Vibrations (23 page)

Dundee was visibly shaking. He
was clinging to a fixture high on the ceiling and wouldn’t let go. Whitney
tried to stop her tears and sound calm so he would come down. Nick walked in
and rushed over to her.

“I’m so sorry.” He saw the
colorful body of the macaw and pulled Whitney close. “I’m so sorry.”

Whitney’s sobs started again. She
couldn’t talk. Her eyes looked up at Dundee, and she clung to Nick harder. Nick
sat her down on the floor and ran to get a chair. Even with the chair he could
barely reach the bird.

“Come here Dundee. It’s okay
now. Want a scratch? He won’t come Whitney. What should I do?”

Whitney didn’t answer. She just
sat and rocked the other bird with the pillow on her lap. Nick couldn’t wait,
so he jumped and scooped at the bird’s legs. The bird started screaming again
but Nick held on to his feet. He jumped down off the chair and tried to calm
the bird, but it flew away.

Dundee landed on Whitney and
she seemed to come back to her senses. She set the dead bird aside and worked
on calming the Cockatoo. After a few minutes she seemed to have done the job. Dundee
was snuggled onto her shoulder as Whitney stood up and surveyed the room.

“We need to get some clothes on
you sweetie,” Nick said guiding her back to the bedroom.

He threw on his shirt and left
her to dress when the police pulled up. He was busy answering their question
for a while, and then he went back to check on Whitney. She was still sitting
naked on the bed. He had to help her dress. It wasn’t easy, because she
wouldn’t let go of the bird.

They finally finished and
walked back out to the living room. It was then that Nick noticed the writing
on the mirror. Whitney followed his eyes and saw the red words meant for her.

“You’re next bitch.”

Whitney’s legs gave out and
Nick caught her just in time. He carried her to the couch and wrapped a blanket
around her and the bird. By the time they had finished dealing with the Sedona
police, Whitney had fallen asleep. Nick sat down in the black leather recliner
and kept his gun at his side. He watched Whitney until she woke two hours later
with the sunrise.

Whitney lifted her head and
looked around. The memory of what had happened hit her and the tears started
again. Nick tried to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure what to say. He wasn’t
sure if she was more upset about the threat on her life, or the death of her
bird. Since she had survived the attack a few weeks ago without this many
tears, he assumed it was the loss of a beloved pet.

“I’m so sorry about your bird
sweetie. I think he may have died trying to protect you. The officers found
blood on his claws. He must have tried to fight off the intruder.”

A hint of a smile showed on
Whitney’s face. “He probably scared the shit out of the guy. I hope he took
some huge chunks right out of his face.”

“He may have. He at least
scratched his arms or some body part pretty good. Maybe we’ll spot him right
away when we see him. They are keeping the bird for DNA testing. When we find
him, the bird will convict him.”

Whitney stroked the bird on her
lap and looked back up at Nick. “I’m sorry Nick. I don’t feel very well. You’d
think that I lost a child instead of a bird.”

“It’s okay. I understand. They’re
your babies. You just rest. I’m going to get Dundee’s things and drive us
back to my house. I want you to rest and do what you need to do.”

Whitney nodded and looked away.
This case had become way too personal. This was the first time someone had
become aware of her involvement. She couldn’t stand the thought of going back
to Nick’s, but she couldn’t stay here. There was nowhere safe for her now.

Nick knew Whitney was
miserable. She slept on and off all day and stayed close to the bird. They put
his cage in the bedroom, but he wouldn’t leave her side. He screamed and yelled
when she left the room. Whitney just gave in and carried him around on her
shoulder.

That night, Whitney could not
sleep. She had been able to rest during the day because she had been in shock. Now
that it was night, the fear of someone out there waiting had adrenalin shooting
through her body. She pretended to sleep so Nick would get some rest, but she
knew it wasn’t working. They both lay there awake, waiting.

Nick finally dozed off at
sometime, and Whitney snuggled in close. It was near three in the morning when
she felt him somewhere outside. He was taunting her. Getting close and waiting
for her to sense him. How did he know so much about her? How had he known she
would be up in Sedona?

