First Visions (15 page)

“Honey, I wish there was something I could
say to make this feel better. Getting your heart broken is painful
and you may feel you won’t get over it. When your dad left…it felt
like the day of reckoning had come and the world would end. Yet,
each day brings you hope and you learn to live without that
person.” Taking Kate’s hand, she gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Awesome, Mom.
Now
I definitely want
to jump off a bridge.”

“My point is, nothing’s wrong with you and
you’ll get over this,” she said and came to sit next to her
daughter on the couch.

Kate rested her head against her shoulder.
Her mother was comforting and it felt good to have someone take
care of her. “I don’t think Jared intentionally meant to hurt you.
You may be psychic, but I can read people well. He seems to be one
of the good ones and probably was trying to do the honorable thing
and not take advantage of you.”

“Mom, you’re supposed to be convincing me of
his suckiness,” Kate bemoaned. “I think it will be too hard for me
to see him. I still want to help with Cori, but maybe you could be
in contact with him if I envision anything? I think I’ll die of
embarrassment if I come face to face with him. I know I’m totally
in the wrong here and he never led me on, but I can’t deal.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to him?
I know it’s complicated since he has a girlfriend, but maybe you
could be friends and down the road if anything changes…”

“No, it’s better to stay away. You should
know I can’t face any type of conflict better than anyone. That’s
the reason I’ve been holed up here since I woke up from the coma.”
She shoved the rest of the sandwich in her mouth and slurped up the
soda. Surprisingly enough, the food did seem to be settling her
stomach.

“Maybe it’s time to stop hiding, Katie,” her
mother said gently.

She gave her a mother half grimace and half
smile. Clearing the wrappers off of the table, she placed them in
the empty fast food bag. “Thanks for breakfast, Mom. I’m still kind
of wiped and don’t feel like spending the day looking like a run
over hooker.”

“Ok, but I’m here if you want to talk.” Kate
nodded and left for a shower and to sleep the rest of the miserable
day away.

***

Cori must have been there always. Calling to
Kate from the back of her brain and reminding Kate to never forget
about her. Kate had no idea if Cori could sense her, but hoped in a
way she could. It may be a comfort to know she’s with her and
trying to get Cori away from that horrible man.

It was late afternoon in the basement. A
minimal amount of light filtered through a few small windows. Most
of the windows had boards on them and the light only came in
through the cracks. The basement was as dismal looking as the rest
of the house. Small puddles were scattered throughout the flooring.
The moldy smell of the basement and the cloth around her mouth made
it hard to breathe. Some old furniture and tools were arranged in
piles. About a dozen large black garbage bags were placed along the
perimeter.

Kate felt herself drifting in and out of
Cori’s mind. She would see through her eyes for a few seconds and
then feel disconnected from the girl. When she was in her head,
Kate sensed Cori’s fear and discomfort. She was hungry and thirsty
and could barely move into a relaxed position with the plastic
zip-ties still in place around her wrists and ankles. She had no
sense of time and wondered if the man had left her there to die.
Her soiled clothing burned and irritated her skin. Cori heard the
man upstairs from time to time yelling and blasting music, but he
had yet to come back down to the basement.

The late afternoon sun didn’t last long and
soon the basement was cast in shadows. Cori knew it would be pitch
black again. Suddenly, the basement door swung open and she saw the
outline of the man. Bright light from behind him irritated her eyes
and she had to blink several times to get accustomed to it. She
closed her eyes and wished she could simply disappear and be back
home in her bed. His loud footsteps came down the steps.

He grabbed her roughly and lifted her off the
floor. He pulled the cloth away from her mouth and before she could
say a word, he threatened, “Scream and I’ll kill you.” Cori nodded
and still kept her eyes shut. Brutally, he dropped her back onto
the cement floor. “Here, you’re going to eat this.”

Cori opened her eyes and almost cried from
relief. He held a couple of pieces of bread in his hand and a can
of soda. Maybe he wouldn’t kill her after all. Why bother feeding
her if he was only going to murder her soon? He shoved pieces of
bread in her mouth and Cori chewed quickly. Before her hunger could
be sated, the bread was gone. Since she could not move, he held the
soda up to her mouth and let her drink. She choked on the soda
several times, but finally managed to keep it down by slowing down
her gulps.

