Blind Trust (17 page)

Chapter 18

I STARED AT the sink for what felt like forever. Its shiny silver
taps taunted me. I’d promised Renee that I wouldn’t do this alone. Heck, I’d
sworn to myself that I would never do this again for any reason. The bathroom
was bigger than I expected with white nondescript tiles and a green-and-white
tiled floor. A medicine cabinet with a mirror next to a frosted glass window.
It was all basic but well cared for. It suited what I’d learned about Martha
and Earl so far. They didn’t spend out on luxury. They liked things and kept
them. There was even a clump of something on the wall that I guessed had once
held a toothbrush holder. It comforted me, if only a bit, that their energy was
so ingrained in every inch of the place.  

The perspiration dribbled down from my throat and I caught the
droplet with my finger and stared down at it. Why was I doing this? Maybe I
should just hope that it would disappear some other way.

The sink beckoned me unrelenting, I had to do this or I’d hurt
somebody else. Although there were some folk I wouldn’t mind poking in the eye,
I would never wish affliction on nobody. Maybe if I sat on the floor first it
would stop me crashing into the wall? I eyed the room like every surface was a
lethal weapon. The toilet was a couple of steps away from the sink so I
wouldn’t crack my head on that at least.

Behind me was the shower, the corner of the tray looked painful
and I was tall enough that I could remove my brain cells on it should I fall
backward. I walked to the cupboard in the corner, pulled out all the fluffy
towels I could find, and laid them over the tray, over the floor in a circle.

I would have locked the door too but there wasn’t a lock.
Hopefully Martha wouldn’t find me crashed out on her bathroom floor. How would
I explain that one?

Again, the sink sat there like it was grinning at me. The
inanimate object felt like it was a snarling monster ready to snap my hand off.
I looked down at my hands now pumping with the pain I’d taken from Ronny.
That’s if the damn water healing didn’t drown me first.

Knowing I needed to hurry up before Martha wondered what I was
doing, I took a step forward.

“Baby steps,” I muttered. When I’d left the institution, I’d only
made it through the bus ride home because of Renee’s one-step-at-a-time method.

The funny twinge in my chest at the thought that she wasn’t around
to talk to made me drop my chin. I hated the thought of her in that cell. She
was a hero. More than that, she was
my
hero.

“So prove it.”

I took another step and touched the cold tap. That wasn’t so hard.
I turned it anti-clockwise and the clear water gushed from it. With one last
look at my hands and a silent prayer to whoever was listening, I shoved my
mitts underneath the cold water.

Touchdown. The crowd roared and a celebration was demanded. Wish
Mom was here to see this. She never comes to watch me play.

“Hey, Ronny, how’s that greaseball of a mother?”
Seth Jewel, so
much like his dweeb of a brother, walking round like they own the fricking
place.

The edge of the sink caught my chin as I dropped to my knees but
the pain was nothing compared to the vision.

“Hey, greaseball!”

Oh crap, it’s Seth, what does he fricking want from me? I’m a
fricking hero to everybody else. What is his deal?

“Ronny-o!”

Ugh, there’s a group of them. Just keep walking, keep walking like
you don’t see them. Maybe he’ll leave you alone then.

“You got snow in your ears, bronco boy?”

Why has he got to smoke? Great, blow it in my face, that’s just
great, like I want your fumes.

“You got a problem?”

Yeah, I hate you, you fricking loser. “Nah, Seth . . . just got to
get to practice.”

“Think you’re better than me, greaseball?”

Better, no. Intelligent, yes. I want out of this place. Losers
like him don’t understand that. “Course not.”

“I think you do.”

Oh back off, I just want to forget you exist. “I got to go, Seth.”

The water numbed my hands. Its cold grip made my fingers ache. I
tried to pull my hand free before I got weaker but the water held on tight. I
nearly bit through my lip as a blinding pain hit my knee. I swung to the side,
unable to stop myself. Rooted fast to the sink by the unyielding water.

“You think you’re better than me!”

Cold hard asphalt. The pain. My jaw, my knee. Swollen cheek.
Stinging palms. Oh God, he drove right into me. My leg. He took out my leg—

I winced as I relived the same vicious beating Ronny had received.
Then the roar of the avalanche shattered his memories and mine took over.

