The Bridge (Para-Earth Series) (18 page)

             
Veronica must’ve seen the look on his face because she gently reached up and touched him saying, “It’s all right.  I’m not bothered by what you can do Alex.  I understand why you didn’t tell me.”

             
“No you don’t,” he replied turning away.

             
“Yes, I do,” she insisted.  “I’ve seen psychics in action.  I worked with the woman who wrote that book.  I know it’s not easy being able to see or feel things others can’t.”

             
Alex said nothing.

             
“Were you afraid that I’d think you were a freak or something?” she persisted.

             
“No,” he said shaking his head.

             
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

             
“Because some of what I see or experience makes me damned uncomfortable” he replied testily and turned away.  After moment, he regained his composure and decided to come clean.  “It can be overwhelming at times.  I never know when I’m going to see something.  I’m actually a bit slow to recognize it when it’s even happening.  I was almost afraid to make this place my home, after Gran’ died.  I didn’t know what I might encounter.  But at the same time I knew that I’d find being here very peaceful.  I think it has to do with the surrounding woods and slower pace of living.” 

             
“Were you seeing a lot of things back in the city?”

             
Alex gave a bitter laugh. “It was like being a ship getting tossed around on the ocean.  I learned to put up barriers when I was young, but strong things can still get through.”

             
“Like?”

             
He wandered over to the large picture window stared at the garden and the trees just beyond it.  “Do you have any idea what it’s like going past an alley and feeling someone watching you pleadingly or predatorily?  Seeing someone step out into traffic and watching the vehicles pass through them.  Or all of a sudden they go flying, even though there were no cars around, and then vanish when they hit the ground.” 

             
Veronica shook her head, “So why did you stay there for so long?  No wait…that was where most of your commercial real estate work was,” she nodded. “So you can’t always tell when you’re seeing someone who’s already dead?”

             
Alex pressed his head against the cool glass of the window and said quietly, “No.  I’ve met some who I talked to for a while, before I finally realized they were dead.  It’s not like in the movies where they’re all bloody and broken.”  In his mind he silently added
, ‘
Not always anyway.’

             
He heard Ronnie come over to him, and then felt her place a hand on his arm.  “Is it always bad?”

             
Shaking his head, he turned to her and smiled, “My strongest talent is being able to experience or sense what someone else is feeling.”

             
“You’re empathic,” Ronnie beamed, “I thought so.”

             
He gave her surprised look. 

             
“I figured that out on my way home after I found that book,” she continued, “I always wondered how you knew when I needed my own space, or a shoulder to cry on.”

             
“Does it bother you?” he asked uneasily.

             
“Are you kidding?” she cried, “I have someone in my life that I don’t have to explain every little thing that’s bothering me. A cop’s life isn’t easy.  Not just on the officer but those closest to them.   It wasn’t just because I couldn’t have a baby that I never married.  There were plenty of guys before you came along, trust me.  But they couldn’t handle my work and how it affected me sometimes.  You, you’re a Godsend.”

             
Alex didn’t need his abilities to know that she was telling the truth.  A look of relief swept over his face. “And you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he sighed, pulling her close.

             
After a moment she murmured, “Can I ask another question?”

             
“Shoot.”

             
“What are your talents exactly?  I know you can sense emotions and… see people.  What else?”

             
He thought for a moment before answering. “I can get impressions from objects that had strong emotions attached to them.  Even just being in a place where something terrible happened can be difficult.”

             
Ronnie nodded, “Like that time we went to that historic railway site we visited two years ago?  You suddenly became ill and had to go back to the visitor center while I continued with the tour.  After you left the tour guide told us about the steam engine that exploded during the Civil War and started a fire that engulfed the entire town killing hundreds.  Most of the victims were women and children.  You were picking up on the impressions from that area, weren’t you?”

             
“Exactly!” he sighed and continued, “I can send my thoughts to another and even share my feelings with them, but only if they’re open to me.” 

             
“How do you mean?” she asked curiously.

             
Taking her hand, he opened himself to her. 

             
Veronica’s eyes went wide as she let out a gasp, it was amazing.  To know exactly how much you meant to someone like this was pure magic.  But it also had fired up her feelings and desires.  Without saying a word, she closed the blinds and took him there on the spot.

cassandra

              Cassandra had spent the morning exploring New Swindon and was now wandering the downtown area.  She’d stopped at a couple of the local churches to introduce herself and discuss her plans for hiring locally.  In particular she was interested in finding out about those who were in serious need of work. 

