Lunatic Revenge (25 page)

They continued to watch the footage right up to the point where Tara’s uncle came out alone and went to the car. A couple of minutes later, they saw Tara come running out of the store and jump into the car. As Tara and her uncle drove away, they saw the woman hurry out, then get into her old brown pickup and followed them.

“Well, that’s it. There she goes,” Detective Allen said. “And we can’t get a clear view of her license tag in either shot.

“Wait!” Rutherford said, pointing to the SUV in the back of the lot. “There goes that SUV, too, and it looks to me as if he’s following the both of them. What the hell, excuse my language, is going on here? Can you get an ID on that SUV? Yeah! There’s the tag. Allen, run that number. I want to know what that Luna girl has got herself mixed up in now.”

Tara kept a close watch
on the clock, and when visiting time approached, she interrupted Pat and Mona’s conversation.

“Uncle Pat. Mona. It’s about time to go into ICU. I’m going to go wait at the door, okay?”

Pat frowned. “I’ll walk you.”

“Don’t be silly. I’ll be fine,” Tara said.

Pat arched his eyebrows. “I’ll walk you,” he said again.

Tara sighed. Now that he knew about the woman who’d been stalking her, he wasn’t going to let up.

Mona frowned. “Is everything okay?”

Tara smiled quickly to relieve Mona’s mind. “Yes. It’s just that ever since they outed my psychic self on TV, I’ve been getting harassed at every corner. Uncle Pat is just being protective.”

“Good grief,” Mona said.

“I’ll be right back,” Pat said.

He and Tara quickly left the waiting room and headed for ICU. “Sorry,” he said. “But until they get that crazy redhead off the streets, you’re not going anywhere on your own.”

Tara nodded. She wasn’t going to argue. She’d been a little freaked out by the whole thing herself. They reached ICU and joined the other people who were waiting to go in. When the doors opened a couple of minutes later, the visitors began to file in, two at a time.

Pat waved at Tara, and then headed back to Mona, leaving her to go in alone. Her heart was pounding as she walked toward Flynn’s bed again. After all the stuff she’d heard about Flynn’s progress, she was more hopeful for his future than she had been in days.

When she reached his bed, everything looked the same, right down to the beeping heart monitor and oxygen tube. She could smell the slight scent of shaving cream as she ran the back of her finger against his cheek. It was soft and smooth. Someone had been shaving him daily. It hurt her heart to think of him being unable to perform even this simple task.

She pulled a chair up beside his bed, taking a moment to look at the boy who had stolen her heart. He was at that in-between stage, when a boy begins looking like a man, and it was obvious what a handsome man he would be. His features were clean-cut, with a strong chin and a straight nose. His eyebrows were dark, the long lashes on his eyelids even darker. Tara loved the shape of his mouth, and loved it even more when he was kissing her. She wanted that Flynn back, but like Mona, she was ready to accept the one who woke up, regardless of how he came.

Blinking away tears, she slowly slid her hand beneath his and gave his fingers a gentle squeeze.

“Hey you, it’s me, Tara. I know you’re back. I know you’re getting stronger. And I know it’s hard. I’m so proud of you. You keep fighting, okay?”

She squeezed his hand again to emphasize what she’d said, and right afterward, she felt a slight squeeze back.

OMG.

He was letting her know, in the only way he could, that he’d heard her.

“There are so many things I need to tell you. Some of it is about those men who kidnapped you. I think the police are about to figure out who killed Floy Nettles. Oh Flynn, I can’t wait for the day when I see your pretty brown eyes looking at me again. Just don’t give up. You’re doing great.”

Suddenly, he scratched his fingers on the sheet, as if to get her attention.

She patted his hand. “I see you. I know you’re in there.”

He slightly scratched the sheet again.

“Okay. I’m looking at your hand. What is it you want me to see?”

For a few seconds, he didn’t move, and just when she thought he was gone again, he lifted a finger and very slowly traced the shape of a heart on the sheet beside her hand.

“Oh Flynn, I heart you, too,” she whispered, then dropped her forehead against the bed rail as the tears rolled down her face.

Suddenly his hand was on the crown of her head, but even more shocking than the fact he’d moved it, she could actually feel his heartbeat. When hers suddenly skipped a beat and then picked up in rhythm to his, she bit her lip to keep from sobbing. She could feel every pain in his body and knew every fear in his mind. It was as if the two of them had become one heart—one mind—one body.

She reached for his hand, threading her fingers through it, and holding on until her warmth had permeated his skin.

“Do you feel that, Flynn? That’s my heartbeat. Can you feel the rhythm? That’s my joy, knowing that you’re coming back. Don’t be afraid. Whatever you have to face when you wake up, you won’t face it alone. Your mom will be with you. I will be with you. Your friends will be with you. We won’t quit on you, Flynn, no matter what. Just open your eyes. Come back to us. Please.”

Tara.

She froze. That wasn’t Millicent’s voice.

