One Week To Live (19 page)

“Wait. You might think my visions are worthless, but I’ve seen your daughter in them.”

Susan sat back down, a worried frown creasing her forehead. “What did you see?”

“I’ve seen the number ‘four’ and a house with a high wall. In my visions she’s tied up and lying on a bed.”

“Tied up,” Susan exclaimed. “My poor baby.”

She fought the emotions created by the mental picture she’d just described. “The number ‘four’ could be part of a house number or…”

“Her age,” her daughter replied. “She’s about to turn four. Her birthday is next week. I’ve a party planned with a clown and cake and…” Her emotion-filled voice trailed off as she observed a group of waiters and waitresses gathered around a neighboring table. They sang happy birthday to a little girl about Polly’s age. They then handed the child a bunch of colorful balloons and a piece of birthday cake.

“I’d planned on lots of balloons and an ice cream cake for Polly.” Tears streamed down Susan’s face.

She reached across the table and patted her daughter’s hand. “She’ll be at that party. She’ll receive those balloons and cake.”

“This may sound crazy, but I know she’s alive,” Susan said. “I haven’t seen her in my dreams, but I’ve heard her calling me.”

“Did you ever think that you possess psychic abilities, too?” Was this the opportunity she needed?

“No. It’s a mother’s intuition at work. I have to go now.”

Angie sucked in a breath knowing she couldn’t put it off any longer. “Before you do, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Make it quick.”

How could she make something like this quick? Blurting it out still didn’t seem right.

“Susan, a mother’s intuition has nothing to do with what you’ve been experiencing. That psychic ability comes from me. You inherited it.”

“What are you talking about? We’re not related.”

“Yes, we are.” Here goes, she thought. “I’m your mother.”

Susan vehemently shook her head. “My mother’s dead.”

“I’m your birthmother.”

Susan stared at her for a minute, skepticism filling her eyes. “You’re crazy. What makes you think I’d believe that?”

“Because it’s true.”

Susan shook her head. “All I know about you is that you’re some kind of phony psychic. What exactly is your scam?”

Angie stared at her in shock. Others doubted her and called her a charlatan. The fact that her daughter thought that cut deep. “There’s no scam. I am your biological mother.”

“How dare you call yourself my mother? My mother raised me, loved me. Hugged me when I skinned my knee. Shared all my problems growing up. I need her right now, but she’s gone.” Susan’s voice quivered with emotion.

“But I’m here now.” She reached across the table to take her daughter’s hand. Susan pulled away. The rejection hurt. “I’m the woman who loved you for nine months before giving birth. I held you in my arms just once before they took you away from me. When they did my heart broke. Although I haven’t seen you since that day, I’ve always carried my love for you in my heart.”

“If you loved me, you wouldn’t have tossed me away.” Her daughter once more stood up. “And don’t give me that crap about desiring a better life for me. I’m a single mother who’s struggling, but I’d never give my Polly away.”

“Don’t go,” Angie pleaded. This wasn’t going well, but hadn’t she always suspected it might go badly? Wasn’t that why she hadn’t approached her daughter before this? Yes, she’d abandoned her baby for the right reasons at the time. She’d given her away to strangers. Strangers she’d hoped would give her a good life. So why should Susan acknowledge her as her mother? There was no reason to.

“I hope you don’t expect me to embrace you. You’re a stranger,” Susan said. “A person I don’t need in my life.”

Susan’s words stung deeply. “But you’re my daughter and that kidnapped little girl is my granddaughter.”

“Stay away from me and Special Agent Dunning. Let him do his job.” She began to walk away then turned back. “Even if you really are my birthmother, don’t expect to be my daughter’s grandmother. Her grandmother is dead.”

She stared at her departing daughter too upset to go after her. It wouldn’t do any good. She deserved to be treated the way she had. The glimmer of hope she’d harbored since she’d found her daughter flickered out leaving her with nothing but emptiness.

She paid the bill for her untouched coffee at the register and made her way out into the casino’s din. Nearby, slot machine bells rang and lights flashed. Joyous shouts heralded another scored jackpot. There’d be no jackpots for her, no winning. She felt more alone than she ever had before.

Needing to escape the casino, she rushed toward the exit colliding with an old lady en route. Passing the woman, an uneasy feeling pricked at her. She looked back, but the lady disappeared into the crowd. She briefly thought of the old woman on the bus before venturing onto the Strip and into the daytime heat.

Pedestrians of every age from retirees wearing loose-fitting floral print shirts to families with toddlers in strollers packed the street. Seeing the children, she thought of her daughter. When she’d given her up, she’d not only given away a baby, but that baby’s life. What was Susan like as a toddler, as a kid on her first day of school, as a teenager going on her first dance, as a young mother giving birth to her first baby?

She’d missed out on all of it. Others shared those stages of Susan’s life experiencing her joys and comforting her in her sorrows. Maybe she didn’t deserve to be part of that life now. But she had the right to help find her daughter’s child even if she never called her “granddaughter” in front of Susan.

****

Watching her trudge across the courtyard past the pool, Brian let out a relieved sigh. After her ex’s departure Brian remained at her doorstep fearing that if he left, the man might return and snatch Angie. Wondering where she was, he’d pounded several times on Rita’s door, but she wasn’t home.

So he’d settled himself on the floor next to Angie’s doorway and waited in the heat. Several people passed by obviously curious about his being there. However, none of them said anything.

She appeared so downtrodden as she climbed the stairs his heart went out to her. He hated to give her bad news, but she needed to know about her ex-husband’s visit.

“Where have you been?” he asked.

“Out. It’s none of your business where I’ve been,” she snapped.