“I gotta stop,” I pleaded with the water. “I can’t . . . not
strong enough to heal myself too.”

The water didn’t listen to my begging and I slammed into the side
of the cliff for the second time. The pain stole my breath. The room got
darker. I was gonna pass out. I couldn’t pass out, Martha would find me.

My blood screamed in my ears as my heart tried to keep up. My
sharp breaths turned to pants. I couldn’t breathe. I was drowning.

“Martha!”

The bathroom darkened as I tried to pry myself free. The cold
seeped into my body like creeping tentacles.

“Martha!”

“Are you al—Oh, Aeron!” Martha pulled me from the sink as the
convulsions shook my body. “What happened?”

“Fit,” I managed. “Need warmth.”

My teeth chattered so hard that all I could hear was the blood and
them clattering together. I felt Martha leave me, and I lay on the tiles, my
head on soft fluffy towels.

“I’ll call the doctor,” she said when she came back with a
blanket. “Do you have medication?”

“No,” I blurted through the agonizing shuddering. “No . . . I’m
fine . . . I’ll be fine.”

“Aeron,” she said. “You’re like ice.”

She touched her hand to my forehead and the room disappeared.

Oh Earl! I’d better get this to him, the boys’ dinner, they love
their ketchup and mayo. Goodness, that man would forget his own head if it
wasn’t attached.

“Earl, honey?”

He’s favoring his arm again, wish he’d go and see the doctor. Lord
knows he could do with it getting checked out.

“Earl!”

“What is it, honey?”

Why does he always look at me like I’m going to scold him? You’d
think I was the witch in the tower the way he looks at me sometimes.

Ouch!

What a rude man, don’t even turn around and say sorry. “Excuse
me!”

Oh, don’t bother to turn around, don’t mind me! Rude. So rude.
There he goes not even noticing. No doubt he knows the Jewel boys by the look
of him.

“You forgot ketchup.” Don’t put out your right, Earl, we both know
you can’t grip with it properly. “Left.”

“It’s fine.” Yes, you can look at me all you like with those eyes.
We both know it isn’t.

“Just hold it in your left.” Goodness, it’s like having another
child sometimes.

“Hey, Martha!”

Hal? Ah, Hal . . . Oh Lord, I forgot his burger. “I’ll get it for
you, hun, just wait a second.”

Poor boy hardly eats. Wish that Marie Salter would tell him how
she feels. Both of them could do with some sunshine.

“Thanks, Martha . . . I just got to hurry.”

Such a sweet boy. His head is screwed on backward sometimes but
there’s a good heart inside.

“No problem.”

Oh look, there’s Serena. “Serena, sweetheart. How are you this
morning?”

Glad she taught that idiot Brad Jewel some manners. It’s about
time someone stood up to him.

“Serena?”

Tsk, so lost in thought that she can’t even hear me. Must be
trying to call the conference. Wonder if she has family, maybe that’s why she’s
so alone . . . She seems close to Aeron though. Ah, she’s stopped.

“Serena, sweetheart, you alright?”

“Hey, Ice Queen, where’s your knight?”

If it isn’t that idiot. She’d be in her right mind to show him a
thing—

Is that a gun?

Bang.

Bang.

“Earl? Earl!” Where is he? Lord, let him be okay.

“I’m here. Martha, you hurt?”

I adore you so very much. “No . . . is Serena . . . did he hurt
her?”

“I don’t know.” A warm arm so needed, strength. “Let’s get back to
the café.”

“What about Aeron?”

“She’s got enough on her plate.” The man on the ground unmoving,
Hal over him, Aeron walking up the steps. “Let’s take care of Zack for her . .
. we’ll see her later.”

The pain in my head actually turned into a blinding rainbow of
colors as I fought the flashed memory. If this was how painful finding the
truth was going to be, I would need to
start
drinking.

“Aeron, are you alright?” Martha’s voice was somewhere beyond the
nebulous haze. “Can you move?”

“M’okay,” I mumbled, pulling myself up to sit. The room swayed as
I did so. “You okay?”

I had no idea what flashes did to the people I touched. I knew
that Renee often complained of static shocks when it happened.

“I’m just fine, honey,” she said, helping me to my feet. “Let’s
get you somewhere to lie down.”

