Tapestry of the Past (10 page)

“How the hell was I supposed to know you were trying to impress Bailey with your nonexistent knowledge of plants?” Gabriel shot back.

Laughter bubbled up. “I think I’m beginning to get the picture. Was it very bad?” she asked sympathetically.

“He waded into a patch, waist-deep and began pulling it out by handfuls.” Gabriel lifted one sardonic brow. “He landed in the hospital.”

Swallowing her laughter,
Kalesia
managed to keep her face straight. “And Deputy Bailey? Did you manage to impress her?”

Gary shook his head ruefully but mischief twinkled in his eyes. “Not exactly. I think she was afraid to let me loose on my own. According to her, she agreed to marry me just to keep me out of trouble.”

Gabriel toyed with a pencil on the desk. “So. Is Harley in?”

Gary Parker grimaced. “Yeah, he’s in but he’s not going to be in a very good mood. He’s got a bigwig in his office now.”

“Trouble?”

“Nah. Senator
Morne’s
out
stompin
’ again and he wants local law endorsement. Looks good to the voters when you’re trying to promote yourself as big on crime. If you ask me, the man’s got bigger plans than Florida on his agenda.”

“How long before they finish?”

“Reckon anytime now.” Parker turned as Harley’s door opened.

“Thank you for your time, Major. I’m sure you understand that I need all the support I can garner when that bill goes to the floor.”

Tall, with a stern, distinguished face, Senator
Morne
shook hands with Tom Harley, a practiced smile on his face. He practically exuded power, from the expensive cufflinks to the discreet hint of a gold watch peeking from beneath the custom-tailored cashmere jacket sleeve.

Kalesia
watched as he patted Major Harley on the shoulder then, looking neither left nor right, swept down the hallway, giving the impression of an important man on his way to important places. Trailing behind was a small entourage.

A smile tilted the corner of her mouth. Already acting like a future president. He wouldn’t give her the time of day unless a camera was trained on her.

She saw a tall, thin man hurry to open the door for the Senator.

Maybe not even then.

Harley grabbed
Kalesia’s
attention when he motioned her and Gabriel inside his office.

Seated behind his desk, Harley leaned back and released an exasperated sigh. “Politicians. They all seemed to think the world revolves around them.” He propped an ankle over his knee, his intelligent brown eyes going first to
Kalesia
and then to Gabriel. “So, what can I do for you?”

“I need you to institute a search for a murder victim.”

“Gabe, I haven’t had time to search down the old case files of even one of the four you gave me. Hell, man, you just called me yesterday.”

“You got time to search for a body?” Gabriel asked, eyeing his friend sardonically.

Harley’s foot crashed to the floor. “On what evidence?” he asked, his tone ominous.

“
Kalesia
.”

“
Dammit
, Gabe. You know I can’t do that. If word got out that I wasted man-hours searching for a body on the say-so of a dream, my ass would be out the door before you could whistle Dixie.”

“I believe her.”

That stopped Harley mid-protest. He stared at Gabriel. “You can’t be serious.” He seemed to realize how that sounded and turned to
Kalesia
. “Look, I don’t mean to sound harsh, Miss
Brannigan
but I can’t turn men out just because you have a dream.”

“You owe me, Harley.”

The major’s attention snapped back to Gabriel. “Don’t pull that on me, Gabe. We’re friends but the department doesn’t need the publicity it’ll get when word leaks out we’re conducting a search purely on the say-so of a psychic.”

“How about when word gets out the department sat on the information of a murder?”

“You wouldn’t.” Harley held up a hand. “Forget I asked. Of course you would.”

“Gabriel!”
Kalesia
protested as Harley’s anger fairly radiated from the man.

“One way or the other, I’m going to check out
Kalesia’s
vision. I’d prefer to have your help.” Something passed between the two men. To
Kalesia’s
relief, Harley’s anger faded.

“You can really be a cold SOB when you want to be,” Harley said, a slight quirk at the corner of his mouth. “Okay. I’ll go along with you. Give me everything you’ve got.”

