Vibrations (3 page)

“She looks like she’s afraid,”
Nick whispered to his partner. "It's not like she's going to see the body.
It's long gone by now. Why is she doing this if she's so squeamish? She looks
like she’s ready to faint.”

Teddy shrugged. “No idea. Maybe
she’s sick.”

Nick promised himself if they
ever decided to bring in another psychic, he would go on strike. He wanted to
refuse to be part of the sham but his captain had given him direct orders. It
felt like he was choosing to obey instead of fighting for the victims. He
looked up to see Whitney walking right into the crime scene. Sarah rushed up to
block him when he tried to follow.

“She needs to do this alone,”
Sarah said sternly.

Nick couldn’t help laughing. “What’s
the fun without an audience?” He stood back and crossed his arms, wondering
what useless knowledge the psychic would impart, if she said anything at all.

As Whitney entered the small
cave, the vibrations hit her like a wave. Grabbing the uneven wall for support,
she pushed away the unessential memories of the policemen and crime techs that
had crowded the scene just days before. The voices outside began to fade as she
narrowed in on the lingering exchange she was searching for. Her body grew
rigid with fear and pain. The rock held the energy so well. She could feel the
recent horror and revulsion from the lawmen that had combed the area after the body
was discovered. This boy was named Justice. He was from the projects in the
south central part of Phoenix. His mama was a poor woman trying to raise her
kids and keep them out of the gangs. His older brother was sixteen and wanted
to be a reporter. Justice had been just six, the youngest one yet. He loved to
play soccer, football and hockey. Only the rich kids in Phoenix really played
hockey. Their parents spent lots of money on the gear and the ice time needed
to be on a team. Justice only dreamed about hockey.

He played football with the
kids in the schoolyard almost every day. He was amazing for six. Everyone
talked about “the little quarterback”. She stood silently waiting for the
energy of the recent days to fade and concentrated on the growing fear of a
child. She could feel it. Her chest tightened as the vision flowed around her.

A small boy was pleading, “No,
please. I’m sorry. Whatever made you mad, I’m sorry.” The boy was curled
against the back wall of the cave. His face was covered with dirt and tear
streaks. “Maybe my Mama can fix it for you. She’s good at fixing things. Please,”
the small voice begged. She heard his scream as the knife connected with his
flesh.

The blade sliced across his
right thigh, then his chest. The boy was losing consciousness. Whitney fell to
her knees and grabbed the rock wall. The scene changed and she was seeing it
from different eyes. She felt the killer smiling and heard him singing. His
voice sounded like a small boy himself, but his hands were larger and stronger
than a young boy’s. “Take me out to the ball game. Take me out to the park. Buy
me some peanuts and cracker jacks.” He kept humming as he used the knife. She
could feel the anger growing as he started to stab harder at the boy’s legs and
stab at his eyes and genitals. “You aren’t such a good boy now, are you?” She
heard his voice in her head. “Not Mama’s perfect little boy. Now you can’t hurt
any other little boys.” The voice was screeching and cracking. The knife
whipped across the boy’s throat and blood sprayed in the killer’s eyes.

Whitney tried to break away as
she felt the boy dying. She had to get out. She stumbled back and fell out of
the entrance to the cave. Sarah grabbed her and steadied her.

“Just need to sit for a
minute,” she whispered. Her voice was raspy like she’d been screaming. She had
tried, but didn’t think any sound had made it out. Sarah helped her to a
boulder a few feet away and gave her a sip from her water bottle.

Nick and Teddy watched quietly,
not sure what was happening.

“So did she see something?”
Nick asked.

“Just give her a little time to
catch her breath. I’m going to take her back to the room now and she can call
you a little later to let you know. I’ll be available for any questions. Now
get out of our way!”

Sarah looped Whitney’s arm
around her shoulder and started toward the top of the rim. Whitney was trying
to help, but she didn’t have much strength left to climb. Nick sprinted up and
reached out to help, but she twisted away.

“No! Please. I can do it myself.
I’ll be fine.”