As I got into the living area, Zack launched himself at me and
attached around my leg like a starfish.

“Hey, buddy,” I managed. “How you been?”

With my limpet in tow, I made it to the sofa and flopped down into
the squishy leather.

“Ronny!” Martha called. “Ronny, shut up the door downstairs and
come and help us!”

“I’ll be okay in a minute,” I said, not believing my own words. I
felt drained. “I just need a second.”

“You are staying right there,” Martha told me.

She hurried off to bellow at father and son while Zack snuggled up
to my side. He didn’t need anything from me, he was happy just to be near me. I
took comfort from that as I shivered. Then he clambered down from me and
returned a second later, blanket in hand.

I grunted as he wriggled back into position, kneeing me in the
stomach as he did so.

“You ain’t feeling so well either?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“You hurting?”

His sniffles made me squeeze him closer. No wonder the little guy
had a cold after nearly freezing to death with Charlie.

“You’ll be better after a good sleep.”

His soft breathing told me that he was doing just that and I
thought it would be impolite not to join him.

Chapter 19

A NUDGING WOKE me up and I just caught the end of my rumbling
snore as I opened my eyes. Earl was looking down at me with a crooked grin on
his face. My sleeping buddy, Zack, had abandoned his post. Martha and Earl’s
living room was dimly lit with floor lamps that had funny-colored glass in the
top and a carpet that looked older than I was. I guess most folk would have
called it dated but it looked and felt homey to me.

“He’s gone to bed,” Earl told me, handing me a cup of hot
chocolate.

“He has?” I inhaled the chocolaty scent and felt the kinks
unlocking in my back. The healing had worked. My breathing was better and,
thank cotton, the pain had up and left. “He not feeling so good?”

“Just fine,” Earl said, taking a seat in what must have been his
favorite chair. The way he slid into it and flicked up the lever in such a
fluid motion spoke volumes about his evening activities. That, and the fact he
had some kind of zapper tidy attached to the side. “You’ve been out for a good
while.”

“I have?” The now familiar knot of tension tied up my stomach
muscles. I needed to find out what happened. I needed to try and see Renee.

“Slept right through the game. Not that you missed much, Broncos
never showed up.”

I blinked at him a couple of times until it dawned on me that he
was talking football. “How is Ronny?”

“Like he didn’t have a knee, that even with surgery, the doctor
wasn’t sure he’d salvage.” His eyes were on the TV and his tone pretty
nonchalant. His aura said he was nervous as heck and freaked, real freaked.

“Glad to hear it,” I said. “Medical corps taught me some secret
tips.”

Earl’s eyes remained glued to the screen. “Like healing other
people with your hands?”

That knot in my stomach tightened more. Last thing I needed was to
turn a friend into a frightened enemy. “Just had to slot it back in.”

Earl smiled. “Ronny’s knee was crushed to the point he’s been
hopped up on painkillers for months.”

I rubbed my head. That explained all the fuzzy feelings I’d had.

“Thing is. Surgeon had me feel his knee. Kid is a brave one.” He
switched the channels. “Just felt it again. Good as new.”

“Like I said, medical corps trick.”

Earl opened up a can of beer and motioned to me to ask if I wanted
one. No way was I even thinking about dulling my wits. Earl was onto me but I
could salvage it—

“They teach you how to fix his spine through his knee too?” Earl’s
eyes drifted to mine for a moment. “’Cause the boy was gonna have to have two
disks removed.”

Busted. How was I getting out of that one? “He tell you what
happen?”

Earl turned his attention back to the TV. “Not all of it. Some
bastard knocked him clean off his feet with their truck though.”

Anger bubbled around him as he said it. Why hadn’t Ronny told him
the truth?

“Thing is. When I found out, I’d left a hundred messages on his
cell.” Earl sighed. “Boy was meant to be helping me fix up a job.”

I took a long sip of the hot chocolate. “You’re a mechanic,
right?”

Earl nodded. “Uh huh. Work out of my garage. Lord knows why I
bother. Only damn customers are tourists. If it wasn’t for the Jewel trade . .
.” His voice drifted off as my face must have said it all. “You know
something?” His voice lowered. “He tell you something?”

