Garden of Sorrow (Book 4 of Psychic Visions, a paranormal romantic suspense) (7 page)

"Yes."

"Yes," she shrieked. "Yes, you were inside my head? Why? How?" Alexis sat down on her couch with a thump.

"Kevin asked me to call."

"Kevin? You know him?" Alexis latched onto the one sane thing he'd said.

"Yes. We need to meet. Tomorrow would be good. Cardinal Park around 5:00 pm. We'll talk then."

He hung up.

Alexis gaped at the phone still cradled in her hand. "My God."

How had her life gotten so crazy?

Troubled, sleep was a long time coming.

***

The next morning, Alexis pulled into the lot at the garden, tires squealing and ten minutes late. Striding over to Scott, she handed him one of the two coffees she'd picked up on the way in, hoping it would work as an excuse in case her boss, Rick beat her to work.

Scott accepted the cup and flashed her a grin before he quickly sobered, nodding toward something behind her. "Good morning, Rick. How're you doing?"

Rick? Alexis stiffened at Scott's address but then forced herself to relax. Rick was irritating but harmless.

"The mayor is very unhappy over the regrettable end to the ceremonies." Rick's voice washed over Alexis like lighter fluid.

Ever so slowly, she swiveled to face him. "What did you say?" she demanded.

Rick took a defensive step back.

"Did you just say the
mayor
was upset at all this unpleasantness?" she questioned, caustically. "How about the parents who, even now, are looking for their missing child? A child was murdered. Don't you people understand that?"

Alexis was warming up to rip into her boss again when Scott placed a heavy hand on her shoulder – a gentle but indomitable warning.

"Take it easy, Alexis."

Scott's intervention barely allowed her to regain an appropriate level of restraint, only it wasn't enough to still her piercing anger or the grief she could feel welling up inside. She spun away from the men and walked off a short distance to be alone.

She looked over toward the makeshift memorial, and gasped in surprise.

The grave was heaped with flowers, candles and balloons. Teddy bears smiled out at the world amongst the glorious blooms and ribbons festively adorning the jumble. She couldn't resist walking over to stand in awe at the testimony to a much warmer humanity than she'd seen in a while. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. Toys, cards and notes spoke of a community mourning the sad resting place for the lost little girl.

In a small way, Alexis was proud of her contribution to the beautiful gardens. If the child had been tossed away so casually, at least she'd had one of the prettiest resting places while she endured the long wait for discovery.

She could only hope it wouldn't be an equally long wait to find the girl's killer.

"Alexis, if you want to work on the south bed today, we'll go over some of the other work to be done later. I've got to go downtown with Rick for a meeting." Scott had walked up behind her. "Are you going to be okay?"

She knew what he was asking. "I'll be fine. Go on. Just make sure you take him with you."

"Go a little easy on him. He's the mayor's confidant. What affects the mayor, affects him." Scott shrugged.

"I know, I know. But he's an arrogant, cold, brown-nosing asshole." Now she felt better.

Scott patted her back before joining Rick and driving away.

When the dust settled, Alexis spread her arms wide. Time alone. Finally.

Her spirits lifted as she did something she'd always done naturally, but only now understood for the intricate communication process it truly was. She sent out a wide belt of green, joyous energy to her plants. Their glorious energy bounced back. Her heart embraced the bright colors and cheerful sounds exploding in her mind.

So that's what being a transmitter meant. She just hadn't known what it was called.

A
t the end of the day Alexis hummed contentedly as she drove to Cardinal Park. She was early, and not knowing what else to do, Alexis wandered around the garden, admiring the plants. Their colors were slightly different than those she normally worked with, but they had a serenity she hadn't seen before.

While enjoying one particular arrangement, the flower petals brightened, almost as if a light had come on from within. How curious. Alexis compared them to the petals on other flowers. Now they all appeared to be lit up. What the hell?

That's the result of both our energies combined.

Alexis froze. That voice spoke inside her head. Again.

It's me. Turn around.

