Read First Visions Online

Authors: Heather Topham Wood

Tags: #young adult, #paranormal romance, #abduction, #new adult, #psychics, #upper ya

First Visions (3 page)

BOOK: First Visions
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Jared leaned forward and placed his hand over
hers. “I don’t think you’re weird and if you did have powers, I
would find them amazing. I understand not everyone is so
open-minded. I get why you don’t want people thinking you’re
psychic.”

Kate snatched her hand away. “Luckily I’m not
psychic.” Ignoring his hurt expression, she continued, “I know I
come off as majorly defensive and I do feel horrible about not
being able to help you find Cori.”

Typically, her visions came at night while
she dreamed. Every once and awhile, a glimpse would come during the
day when she dozed or went into a daze. The images seemed at times
to have no rhyme or reason. If a letter had come in the mail, she
would sometimes visualize what had happened to the disappeared. On
other occasions, no matter how hard she would think about the
missing or how many hours she would spend staring at their photo,
nothing would come to her. Sometimes the visions were downright
mundane. One night she went to bed worried about a test and saw a
vision of her professor grading exams.

Her earlier apprehension over Cori’s safety
once again nagged at her. She turned to Jared. “Can I see the
picture of Cori again?”

He nodded and handed her back the glossy
photo. Kate wasn’t sure why she wanted to memorize the girl’s face,
but she was hoping maybe something about the case would come to
her. Jared or anyone else wouldn’t have to know about her
involvement if she called in an anonymous tip to the station. As
she studied the photo, Kate felt Jared’s troubled eyes on her face.
Wordlessly, she handed the picture back.

“I have others if you want to keep it,” he
offered. His gray eyes never wavered with their intensity and she
felt as if he was still attempting to figure her out.

She shook her head. “No, thank you.” Turning
her attention back to the TV, she hoped he got the insinuation she
was no longer in the mood to talk.

As Jared stood up, she tried not to pay
attention as he wandered over the pictures hanging up around the
living room. Doing a mental inventory, she tried to think if her
mother had any humiliating photos of her hanging up. Turning around
and wanting to call him out on his rudeness for snooping, she
instead became speechless as she saw him stop in front of a small
framed portrait hanging on the far wall. How many times did she
tell her mom to take that freaking thing down? Kate thought with
irritation.

Kate had taken a few art classes in high
school and her first year of college. One of the assignments in the
college course was to do a self-portrait using charcoals. She
received a high mark on the project and her mother had acted like
the final submission put her into contention to be the next Georgia
O’Keefe. One day, she arrived home to find the portrait framed and
hanging prominently in the living room. Jared kept shooting her
sideway glances while looking at the picture. “What?”

“Just seeing how the picture compares to the
real thing,” he replied innocently and shrugged. Turning to her, he
asked, “It’s a good representation, who did it?”

“I did,” she said flatly and then added, “for
a class assignment.” She didn’t want him to think she was a crazed
narcissist who liked to draw pictures of herself in her spare
time.

“You’re good, is that what you do? You’re an
artist?” His tone wasn’t derisive, merely inquiring.

She wasn’t sure what this whole Q and A was
all about, but decided she better make nice to avoiding arousing
any suspicion that she’d been lying about being a psychic. “No, I
go to college and work at a doctor’s office,” she replied.

“Hope you’re taking art courses, you
definitely have talent,” he remarked gesturing to the portrait.

“It’s bad enough my major is English, my
father would truly have a coronary if I decided to get an art
degree instead,” she said.

“Oh, you’re going to teach then?” She shook
her head. Walking back to the armchair, he settled back down. “What
else do you do with an English degree?”

Kate laughed. “Wow, you’re really channeling
my dad right now. Not exactly sure what other types of jobs are
available for graduates with degrees in English, but I couldn’t
decide on a major.”

After he nodded politely, she decided to take
advantage of the silence and turn up the volume of the TV to
prevent further conversation. Small talk was never her thing and
she probably would never see him again after dinner. It seemed
rather pointless for him to try to get to know her better. Unless,
he was trying some detective trick where he got her to trust him
and then convince her to blab all of her secrets. In that case, he
was wasting his time. The aftermath of the Spencer case ensured she
always had her defenses in place at all times. Her friends and
family had let her down and it felt a near impossibility to let
anyone else in.