             
In her mind this was a safe bet because she had already decided that the Graham estate was going to be hers.  If there was a bidding war she wasn’t worried.  Her office buildings and hotels were doing quite well thanks to careful management on her part.  And of course there were her holdings in the family import/export business back in England, so money was not going to be a problem.  She could easily afford to bid as high as it took to secure the property.  In fact it might be nice if things went that way, Alex would wind up with a really good commission for all his troubles. 

             
Alex. 

             
Her shoulders fell slightly.  She’d never thought about how her behavior might be affecting him.  It had been inexcusable.  Deep down she knew damn well he’d never give up Veronica, but a part of her kept clinging to some small sliver of hope.  That she might still secure him somehow and they could be… what?  Become the perfect couple in the eyes of the world?  Eventually marry and be comfortable together?

             
Shaking her head, Cassandra started heading down Main Street, barely taking any notice of her surroundings.  Sleep had not come easy last night.  Veronica’s insinuations had kept haunting her.  Even though she’d managed to get off the bus without looking back at the waitress, it hadn’t stopped her from thinking about the girl or dreaming about her when sleep finally came. 

             
Pausing at the crosswalk, Cassie took a deep breath.  Her heart was pounding and she was feeling edgy.  The blonde hadn’t been the first to affect her this way, she was just the latest.  If she tried, Cassie knew she could trace these feelings all the way back to high school and an incident in the girl’s shower.

             
The crosswalk signal changed and a loud beeping sound reminded her of where she was.  Quickly she made her way across the street and continued her wanderings both physically and mentally.

             
There had been men in her life and some had been very good lovers, but something was never quite right.  ‘I can’t afford to be that way,’ she told herself silently.  The thought of her family’s reaction would be bad enough.  But the media’s response would be ten times worse.  She could just see the tabloid’s screaming, “Billionaire Debutante Has Her Coming Out Party…From the Closet!”  They would have a field day with her.  And what about all the charities and churches she’d been working with?  How would they react?  Would they turn their backs and denounce her?

             
It wasn’t fair!  She just wanted to be happy.  And…

             
Suddenly her mind snapped back to where she was.  Something was wrong.  She was sensing a presence nearby, one that was both familiar and frightening. 

             
Slowly she scanned the area with her eyes until she spotted HIM.

             
He was standing right across the street from her.  Long white hair cascaded down the sides of his head, spilling over the shoulders of a two hundred years out-of-date Frock coat.  Eyes, that were as cold as they were gray, stared down a sharp nose pointed in her direction.  A knowing smile pulled at one side of a cruel mouth.

             
Cassandra felt her body tremble in spite of her efforts to appear calm.  She wanted to run but couldn’t.  It was as if cement had just been poured around her feet and was already beginning to harden. 

             
This was not the first time she’d encountered this figure.  He had appeared to her before, starting with her last birthday which had been a costume party.  At the time she had assumed he was just another guest invited by one of her parents.  But then she noticed he did not mingle with the others. 

             
Then his eyes had fixed on her from cross the room, and for the first time she’d felt the ‘disturbance’ of his presence.  It wasn’t malevolent or desire, it was more like he’d finally found something he’d been seeking for a very long time.  A sense of triumph mixed with a twisted sense of glee.  Then he nodded to her knowingly, and then vanished among the crowd.  When she’d asked her family and friends about him, none could recall seeing such a figure at the party at all.

             
After that, he kept appearing to her.  On the street, in a crowd, on the other side of a window she was passing.  And every time, she felt that disturbing glee before actually spotting him.  On each occasion, he was always at a distance with those gray eyes totally focused on her.  And as usual, the crowds around him seemed to take no notice and he’d eventually disappear from sight.

             
Then a few weeks ago, while she was in a friend’s office on the 20
th
floor of a high rise over in New York City, she’d felt him again.  Her friend had just left the room, leaving her alone when the feeling came.  Immediately she’d started looking around expecting to find him standing in a corner, but there was nothing.  Then something told her to look out the window so she did, and nearly fainted.

             
Directly cross the street was an older building with a ledge running around the entire structure at 15
th
floor.  And he was on it, walking along as if taking an afternoon stroll.  His gaze totally fixed on the window she was watching from, never paying attention to his footing or the pigeons that took off in flurry of wings and feathers as he approached.  A part of her could almost swear the birds were as frightened as she was.  He walked the length of the building and turned the corner without once looking down, and even gave her a little wave as he disappeared. 

             
That experience had been the final straw.  Ever since she was a child, she had known about her ability to see ghosts, mostly ancestors and relatives who’d passed on.  And since no one else ever seemed to take notice of him, she was now certain this man was no longer among the living either.  But there was something different about him; something ‘wrong’ and that scared her.

             
She had not seen him again since that day. Yet here was again and for some reason, she was more frightened of him than ever before.  Why?