Brain Storm (A Taylor Morrison Novel Book 1) (11 page)

“You look awful,” she informed me, balancing the pizza box and a large bag, while kicking the door shut with her foot. “You should have stayed at Gram’s a few more days. I can’t believe you just up and left like that.”

“I didn’t just up and leave. I needed to get home and get some sense of normal back into my life. Besides, Mama D was spoiling me rotten.” I didn’t see the need to explain my rapid departure to Mama D, or Trinity either, for that matter. If there was indeed someone after me, my presence was the only real danger to either of them. Watching Trinity disappear around the corner, I reasoned that she was safe enough for the time being. It was still relatively early, the police were keeping an eye on the place and I didn’t think anyone would be stupid enough to try anything when I wasn’t alone and an easy mark. Just to be on the safe side, though, I double checked the lock on the door and reset the alarm before I followed her and the scent of pepperoni into the kitchen.
 

“What’s in the bag?” I asked, while pulling the soda from the fridge and grabbing a couple of glasses. I hoped it wasn’t salad. I wasn’t in the mood for healthy.

“That’s the plan,” she answered cryptically. “I’ll explain after dinner.”
 

Oh boy. She was up to something. Maybe salad would have been the lesser evil. I had slept through lunch and by the time we had gotten plates and napkins on the table, I was ready to dig in. Trinity told me about her day and filled me in on the progress on our Atlanta felon, as we munched away.
 

I had barely finished my last piece, when she swept away a clear spot and heaved her big bag up onto the table with a flourish and stupid grin on her face. I covered my eyes with one hand, half afraid to look at what she was up to.
 

“Aren’t you curious as to my plan?” she asked as she began digging around in the bag. I watched as she put a glass bowl, a roll of aluminum foil, a box of straws and other items out on the table and had to admit that I was in fact curious.
 

“Okay, we’re all set,” she declared as she threw the empty bag onto the floor and sat back down. “ I just have to make the wheel.”

This should be good, I thought, having no idea what she was going to use to make a wheel. The answer became apparent when she ripped off a piece of foil and started folding it into a square and triangles.

“Trinity, I hate to break it to you, but wheels are round.” I knew it would irritate her, but I just couldn’t help myself. She was so intent concentrating on that foil.
 

“Ha, ha, ha, Miss Know it all. This is a psi wheel and it’s supposed to be this way.” She had finished with her folding and grabbed a can of play-doh that had been hidden behind a big bottle and some of the other items. Tearing a plug of doh out of the can, she slapped it on the table, and then stuck a straight pin in it, pointed straight up.
 

“You know that’s dangerous, right?” I said, amused. “Someone could lose an eye.”

“Someone better not,” she snapped back, obviously not as amused as I was. Before I knew it she was unfolding the piece of foil that she’d just spent 5 minutes carefully folding up. Then she sat the foil on the straight pin, exactly in the middle, turned the glass bowl upside-down and plopped it down on the table, covering the foil completely.

Satisfied, she stood back, hands on her hips and looked at me.

“Okay, Yoda, do your thing. Make it spin,” she ordered, circling her finger in the air for effect.

Yoda? I looked at the bowl and the foil suspended on the pin inside and realized what she was doing. Trinity wanted me to make it spin around. With my mind. She had indeed made a psi wheel, and making it spin was one of the tests for confirming Telekinesis. Trinity had obviously been doing some homework on the web sites I had given her. After my torture with the spoons, I hadn’t even thought about doing any of the so-called tests that were listed, but apparently Trinity had other ideas.
 

“Come on, Taylor. Concentrate! You’re not even trying.” She shuffled around behind me and leaned down. “Use the force,” she whispered in her best Obi Won imitation. I probably could have held it together, but when she started in with the heavy breathing, I lost it. Before I knew it we were both convulsed with laughter and struggling to catch some air.

“This was your plan, Trinity?” I asked, wiping tears from my face. “Testing my so called abilities?”

