Tuesday's Child (4 page)

His grey-green eyes sparkled with a hint of concern. “As long as you’re all right, then it’s not a problem. Neither is calling someone to check you over.”

“I’m fine. It’s just as soon as you finished the benediction, this huge burden for prayer came over me, and I just had to give in to it. I didn’t realize I was praying so long though.”

Pastor Jack smiled. “Time spent with the Lord is never time wasted. Especially when it’s a response to something He’s telling you to do. I’m glad you’re all right. I’ll see you tonight.”

Adeline nodded. “I should go. Jasmine will be wondering where I am.”

Nate touched her arm. “I said I’d bring you. She’s taken Vianne already.”

“I don’t want to put you out.”

“You’re not. She asked us over for the day. She said you were coming as well, and suggested I bring you and Ben.”

“Did she now?” That sounded suspiciously like Jasmine-the-Matchmaker at work.

Nate tilted his head. “Is that a problem? Did you not want to leave your car here?”

“Ben and I walked this morning. I was thinking more of him getting hair on your car seats.”

Nate petted Ben. “It’s not a problem. He doesn’t look like he sheds much anyway. Shall we go?”

Adeline got to her feet, grasping the pew in front as her knees buckled. A strong sense of foreboding closed in on her.
Not again…

Her vision danced, and a red sheen dropped over her sight. For a moment she saw a teenager, blonde hair tied in a ponytail, sitting on a swing, laughing, playing, safe. Then the next moment the same girl, wearing a red sweater, lay on her stomach in the mud, her face to one side with eyes closed, and mouth drawn back in a long silent scream.

A strong hand gripped her arm, jerking her back to reality. Everything spun and she kept her eyes closed until the need to cry passed.

She hated these visions. The first couple had been dreams. Horribly accurate nightmares that left her pinned to the sheets, and terrified to sleep. Now they impinged on her every day activity. At least she’d been able to hide the one at work yesterday.

Lord, God, be with the girl’s family. Comfort them in their grief. Give the police the skills they need to catch her killer quickly, before he strikes again.

More than anything else, she hated the fact the visions were always right. This was the fifth. That meant a fifth girl had died.

But if she said something, or went to the police, she’d be branded insane, a fool. It wasn’t as if she ever saw the killer’s face. She didn’t understand why God was showing her these things when she was unable to change the outcome.

“I’m all right,” she said once the spinning stopped. She shot Nate a faint smile. “I’m just stiffer than I realized, and a little dizzy.”

She wasn’t fooling him.

His eyes narrowed and something flashed across his face. He recognized lies. “Are you sure? If you’d rather go home, I can drive there just as easily.”

“Really, I’m fine. I can’t let Jasmine down. Not after she’s gone to all the trouble to cook.” She shook her head, trying to clear the images from her mind. She closed her eyes for a long moment then took a deep breath. Walking to Jasmine’s wasn’t an option, and as he was offering a ride, and going the same way, it would be silly to refuse. “A lift would be good, thank you.”

He nodded. “Come on then. It’s not too far a walk to where I parked, or I can bring the car around.”

Not wanting to appear weak in front of this gorgeous man, Adeline smiled at him. “I’m fine. Really…the fresh air will help.”

“All right.” Taking her arm, Nate led her down the aisle.

Tempted for a moment to shrug him off, Adeline soon realized that she wouldn’t make it two steps without his help.

****

Nate glanced at Adeline as he waited for the traffic lights to change. She had her eyes shut, and he took the opportunity to study her in some detail. She wasn’t like most women his older brother, Pete, had tried setting him up with over the years. Pete had preferred brunettes and seemed to think everyone else did too.

However Nate preferred what he termed a ‘real woman’. One with curves and a natural, inner beauty. Just like Adeline. She almost shone at times, yet had a sense of vulnerability about her that tugged at his heart strings. If it wasn’t for the fact he wasn’t interested in a relationship, he’d probably ask her to dinner.

And what’s stopping you from doing that? It doesn’t have to be a date, just a ‘thank you for taking care of Vianne’ dinner. And take Vianne, too. Don’t want to give Miss Monroe the wrong idea. We could go to the burger place on the High Street. Or I could cook for her. Make something Vianne will eat without a fuss.