“Nick, wake up. Oh God Nick, he
has a boy!”

Nick sat up and saw that the
blood had drained from her face.

“Nick…oh God. He’s close by and
he’s got a little boy. He’s hurting him now. Make it stop.”

Whitney grabbed her head and
screamed. Nick felt sure he was watching the woman he loved being driven off
the edge of sanity, and into a place he couldn’t reach.

“Whitney, try to block it out. I’ve
got to call Teddy and start a search.”

Whitney was holding her head
and rocking. She was babbling and saying something Nick couldn’t understand. Once
he had Teddy on the way, he sat down and held her on his lap.

“Talk to me Whitney. Maybe that
will help.”

“Stop…don’t let him…help me.” Nick
didn’t know if it was the boy she was reading, or Whitney’s own pleas for help.
He threw some things in a bag, put the screaming bird into his cage, and
carried her out to the car. He hadn’t had to worry about dressing her. She had
been so frightened by the night before that she had refused to take off her
clothes for bed. He drove away from the house as fast as he could. The highways
were slow at this time of night, and with his sirens blaring he raced away from
the visions that were tormenting Whitney. She sat curled in a ball crying and
talking to herself.

About twenty minutes later, on
the edge of Scottsdale, Whitney opened her eyes and looked around. She took in
a deep breath and unwrapped her arms from around her legs. She was panting like
she had been running instead of sitting in a car.

“Where…where are we going?”

“Away. Just driving. Are you
better?”

“How did we get in here?”

“I carried you to the car. Do
you remember what happened?”

“Yes. I wish I didn’t. I
remember the…” She broke down crying and Nick pulled over. He held her until
she could catch her breath again.

“Nick, we have to catch him. He’s
mad. He wanted to kill me. The bird hurt him. He’s going to torment that boy
until…”

“If you’re not there, what will
he do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Teddy is out there searching
for him with plenty of help. I can’t take you back there.”

He drove to the Buttes, a beautiful
hotel on edge of town, and checked them in. He had to carry Whitney to the
room. He set her on the bed and her eyes rolled back in her head.

“Shit.” Nick was out of ideas. “We’re
both going to lose it on this one. Maybe we can get married in a mental
hospital.”
He watched as Whitney’s breathing stopped and checked for a
pulse. He kept his hand on her neck and watched the second hand on the bedside
clock. Eighty seven seconds later her heart started beating again. He collapsed
next to her and slept.

Nick woke the next morning
thankful that Whitney was sleeping peacefully. He got up quietly and walked out
of the bedroom into the large open room of their suite. He had signed them in
as Jenny and Jason Brown, so no one knew they were there. His cell phone beeped
with voicemail when he turned it on.

Nick listened to the messages,
and then called Teddy.

“Hey, it’s me.”

“Where you been? I’ve been
going crazy worrying about you two. We found…”

“Wait!! Don’t say it. Don’t say
anything yet. I don’t want to hear anything that I don’t want to tell Whitney. Let
me ask you questions.”

“Is she okay?”

“I’m not sure yet. She’s
sleeping. But this has been way too much for her. Did you find the unsub?”

“No.”

“Shit. I don’t want to know if
you found anything that Whitney will have to see. She’s not in any shape to
deal with anything bad. Do you have any leads on the guy?”

“No. But we know he was near
your house.”

“Great. Don’t tell me anymore. I
want Whitney to rest all day until we can figure out what to do next. I don’t want
to leave her even though I should be there with you.”

“You stay put. I’ll check in
with you and then you can ask for more information when you’re ready. What do I
tell Agent Hollerman when he asks for her?”

“Is he there?”

“He will be in a few hours.”

“Tell him she’s had enough for
now. I’m shutting off the phone so don’t bother trying to call. Well, you can
leave a message if it’s important. I’ll check them.”

“Can you tell me where you
are?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so. Good, now
they can’t make me tell. You be careful and call me if you run into any
trouble.”

“We won’t be in any trouble
this way. I need to make sure she’s gonna be okay.”

