Wiccan, A Witchy Young Adult Paranormal Romance (24 page)

“
What is it?”

“
You know that I believe you
about Dr. Phillips, right?”

“
Yeah,” I said carefully,
feeling the tension build.

”
And I told you I’d look
into it, which I did.”

“
Yeah.”

“
We can’t find anything
suspicious. There’s no way to tie her to Lisa. There’s no trail of
evidence that even
hints
at her, nothing that we can use to get inside her
house.”

Hmm
was my only response.

“
But we have a witness,” he
said, turning his head to look at me.

At first I was confused,
then thrilled, but then it dawned on me what he meant,
who
he meant.

“
Me? But—”

“
Mercy,” he began, cutting
me off. “You know if there was another way,
any
other way, I’d gladly choose it.
But I’ve looked. There’s just not.”

It was all over his face how much he
hated to have to put me in this position, but that didn’t change
anything. He still had to do it.

We both knew that I didn’t really have
a choice. I mean, what was I going to do, let a killer go free just
to save face and a few uncomfortable family moments? I think not.
And Grayson knew that. He’d tried to find another way and couldn’t.
Now it had come to this. It was what it was; nothing more, nothing
less.

“
Alright. What do I have to
do?”

Grayson bent his head again
and studied his hands. “You’d have to go on record as an eye
witness…of the psychic variety. That’s the only way I can get a
search warrant,
if
that’ll be enough for me to get one at all. After that, you
might have to testify at the trial, but if we can recover enough
evidence tying her to the murder, it probably won’t be
necessary.”

“
But I don’t know if you’ll
find evidence. She admitted to it, but…” I said, trailing off into
the worrisome unknown.

“
We will. There’ll be
something she missed, something that she just couldn’t let go of.
It happens to every killer. We just have to find it.” He looked at
me, a promise in his eyes. “I’ll find it, Mercy.”

And I believe him. I
believed
in
him.

With a smile that I knew was small, I
said, “Ok. I’ll do it.”

He let out a breath of relief and
smiled back at me. “I know what this could cost you, but you’re
doing the right thing.”

“
I know.”

A minivan pulled up not far from where
we sat and Grayson glared over at it.

“
I guess we’d better get
going. I’ll take you home.”

He slid off the picnic table then held
out his hand. I took it and he gallantly helped me down then kept
hold of it all the way to the car.

The woman in the minivan had retrieved
two toddlers and one infant from the back and we watched as she
made her way down to the sand with them, out of sight.

Catching me by surprise, Grayson pulled
me around in front of him and plastered my back to the passenger
side door. One hand cupped the back of my neck and his lips found
mine.

The kiss, while brief, was incredibly
tantalizing. It hinted at all the things that I’d fantasized about
the night before. When Grayson lifted his head, all the longing
that I felt, all the cravings that I had, were right there in his
eyes. He felt the same way and he wasn’t bothering to hide
it.

By the time he’d put me in the
passenger seat and then made his way around to the driver’s side, I
was just recovering my breath. When he slid behind the wheel, his
eyes were still smoldering and his lips twitched up into the
sexiest grin I’ve ever seen. And just like that, I was breathless
again.

When he dropped me off at the house, he
didn’t offer to come in, reminding me that he had to go get a
search warrant before Phillips got too spooked over my impromptu
visit. He didn’t seem mad, though. He said it in a kind of teasing
way, but he still had to go. And that was probably a good thing. I
don’t know how much we could be trusted to be alone together
without things getting out of hand. And while that might sound like
a delicious way to spend the afternoon, it was fraught with areas
of concern. All in all, I thought it best we just not go there. Not
yet anyway.

********

It was 3:30 when the phone rang. It was
the doctor’s office. I’d forgotten my appointment and they were
calling to see if I could still make it to have my stitches
removed. Sliding my feet into flip flops, I tore out the door in a
hurry.

Turns out most of my stitches were
ready to come out. The ones that I’d aggravated when I’d hit my arm
in Grayson’s car were still very tender, but the nurse snipped the
thread anyway, assuring me they’d continue to heal and be just
fine.

I had to wait forever for the doctor
after that. I’m sure missing my appointment had thrown a wrench in
their schedule so I wasn’t about to complain. By the time I left,
they were about to close for the day.

When I got home, Mom was already
starting dinner so I pitched my purse on the island and washed my
hands to help. I knew she was probably dying to ask me questions
anyway, since we hadn’t talked about Grayson yesterday. Who was I
to keep her from the little pleasures in her life? Plus, I loved
anything that had to do with Grayson, even if it was just talking
about him.

“
Did I ever tell you why
your father and I decided to name you Mercy?”

That wasn’t what I’d expected her to
lead with when she finally spoke.

“
No. I just assumed it was
because you found me at Our Lady of Mercy Hospital.”

“
Well, that was probably
part of the inspiration for it, but your father and I had wanted a
baby so badly for so long and we had begun to think it just wasn’t
going to happen. And when Irene told me that a young girl had
dropped you off, we were ecstatic. We felt like you were an answer
to all our prayers. Then, when we saw the condition you were
in…”

“
What condition?” I’d never
heard this part of the story before.

“
You had all these markings
on you. I don’t know what that girl was thinking, but you were
covered. And there were bruises, too,” she said sadly. I saw a
shudder rack her thin body.

“
And?”

“
And, well, your father and
I just felt like it was God’s mercy that brought you to us before
she could
really
hurt you.”

