt.”

“Actually, it could,” Adam commented.

“How’s that?” Audrey asked.

“Are you sure you want her to disappear?” Adam asked.

“Of course! If she’s a ghost…wandering, suffering past pain and trauma, of course I want

her to be at peace,” Genevieve said. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“She does keep leading you to treasure,” Brent said.

Genevieve was thoughtful for a moment. “I don’t want to disappoint the others,

but…well, I think it’s obvious we’re on the right track. If there were a way to let her go,

I’d gladly do it.”

“I can get hold of Father Bellamy,” Audrey offered. “We can hold a funeral service for

Anne.”

“We should probably get Thor’s permission,” Genevieve said uneasily. “And if the papers got wind of it, I’m not sure it would be a good thing.”

“Not true at all. It could be spun into a nice human-interest story,” Nikki said.

They were all startled by a knock at the door. Audrey rose quickly, collecting the papers

from her coffee table. “Would you mind getting it?” she asked of no one in particular.

Genevieve walked to the door. She was startled, when she opened it, to discover an entire

crowd. Bethany, Alex, Victor, Jack, Jay and Thor were all there.

Thor was wearing his shades, making his expression unreadable.

“Hey,” she said, hoping she sounded surprised, but not nervous.

“Are we allowed in?” Victor asked.

“Uh…”

“Sure,” Audrey announced, coming to the door. “Hi, Victor.” She gave him a hug.

“Jack…Jay. And you’re Alex, right?” She gave him a hug, too, but she didn’t approach

Thor. “Come on in.”

“Do we need any introductions?” Adam asked politely as they all entered.

“No,” Thor said. “We didn’t all mean to barge in like this. Jay and I were hoping to find

Adam, and we just ran into the others along the way.”

“Oh?” Adam said. “Well, here I am.”

“They have bad information at the police station, and we’re here so you can correct it,”

Thor said. “I told Jay I met your son this morning. He didn’t believe me.”

Adam Harrison stared at Thor, mouth open in shock. After a moment he regained his

composure enough to speak. “My son died ten years ago,” he said very softly.

Genevieve thought every single little muscle in Thor’s body must have tightened. His

face was like stone.

“Then who was with us this morning?”

Adam frowned, looking truly perplexed. “Mr. Thompson, no one was with us this

morning.”

“Come on,” Thor said impatiently. “You had an English muffin, I ordered eggs, your

son…”

“Yes?”

“He didn’t order,” Thor said

Adam looked down for a moment. “Others have seen him, too. Sometimes I get the sense

of him, but…”

“What in God’s name are you two talking about?” Victor asked, but the two men paid him no attention.

Thor stood stiffly for a minute, then turned to Audrey. “Thanks for opening the door to an

entire horde,” he said pleasantly, then turned and left.

They all stared after him. “What the hell was that all about?” Jack demanded.

Genevieve looked at Adam Harrison, who looked back at her and smiled. “Maybe a good

thing,” he said briefly.

“We’re all frigging nuts,” Jack said. “Well, hell, this is Key West,” he said proudly.

“Anybody hungry?” Victor asked, looking at his watch.

“Sure,” Jay agreed. But as he spoke, his phone rang. He excused himself, stepping back

outside to take the call.

“Well?” Victor said. “Anyone else hungry?”

“Sure,” Bethany murmured.

“Nikki? Brent? Audrey? Uncle Adam?” There was a twist on the last. Genevieve decided

that everyone had somehow intuited at this point that Adam Harrison wasn’t really

Audrey’s uncle.

“Dinner sounds like a fine suggestion at the moment,” Adam said. “Audrey, what do you

say?”

“Sure.”

Victor slipped an arm around her shoulders as they left.

Bethany gazed at Genevieve and rolled her eyes. Genevieve just shrugged.

Thor returned to the hotel. He doubted the crew that had been on duty that morning

would still be working, but he could at least find out how Adam Harrison was registered.

The clerk at the desk was a young woman. He was prepared, since she wasn’t supposed

to give out certain information. He didn’t have the credentials to demand answers to his

questions, but he had a number of different legal IDs from various associations that

would make it appear he had plenty of authority.

He didn’t need to use any of them. The young woman apparently recognized him and was

quick to help him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Thompson, but no. Adam Harrison is registered alone.

To the best of my knowledge, no one else came in with him. He’d be more than welcome

to have two or three adults in the room, so I can’t imagine why he’d pretend not to have

company,” she said very seriously.

He thanked her and walked back into the night.

The usual activity was going on, people wandering aimlessly, stopping to look, to shop, to buy a little trinket here or there from the sidewalk vendors.

He paused for a moment, just watching. Adam Harrison didn’t need to have a roommate

for them to have been joined by a young man at the breakfast table. Maybe it had just

been some kid hired to put on an act. He found himself irritated to realize, looking back,

that there had really been no interaction between the man claiming to be Josh Harrison

and anyone other than himself. The kid hadn’t ordered food. He’d never spoken to the

waitress or to his supposed father.

It had been a sham, of course. But a convincing one. He should probably be visiting the

local high school drama club. Tomorrow morning, he would find the waitress. She would

know that Adam hadn’t been alone.

He felt his anger rising, and it disturbed him to know he also felt unease rising beneath it.

His anger, he decided, was righteous. The dive was going to hell. First off, Marshall had

been sold to him as the ultimate professional. But a professional didn’t disappear in the

middle of a project, no matter what. A professional didn’t even call in sick. The only way

to get out of this kind of work was to call in dead.

He gritted his teeth, watching as a tall blond woman emerged from the hotel. She was

attractive, but there seemed to be an edge to her. As he watched, she caught his eye. She

smiled and sauntered over to him. “Hello. Lovely night. Have a light?” she asked,

producing a cigarette from her small clutch bag.

Her skirt was short, her shoes high. Her blouse revealed a great deal of cleavage.

“Sorry, I don’t smoke.”

She nodded, dropping the cigarette back into her bag, her eyes remaining focused on his.

“Are you looking for company?” she asked bluntly.

He shook his head. Working girl. “Sorry,” he said softly. “And watch out, miss. A

woman was found dead, you know.”

She smiled. “Still gotta make a living. Well, I’m sorry, too, handsome. Have a nice

night.”

She headed off down the street.

Thor turned, walking down toward the water, determined to get back to Genevieve. He

hadn’t liked leaving her earlier, but at the same time, he’d needed some distance. Not

from her, exactly, but from the craziness, the whole thing with ghosts and dreams and….

His own sense of impotence, his inability to protect her. It had to stop. But by leaving that afternoon, he’d left her free to spend the day with Audrey and those government-sanctioned ghost hunters.

As he walked at a brisk pace, he nearly collided with Jay Gonzalez.

“Hey,” Jay said, startled.

“Hello. You didn’t go to dinner with everyone?” Thor asked. He still didn’t know if Jay Gonzalez was on his suspect list or not. The man’s wife had died under mysterious

circumstances. And he’d been around for the previous disappearances.

“Duty called,” Jay said.