When Harley finished questioning
Kalesia
, he tapped the pencil against the yellow legal pad. Abruptly, he shoved to his feet. “Wait here. I’ll go arrange for the manpower.”

As soon as the door shut behind Harley,
Kalesia
rounded on Gabriel. “I can’t believe you blackmailed an officer of the law,” she berated him, outraged.

“Remember that old saying ‘careful what you wish for, you might get it’?” Gabriel grinned lazily. “You got it.”

“Well, I certainly didn’t want to break the law to get someone to check out my visions!”
Kalesia
fretted, darting a black look in his direction.

“You didn’t,” he pointed out, much too sanguine for
Kalesia’s
liking. “I did.”

* * * * *

“What do you mean, I can’t go?”

Harley glanced at Gabriel for help, before turning back to her.
Kalesia
planted her hands firmly on her hips.

“This is official business. I can’t take you.”

“You won’t find the murder victim unless I go along.” She started tapping her toe. First they wouldn’t believe her and now they seemed determined not to let her help.

“I have a general location from your description.”

“And just how big is the Ocala National Forest, Major?”
Kalesia
asked sweetly.

Harley again glanced at Gabriel. He glared when Gabriel just shrugged and leaned indolently against the wall. Harley cleared his throat. “Look, Ms.
Brannigan
. This is going to be hard in more ways than one. To begin with, I have a limited number of deputies with me. Secondly, it’s starting to pour out there and is unlikely to let up any time soon. Most of our searching will have to be done on foot or horseback. It’ll be miserable going. Lastly, if we do find the victim, it’s not likely to be a pretty sight.”

Kalesia
snorted in exasperation. “To begin with,” she copied the major’s words deliberately, “without me you won’t have the foggiest clue where to search. Secondly, last I checked, I don’t melt in a little rain. And, thirdly, you forget I saw the man get murdered. I know just how ugly it’s going to be.” She matched him stubborn frown for stubborn frown.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Harley muttered. He went out the door, shaking his head. “Backed down by a woman dressed head to toe in yellow.”

Kalesia
glared at the major’s back before allowing a slow smile of triumph to curve her lips. She’d won. For the first time since the visions started when she was five, someone was taking her seriously. Gabriel slid his hand under her arm. She looked up at him.

“Thank you.” Putting her hands on his chest, acutely aware of his strength and warmth beneath her palms, she stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.

His eyes darkened. He touched his cheek with the tips of his fingers. “See if you still want to thank me if we find the body.” With that, he steered her out the door and into a late model SUV.

Rain, punctuated by booming thunder, pelted down on the roof of the four-wheel drive cruiser, making conversation difficult as they crawled along a dirt road over an hour later. Not that she particularly wanted to talk,
Kalesia
thought, watching the windshield wipers lose the battle against the downpour. Mud splashed the windshield as they bounced into another deep rut. Actually, more a path than a road.

The utility vehicle slid sideways as the tires struggled to find purchase in the slick mud.
Kalesia
braced one arm on the dashboard and the other on Gabriel’s thigh, grateful for the strong arm he wrapped around her. Beside her, Harley grunted as he fought the wheel to keep the vehicle on the track.

“Are you sure this is the right way?”

It was the third time Harley had asked. Each time his voice grew grimmer. He glanced in the rearview mirror as he asked, checking the progress of the other three vehicles.
Kalesia’s
throat constricted. He was on the verge of calling it off. She knew he was. If Gabriel hadn’t been with them, Harley would have turned back already.

Before she had chance to answer, Harley suddenly slammed on the brakes.

“
Dammit
! I knew this was going to happen!” He piled out of the Suburban with Gabriel not far behind.

“Stay here.”

Kalesia
ignored Gabriel’s order and scrambled after them.

The last vehicle, towing a stock trailer with two saddled horses, was stuck in the same rut that had given them so much trouble. The front, driver’s side tire of the four-horse trailer was mired down, causing the front end of the Ford pickup to lift partially off the ground. Not a four-wheel drive, the truck couldn’t get the traction it needed to free itself because of the weight of the horses combined with the depth of the hole.

The trio sloshed back to the helpless vehicle, rain pouring off their slickers.

