Between Dusk and Dawn (26 page)

LaShaun shrieked at the horror movie
playing out in front of her. With every ounce of psychic energy she
had, LaShaun fought to block the vision. She’d never experienced
being so fully pulled into the mind of another human being. Yet
Manny did not feel human. The scent of a feral beast filled
LaShaun’s nostrils causing her to gag. A thick mist swirled around
her in a burst of blood red and black streaks. As though a rope had
fallen away, she became able to move her arms. She yelled and
struck out at something dark that had come too close. That thing
had finished one meal and now came for her.

“
Calm down! LaShaun, calm
down!”

“
Get away, get away!”
LaShaun pounded her fist against something solid.

“
You’re safe. The visit is
over,” a firm female voice said.

LaShaun opened her eyes, for the first
time realizing that they were closed. She looked up into the
worried faces of Chase, Dr. Norris and another man wearing green
scrubs. She lay on a hospital bed. Chase held both her arms tightly
as she panted for several seconds. “What’s going on?”

“
You passed out so we
brought you to the unit medical clinic.” Chase shook his head at
someone.

She followed his gaze. Roosevelt stood
on the other side of the bed. “I’m okay.”

“
Maybe you should stay in
the bed for awhile,” Chase said quietly.

“
No, let me sit up.”
LaShaun had a strong need not to feel vulnerable.

Chase kept one strong arm around her.
“You’re still woozy.”

Indeed, LaShaun felt weak. She managed
to get upright only because Chase lifted her. “What
happened?”

“
Jacob said Manny was
talking to you and then he got real quiet,” Roosevelt
said.

“
Jacob?” LaShaun
interrupted, and squinted against the light in the room. She
remembered being in darkness.

“
The officer who was in the
room with you and Manny.” Roosevelt glanced at Dr.
Norris.

“
Oh, right.” LaShaun rubbed
her eyes. “Go on, I’m okay.”

“
Jacob says y’all just sat
there staring at each other. Then Manny started talking so low that
the guard couldn’t hear him clearly. You were nodding like you
understood. All of a sudden Manny started yelping like crazy, and
tried to jump across the table for you. About that time Jacob says
you passed out and had some kind of a fit. By the time I ran into
the room, Jacob had restrained Manny. Two other officers helped him
while your friend here rushed in with Dr. Norris to help
you.”

“
Did I say anything?”
LaShaun looked at Roosevelt and then at Chase.

“
Your lips moved, but the
words didn’t make sense. How do you feel now?” Chase sat next to
her on the bed.

LaShaun sucked in air that tasted
faintly antiseptic, and let it out. The images of the butchery
she’d witnessed clung to her like spiders crawling on her skin. Her
stomach still roiled, and her vision was still a little fuzzy. She
rotated her shoulders feeling the stiffness in her neck muscles.
“I’m fine.”

“
Yeah, right.” Chase’s arm
tightened around her protectively.

“
I guess the tension of
coming here caught up with me.” LaShaun managed a faint smile, but
Chase’s troubled expression remained.

Dr. Norris cleared her throat and
turned to male nurse. “Thanks, Steve. You can go.”

“
Okay, but call if you need
me again.” Steve gazed at LaShaun and Chase. He seemed reluctant to
leave. “I could get y’all some water; maybe get the lady something
to settle her stomach.”

“
No, thank you,” LaShaun
replied quickly. The thought of trying to swallow anything made her
queasy.

“
I’ve never seen anything
like this before, and I’ve seen some strange sights workin’ here,”
Roosevelt said.

“
You might need to check on
the situation with Manny, Roosevelt. See if he’s settled down. We
don’t want this to spill over into the unit.” Dr. Norris looked at
the big man and he got the signal.

“
Sure, uh, I better get
over there. Usually once he’s in restraints Manny gets straight
fast. He don’t like being tied up.” Roosevelt glanced at LaShaun
sideways, shook his head and left.