So what did I do now? Pretend that I’d healed Ronny’s injuries
through medical science I couldn’t explain? Stay quiet when Seth Jewel was
happily walking around without being punished for his crime?

I stared at the replaying game on the TV screen, sipping my
chocolate. I’d covered for a criminal once. I’d gone to prison for the idiot
and it had done nothing but cause devastation.

“I saw it when I healed him,” I admitted. “Seth Jewel.”

Earl nearly spat out his beer. He knew that I had never met or
heard the name Seth before. He also knew what he’d seen but whether it was
enough he’d believe me was in his hands.

“You
saw
it?”

I sighed as Martha walked back into the room. In for a dime, in
for a dollar.

“I don’t work in Serenity Hills,” I told them, deciding it was
better to leave out my “stay” there. “We aren’t on our way to a conference.”

Martha sat down and picked up the crochet she was working on. “I
told you,” she said to Earl. “I called her name a few times and she didn’t even
register.” She turned to me. “Plus, how did she have a gun?”

“People can have guns here,” Earl answered. “It didn’t mean
anything.”

“She’s right,” I said.

Now, I knew that Renee said to keep it quiet. I knew that to tell
these people may put them in danger should anything ever happen.
But,
I
needed help and I needed to get Renee out because without Renee, I couldn’t do
this. Without her, I felt like I could barely function. Go figure.

“Her name isn’t Serena,” I said. “She’s Commander Renee Black.”

I wasn’t sure if they’d make the connection between father and
daughter but Earl raised his eyebrows. “Colonel Charles Black’s daughter?” He
cleared his throat like he still had beer stuck. “I thought she went off to
college and Europe somewhere.”

“You did?” Maybe that’s where she’d got her love for
croque-madame?

“Yeah,” Earl said. “She used to attend the memorial service with
his medals on her chest. She was just a kid back then.”

“You were there?” I asked, wondering why Renee had never said.

“No,” he said. “Too raw, but it’s on TV. She stopped turning up .
. . what . . . twelve years ago. Commentator said she took a job in Europe.”

Earl smiled as I felt the sweat spring out of my skin.

“Colonel Black is a state hero,” he said. “His widow lives not too
far, near Black Falls.”

“They have a place named after them?”

Earl laughed. “Other way round.” He leaned forward. “If that’s his
girl, we
got
to help.” He looked at Martha. “We have to try.”

Martha had been real quiet during the conversation and that
worried me. I was hurling a lot at them and I hadn’t even started yet.

“Who are you working for?” she asked, only for Earl to shush her.

“You know she can’t tell you that,” he said. “If she’s not going
by her real name then she’s incognito.”

Earl’s energy was transformed. No longer was he a middle-aged man
slumped in front of a football game. No, now he was animated. The twinkle in
his eyes full of excitement. “Did the guy she shoot do something?”

“I don’t know,” I told him, sticking to the truth. “Look . . .” I
took a deep breath, hoping that they would stay with me a while longer. “I’m
different from the other folks you might meet.”

“Damn straight,” Earl stated. “You’re a marvel.”

The heat felt like it was pouring from my cheeks. He really
thought I was a
marvel
? I chugged back the rest of my chocolate to cover
the blush.

“Aeron,” Martha said. “Since you got here, you’ve done everything
you could to help. You saved the deputy, you risked your life to save that
couple not to mention taking care of little Zack.”

“Well . . . he . . . I . . .”

Martha and Earl beamed at me with such ferocity that all I could
say was, “Awww, shucks.”

I took a couple of breaths to stop smiling like a fool and
returned to the task at hand. “I am different in the way that I helped Ronny.”

“Told you she fixed him,” Earl said to Martha.

“That’s why I had to collapse in the bathroom,” I explained. “I
ain’t getting rid of the problem, just displacing it. Washing it away stops me
passing it on.”

They said nothing but sat listening. Their energy was calm, so at
least they weren’t freaking out, yet.

“Thing is,” I said, putting down my empty mug. “I don’t know why
Renee shot that man and normally, I’d only have to touch her and I’d see why.”

Again they stayed silent so I pushed on.

“I see glimpses of folk’s past when I touch them or certain
objects like jewelry.”

“That’s how you knew about Seth?” Earl said, the rage rumbled over
him again. “Damn Jewel boys and their tempers.”