Cori was terrified, but couldn’t help but beg
for her freedom. While keeping her head facing the floor, she
moaned, “I want to go home.”

“
You’re not going anywhere until I get my
money. Your family is gonna pay me a lot if they want you back in
one piece.” He spat on the floor in front of her. Although he
sounded tough, his hands were trembling. It was uncertain whether
it was from nerves or from some type of withdrawal from
drugs.

“
Did you ask my daddy for it? I know he’ll
give anything to have me home,” she cried.

“
Listen brat, I’m trying to figure it all
out. As long as your piece of shit dad gives me what I want, I’ll
let you go.”

Cori had no idea if he was telling the truth,
but it gave her hope. Even though he was menacing, he hadn’t laid a
finger on her since throwing her down in the basement. If it was
money he was after, she knew her family had plenty of it. She dared
a look at him as she lifted her head up slowly to meet his gaze.
Although it was dusk she managed to clearly make out his face…

***

Kate’s excitement threw her out of the vision
and she ran out of her bed. “Mom!” she screamed.

She found her mother sweeping the kitchen
downstairs. Kate couldn’t get any words out and was breathing
heavily. Her mother sent her a questioning look. “Katie?”

“I finally saw him, Mom. I know what Cori’s
kidnapper looks like!”

Kate was positively gleeful. If anyone knew
him and could match the description, the police could get his
address and rescue Cori from the basement. A description of the car
and the abductor would certainly narrow down the possibilities
enough for him to be located. Although Cori was in distress, a
vision of her obviously meant she was still alive.

Her mother wrapped her arms around Kate and
practically spun her in the air. “That’s amazing news! Tell me
everything…”

Less than two hours later, Kate was watching
TV alone in the house. Her mother had called Jared and reiterated
the entire vision to him. Kate had drawn a sketch of the kidnapper
and her mother had agreed to drop it off to him. She hadn’t stayed
in the room to hear their phone conversation. The anxiety was
coming off of her mother in waves when she retrieved Kate from her
room after the phone call.

Chewing on her lower lip, her mom shifted
uncomfortably. “He kept insisting on talking to you directly…”

“And what did you tell him?” she asked
narrowing her eyes.

“I said you were no longer comfortable with
the situation and preferred I’d act as a liaison. Katie, maybe you
should be the one to bring your sketch down to the police station.
He mentioned maybe meeting with one of their people to do a
professional rendering.”

“No way. If anyone recognizes me and calls in
a tip, I’m moving away and changing my name. It took months for me
to go anywhere without some loon coming up to me and harassing me
about Matt Spencer. I only want to have a normal life again.”

“He could come over here and pick up the
drawing,” her mother suggested. “Then, if he has any other
questions, you could answer them. I’ll insist he only talk to you
about things pertaining to the case if you want. However, I know he
wants to apologize to you and it would be good for you to hear what
he has to say when you’re sober. You know how much drinking can
heighten emotions.”

“Listen, Mom, I can’t be in his presence at
all right now. Yes, it’s selfish, but I don’t want to have to sit
and pretend I’m fine when I feel completely heartbroken. I told you
every single detail about the vision and the sketch is pretty damn
good if I do say so myself.” She held up the piece of paper and
knew it was a good representation of the man she saw in the vision.
Almond shaped eyes with a large wide nose centered on his face. His
bushy eyebrows and full lips were very distinctive. He had a
closely shorn haircut and a rounded shape head. He appeared to be
of mixed descent; possibly Hispanic or Italian.

Her mother finally hedged. “I don’t exactly
feel right about this, Katie, but I’ll do what you say. But I still
think you should give him a call.”

Kate sighed. “Look, I’ll do anything to find
Cori. I guess you could have him send me a text with any questions
and we’ll go from there.”