Dr. Norris walked out with him
speaking low, but came back a few moments later. She had both hands
in the side pockets of her white coat. “Tell me what
happened.”

“
I’m not sure. Like I said,
maybe the stress of coming here and meeting a convicted multiple
murderer got to me more than I thought it would.” LaShaun massaged
her necked with one hand.

“
Manny can be quite graphic
in his descriptions of his past behavior. With a new and attractive
audience maybe he lapsed into an old habit.” Dr. Norris gazed at
LaShaun in waiting mode.

“
Did he say anything about
murders? Is that what freaked you out?” Chase added.

“
I do remember he started
talking about assaulting women, but things are fuzzy after that.
I’m ready to leave.” LaShaun sighed and leaned against
Chase.

“
You definitely need to get
out of this place.” Chase held on firmly as they both
stood.

“
Of course, get some rest.
Call me if you need to talk.” Dr. Norris held out a business
card.

LaShaun looked at it for a moment
before she took the card and stuck it in the pocket of her suede
jacket. “Thanks, but I won’t need that talk.”

“
You never know,” Dr.
Norris replied evenly. Her professionally arched eyebrows went
high.

LaShaun nodded. Dr. Norris followed
them out. Curious staff watched the trio as they left. Dr. Norris
went with them to the door that led outside.

“
Have a safe trip back to
Vermillion Parish. An unusual place I hear, and for Louisiana
that’s saying a lot,“ Dr. Norris said. Once again she seemed to
peer at them with the intent of seeing beyond the
surface.

“
Yeah, a beautiful part of
the state.” Chase smiled at her as he pretended to misunderstand
her observation. He put a hand under LaShaun’s elbow. “Definitely
time to go.”

“
Thank you, goodbye,”
LaShaun said. When Chase held the door open LaShaun had a rush of
relief to be outside. She inhaled and exhaled a few times. “Thank
God.”

“
Damn, I knew he’d be out
here waiting,” Chase said softly.

Orin Young strode toward them. Despite
his age, at seventy-five he had a spring in his step. His body
seemed more agile than expected for a man his age. The steel gray
eyes appeared alert and sharp as he studied LaShaun. He didn’t wear
glasses. LaShaun blinked at him as approached, trying to figure out
some puzzle. When he got within a few feet he pointed to wooden
benches beneath an oak tree, an oddly peaceful sight only a few
yards from men like Manny. Chase and LaShaun followed him. LaShaun
sat down while the two men remained standing.

“
Well, you talked to my
boy. You can see he’s disturbed.” Orin Young spoke as though they’d
already been discussing Manny.

“
Yes,” LaShaun said
quietly. She shivered inside her jacket in spite of the warm
sunshine they stood in.

“
Then you can tell them,
you and Dr. Norris can explain. Something evil took hold of him
long enough to make him kill. Bad spirits can take over a weak
mind. That’s Manny. He’s always been a follower and eager to
please. But with treatment he’ll get stronger and not be a threat
to anybody.” Orin Young spoke with force as his steel gray gaze
bored into LaShaun.

“
He may be crazy, but that
doesn’t mean he didn’t know what he was doing when he killed those
people,” Chase said sharply.

“
He was convicted of
killing one woman,” Orin shot back and held up a forefinger. “Just
one. Those evil thugs killed the others.”

“
The only reason why we
didn’t purse the others cases is because he got the death penalty.
Besides, the DA didn’t want to put the other victims’ families
through hell. Did you see those crime scene photos?” Chase hammered
home each word. “Did you really look at them, Mr.
Young?”

“
Chase, please,” LaShaun
said and stood between the two men. She put a hand on Chase’s
chest. His dark eyes flashed with outrage.

“
I had to sit with the
mother of one girl. She clung to hope that her daughter was alive,
and then she just wanted to know she hadn’t suffered. But we had to
tell her the opposite. Your ‘boy’ tortured her little girl.”
Chase’s voice rang out like gunshots.