Martha didn’t react and I realized that she had figured out the
whole thing way before Earl had. She was sharp and so I guessed that she
figured I was a freak the minute she saw me.

“Thing is. When you helped me earlier, Martha,” I looked down at
my hands, “I saw what you saw during the shooting.”

“You did?” Martha’s eyes widened and her crocheting was forgotten.

“Just the images,” I lied. “The external noises.”

She looked relieved. I was thankful for it.

“I can’t get to Renee, but if I can findout what everyone
else knows . . . then I can help prove her innocence.”

“What can we do to help?” Earl and Martha asked in unison.

I sat there dumb. Once again they had made my brain stop working
with their kindness. I wanted to bottle them and take them with me wherever I
went.

“I . . . well . . . I can’t get to see the guy she shot,” I said.
“Not without drawing suspicion to myself. And as
no one
can know about
what I’ve told you, I need to find a way to touch people without getting
caught.”

Martha walked to the side table and returned with a pen and paper.
“We should start by writing down who was there.”

That seemed like a great idea. “Well, you, me, and Earl,” I said,
hoping that Earl would cotton onto the fact I needed to see his past too.
“Evan.” I remembered that he was offering me a place to drink.

“Hal,” Martha added, writing down the names.

“Charlie and Joyce,” Earl said. “They were bickering off to the
side like always.”

I closed my eyes, running through what I’d seen and what Martha
had seen. “There were two ladies on the left. Colluding about somethin’.”

“Grace Teller,” Martha answered. “And where Grace is—”

“Marie Salter is,” Earl finished.

“Brad Jewel,” I said through gritted teeth, Earl joining me in my
grouching.

“Mark was beside him,” Martha said. “And Simon.”

“Simon?” I asked.

“He spends most of these days fishing the lakes,” Earl answered.
“He isn’t one for talk . . . ex-navy . . . When he’s not fishing, he’s with
Jewel and Jenson.”

“Why
does
Mark hang out with that loser?” I asked.

“Cousins,” Martha answered. “But two different men you could never
wish to meet.”

Cousins. Well, I guessed Mark couldn’t choose his family any more
than I could have chosen my miser-grump of an Uncle Abe. “Was there nobody
else?” I had a feeling I was missing somebody.

“Well, Renee,” Martha said. “Such a beautiful name.” After a
moment of smiling into her thoughts, she cleared her throat. “There was Sheriff
McKinley too . . . and the man.”

“Do you know his name?” I asked.

Both Martha and Earl shook their heads.

“He isn’t from round here,” Earl said. “Must be from the
avalanche—”

“Or a tourist,” Martha added.

I folded my arms. So he wasn’t a local. “Will you keep away from that
man? I ain’t sure who he is but I know Renee and she wouldn’t never shoot
nobody unless it was serious.”

Glad to see them nodding agreement, I leaned forward onto my
knees. “Now, as for Seth. I think I got a way that we can get him to admit his
crimes.”

“You do?” Earl asked.

I nodded. “But first, I gotta ask a big favor from you, Earl.”

“You need to see what I saw?” he asked. “I can just as easily tell
you.”

Smiling, I tried to show that I wasn’t going to trespass on his
deepest thoughts. It was bad enough that I was about to witness the world
through his eyes, the last thing he needed to know was how much I did see.

“I might see somethin’ that you may not necessarily think is out
of place.” I was sounding like Franken-Frei again. “But
I’ll
know if I see
it.”

Earl got to his feet and joined me on the sofa. “I gotta do
anything in particular?”

“Just hold out your hand.”

I was glad to see that he held out his good arm, I’d had my fair
share of healing for a while. “It’ll feel like I am giving you a static shock.
But that’s it. It don’t hurt or nothing.”

Earl nodded and I took a deep breath, hoping that I’d get a
glimpse of something to help me.

Dammit, I forgot ketchup. Should I go back? I don’t really want
to. Martha has enough on her plate without me getting under her feet again.
Wish she’d take some time to relax once in a while.

Maybe the boys will just eat it as is. It’s free food after all,
don’t see the Jewel boys offering anything to help out. Wish I didn’t have to
rely on them, wish I could just close the damn garage and help her out.