“No.” She was sprawled in her chair with her arms holding her stomach. “My plan was to see you laugh. Things have gotten pretty intense lately.”
 

I nodded agreement while feeling my cheekbones, which were sore and taking another swipe at my own eyes, flopped back in my own chair exhausted.
 

“Well, your plan worked and I feel much better now. My face hurts, but I feel better.”

“Good.” Trinity started picking up the testing materials and stuffing them back in the bag. “Now, maybe you can explain the police surveillance outside then?”

Oops. I raised my eyebrows innocently at her but she wasn’t buying it.

“Don’t even go there Taylor. I may not be the investigator you are or have psychic powers, but I can put two and two together and get four. Gram said Jonas came by and you left with him. I figured something was up and it wasn’t good. The police car out front confirmed it, although I don’t know what good he is doing sitting out in the street.”

“He’s a deterrent,” I explained needlessly, since she knew exactly why he was there.“Jonas came by Mama D’s this morning to tell me there’s no background history on Denzel.”

“No background history?” Trinity stopped as the implications hit her. “Who’s this guy working for?”
 

“My question exactly. His name was supposedly Marcus Adams and he hailed from Omaha. That’s all there is on him,” I said as I headed into the kitchen with the trash and to put some coffee on.

Trinity was right on my heels.
 

“So this Marcus fellow was following you, right? Keeping an eye on you. Then you grab his coffee and suddenly everything escalates.”

“Right,” I confirmed, pulling down a couple of mugs. Trinity was no dummy. She had already figured this out. “The turning point was the coffee incident.”
 

We stood silently for a moment watching the coffee drip, each of us lost in thought. Finally I broke the silence.

“I have to tell Jonas about the Telekinesis. Somehow it’s at the center of this and he doesn’t stand a chance of finding out what’s going on without knowing the whole story.”

Trinity nodded her silent agreement. I looked at the phone, dreading the prospect of telling Jonas that what he suspected, might actually be true. If Trinity had done her homework, and apparently she had, considering the psi wheel, then she knew there was no proof that anyone actually had Telekinesis. If word got out that I did, or even thought I did, things were going to change, big time. The more people who knew about it, the more likely it was that word would get out and life would end as I knew it. Problem was, I wasn’t too sure that hadn’t already happened. Sighing audibly, I resigned myself to the inevitable, picked up the phone and made the call.

ELEVEN

“WHAT ARE YOU doing here?” Jonas demanded as I ushered him into the living room. His words were directed at Trinity who responded as any attorney would.

“I’m her
laww-yyer
.” She drug out the lawyer part, implying Jonas might be having trouble keeping up.

“I wasn’t aware she needed a lawyer,” he snapped back, not missing a beat. Turning around, he fixed me with a glare. “Do you
need
a lawyer?”

“Hey!” I could be as assertive as the next person. “Leave me out of this. If you two want to go a round, don’t let me stop you. Just tell me when you’re finished and we can get down to business.”

Trinity sat back down in the chair she had leapt up from when Jonas had entered and started in on her.

“He started it,” she mumbled under her breath.

I heard it and so did Jonas, who snorted loudly and took a seat as far from Trinity as he could get. The tension was so thick in the room you could cut it with a knife. They were both perched on the edge of their seats, looking like they were ready to spring up and do battle should the occasion arise. Whatever was going on here, was more than professional dislike. Either they hated each other for some reason unknown to me, or … hell had indeed frozen over and Jonas, the dedicated cop with no time or desire for a social life and Trinity, man-hating she devil, were attracted to each other. Heaven help me. Like I didn’t have enough on my plate already.

“Okay kids. Settle down.” I felt the need to set some ground rules here, before things went any further. Last thing I needed was a war between the two of them while trying to deal with everything else.