Ever so slowly, Alexis turned to look behind her.

That's right. I'm the one talking to you.

Alexis's mouth dropped open.

That brought a knowing smile to the man in front of her. Did she say a man? What an understatement. Man implied ordinary… This guy could pass for a GQ model. He was stunning!

Thanks for the compliment.

Alexis flushed. Not only was she hearing him in her mind, but he was also reading hers! Oh, God. She closed her eyes in mortification. How embarrassing.

Proving her assumption, he spoke telepathically once again.
Don't be embarrassed, please. I wouldn't normally do this, but it seems like you are the type to need proof. I'll get out now
.

Instantly her mind felt empty – bereft even. She was mystified. How could she miss what she'd only just noticed?

He smiled at her. "It's the loss of a connection that you hadn't experienced until now, one that you'd always longed for, because on some level, part of you knew you were incomplete."

Her gaze widened at the hypnotic sounding voice. As he obviously could read her every thought, it would be best to be totally honest… But wow! "It's not fair. You're too gorgeous for
any
woman to ignore," she complained, startling a surprised laugh from him.

"Could we start again?" she asked dryly. Quickly recovering her composure, she held out a hand. "Hi, I'm Alexis."

When his chuckles calmed down, he shook her hand. "I'm Stefan. Kevin told me a little about you, but he didn't say that you would be a breath of fresh air to my jaded soul."

"If you can read my mind, I might as well speak it. I don't think I can communicate telepathically like you do."

"Wrong. If you can understand me as easily as you do, you are certainly capable of speaking your thoughts in the same way. And I heard yours, remember? You just have to learn how to focus them, then send." He tucked her arm into the crook of his elbow. "Let's walk."

They meandered through the twisting pathways. There was so much color that it distracted Alexis from her purpose.

"You love the plant world, don't you?"

She nodded at his question.

"Why?" he asked.

"There's not an easy answer." She took a minute to gather her thoughts. "I feel better when I work with plants. They've helped me to heal, to grieve for my sister."

She stopped to smile down at a particularly valiant pansy trying to bloom between the flagstones. "I admire the wild ones, like this little guy. In the face of all odds, he makes a tremendous effort to live his life the best that he can."

"Isn't that what you're doing?"

Startled, she stared at him. He was very intuitive, regardless of any psychic abilities.

"My struggle hasn't been all that difficult."

He allowed that one to pass, for the moment. "Where do you see yourself going from here?"

She snorted. "It's all I can do to get through each day right now." Her fear and frustration bubbled over. She
had
to tell him. "All of a sudden, there are ghosts, voices, even weird visions that have taken over my life without warning." She searched his face closely. She didn't know what she'd do if he laughed at her.

Stefan only nodded.

A weight in her chest eased. "I've talked to plants for years, but I hadn't seen that as odd. Many people have a green thumb. But after finding those bones, well, I don't know if green thumb explains it anymore."

Stefan motioned her in the direction of a large stone bench. "Now, start where you found those bones." He remained silent as her words poured out...

"Then you called me," she finished lamely, feeling a bit foolish at the end of her emotional spiel.

Stefan looked at her with admiration. "Kevin is an old friend, from a difficult time in my life when I didn't want friends. In truth, I didn't want anything – especially life."

Alexis turned to face him at his surprising confession. "
You
were suicidal?"

Her shocked disbelief brought a wry smile to his face. "Yes, I was. The reason, however, is all you've just said…and so much more. I saw dead people all the time. I answered questions in people's heads, under the assumption that they'd spoken to me. I knew things were going to happen before they did. The worst part…" He paused for a moment. "Was that nothing I did stopped events from happening. I couldn't
do
anything to keep the bad things from coming to pass. I was helpless. That made me a victim myself." He fell silent.

Alexis watched his face darken with the shadows of memories. He'd turned inward as if staring off into a horrendous past.

"How did you get through it? My God, I've only been dealing with this for such a short time, and I didn't think I'd make it through
that
." Alexis cringed at what he must have endured. His childhood had to have been one long, lonely nightmare.

