Connections of the Mind (10 page)

“Hell...” He ran his hand through his hair. “Eleven weeks. That’s all. And you keep in touch. First I want to check out this school. I don’t know anything about it.”

Rebecca knew Lester caught the conspiratorial smile from her friend. Brats, that’s what Lester would call them. He put his hand on Allison’s. “I should have known you’d side with her. Why I thought bringing you would make a difference is beyond me.”

Rebecca cringed, but Allison laughed, and Lester smiled when he said it. Definitely something going on with those two.

“Besides, I never even heard of that college before.” He threw his napkin on the table and looked at both of them.

Allison coughed, and Rebecca caught the smile she tried to hide behind her napkin. “Actually, I checked it out on the Internet before we came. It has quite a good reputation.”

“Oh you did, did you?” Lester leaned back in his chair and grinned. “Something tells me I’m fighting a losing battle here. How could I have forgotten how you two stick together?” He winked at Allison.

Rebecca laughed. So big brother was willing to admit defeat. Would wonders never cease?

“I still want to check it out,” Lester said.

Rebecca leaned back and watched her friend and brother. If Lester didn’t make a move on Allie soon, she was going to have to intervene. Good grief, did the guy need a brick to fall on him to see how Allie felt? He obviously felt the same way, so what the heck was his problem.

“Okay, so we’ll check it out. I haven’t registered yet anyway. Since its Saturday, I doubt if we can talk to anyone..”

Rebecca stood up after the waiter brought their change. “Come on, we can start now.”

She led the way out of the restaurant and to the parking lot. “We may as well take my car, since I’m familiar with the area.” She wished Jeremy were here. Then one of them didn’t have to sit in the back seat alone.

Rebecca drove to the campus and parked. “That’s the community center.” Rebecca pointed it out as they walked around.

“Hey, Miss Brennan, what are you doing here?”

“Hi, Alex, showing my brother and friend around. You?”

“I’m thinking of registering for class. Thought I’d check things out.”

“Great. What are you taking?”

“Not sure yet. I thought about Forest Ranger.” Alex glanced at her brother.

“I’m sorry, Alex, this is my brother, Lester, and my friend, Allison Heath. I met Alex at the pizza shop,” Rebecca said.

Alex looked at his watch. “Sorry, I have to run. I was lucky to arrange an appointment with one of the counselors today. They only do Saturdays by special request.”

Lester shook hands with Alex. “Nice to meet you.”

“Thanks, you too.” Alex dropped Lester’s hand and hurried off.

“You sure get around.” Lester said. “So you’ve already met some of the locals.”

“A few. It’s a friendly town.” She led the way into the student activity center. “I’m afraid other than this, we’re not going to see much today. I didn’t know you could make appointments on Saturdays.”

“Listen, you’ve already made up your mind, and it’s obvious I’m not going to change it. How about we go someplace else?” Lester rubbed the back of his neck.

Rebecca laughed. “Okay, but I’m going to warn you, there’s not much to see and not many places to go around here. It’s really a small town.”

“How about a hike?” Allison said. “When I checked the Internet, there’s a lot of hiking trails around here. Even cabins up in the hills. Lake Morris, I think it’s called.”

“Yeah, Lake Morris State Park. Suits me fine, but I don’t know how much hiking I can do with this boot.” Rebecca looked down at her foot. “Maybe you two should go it alone. We’ll stop and get directions.”

Allison looked at Lester. “Want to?”

“Sure, but I’m not exactly dressed for hiking.”

Rebecca shook her head. As usual Lester wore casual dress slacks and loafers. She couldn’t remember the last time she saw him in jeans and tennis shoes.

“I know! There’s a place in town you can buy some hiking boots, jeans, the works. You’re going to love it. I was going to stop in there myself until this happened.”

Five minutes later, Rebecca parked her car in front of Booth’s. “Come on, I’m sure you can find everything you need.”