Her mother relented and dropped the subject
to head off to the police station. Kate assumed if Jared really
wanted to question her, there was probably nothing she could do
about it. He could probably lock her up on obstruction of justice
or something like that. Conversely, Kate had a feeling he would let
her be. She was confident he felt as uncomfortable around her as
she did. He would probably worry she would jump on top of him at
any given moment and attack him with her tongue.

While waiting for her mom to return home, she
was vegging on the couch. The phone rang and Kate cringed looking
at the call display. Knowing she was in for an earful, she
whispered a meek hello.

Julie’s voice was rich with venom. “Oh good,
you are
alive
. Now I can come over and kill you myself.”

“I know I’m a horrible person, you should
totally ditch me for someone who’s not completely inept at being a
good friend.”

“Would it have killed you to return a call or
a text?”

“I’m sorry, sort of recovering from an
emotional breakdown. Honestly, I’ve been sleeping all day. I was
trying to see if I could force my mind into a state of amnesia
about last night.”

“What did happen last night? Sebastian called
Gage at like two in the morning to say you disappeared. You went to
the bathroom and never came back apparently…”

“Sebastian wanted to do an exploration of my
bodily cavities and I didn’t know how to politely decline.
Completely immature of me, but I slipped out instead of telling him
I was unenthusiastic about him seeing my control top underwear just
yet.”

She got at least a chuckle out of Julie.
“Well, next time, call me! I could care less if you hook up with
Sebastian—he’s a complete man-whore. I figured if you were looking
for something casual, you’d be interested. Don’t make me worry that
something happened to you!”

“You’re right. I should’ve at least sent you
a text. He was plastered and I was worried he’d wrap his car around
a tree with me in it. I knew you were sick and didn’t want you and
Gage to have to come out and get me. I called for a ride and slept
like twelve hours and swore a sacred vow that I was never drinking
again.”

“No prob, I’m already over it. Did you call
your mom? Did she freak?”

She was tempted to tell Julie the entire
story, but wasn’t sure where to begin. Kate never even told her she
still had visions after the coma. She didn’t know how to get into
the whole Jared saga without coming clean. As she mulled these
things over, the doorbell rang.

Kate was slightly relieved. Despite this, she
decided to talk to Julie soon. Julie was her best friend and it
wasn’t fair she kept such a big part of her life concealed from
her. “Let me call you back, someone’s at the door.”

“Another handsome stranger?”

“God, I hope not,” she muttered and
disconnected.

Swinging open the door, she almost had the
temptation to slam it shut. Nikki stood on her doorstep and by her
expression, she wasn’t there to thank Kate for the new lead on
Cori.

“Can I come in?” It definitely didn’t sound
like a request. She simply nodded and Nikki strode past her into
the foyer.

Situating her hands on her hips, Nikki turned
and faced her. “I’m going to make this short and sweet for you.
You’re going to stay away from Jared and my family.”

Kate had a feeling if she refused Nikki would
go all gangster on her and beat her up—even if she appeared all
sweetness and light in a yellow sundress. Kate measured her up. She
had at least five inches and twenty pounds on her—Kate was pretty
sure she could take her. However, Nikki did have much longer
fingernails; she may end up gouging her eyes out.

“Fine,” she said shortly.

Nikki eyed her up skeptically. “Fine? You’re
not going to argue or tell me to get the hell out of your
house.”

Kate shook her head. “I know you’re going to
find this hard to believe, but I do care about Cori and want to
bring her back to your family. I don’t need to be around Jared in
order to help with the case.”

“Don’t you want to know the reasons why I
don’t want you near Jared?”

“I have a pretty good idea why and don’t need
it spelled out. I’m guessing Jared told you about last night…”
Leaving the sentence hang, Kate silently vented. Jared was turning
into a major pain in her ass. Why did he have to run home and tell
Nikki about her blundering seduction? Talk about pouring salt on
the wound.

“How dare you! What kind of warped person
tries to pinch someone’s boyfriend whose sister has been abducted?
You’ve been acting wildly inappropriate since the day you met him.
I tried to warn Jared about you. Instead, he has to go and feel
sorry
for you and takes it upon himself to be your
friend.”