“
Her
little girl
was a transient dope head
and prostitute. She let anyone use her body so she could get high.
The girl had two sexually transmitted diseases. She was spreading
filth every time she opened her legs to some stranger. So yes, I
paid attention to the autopsy reports. All that damn DNA evidence
proved was Manny was one among dozens of men who had her.” Orin
Young seemed taller as he spat back at Chase.

“
So she deserved to die
because she made mistakes? I’m telling you this; Manny ain’t nearly
as crazy as his granddaddy.” Chase waved a hand at him and shook
his head.

“
Stop it, both of you,”
LaShaun shouted.

She glared a warning at Chase. Turning
around he walked to his truck and leaned against it. Yet he
continued to stare at Orin. The older man huffed a few times in
anger, but said nothing as he glared back at Chase. One of the
security officers watched them through a window of the Forensics
Unit, but didn’t come outside. LaShaun let a few more seconds tick
by to allow Orin to calm down.

“
Listen, Mr. Young. Manny
is not going to be released,” LaShaun said.

“
If he gets treatment, he
could be. A lot of people have been released and are followed by
the staff. They call it forensic aftercare. There’s this group home
in Baton Rouge and--”

“
He’s a convicted murderer
who is suspected of being a serial killer. His behavior is clearly
too unpredictable. The best you can hope for is that he gets a life
sentence instead of going on death row. Chase is right. District
attorneys in three parishes, and at least one county in Texas, are
willing to revive their cases if they think Manny has a chance of
being put back on the street.” LaShaun let out a long slow breath.
“Besides, Manny killed and he enjoyed it.”

Orin Young’s eyes widened. He glanced
from LaShaun to Chase. “I should have known. You’re on their side
in this thing. I know about you two.”

“
This has nothing to do
with...” LaShaun started, but stopped when Orin raised a
hand.

“
Don’t bother. You came
here to get Manny to dig his own grave, not to help him. You had
your mind made up, Broussard here made it up for you. Fine. I’ll do
it without your help.”

Orin strode off to his pickup truck,
got in and slammed the door. The engine roared to life. The gravel
of the parking lot scattered as he pulled away. LaShaun sighed
again and then joined Chase at his truck. She leaned against it
beside him and crossed her arms.

“
Real pleasure trip, huh?”
Chase muttered.

Chapter 15

During the drive back to Beau Chene,
LaShaun kept mentally replaying every word and image of the past
few hours. She was sure she’d missed clues to what really happened,
and what was still happening. Manny looked like his grandfather a
lot when she thought about it. His eyes flashed giving him the same
fierce gaze.

“
That turned out to be a
bust,” Chase said. “At least we get a nice view of the mighty
Mississippi River. Maybe we would have more luck at one of the
riverboat casinos.” He pointed toward the wide expanse of water as
they crossed the bridge taking them away from Baton
Rouge.

“
I’m not so
sure.”

“
C’mon, with my skills at
the black jack table and your psychic tips we could get rich,”
Chase joked.

LaShaun reached over and turned down
the radio playing lively country music. “No, I meant our visit
might not have been pointless. Manny was giving me clues. I’m sure
of it, but the question is why?”

“
Tell me what really
happened, LaShaun.” Chase glanced at her sideways then back at the
highway ahead.

“
I’ve never had somebody
actually connect with me and show me an entire scene. It was like
watching a DVD.” LaShaun’s hands started to shake. She clasped them
together to stop the unpleasant sensation.

“
Of what, baby?”

“
A murder,” LaShaun said in
a quiet voice that did not betray how sick recalling the vision
made her.

“
My God.” Chase reached out
and put a large hand over hers before pulling away again. After a
few moments of silence he said, “You don’t have to talk about
it.”

“
No, I need to get this out
of my head. Telling you will help. For most of my life I’ve only
had one person to confide in. My grandmother always told me that
our ‘gift’ meant that we would take in a lot of negative energy,
see things that would drive many people insane. Sharing it with
someone who cares, who we can trust, lightens the
burden.”