“We need to unload the horses,” someone said.

“No, we don’t.” It was the driver of the Ford, a member of the Volunteer Mounted Sheriff’s Posse. “If we move them to the back of the trailer, we can use their weight to help jack up the front end.”

A gust of wind slanted the rain directly in their faces. The men looked even more resigned but
Kalesia
was unhappily aware they all knew they were out here because of her.

“What can I do to help?” Her voice was small and thin. She wished she had kept her mouth shut when everyone turned toward her.

Harley must have recognized the misery in her eyes, because his voice was gentle when he spoke. “No reason for you to be out in this. Why don’t you go ahead and wait in the Suburban.”

Kalesia
thrust her chin out. “I would really like to help,” she insisted, his understanding having the perverse effect of making her feel worse.

“Don’t sweat it, Ms.
Brannigan
,” the driver of the mired vehicle said. “There’s a covered campsite a couple of miles ahead. Why don’t you let Major Harley take you there? No sense in you getting any wetter than need be. Fact is, all but a couple of you can go on ahead. I just need two guys to lift the trailer enough to get some boards under the wheel. After we’re done, they can hitch a ride with Vince and me. That way, if we run into any more problems, we’ll have enough muscle.”

Thirty minutes later a wooden structure, open on three sides, came into view. Inside were two long trestle tables and four large grills. At each open end was a covered garbage can anchored by a thick chain.

“Well, shall we wait in there?” Harley asked.

Huddled under the overhang with the men,
Kalesia
gazed into the surrounding woods. Slash pine and scrub oak came to within several feet of the shelter. Sparse clumps of long spindly grass were interspersed amongst the trees.
Kalesia
didn’t recognize the grass. She bet Gabriel would know, though.

Overhead, light gray clouds scuttled beneath darker, more ominous ones. Lightning split the sky, followed almost immediately by a low, prolonged rumble that echoed eerily from tree to tree.

A chill went through her.

“Cold?” Arms enfolded her from behind and Gabriel’s warm breath whispered in her ear. She shivered again, this time for an entirely different reason.

“Not really. More like someone stepping on my grave.”

“Not while I’m around.”

“I know.” And she did. If there was one sure bet in this world, it was that Gabriel Steele would do his level best to keep her safe.

So why did she suddenly feel so scared?

“It won’t be long before we’ll be back home.”

“Does that mean I have to give up my slicker?”
Kalesia
asked with a deliberate whimsical lilt. She was being silly. Gabriel would protect her. He’d said so. It was probably nothing more than the storm-darkened skies that made it seem a pall hung over everything.

“Cold and clammy as it is, I thought you’d be glad to get out of the thing.”

“But it’s such a lovely color,”
Kalesia
said, only half-joking, stroking the canary yellow material. “Couldn’t I keep it?”

Gabriel threw back his head and laughed, seeming unmindful of the startled looks he received. “You’re probably the only woman on the face of this earth that thinks a sheriff’s slicker is ‘lovely’.” A deep chuckle rumbled against her shoulder blades.

“Well?” she demanded.

“Well, what?”

“Will you ask Major Harley if I can keep it?”

“Ask him yourself.” He rested his chin on the top of her head, rubbing his jaw against her hair like a contented tomcat.

“I couldn’t do that!” she objected, scandalized. Ask Major Harley for Department property after dragging him out in the rain? No way. She fingered the sleeve. She really would like to keep the slicker. “He’s your friend, Gabriel,”
Kalesia
reminded him. “Please,” she added for good measure.

He shook his head, exasperated. “And if he says no?”

“Blackmail him. You seem really good at that,” she reminded him, her voice just a shade too sweet.

“Sit,” he commanded, pointing at one end of the bench. “And don’t move.” He shook his head. “The things I do for you,” he muttered as he headed in Harley’s direction.

She sat.

Agony exploded in her brain…

Pain.

Betrayal.

Such a fool.

Black Italian loafers filled his vision. They gleamed. He wondered how he managed to keep the dust off them. It was so very dry. Little puffs of dust marked each footstep.

With an effort, he lifted his head off the rough wood.

He couldn’t move.