Dinner was served twenty minutes later in the
formal dining room and her mother’s musical voice and laughter
prevented any lull in conversation. “So, is there a Mr. Edwards?”
Jared asked politely while polishing off a hefty portion of her
mom’s lasagna.

Kate pushed the food around on her plate.
“Dad split about a year ago.”

“Katie, your bluntness is not appreciated,”
her mother said and turned to Jared. “My husband and I have
recently separated.”

“His loss. Between your cooking and your good
looks, I’d ask you out myself if I didn’t have a girlfriend,” Jared
said kindly. Kate fought the urge to shove a finger in her mouth
and make a gagging sound.

Her mother gave a delighted laugh. “Jared, I
must be twenty years your senior!” Kate rolled her eyes at how easy
her mother could fall for his flattery.

“No way, you can’t be a day over
thirty-five,” he insisted.

Her mother snorted. She was really falling
for his song and dance. Maybe she needed to consider putting her
mom on an online dating site if she was this desperate for male
attention. “That’s rich, thirty-five years old with a twenty-one
year old daughter!”

“Twenty-one? Kate looks so young, figured she
was still in her teens,” he chided and sent her a teasing smile.
Her mother laughed and Kate glared at them both.

As he was leaving an hour later, Jared handed
Kate his business card. “Just in case,” he said as she opened her
mouth to protest. After thanking her mother again for dinner, he
gave his farewells and left.

“What a charming young man!” her mother
exclaimed.

Kate began to run the water for the dinner
dishes. “I guess so,” she said noncommittally. Her excitement made
Kate wonder if she had to worry about her mother turning into a
cougar. Even though her mom was definitely a looker, she hadn’t
dated since her father had left last year. While she loved her
father, her mother was her rock. Kate wouldn’t mind her finding
someone new if it would make her happy. “Good looking, polite,
charming, gainfully employed…” her mother was droning on. Oh lord,
Kate thought, my love life must be pathetic if my mother is trying
to play matchmaker.

“He was just trying to butter us up because
he wanted my help. We should be offended and write a letter of
complaint to the city council. We pay his salary—his job is to
solve these kinds of cases.” She finished her rant with an
indignant pump of her fist.

Her mother ignored her. “Too bad he has a
girlfriend. He obviously had eyes for you.”

“He did not!” she protested and could feel
the heat rise to her cheeks. Her wardrobe reeked of vagrancy and
her behavior was at her most juvenile. Kate doubted the detective
would have even the slightest interest in her after how she had
just acted.

“He was watching you when he knew you weren’t
looking. He had this expression like you were the most fascinating
thing in the world,” her mother sighed dreamily.

“Mom, you really need to stop watching
Gone with the Wind
and
Casablanca
, I think it’s
turned your brain into mush. I’m not interested in the detective.
Besides, he’s way too old for me. I’m exhausted, going to turn in
early.” With a quick kiss on her mom’s cheek, she raced up the
stairs.

Chapter Two

 

She was playing in her room all by herself.
Mom must have finally realized she wasn’t a baby anymore. She’d
gone to visit old Mrs. Welsh and actually allowed her to stay home.
Mrs. Welsh’s house was so boring. Daddy was at work and Nikki was
probably out sucking face with her stupid boyfriend. She hated
boys. All they did was call you names and push you around. Nikki
told her it meant they liked you. Well, how would a boy like a
punch in the eye to show she liked him? The only boy she needed was
Daddy and he told her she never had to bother with silly boys.

Looking outside, she noticed the sun had set
and the streetlights were coming on. She wasn’t worried. She knew
Mom was coming home soon to make dinner and Daddy would be getting
back from work. She walked away from the window and took a handful
of colored pencils out of her craft box. Mom said she was a future
artist and one day people would pay money to see her drawings. That
made her laugh to think about someone paying money to see her silly
drawing of the beach.

