First Visions (7 page)

Before they walked out of the door, Jared
turned to Nikki. “Hon, why don’t you wait in the car? I’ll be only
a minute.”

Nikki seemed too drained to argue and simply
nodded and walked away. He leaned his arm against the doorway and
gave Kate a half smile. “Thanks for today, Nikki’s been a mess and
I think it helped to hear there’s hope to finding her sister.”

“I meant what I said. I’m starting to feel
like I know Cori and locating her is important to me,” she said and
relaxed back into the door.

“Everything good with your Mom then?” he
questioned gently.

“Yeah, we had a talk when I got home. I think
we needed to air everything out. She told me you called her last
night after I left,” she said and then snorted. “She insinuated I
went there for a midnight visit to get it on.”

“Did you just snort?”

“No,” she insisted. “Anyway, I have your
number if I have any new info. I promise no more inappropriate late
night drop-ins.”

He gave her an affable smile. “Thanks Kate
and if you need anything, you can call me.”

She watched him walk away and studied his
perfect form. Of course, all the good ones were always taken.

Kate tried to turn in early that night.
Tomorrow was Monday and she was scheduled for one of her shifts at
the doctor’s office. Climbing into her bed, she grabbed a cutout
from the local newspaper and gazed at it steadily. It was a story
done about Cori and her kidnapping. It had several pictures of the
girl alone and photos with various family members. Kate tried to
let Cori seep into her brain and take over all her thoughts.

“Where are you?” she whispered to the
pictures as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

***

It felt like she was dead. No sight and no
sound. She tried to draw a long breath in, but something prevented
her. Some kind of revolting fabric was covering her mouth.
Struggling to move, she discovered her hands and legs were bound.
The more she shifted, the rawer her skin felt against the plastic
bindings. Attempting a scream, the sound was muffled and barely
even audible. Trying to calm down, she tried to make out any kind
of recognizable noise. As she focused, she realized she was in
motion.

She was a smart girl. It didn’t take her long
to recognize the bad guy had taken her from her house. Her head
hurt and her skin felt raw and sticky. As sounds entered her ears,
she understood that she was in a car and he was stealing her away
from her family. Whimpering, she began to struggle again. She
fought the urge to vomit as her panic brought on nausea. The smell
of the car trunk was beginning to assault her nostrils as well. It
reeked of body odor and spoiled food.

It seemed like forever, but honestly it
could’ve been anytime from ten minutes to an hour when the car
finally stopped. She didn’t know what was worse—staying in the
trunk or discovering what the bad guy had a store for her when they
got to where she was going.

The trunk flew open and rough arms grabbed
her. She tried to fight him, but he pinned her roughly to his body
from behind. She tried to take in her surroundings and look for any
help, but was horrified to realize they were isolated in a
garage.

“
Stop moving or I’m going to kill you,”
his voice hissed in her ear from behind. Her body went limp and he
dragged her into the house.

He led her to a door in the back of the
house. When opening it, darkness greeted them. Before she could
react, he hurried down the stairs and dropped her unceremoniously
onto the floor. Without a second glance backwards, he turned to
leave. She could not move to go after him, she was still tied up.
After shutting the basement door, she was encompassed in completed
darkness. Hearing the lock click in place, she felt the
hopelessness of her situation. He had left her in a dark basement
alone to die….

***

Kate didn’t want the dream to end. She wanted
to stay in that horrible place with Cori to prevent the little girl
from being alone. A fierce hatred rose inside of her for the
monster that had done this. The frustrating thing was, he remained
faceless to Kate. Cori had not been able to snatch a good look at
him as he struggled with her and carried her from behind into the
house. However, Cori did see one thing of great importance: his
car.

Rolling over in bed, she was surprised to see
the sun was up. Alarmed, she looked at the clock and realized she’d
overslept. If she didn’t hurry and get ready, she would be late for
work. As she began pulling on pieces of clothing in a half-hearted
effort to put on a cohesive outfit, she dialed Jared’s number.