Nick sat back and watched her
just about crawling by the time they reached the top. He and Teddy followed to
make sure they made it. As soon as her assistant got her to the car, it looked
like she passed out. Sarah hopped in the other side and then tore down the
two-lane road and back toward the motel.

Nicked yelled to Teddy as he
sprinted for the car.

“Get in!”

As soon as Teddy had both feet
in the car they were on the road and following the little white Honda toward
the city.

“Whew” said Teddy. “What was
that?”

“I don’t know. She either lost
it in there, or just finished an Oscar performance of The Walking Psychic Dead.
This day just gets better and better.”

“Think she actually saw
something?”

“If she did, it wouldn’t be pretty.
She already knows the condition the bodies were in, so she can make up any
story she wants. She could make it sound like she actually saw something.” Nick
shook his head in disgust. “Why does she have to make it such a show? I hope
this is it and she can just sit home now and write her report.”

“If you don’t believe this
stuff, why are we following them?”

“Well, she may have noticed
something or maybe even “felt” something. She sure didn’t look so good when she
came out. It looked like she might have passed out in the car. I just want to
make sure she lives to tell us what the hell just happened.”

They arrived at the motel in
time to see Sarah jump out of the car and run to the other side. She opened the
door and started dragging Whitney toward the building. Nick slid the car to a
stop and paused in disbelief. The woman was dragging her by her shoulders, her
legs flopping and scraping the ground like a rag doll. Teddy jumped out and
yelled for her to stop, but she ignored him, threw open a door, and continued
pulling her into the room. Teddy looked back at Nick in amazement. Nick shrugged
his shoulders and waved at Teddy to follow. They stepped through the motel door
and stopped dead in their tracks. Sarah was ripping off Whitney’s blouse and
attaching electrodes to her chest.

“Is she okay?” Nick asked. When
she didn’t answer he grabbed her wrist and said it again.

“I don’t know yet. Let me do
this!” Sarah yelled, yanking her wrist back. She started the machine and
watched the lines. She seemed to calm down. “Her heart is still beating.”

Nick felt numb with confusion.
Had she hurt herself in the cave? “What is wrong with her?” he demanded.

“She saw something, and
sometimes it takes a toll.”

“Are you gonna tell me that it
takes so much out of her that her heart could stop, and she keeps coming back
for more? That just doesn’t make sense.”

“Shit.” Sarah jumped back and
checked the machine. It was screeching and the lines went flat. “Shit, Shit,
Shit. I told her!” She started getting the small paddles ready to give her a
jolt.

“Wait!” Agent Hollerman burst
through the door and grabbed the paddles from Sarah. “Just wait a minute,” he
said a little calmer.

Nick couldn’t believe he was
standing here waiting for her heart to start. That was just too crazy to be
true. Actually, it was so crazy he was starting to believe this all had to be
for real and that worried him.

Suddenly, the monitor started
beeping quiet, rhythmic sounds again and the agent and Sarah both let out
sighs.

Nick strode over to Agent
Hollerman, and growled, “Somebody better start explaining fast before I lose
what’s left of my sanity. What was that?”

Agent Hollerman’s brows rose in
surprise, but he took Nick’s arm and led him to the door. “Let’s talk outside
and I will explain. Sarah, please pack your things and head out. I know you
were concerned, but your total lack of faith in Whitney and inability to follow
orders risked her health and possibly her life.”

Nick stepped outside, followed
by the agent and then the fuming assistant. She threw her bags in the rental
and took off in a cloud of dust.

“I’m so sorry that you had to
witness that,” the agent said apologetically. “I knew I should have made her
wait but she was anxious to get out into the field. I should have known she’d
go ahead without me. I was on the way when I heard you contact dispatch. I knew
what happened.”

“Well, I was there, and I still
don’t know.” Nick glared at the man, hands on his hips.

“Sarah should have known better
than to try using that defibrillator on her.”

“You mean she should have
been calmer when her friend’s heart stopped beating?” Nick was incredulous.
Psychic or not, this wasn’t making sense.

“I know it is a lot to accept
for you at this point, but Whitney was not in danger of dying. I don’t think.”