Suddenly, she heard a loud banging coming
from downstairs. Dropping her pencils on the carpet, she ran to the
top of the stairs. She guessed maybe her dad or mom had forgotten
their keys and were trying to get inside. The sound of glass
breaking startled her. Would they break a window if they couldn’t
find their keys? From her standpoint, she could see the front door
and no one was knocking or ringing the bell to come inside. Whoever
it was must be entering through the back door. “Daddy,” she called
and bounded down the stairs. She ran straight into a dark figure
with a ski mask concealing his face.


Hi, are you here by yourself? Does your
rich daddy know his little girl is all alone?” he asked in a
throaty growl.


Help!” she screamed and began to race
back up the stairs. He was too quick—his hand pulled her back by
her hair. A gloved hand covered her mouth to prevent her from
screaming.


Now, you’re going to be a good little
girl and let me know where Mommy keeps all of her pretty jewelry. I
don’t want to hurt you, but if you scream, you’re gonna make me,”
he hissed into her ear.

She had never been this scared in her whole
entire life. She couldn’t stop shaking and pointed towards her
parents’ bedroom. Dragging her along, she felt a blush rose to her
cheeks as she felt a warm trickle down her legs. Commanding her to
stay still, he tore through the bedroom. He began to fill large
duffle bags with valuables. She wondered if she should scream.
Would he kill her if she did? Maybe if she ran as fast as she did
on field day, she could get away from him.

Before she knew what she was doing, a
terrified scream erupted from her throat and she made a mad dash.
She made it as far as the stairs before the man was directly behind
her. As he reached to grab her, she lost her footing. She felt
every stair painfully slam into her body as she tumbled down. A
sharp pain erupted in her head before all went black.

 

***

 

Darlene Edwards was a heavy sleeper. Her
ex-husband used to joke she could sleep through a nuclear
holocaust. Yet, the second she heard her daughter’s screams hit her
ears, she was instantly alert. Flying through the house blindly,
she raced towards the sound of Kate’s terror. The maternal need for
her daughter consumed her. Swinging open Kate’s bedroom door, a
certain relief swept over her as she saw Kate in a semi-unconscious
state. Tears stained her daughter’s face and she was breathing
heavily. While giving her a gentle shake, Darlene wrapped her arms
around Kate’s body. As Kate awoke, the screams were replaced by
sobs.

“I saw her, Mom, I saw him hurt her,” she
cried into her mother’s shoulder.

“Honey, it was only a bad dream,” she cooed
gently and began to rub her hair the same way she had done when
Kate was a young child.

“No, it wasn’t a dream. Mom, I saw her…I saw
Cori. I saw the man who took her. He hurt her—badly,” she
sobbed.

“Baby, calm down and listen to me. It was
only a bad dream—your subconscious exhibiting your fears for her.
You went to bed anxious about Detective Corbett’s visit, that’s
all,” she reasoned.

Kate’s wide eyes stared back at her. Darlene
marveled at how young and innocent she looked at that moment. “No,
Mom, I was there. I don’t know how or why, but I saw everything. I
can help the police find her, but I told Jared I couldn’t. What
kind of person does that make me?”

“Hush Katie, you’re perfect and don’t ever
say otherwise. Now, go back to sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow. Don’t
worry; I’ll stay here with you. I won’t let the bad dreams come
back. I promise.”

Kate examined her mother closely and after a
long moment gave her a resigned expression. Her eyes told Darlene
everything. Kate believed her mother was only placating her and
didn’t believe her vision about Cori. Frowning, Kate turned away
and crawled back under her comforter. “Ok Mom, I love you.”

“I love you too, Katie. I’ll make things
right, you have nothing to fear.”

 

***

 

The next morning before Kate woke up, Darlene
had slipped out. It had taken Kate hours to fall back asleep and
Darlene estimated it would probably be a long time before she
managed to get out of bed. The police station was only a few miles
from the Edwards’ home. At this hour, the station was fairly empty.
With an annoyed look, the front desk clerk looked up from her
paperwork.

“Can I help you?” she asked although it
sounded as if it was the last thing she wanted to do.

“Good morning. My name is Darlene Edwards. I
would like to see Detective Jared Corbett. Is he here?” She pushed
down the dread of knowing how much Kate would disapprove of what
she was doing.

BOOK: First Visions
6.29Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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