“I saw his car,” she said in a breathless
rush before he could even get a greeting out.

“What?” he asked with excitement. “You had
another vision? She’s ok? Did you see what he looked like?”

“Whoa, slow down. Yes, he took her from the
house in the trunk of the car. Her head was bothering her and she
was scared, but otherwise she was unhurt. He grabbed her from
behind and forced her into his house, which unfortunately means I
didn’t see his face again.

But as he was taking her out of the garage, I
could clearly make out the details of the car. I’m horrible with
cars. I can’t tell you exactly the make and model. It looked about
ten to twelve years old. It was a green four door sedan. The front
end of the driver’s side looked banged up like it had been in an
accident before,” she explained.

She looked in the mirror and waited as he
digested this information. Realizing her hair was not cooperating
today, she pinned it back with a clip.

“Anything about the house that stood out?” he
asked.

“I only saw the inside and it was dark, but
it was definitely a shit hole. Clothes and garbage were kind of all
over the place. Cori didn’t see much, he…locked her in the
basement,” Kate said in a small voice.

Kate shuddered at the memory of Cori alone
and scared in the dark. Cori had been imagining all sorts of bugs
and rats crawling over to her as she was trapped by her bindings.
“You have to find her soon. She’s scared in this horrible place and
he already threatened to kill her.”

“Can you come down to the station this
morning to go over everything again? Maybe we could look at a few
photos of cars and get an idea of the model?”

“I can’t right now, I’m running late for
work. Besides, I would rather avoid the station if that’s all the
same to you. Don’t want anyone to recognize me and link me to the
case, you know? Why don’t you meet me around lunchtime at my
office? In the meantime, I could probably draw a pretty good sketch
of the car.” He agreed and she gave him the address of the medical
complex where she worked before hanging up.

Later that day, Kate sat at her desk and
looked at the drawing she had created. It wasn’t half bad
considering the fact she wasn’t a professional artist. Hopefully,
the car would be enough to lead them to Cori. Kate had no idea what
the abductor wanted with the girl or if he planned to care for her.
Although the images from last night were right after her abduction,
it had been close to a week since her disappearance. Cori would
need sustenance to survive. He could’ve abused her in the meantime.
She slipped the drawing into her purse and turned back to her
computer. The office was always busy on Mondays and it had kept her
occupied enough to not dwell on her fears for Cori.

One of the other medical receptionists,
Diane, came up behind her. She was in her late forties and had been
working there practically forever. Her eyes were wide as saucers as
she said in a scandalized tone, “Kate, there’s a detective from the
police department here to see you.”

Kate rose and walked over to the reception
area. The three other receptionists were looking back and forth
between her and Jared. She only imagined what kind of thoughts they
were having. Jared gave her a soft smile as Diane whispered, “What
does he want with you?”

“He’s here to question me about the drug and
prostitutions charges,” she mock whispered.

Jared shook his head at her which only made
her smile wider. The receptionists rolled their eyes, already
guessing they wouldn’t be getting the truth from her. She sauntered
up next to Jared and said, “How about you cuff me for the girls?
They’d get a real thrill out of it.”

“I think you would be the one to get a thrill
out of it,” he said wryly.

“Saucy! I like it,” she said and turned to
the receptionists. “I’m heading out for lunch. If I’m not back in
an hour, Detective Corbett has me in the clink and I’ll need bail
money.”

“It was a pleasure to meet all of you,” he
said in friendly tones with a wave to the staff and followed her
out of the office.

She gave him a sideways glance and tried not
to let him catch her staring. He wore a white button down shirt
with a black and maroon tie with black slacks. He played with his
tie nervously as he seemed to be mulling something over in his
mind.

Turning to her when they reached the parking
lot, he inquired, “Where to?”

“Do you get a big expense account being an
important detective and all? I’ve been dying to try that new
Italian bistro downtown…” She stopped at his exasperated
expression. “Or a diner works.”