“
Why are you telling me this
now?” I wasn’t sure how I felt about this new information. How was
I supposed to feel about it? What was I supposed to think or
say?

“
I just want you to know
that we love you more than you can imagine. You were a gift to us.
I don’t think we could’ve loved you any more if I’d birthed you
myself. And all we both want for you is your happiness.”

“
I know, Mom.” I had no idea
where she was going with this. I hope she wasn’t getting ready to
drop a bomb like
I’m dying,
Mercy.

“
When I saw your face
yesterday,” she said, her voice trembling. “I was just so happy to
see that look.”

I wasn’t sure whether I should be
embarrassed or not. “What look?”

Mom turned toward me and smiled.
“Mercy, I know you’re in love with him. And I couldn’t be more
thrilled. But then I started thinking about all the things that can
go wrong. Plus, he’s a cop. I just—” She stopped and looked up at
the ceiling as if searching for words. “I just don’t want you to
get hurt. I want you to have all the good things in life,
experience all the joys that there are, but I’m so afraid you’re
going to get hurt.”

“
Mom, I’m fine,” I said,
hugging her. She had me worried there for a second. “Even if I get
my heart broken, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me so
much.”

“
I can’t help it,” she said,
wiping tears from her cheeks.

“
Well, try.”

Her laugh was soggy and halfhearted.
“Ok. I’ll try.”

I smiled at her, but I was
thinking to myself
Yeah, right. Like
there’s a chance that’ll ever happen.

We cooked then ate then
cleaned, as was the Holloway household routine. As soon as Dad
finished eating, he retired to the living room to make sure the
television didn’t run away, as was
his
routine.

When Mom and I had finished cleaning
up, I sat with them for a while, watching the news. My heart
skipped a beat when I saw a picture of Grayson in one of the little
cubes for upcoming stories. I heard the anchorman’s voice say
something about a break in the murder of a local girl, but I wasn’t
paying that much attention. I was preoccupied by Grayson’s
incredibly handsome face.

I saw Mom turn her head to look at me,
but I kept staring at the television. Despite the fact that
Grayson’s image was a virtual one, my stomach still reacted and I
had to fight the urge to grin like an idiot.

Patiently, I waited for Grayson to come
on, daydreaming through several other reports that meant almost
nothing to me. Then, finally, it was time for his spot.

In typical Grayson fashion, his speech
was short and to the point. No frills, no nonsense. It was kind of
bizarre to see him this way now. I mean, this was how he’d appeared
to me in the beginning, but now… Now I knew there was so much more
to him. He hid it well and he hid it from almost everyone
apparently. But not me. I got to see what the real Grayson was
like.

I learned something, though.
I couldn’t help but smile when the reporter introduced the segment,
calling Grayson
Lead Detective Caleb
Grayson of the Arville Police Department
.
This time when I heard it, I committed it to memory. Caleb
Grayson.

As I watched him, I didn’t think he
looked like a Caleb. To me, he looked like a Grayson. My Grayson.
And that’s what he’d always be to me.

“
Tell us what led you to Dr.
Phillips, Detective Grayson,” the reporter asked. All I could see
was an arm holding a microphone, but that was fine. All I wanted to
see was Grayson anyway.

My stomach clenched nervously. I knew
he’d do what he had to do, but I hoped that if he was going to
announce to the world that I’d helped with the investigation, he’d
at least have called to give me a heads up.

“
A reliable source came
forward with information that tied Phillips to the crime. Based on
that, the judge granted us a search warrant,” he answered
steadily.

Yay! I was still just a reliable
source.

“
And what did you
discover?”

“
We believe we’ve recovered
enough evidence for a conviction. CSP will process her house and
the evidence, but an arrest has been made.”

“
So you’re confident that
you’ve got the
right person
this time?”

To those who didn’t know him, it
probably seemed that Grayson didn’t react at all to the thinly
veiled accusation. But I knew him. I could see the nearly
imperceptible tightening of his lips and a hardness come into his
earthy eyes.

“
I follow the evidence, Ms.
Shane, and right now, the evidence is pointing to Dr. Phillips as
Lisa Bauer’s killer.”

Good answer!
I thought.

The reporter asked a few other
questions, but I wasn’t really listening. I was just watching. In
my head, I was wondering if Grayson would call me when he got a
chance to so that he could tell me how things went. I surmised from
the interview that he’d gotten what he needed, but I’d still like
to hear a first hand account of what had happened and what they
found.

He must not have gotten much of a
break, though, because I finally drifted off to sleep at 12:45 and
he still hadn’t called.

Interrupting my sleep was the familiar
flicker that alerted me to what was coming. I tried to wake myself,
telling myself in my head that if I opened my eyes, the images
would disappear, but it didn’t work. Whatever—or whoever—held me in
my sleep had me completely captivated.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

As soon as my “vision” cleared, I knew
something was different. If a dream could have a tone or a feel,
this one had changed dramatically from that of its
predecessors.

Once again, I was staring at the closed
curtains of a picture window, but these curtains were nicer. They
were gold, maroon and white striped and they had a sheen that was
much more luxurious than the cheap drapes at the previous
motels.

I turned from the window and my eyes
swept the room. The carpet was maroon to match the stripe in the
curtains. The bed itself was an actual freestanding four-poster bed
of dark, rich cherry in a Queen Ann style. Cherry nightstands
framed it and there was a matching desk that sat in the corner to
the left of the bed. On its surface, I could see a pad of labeled
stationary and a pen. The stationary read MARRIOTT.