Nick got off the phone and
ordered breakfast. He had pulled into the fancy hotel on impulse. He needed
somewhere to hide that no one would check. The place cost an arm and a leg, and
none of his friends or family would ever look for him here. Now that he thought
about it, it might be just what Whitney needed.

He ordered a full course
breakfast and it came on a tray with a silver serving set. He tipped the waiter
and rolled the food into the bedroom.

“Are you hungry?”

Whitney opened her eyes and saw
the food.

“Umm. Coffee. I smell coffee,
and eggs.”

She sat up and Nick handed her
a fancy mug of coffee.”

“I told them to send us some
nice mugs, and not those dinky espresso cups.”

Whitney sipped the coffee and
looked around the room.

“Where are we?”

“Pretty nice huh?”

“Did we fly to NY? It looks
like the Ritz.”

“Nope, it’s the Buttes.”

“Cool. I always wanted to come
here.”

Nick was relieved to be
carrying on a normal conversation with her. He had worried about damage to her
mind and body from the shock and stress of her talents. Whitney felt his
concern, but she wasn’t ready to talk about what had happened.

After breakfast, Nick made
slow, sweet love to Whitney. He left her sleeping and checked back in with
Teddy.

“Any more news buddy?”

“Nothing you want to know
about. Nothing good. You’ve had a few million phone calls. The captain and
Hollerman both want to hear from you. Someone named Tina called here in a panic
looking for Whitney.”

“Man, we forgot all about
calling her. She watches Whitney’s birds. She must have walked into the house
and freaked out.”

“The place is still being
watched and the crime scene tape is all over. I’m sure they filled her in on
most of it.”

Nick got her number and gave
her a call. He let her know that Whitney was safe, but that one bird had died. He
asked her if there was any way she could help out with Dundee for a few days,
and she offered to take the bird back to her house until Whitney was better. He
didn’t really want her showing up at either of their houses in case someone saw
her with the bird. They made plans for her to pick it up at Teddy’s house. She
would call him and get it arranged. Nick was hoping Teddy could figure out a
way to get the bird back to his house. He felt bad leaving Teddy out there on
his own, but he couldn’t think of any other way to protect Whitney.

That evening Whitney was
feeling better and she brought up the issue they had been avoiding all day.

“Nick, what happened to the
boy?”

“I don’t know. I only know that
someone was out there, and they didn’t catch him.”

“Did they find the boy?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t want
you to have to go see another crime scene. You’re just not up to it.”

“I know. I know you’re taking
care of me, but I need to know what happened.”

“Will you promise not to try to
visit the crime scene for a few days?”

“I’ll try. To tell the truth, I
don’t think I could if I tried. I feel a little like…I fell off a horse
and…I’ll faint if I even see a horsefly.”

Nick laughed. She was so honest
about her feelings. At least she still had her sense of humor.

“You know I wouldn’t mind if
you never went back on that horse again. Somehow I just know you will anyway.”

“I’m sure I will. I just hope I
can handle it. I kind of lost it last night.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“He was taunting me. He made
the boy say my name. He was saying it was my fault. Then he…he was torturing
the boy. I know it’s a he. I felt it. I felt the boy screaming and the knife…I
couldn’t block it. I couldn’t…”

Nick picked her up and carried
her back to the bedroom.

“Enough talking for now. You
need to relax. What do you say we try out that huge tub in there? I saw bubble
bath.”

Whitney smiled at Nick and
tried to bring herself back from the memories. He ran the tub and lit some
candles on the counter. Whitney got in and sat back against Nick’s chest. He
rubbed her shoulders and brushed out her hair. By the time the bath was over,
they had spilled quite a bit of water on the floor.

Whitney couldn’t stop thinking
about the boy. After dinner she finally brought the subject up again. “Nick. Please
find out about the boy. Call Teddy.”

Nick called and checked in
again. When he got off the phone, Whitney tried to brace herself for the bad
news.

“They found a boy. He’s dead. They
found him in the little Native American Store down the road from my house. The
owner found him this morning. She said someone’s been breaking in, but not
taking anything. That must be where he’s been hiding when you felt him.”