“Jonas, Trinity is here as my friend, not as my lawyer, and Trinity, I invited Jonas here, so lets all try to be civilized.” I gave them both the eye until Trinity leaned back and Jonas pulled out his notepad and pen and indicated he was ready to do business. “Jonas, I would prefer you wait to take notes until I tell you why I called. I believe it may have something to do with what’s been happening, but I would prefer to keep it as private as possible. Just hear me out and then we can all decide on what to do next.”

“Fine.” Jonas tossed the pad and pen onto the table in front of him. “Tell me. I’m all ears.”

Not exactly friendly, but not overtly hostile either. I glanced over at Trinity as she nodded encouragement and began to tell my story.

An hour later, I was finished. I’d told him everything and now sat braced, waiting to see what happened next.

“I knew it,” Jonas exclaimed, slapping his thighs in excitement. “I
knew
it!” Jumping up he began to pace the room. “I knew you two were keeping something from me and that thing in the hospital? You nearly took my coffee! Just like you did with Marcus.”

“Wait a minute. You believe her?” Trinity was watching him tour the room, as was I. I had expected a reaction, but certainly not this one.

“Lady, I’m from the swamps of Louisiana. There’s not much I haven’t seen, and most of it can’t be explained. My own Grandmother had the sight. So yes, in answer to your question, I do believe her.” His pacing came to stop right in front of me and I looked up to see him towering over my head.

“However, this does put an interesting spin on things,” he said, looking down at me like I was some sort of specimen on display. Not a good feeling and one that I was sure I was going to experience more and more in the future. The feeling of claustrophobia was nearly overwhelming. I could actually feel my heartbeat pulsing in my veins as an unbearable heat began to climb up my neck. Almost instantly a fine sheet of sweat cloaked my skin and the instinct to flee was overwhelming.

 
“I need a coffee.” I abruptly announced and managed to wiggle around Jonas, who didn’t bother to move, and hightailed it into the kitchen. I only had a minute to catch my breath before Jonas and Trinity came through the door behind me.
 

“Guys, I need some space here for a minute.” I said waving them off. “Just give me a couple of seconds.”

Surprisingly, they did an about face and headed back into the living room without saying a word. The kitchen instantly felt larger and I felt my pulse rate slow down along with my breathing. Was that a panic attack? I’d never had one before, so I didn’t know for sure, but whatever it was, I knew I didn’t want it to happen again. My hands were a little shaky and it felt like my hair was standing on end, but as I ran my hand over my head, everything felt normal. I picked up the coffee to pour a cup and the thought crossed my mind that perhaps now might be a good time to switch to decaf. Then again, nothing like that had happened before and I always hit the caffeine heavy. Shaking my head, I made my way back into the living room, only to find Jonas and Trinity sitting on the sofa, side by side, watching me.

“What?” I looked behind me, but didn’t see anything. “What?” I asked again, a little more firmly.
 

“You didn’t feel that?” Trinity asked, incredulous.

“Feel what?” I had no idea what she was talking about.

Jonas mumbled something under his breath.

“Watch your language,” Trinity snapped, jabbing him a good one with her elbow.

I hadn’t heard what he’d said, but Trinity obviously had and she didn’t approve. Mama D had strict rules on cursing and after being smacked for breaking them on numerous occasions, they had been engrained bone deep on Trinity for all eternity. Even so, I had never heard her call anyone else down on it.

He glared at her and promptly vacated his seat. He passed by the chairs and went instead to lean against the window sill, putting himself well outside her range. Trinity was glaring right back at him and he turned his back on her, focusing his attention out the window, ignoring her as she blew out a a heavy sigh and looked to me for support. I wasn’t sure what to do. Jonas was obviously rattled and Trinity, normally the epitome of professionalism, had just nearly broken his ribs. One minute they had at least been civil to each other and now they were at each other’s throats, the truce over practically before it had even begun. Something had obviously happened to set them off. I may have missed it, but whatever it was they had definitely picked up on it and it had shaken them both.