Nick growled in frustration.
“Agent, I’m losing my patience not to mention my mind.”

“She has a rare ability to
interpret the vibrations of energy around her so that she is able to see, feel,
hear, and experience what happened in the past, and sometimes what’s happening
at the present in some other place. When her system starts to collect too much
of these vibrations, or too many violent ones, she seems to shut down to
protect herself. She never knows exactly what will happen. Her heart’s stopped
before but it always starts back up in a minute. She says her body is trying to
clear out the other energy and reset itself back to her own internal rhythm. If
that didn’t happen, she would go crazy with all those experiences flashing
through her brain and we aren’t sure what would happen. It seems to be a built
in mechanism that comes with her abilities.”

Nick stood for a moment
trying to digest what he had just heard. It did have some logic to it. Why
would the FBI make up such a crazy story and lead them on this goose chase if
they didn’t believe it? Nick felt a little like he was going to be sick. If
this was all true, she actually stood there and watched that little boy die.
She would have felt and heard and experienced it. Nick paced away from the
building to give himself a moment to think. His mind was having difficulty
processing the day’s events. One didn’t change their belief system in a day,
and his world didn’t include real psychics.

When Nick turned around, Agent
Hollerman had gone back in the room. Nick cautiously opened the door to see what
was going on inside. Whitney was sitting up sipping some water and laughing
with Teddy. She was pale and drawn, but she was alive. Teddy was telling her a
story about Nick, and Agent Hollerman was on the phone.

Nick realized Teddy was telling
her about the last time they worked with a psychic and he hadn’t been very
happy about it. The woman had dressed like a gypsy and carried a crystal ball.
Teddy had come down with the flu so Nick had to entertain the woman for a day.
He hadn’t been very friendly to her, and she put a curse on him. Whitney threw
her head back and laughed as he explained the curse was cast on Nick’s sex
life.

Nick cleared his throat.
“Thanks for sharing that with her Teddy. Now she can join in at the station
when the guys rib me about my curse.” He turned back to Whitney. “So are you
feeling better now?” He didn’t know whether to be concerned or suspicious.

Whitney put her hand over her
mouth as she tried to stop laughing. “Yes, I’m better now. I’m so sorry for
scaring you like that. That was really stupid of me.”

Nick nodded and walked over to
stand next to Teddy.

“So was it successful?”

“Well, I was able to get
flashes of what happened, but I’m not sure yet if I have any new information
that will help. I’ll have to spend some time reviewing it. Everything that
happened will be written in my report.” She gingerly got off the bed. It took a
few minutes for her to stretch and get her muscles loosened up.

Nick watched her rub her neck
to get the kinks out. Considering the way Sarah had dragged her into the room,
she would probably be bruised for days. Her long black hair was a mess and her
clothes were torn. Nick couldn’t help appreciating that she was toned and
curvy, all at the same time. His mind wandered and he considered how she would
look in a dinner dress or, even better, in no dress at all. When she turned
back to face them Nick felt like a little boy caught with a centerfold.

Looking away quickly, Nick
hoped she couldn’t actually read complete thoughts. He tried to picture her
walking through a construction site and, instead of just getting irritated at
the cat calls and whistles, she’d have to deal with hearing all the lewd
thoughts that inspired them. He tried to switch his mind back to something more
mundane.

Thankfully Whitney provided the
distraction. “I really need to get something to eat,” she said sheepishly. “I
never eat before I do this, and I’m starving right now.”

Nick looked to Agent Hollerman expecting
him to take care of her, but that wasn’t the plan.

“Detectives,” Agent Hollerman
said walking toward the door, “I have to get back to the station and coordinate
the men. Since our assistant is gone, and we have to wait to see who will be
available, I would appreciate it if you could drive Miss Bentley somewhere she
can get some good food. I’ll check in with you later.”

“Wait for me,” Teddy yelled
after him and then turned to Nick. “I hate to miss a good meal but I’m supposed
to get to court in an hour to testify on the Brady case. I’m going to run and
catch the agent for a ride. See ya later Nick. Miss Bentley.”