"I met someone, a parapsychologist who recognized the mess I was in. After that, I studied, practiced and learned to mentally control my abilities. At least to a certain extent. That helped me regain perspective." He smiled. "I was no longer a victim and that made all the difference."

"What makes these abilities start up? No prior warning, just all of a sudden there are ghosts walking toward you? I don't get it." And she didn't. It was just too odd to think that one day, she'd fallen into a ditch and had woken up like this.

Stefan patted her hand. "There are still so few answers. Your abilities with the plant world left a door open, which triggered the next stage of development. There seems to be no limit to how far these abilities can progress."

He stood and pulled his jacket closer together in the front, before burying his fists deep into his pockets. "In my case, they are in constant flux. I never quite know what's next."

"So just get used to it, is that it?" The thought of the intrusion left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"You can learn to accept your gifts and eventually develop them, or you can fight them and slowly go crazy." He smiled a little grimly down at her. "The choice is yours."

He started to walk away, leaving her sitting there alone.

"Wait."

He stopped, but didn't turn around.

"I'm scared. This is pretty freaky stuff." She chased after to stand next to him. "How do I learn to control all this? Please understand, I didn't ask for this." That brought a disgusted look to his face, rushing her back into speech. "I can't live with my life always being out of control. I need to know how to direct it."

"It won't happen overnight. But there are some things that you can do to minimize the impact and speed up your recovery after." He hesitated, his expression undecided.

"Please," she pleaded. "I need your help."

Finally, a single decisive nod. "We'll try to meet twice a week. But you have to work with it every day between. If you can't make that commitment, then neither will I."

"Agreed."

He considered her for a moment. Then spoke slowly, "As time appears to be an issue, we'll start tonight." He pulled out his card and handed it to her. "Meet me at my place at 7:30. We'll cover some basics this evening."

Startled, Alexis took the card that read 'Stefan Kronos. Consultant. Psychic Investigator.' When she lifted her head to ask him what kind of investigation could one do in that field, she found he'd walked off, leaving her to stare after him.

***

Kevin sat down at his desk, determined to find some proof to support Alexis's vision. An eight- or nine-year-old girl and the name Daisy was all he had to go on. He logged onto his computer and set up a search.

Within minutes, he'd traveled deep inside the national data banks. He started locally, then branched out county-by-county, researching missing person files.

Grim realization settled quickly on his shoulders. There were just so many cases of missing children, so many destroyed families that existed in an endless state of waiting and hoping.

By the time he'd run through all the searches he could, the name Daisy still had no hits. Kevin slumped in his chair. Fatigue screamed through his muscles as he stretched his arms overhead.

"Damn." He hadn't expected to solve this mystery in the first five minutes, but it would've been nice to score a little information. From his desk, he could see the black shadows cast by the old clock tower above the square. He could find no comfort in the familiarity of the scene tonight, not when a different kind of darkness gathered in the deep silence.

His intuition screamed that this heinous crime related to a child buried in the park was just the tip of an iceberg. He had no idea what lurked beneath the surface. He'd find out though. This was what he was born to do. It defined who he was.

A hunter.

Every instinct flashed on red alert now.

Why that location? What drew a killer to that spot? A garden? Had it been the softest spot to dig at the time? Or perhaps the prettiest spot to lay the child to rest? Did the place seem like a memorial to the perp? Surely burying a body, no matter how small, would have been noticed by the gardeners who worked there at the time. Or dogs in the ensuing years. Then again, if the gardeners used heavy chemical weed sprays or fertilizers, that could have kept the dogs unaware.

Wouldn't Alexis, with her abilities, have sensed something was wrong there when she gardened close by? Although, it's possible she might not have known or understood, on an energy level, what she'd received. She was a beginner in energy work.

Kevin was past frustration. He'd walked straight into disgust. What had made him consider, for even one minute, that 'Daisy' was the name of the child they'd found? It sounded more like a nickname than a proper name.