“Do they have women’s hiking boots, too?” Allison asked. “I could use a new pair.” She took Lester’s hand. “You do like hiking, don’t you?”

Lester smiled. “You know it’s been ages since I’ve hiked. But yeah, I do.”

Rebecca liked the idea of Lester going off with Allison alone. No point hanging around and feeling like a fifth wheel.

“Hey, back so soon?” Tom Olsen met them at the door.

A shiver crept up Rebecca’s back. What was it about this guy? She just didn’t like the vibes he gave off. “Hi, Tom. Yeah we’re looking for some hiking boots.”

“You came to the right place.” Tom glanced at her brother and Allison. “So where’s Jeremy?”

“Got called into work. Tom, this is my brother, Lester, and my friend, Allison.” No point in being rude even if she didn’t like him. Besides, Jeremy seemed to think a lot of him.

Tom looked at her foot. “What happened to you?”

Thank God, she’d been able to cover her eye with makeup. “Jogging accident. I fell and broke my ankle.”

Tom shook his head. “Tsk, tsk. You better be more careful. Looks like you’re not going to be doing any hiking.”

“Not now I’m not.”

“Well, look around, help yourself.” Tom waved his hand. “There’s every kind of boot or shoe you could possibly want.”

“Thanks.” Rebecca grabbed her brother’s arm and hurried off. The back of her neck still prickled. Something didn’t feel right. Something to do with Jeremy.

Chapter Thirteen

Jeremy looked at his partner, George Barker, and sat down next to him across from Dan's desk. “So what’s going on, Chief? What’s so important you needed to call me back to work?”

Dan sat down and sighed. “We had another robbery last night. The camera store. But I already told you that on the phone.” Dan fingered his mustache. “I don’t know how to tell you this. Guess it’s best to just come out with it. We found a watch from the jewelry store robbery.”

He paused and looked at Jeremy. “Along with a bullet, the same caliber that you were shot with. Ballistics matched it to the one they took out of you.”

“What do you mean it matched? How could it match?” Jeremy stood up. All of a sudden his skin crawled.
What the hell
?

“It was a spent bullet. Someone wanted us to check it. Someone has it in for one of my guys.”

“So whoever robbed the camera shop is the same person who shot me?”

“Looks that way.”

“And you think he left the bullet as a warning to me?”

“Can’t think of no other reason.” Dan sat back on his chair.

Jeremy shook his head, paced the small office and ran his fingers through his hair. “Who the hell has it out for me? And why?”

George stood up. “Whoever it is wanted us to know he hasn’t given up. You’re going to have to watch your back.”

Jeremy stood with his hand on the back of his neck.
Rebecca
! “He’s after Rebecca, too.” Maybe he should send her home.

“Why’s he after Rebecca?” George leaned back in his chair. “And who the hell is she? I heard some girl came to town looking for you. What’s going on? Old flame?”

Jeremy looked at Dan. Should they tell him? The less people that knew the better. Dan nodded. Jeremy sat down. “You’re not going to believe this.”

After Jeremy finished explaining the strange situation, he sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. Even now, he had trouble believing it. If it hadn’t happened to him, he’d still be in doubt.

George sat forward in his seat. “Wow, I’ve heard of stuff like that but...” He scratched his head. “Wow. You actually had one of these visions?”

Jeremy nodded. “Don’t think I would have believed it otherwise.” He looked at the chief. “So what are we going to do?”

“I want you on this case. I know you’re supposed to be recuperating. But it’ll be mostly desk work.”

“You got it. When do I start? Or should I say where?”

“You can start now. George will bring you up to snuff.” The chief looked at George. “I want this solved quick. Something about it bothers me, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.” He rubbed his chin. “Go on, get busy.” Dan picked up some paper work on his desk. “George, wait a minute.”

Chapter Fourteen

“What’s wrong with you?” Lester pried Rebecca’s hand off his arm. “You’re stopping my circulation.”