“Your safety is my business. I care about you.”

“Is that why you’re here, to check on me? Or are you gathering facts for the next story.” She studied him. “Maybe you’ve already submitted that story without my permission. I talked to Rita earlier.”

“You thought I’d write about you and your daughter?” Did she really believe he’d do that without her permission? The fact that she had so little faith in him hurt. He wanted her to trust him, but she obviously still didn’t.

She didn’t reply.

She wasn’t going to admit to the relationship between her and Susan. He wanted her to freely share the secret she’d carried with her for so many years, but she wouldn’t.

“I need to warn you. When I returned from Dunning’s office I found your ex-husband pounding on your door.”

“What?” she exclaimed.

He hated the sudden panic filling her eyes. He wanted to soothe that panic away.

She fumbled in her purse’s side pocket for her keys. As she did, a piece of paper sailed out and floated to the ground.

“Where did that come from?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It’s probably a receipt. What does it matter?”

She reached for it, but he snatched it up before she could retrieve it. “It’s not a receipt. It’s another note from the kidnapper.”

“Oh, my God. When I left the hotel coffee shop, someone bumped into me.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. An old lady.” She stopped talking, her face growing pale.

“What about the old lady?”

“Something didn’t feel right. At the time I thought it silly. A coincidence because she reminded me of the old lady on the bus.”

“The one we think was the kidnapper.” He massaged the back of his neck trying to ease the growing tension. “He was that close again and you didn’t know it.”

She shook her head, looking totally miserable. He shouldn’t jump all over her like that. She was near the breaking point.

“For a brief moment I felt the evil I’d experienced on the bus. Then it disappeared.”

Damn it, he thought. He hated the game the bastard played and he hated the fact that the killer could be so close to her without her sensing him.

“What does it say?” she asked, staring at the piece of paper he still clutched in his hand. “You know you’re contaminating evidence. Agent Dunning isn’t going to be happy.”

“Frankly, I don’t care. It reads ‘Be warned, the sand in the hourglass is gone. You’ll soon pay the consequences.’”

Several excited children leaped into the pool below. Their laughter and playful screams echoed across the courtyard. Water slapped over the pool’s edge and streamed across the concrete deck forming puddles under lounge chairs.

“Time has run out,” she said, watching the kids at play.

From her expression, he knew she thought about her granddaughter. He briefly stroked the side of her face with the back of his hand and she leaned into his touch. “He used the word ‘soon.’ Polly is still alive.”

She didn’t struggle to free herself from his embrace when he pulled her into his arms. Using his index finger he tilted her chin so she had to look at him. He immediately felt the pain filling her brown eyes. Fighting the urge to kiss her, he let her go.

“All my visions are so worthless; walled houses with no identity, the number ‘four’ with no connection to anything, the feeling of drowning when no one’s drowned. I experienced a second vision of an explosion this morning.”

“Nothing about a spider?” he said, thinking about the clue attached to the doll’s neck.

“I don’t think so. I vaguely remember having other dreams before the explosion one. I was so upset when I fell asleep on the couch my dreams went into overdrive. A jumble of images I can’t recall much of.”

“You need to try. Think hard about what you saw.”

“It’s fuzzy. In one of the clearer ones I saw a man dangling from a rope. My God, does that have something to do with the baby falling down the water spout?”

“You can’t take the clues so literally. Spiders spin webs and use the threads they create to propel themselves from place to place. Like a climber using a rope. What was the man on the rope hanging from?”

“I think a rock face. Yes, a red rock face.”

“Red Rock Canyon,” he announced.

“Red Rock Canyon. The kidnapper is taking my—”

“Your what?” he asked, wishing she’d confess her relationship to the child.

She glared at him. “The abducted girl.”

“You can’t keep it a secret anymore. You and I both know Polly’s your grandchild and Susan is your daughter. Why won’t you admit it?” He was frustrated with her.

“My life is private, not for other people’s consumption. Not for your damn articles.”

He stared at her, the earlier pain of her distrust returning. “Do really think so little of me that you’d believe I’d write something like that without asking you first?”

“Why shouldn’t I? You’ve never respected my privacy before.”

“Gees, Angie.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I’d never expose something so personal without checking with you.”

“How can I believe that? For you, the stories always come before anything else. You’re like a heat-seeking missile searching out any tidbit of news that will produce the shock value your readers crave.” He didn’t like that she kept her hands balled up at her sides. Her anger was evident.

He remained silent digesting her words. “Maybe I was that guy once, but I care too much for you now to write anything to hurt you.”

She looked skeptical, but said nothing. However, she did relax her hands.

“I won’t deny I wanted to write a story about you being related to the victim. That’s the journalist in me, but I didn’t, and I won’t without you agreeing to it.”

“I’ve told you before don’t write anything more about me.”

“You’ve gone to see your daughter, haven’t you?”

She made no comment.

“And it didn’t go well.”

Her forlorn look said it all.

“Please tell me what happened.”

“What happened or didn’t happen is none of your business.”

The meeting hadn’t gone well, but she wasn’t going to admit it. “It’s a secret you’ve been keeping far too long. I saw the way you looked at Susan the other night. Your eyes held such longing.”

She said nothing.

“Come here,” he said.

He was surprised when she returned to his arms. He held her close trying to soothe away some of her pain.

“What about the neighbors?” she whispered.

“Let them gossip.” He brushed her lips with his. Within seconds the kiss deepened. He desired so much more from this woman. She had to trust him. Only then could they pursue the relationship he desired.

****

“Brian, we’ve got company,” she said, stepping away from him. She turned to face Dunning, blushing as she did.

“If you two lovebirds will excuse me, I have something important to discuss with you.”