And then there was her hearing—or lack thereof. It was somewhat disconcerting knowing she couldn’t hear him. If—and that was a big if—he or any other bloke got involved with her, how would that work in the dark? He couldn’t whisper sweet nothings in her ear as they danced, or stand behind her like his father did his mother when she was looking out of the window and talk to her.

Adeline opened her eyes and smiled.

He returned the smile and turned back to the road, his cheeks heating at getting caught staring at her. She really was a beautiful woman. Her love for the Lord emphasized it.

Unlike like his sister-in-law. As thin as a rake and made up to the nines, Ophelié had used her feminine charms and beauty on his brother like a spider wove a web, drawing him in and trapping him, before devouring him.

No, women were not to be trusted. They captured your heart, and then broke it. After all, Miss Monroe lied to him in church after that dizzy spell. Insisting she was fine, when it was blatantly obvious she wasn’t. He’d have a quiet word with Jasmine. Maybe Miss Monroe would be more akin to talking to her than to him.

Adeline shifted in her seat. “Penny for them.”

“For what?”

“Your thoughts. Your eyes clouded over for a moment.”

She’s perceptive, I’ll give her that.

“I was thinking about my brother.”

“Is he Vianne’s father?”

“Yeah.” Nate pulled up at a stop sign.

“She said she lives with you. She hardly mentioned her parents at all.”

“My brother and his wife died in a plane crash when Vianne was three. She doesn’t really remember them. Pete made me her guardian in his will.” He released the handbrake and pulled away.

“I’m sorry. Were you and your brother close?”

Nate tried to stifle the sudden rush of emotion speaking about Pete brought him. “Yeah. I can’t say it’s been easy, because it hasn’t.” His voice came out gruffer than he wanted and wracked with grief. For a moment he was glad she couldn’t hear him. Now if he could only keep the emotion off his face.

“Must be hard, bringing her up alone.”

“Because I’m a cop?”

Adeline shook her head, color touching her cheeks, only accentuating her looks. “No, I didn’t say that. Or mean it. I meant not having anyone to share the joy and pain of bringing up a child with.”

Nate took a deep breath. “It’s hard. I don’t know the first thing about what girls like. Never had a sister, it was just me and Pete. I didn’t even realize Pete had wanted me to be her guardian until—”

What was it about her that made him open his heart to her like this? He barely knew her, yet this was the second time in two days he almost told her something he’d never told anyone.

“Until?” she asked, a tender tone in her voice he wasn’t expecting.

Nate looked back at the road, his eyes burning with the tears he was holding back. He angled his head towards her, so she could read his lips. “I never knew what he saw in Ophelié. He met her on holiday in Paris and was enamored with her. She was a model, more like a painted doll than anything else. She played on the fragility he assigned her. Vianne was born early, about four months before their first wedding anniversary. Pete doted on her.”

“She’s a very pretty child.”

“Like her mother.” Nate took a deep breath and pushed a hand though his hair, surreptitiously wiping his eye at the same time. “I was working undercover one night and discovered Ophelié was having an affair. After a lot of heart searching and praying, I finally told Pete. He and Ophelié fought and she left him and moved in with her lover. She left Vianne with Pete.”

Nate looked studiously at the road as he drove. He didn’t want to see her expression on her face as she watched him speak. If anything it was more than slightly unnerving, knowing she was constantly watching him the whole time. Did he study people in the interrogation room the same way?

“That must have been hard on all of you.”

“It was. After six weeks, Pete asked me to find her. I traced her to Paris, and Pete left Vianne with me while he flew over to talk to her.”

Nate’s voice wobbled and he took a deep breath. “He…he rang from the airport. Said they’d sorted things out and were coming home on the Concorde. I thought I was helping by telling him where she was. Instead I sent him to his death. The Concorde crashed, killing everyone on board.”

He pulled over outside Dane and Jasmine’s and yanked hard on the handbrake, hearing the gears click against the ratchet as the car shuddered to an abrupt halt. He covered his face with his hands for a moment, desperate to regain control before seeing Vianne.