“Great, I usually go to the one on Billings
Road. You can hop in with me and I’ll drop you here
afterwards.”

She followed him to a black Crown Victoria
and slid into the seat next to him. Wow, he smelled good, she
silently marveled. Nothing like the cheap cologne and Speed Stick
smell of most of the guys she made out with in college. It was more
like a woodsy clean scent. She fought back her desire to hop on his
lap and begin sniffing him like a dog.

“You’re uncharacteristically quiet,” he
remarked peeking over at her as he turned out of the parking
lot.

Classic rock played at a low volume out of
the speakers. She resisted the urge to fiddle with the station.
“Well, you know, just enjoying the ride. I’ve never been driven
around in a cop car before.” She tried to make her laugh sound
twinkling, but it came out more like a hyena. Embarrassed, she
quickly changed the subject. “I have the drawing for you. Maybe
you’ll be able to figure out what kind of car it is.”

“I passed out the description you gave me
over the phone, so at least that’s a start. It helped that there’s
damage to it, narrows down the possibilities.”

A short time later, they arrived at the diner
and were seated in a booth in the back. The waitress took their
drink orders as Kate perused the menu. “Are you paying? Because
this affects what I’ll be ordering.”

“Do you always antagonize everyone or is it
just me?”

She gave him a flirtatious smile. “No, it’s
just you.” She laughed. “I was just kidding. I wasn’t really
expecting you to pay. I don’t have a lot of money, but I’m not a
total broke ass.”

She had a thought. “Hey, do I get a salary
for this? You know helping to solve the case?”

“No, you’re doing it simply out of the
goodness of your heart.”

“Aww bummer, I wouldn’t mind the cash to get
my own pad. Don’t want to be thirty years old and still living at
home. That might be what ends up keeping me single forever,” she
complained.

His gray eyes remained fixated on the menu as
he asked, “No one special in your life right now?”

“No, but I’m on the prowl for a guy. After
the whole Matt Spencer thing, I rarely ventured out of the house.
Kind of hard to meet anyone when you’re as sheltered as me,” she
answered.

Noticing his impassive expression, she
decided to test out the waters. “Hey, do you know anyone you could
set me up with? Got a cute brother or anything?”

He gave her a long measured look before
answering. “Kate, we just met, would you really trust me enough to
pick out someone for you to date?”

“Well, you’re a cop, right? Who could be
better than that to screen potential boyfriends? Nothing is more
telling than an extensive criminal background check,” she
replied.

“No one is coming to mind, but I’ll be sure
to inform you if that changes,” he said dryly. However, his tone
implied she wasn’t likely to be hearing from him anytime soon.

She looked over at the menu at him and spoke
in a more serious tone. “Anyway, back to the whole money thing. I
don’t want anything for helping, you know that right? I got the
sense Nikki thought I was trying to scam you guys. I might be a
pain in the ass, but I’m not a shitty person.”

He drummed his fingers lightly on the table.
“Kate, you don’t have to explain anything to me. I get you. Don’t
worry about Nikki—she’s very skeptical about this type of thing.
It’s definitely nothing personal. She called my own aunt bat shit
crazy for believing in psychics.”

I get you? What the hell was that supposed to
mean? His comments were making her feel unsure and suddenly
exposed. Quickly, she decided to change the subject. “Your aunt
doesn’t have any abilities?”

“No, she just always felt there was more to
the world than we could see. Most of her major life decisions are
based on answers she receives during tarot card readings. Some of
her ideas are pretty out there. But I learned from a young age how
to take things with a grain of salt,” he explained.

“Is she local?”

“Not anymore. Kind of lives off the grid now.
She met this guy from Maine and moved up there about five years
ago. He makes these amazing homemade brooms and Aunt Lizzie helps
him run his business.” He gave a fond smile as he thought about his
aunt. “You should meet her one day, you’d love her.”

“She sounds cool. Although introductions
might be a little awkward. How would you present me? As your
psychic sidekick?”