Tara.

When she heard it again, she stood up and began looking around, trying to find the source. Then she felt Flynn’s fingers trying to tighten on her hand and looked down.

His eyelids were fluttering. She could see a muscle jerking at the side of his mouth. When she tried to pull back, his grip tightened.

OMG. Could that be Flynn she was hearing? Was that possible?

Is that you?

Yes.

Her heart skipped a beat.
I can hear you like I hear Millicent.

I can hear you, too. I heard you calling, Moon Girl. You found me when I was lost. You brought me back.

Wake up, Flynn. Open your eyes.

His eyelids twitched again, making the dark lashes shading his eyes flutter like butterfly wings.

Tara held her breath.
I’m still here.

So am I.

She watched his eyelids fluttering as they began to open. Breath caught at the back of her throat. She didn’t know whether to go get a nurse, or witness the miracle alone.

Don’t go.

And just like that, the decision was made for her.
I won’t.

His nostrils flared as he drew a deeper breath, and at the same time his forehead creased as the pain from the surgery and broken ribs shot through his body.

He groaned.

Her gaze was locked onto his face. “I know you hurt, Flynn. I’m so sorry, but you will get well.”

When he stilled, she thought he had slipped back into unconsciousness. Then just like that, he opened his eyes.

She stood up so that she would be in his direct line of vision, and the moment she did, his gaze locked into hers. When he saw the scratches and bruises on her face, he licked his lips and frowned.

“Hurt you,” he said softly.

“It’s not so bad and neither are you,” she whispered, and then leaned over the bed and kissed the side of his cheek. “I need to go tell the nurses that you’re awake.”

He slowly closed his eyes.

“I’ll be back again,” she said, but when she tried to turn loose of his hand he still held on. “What is it, Flynn?”

“Love,” he said softly.

Tara closed her eyes.
Love you, too, Flynn O’Mara.

The corner of his mouth tilted up just a little bit, indicating that he’d heard her, only she hadn’t said that aloud. That was when Tara knew. Not only had Flynn come back to them, he
had
come back different, just not in the way that they’d feared. He would get well. But he would never be the way he’d been before. He’d come back like her.

She took a deep breath and then headed for the nurses’ station.

“Flynn just woke up,” she said softly. “He knew who I was, spoke a few words, then went back to sleep. There are five minutes left in the visiting time. May I please leave so his mother can come in?”

The nurse nodded.

Tara went out the door as the nurse went toward his bed. She headed for the waiting room and burst in on the run.

“He woke up! He woke up! The nurse said you could go in but you need to hurry. Time is almost up.”

“Praise the lord,” Mona cried, and ran out of the room.

Pat was on his feet as Tara walked into his arms. “Oh, Uncle Pat. He woke up and he knew me. He’s going to get well.”

Pat laughed. “That’s the best news ever,” he said and gave her a big hug.

Tara nodded. She wasn’t going to give away the rest of the news. That would be for Flynn to tell—or not. If he chose to keep quiet about the fact that he could slip in and out of people’s thoughts like a thief in the night, so be it. He would learn how to control it, just like she’d learned how to use what she could do.

“Come sit,” Pat said. “I have news.”

Tara sat down. “What happened?”

“Detective Rutherford came by. They caught up with the redhead, thanks to some help from an uncover agent for the OSBI.”

Tara’s mouth dropped. “Does that mean what I think it means?”

Pat grinned. “If you’re thinking the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, then yes. Anyway, he was assigned to locate the remaining members of a gang that had stolen a large amount of money that belonged to the Federal government.”

“Michael O’Mara’s so-called buried treasure?”

He nodded. “And that woman who’s been harassing you, wanted you to help her find it. She thought because you were psychic that you could just wave a finger in the air and point her to it.”

“Is she under arrest?”

“I believe the term is, “being questioned” about Floy Nettles’ murder. It turns out she saw him talking to Flynn, thought Flynn might have told him where it was, then she got mad when he laughed in her face for thinking she was going to get a cut. At any rate, the OSBI agent assured the Stillwater P.D. that the redhead was the last member of the gang, and now that she is in custody, you, Mona and Flynn are safe.”

“But no one knows where the money is,” Tara said.

“That’s their problem,” Pat said.

“Right.”

She was so relieved, and at the same time, still wired from the tension under which they’d been living. She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees as she stared at a stain on the floor. The gang’s greed had caused so much misery. She was glad that was all behind them.

Like Flynn, Stillwater was still in recovery mode from the tornado. It would take many more months before homes could be rebuilt. Lives had been lost. Families had been forever changed. But the ones who’d been left behind owed it to the ones who’d died to live out the rest of their lives in the best ways they knew how. It was the least they could do and Tara was grateful her family and her friends families were part of those left behind.

A few moments later Mona came back, laughing and talking. As soon as she and Pat began to talk, Tara zoned out, tired, but happy. A few minutes later, she happened to look up and caught a man watching her from the hallway.