“Yeah, Beck, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Allison said.

Rebecca shook her head. She couldn’t talk, not yet.

“Come on, let’s go.” Lester led them back out to the car.

Thank goodness, because every Tom, Dick, and Harry in this town didn’t need to hear about it. Rebecca stood next to her car and took a deep breath. “Sorry, I...” How could she possibly explain this?

“Did you have another of your visions?” Allison rubbed Rebecca’s back. “What happened?”

Lester took the keys from Rebecca’s hand and unlocked the car. “Come on, get in. We’re not going to stand in the parking lot talking about this in public.”

Rebecca got in the back seat and pulled her sweater tight around her. Suddenly she felt cold. So very cold.

Lester slammed their doors and got in on the driver’s side, put the key in the ignition, and started the car. He turned around and looked at Rebecca. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Allison put her hand on Lester’s arm. “I know you don’t believe in this. But she saw something.” She turned around in her seat and looked at Rebecca. “What was it, honey, what happened?”

“I didn’t actually see anything. It’s just a feeling I have. Something to do with Jeremy.” Rebecca shivered again. “I don’t know what. That’s the problem with this. Sometimes I just get these feelings. Premonitions.” She leaned back against the seat. “He’s okay. I can sense that. But it’s bad news. Very bad news.”

Lester put the car in gear and started to pull out of the lot.

“Hey, you guys didn’t get your hiking boots.” Rebecca sat forward. “Come on, Les, I’m okay, honest.”

Lester stopped the car and looked at Allison. “Do you really want to go hiking?”

The look on Allison’s face told Rebecca her friend didn’t know if she should go or not.

“Yes, she does, and so do you. Honest, I’m okay now. Let’s get your stuff, and you can take me back to the hotel. I’ll be fine.”

Lester pulled back into the parking space and shook his head. “I swear you girls.” He let out a low chuckle. “Wish you’d make up your minds already.” He pushed open his door and came around the car.

By the time Lester got to Allison’s door, she was half way out of the car. Rebecca held back a giggle. She’d never seen her brother so well-mannered. He reached down and took Allison’s hand, and she looked up at him in surprise but didn’t pull away.

About damn time. She’d seen slow workers before, but Lester had to be the slowest. Idiot didn’t have the brains to ask Allison out. Rebecca watched in amazement as Lester and Allison picked out jeans, shirts, and boots. She swore they were worse than a couple of teenagers the way they giggled.

Lester seemed to be having the time of his life. Her brother looked so relaxed. So spontaneous. So happy. Rebecca wandered away from them. What they didn’t need was her hanging around. She looked at a couple pairs of hiking boots, but decided to wait until she got this boot off. Maybe a pair of shoes would be better. Something to even out her height with the boot.

* * * *

“Do you really believe she had a vision?” Lester said, the minute Rebecca was out of earshot. “I’ve never seen her like that.”

“She saw something. I’ve only witnessed one other incident. She acted much the same way. From what she says, the actual visions are even worse.”

“Scary.” Lester took Allison’s hand. She didn’t pull it away. He liked the feel of it. Soft—warm—gentle.

“What do you think?” Allison’s hazel eyes changed from brown to blue when she held a dusty blue shirt up in front of her.

“I like it. So what do you think, do you want to go hiking, or just lay back and relax?” He almost wished she’d say to relax. But he knew, if they went back to the hotel, the kind of relaxing he’d want to do, and Rebecca would be there. He wanted to get Allison alone. Even now he wanted to kiss her. Her lips begged for it. He’d waited long enough. This time the urge was great, and he darn well was going to act on it. If Allison would have him, that is.

Rebecca had been telling him for years Allison had a crush on him, but he didn’t believe her. Allison was beautiful, what would she want with him? Hell, she could have been a model. In fact, Rebecca said Allison toyed with the idea, but decided she didn’t want to live in the fast lane. Lucky for him.