Images of the flaming plane filled his mind. Hitting debris on the runway as she took off, the Concorde had burst into flames, staying airborne for only a few minutes before crashing onto a hotel just outside of Paris. The horrifying images caught on camera by a passing car, had flashed around the world almost instantly.

Hot tears spilled down his cheeks, and his shoulders shook.
Please, Lord, not now. I don’t want to deal with this again. Especially not in front of someone I hardly know.

“I’m sorry,” Adeline said. “I remember seeing the pictures of the Concorde crash on the television.”

He blew out a breath, wiped his eyes and turned in his seat towards her. “Vianne doesn’t know the reason her parents were on that plane, and she never will. She remembers very little from that time, and that’s the way I need it to stay.”

“She won’t find out from me.”

“Thank you.”

Adeline reached into her bag and pulled out a packet of tissues. Extracting one, she held it out to him. “Here you go.”

Nate smiled gratefully and took it. “Thank you.” The irony wasn’t lost on him as he used it and then put it in his coat pocket. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s fine.” She smiled with sympathy in her eyes. “We should probably go in. Jasmine will be wondering where we are.”

“Yes…Miss Monroe…thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Sergeant.”

Nate exited the car and opened the back door for Ben to jump out. The dog obediently sat on the pavement waiting for his mistress to get him. He started up the path with her, just as Dane flung open the door and ran towards them.

Nate’s stomach sank into his shoes. “What’s wrong?”

“We got to go. Jas will keep some dinner for us and watch Vianne.”

“Go where? We’re not on duty.”

Dane’s expression seared him to the core. He only spoke two words, but those two words spoke volumes. “Euphorbia Way.” He looked at Adeline. “We’ll see you later.”

Leaving Adeline on the path, Nate headed back to the car, praying hard that this time the Herbalist would leave them something a little more substantial to go on. “My car is faster than yours. We’ll take mine to the station and pick up a pool car. ”

“Are you tanking it?” Dane asked.

“Legally tanking it,” Nate said looking at him, not even the speeding joke gaining a smile this time. “Would you pray while I drive?”

“Sure, partner.”

“Thanks.” Nate glanced across at the mirrors and pulled away, heading towards the station before going on to crime scene number five.

****

Still in two minds as whether to go to the self-defense class or not, Adeline tugged her baggy tee-shirt down over her knee length jogging pants. “Do I look all right in this? Or is it too tight?”

Ben put a paw over his nose.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. I know I don’t look great. But we can’t all have a wonderfully proportioned figure like Jas, unfortunately. Mind you, it’d be nice to be able to eat what I like without worrying about piling on the calories.”

Her gaze fell on the newspaper lying on the table. A blonde girl with blue eyes smiled at her. The same girl she’d seen in the latest ‘vision’. The same girl who died at the hands of the man the press called the Herbalist—the latest of five women all strangled by a man who vanished without a trace each time.

Adeline let out a deep shuddering breath. She’d seen each girl just before their death. At least that’s what she assumed, as the clothing the papers described matched what she’d seen. She hadn’t even told Jasmine about the visions, because she’d insist on her telling Dane. Maybe she should. Then again she didn’t want to be laughed out of the police station. But five women had died now. Maybe she should just chance it and say something to Sgt. Holmes tonight or when he brought Vianne to collect Amelia Jane.

Ben appeared with his leash and Adeline smiled. “Yes, all right, we’ll go now.” She clipped on his leash and slung her bag sideways across her body. Leaving the house, she headed down the street towards the church. Both she and Ben loved walking and it made sense to do that rather than use the car—unless it was pouring with rain.

There were around fifteen ladies of various ages in track suits standing in the church hall when she arrived. Ben settled on the floor by her bag, his wide eyes watching her. His tail thudded on the floor, a sure sign he was content. She signed to him to stay.

She turned around and smiled seeing Rachel. Also deaf and able to speak, Rachel taught sign language but the two of them usually conversed totally in sign.

“Hey,” she signed. “How are you?”

Rachel hugged her and then signed rapidly. “I’m good. How are you?”

“Not sure I should be here.”

“Why’s that? You look good. Ready for action.”