Connected: Book 1 Connected Series

by Kat Stiles

  “Hi there,” he greeted me.

  “Good morning.” I gave him a big hug.

  He buried his nose in my hair. “Mmm.”

  I couldn’t help but smile. Still embracing him, I didn’t see Angel approach.

  “Ew, could you two make out somewhere else?”

  Her irritating voice grated on my nerves, but Tommy didn’t miss a beat.

  “That wasn’t making out.” He released me from the hug and said, “Now this is making out.”

  He brought my face closer to his and kissed me so passionately, I blushed throughout the entire extraordinary experience. Angel emitted some bizarre sound, and I thought she left, but I wasn’t sure. Nor did I care. The kiss was phenomenal. Nothing else mattered.

  “That was incredible,” I whispered.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “We should do it more often.”

  I giggled. “Without an audience is better, I think.”

  “Are you kidding me? I can’t think of any better way to get rid of her.”

  “Good point. You should leave before you get in trouble.”

  He took a final sniff of my hair. “If I must.” And then he ran off, right before Angel turned the corner with the principal’s assistant. I ducked away, to avoid what promised to be a totally inane conversation. Right when I thought I was in the clear, I bumped into someone.

  Scott.

  “I need to talk to you,” he said.

  His expression was serious, but not threatening. If it were anyone else, I wouldn’t have been afraid.

  “I have nothing to say to you,” I said.

  “No, you don’t understand… I―”

  “I don’t want to hear it.” I turned and walked away, hoping he wouldn’t follow.

  “I know what you can do,” he said quietly.

  What am I going to do now?

  * * * *

  In my first class, the teacher sent me to the nurse’s office. Puzzled, I left and was surprised to see Tommy down the hallway, walking in the same direction I was headed.

  I was about to call out to him, when he suddenly turned around, smiling. In seconds he was at my side.

  “How’d you know I was behind you?”

  He leaned in close to me and inhaled deeply. “Do you really have to ask?”

  I smiled at the warmth of his breath on my ear. “I got called to the nurse’s office.”

  “You, too? I wonder what’s going on.”

  Roz was already there when we got there, and Judy sat behind her desk, her arms folded against her chest.

  “I got a strange call the other day,” Judy said. “Can you guess who from?”

  I bit my nails. It was only a matter of time before she called us on our confrontation with Adam.

  “What did you expect to accomplish by going to his house?” Her eyes switched between the three of us.

  “We wanted answers,” Tommy said, meeting her gaze.

  “Why didn’t you talk to me about it first?”

  “No offense, but you and Adam seem a little too close,” he said.

  “That is—”

  “I know, I know, none of my business,” Tommy interrupted. “But if your boyfriend is responsible for harming people—”

  “I told you he’s not my boyfriend.”

  “Oh yeah, that’s right,” he said. “You’re dating the asshole psychiatrist.”

  Judy’s eyes grew large and her lips parted. “Are you spying on me, Tommy?”

  “Actually we were spying on boyfriend number two. You and boyfriend number one just happened to show up.”

  “I can’t believe you’re actually dating him,” I murmured.

  “I’m sorry. Did I not get your permission first?” she said, glaring at me.

  “I don’t get it,” I said. “He’s such a—”

  Judy let out something that reminded me of a growl. She tilted her head down, but maintained eye contact with me. “I am not having this conversation with you.”

  I gulped, afraid to say another word.

  “We done?” Tommy said.

  “Look, you’ve got Adam all wrong,” Judy said. “He would never intentionally harm anyone.”

  “We have to try to stop him from doing any more harm, intentional or not,” Roz said.

  “It was an accident. He was very upset by what happened,” she said. “And he wasn’t involved in that death.”

  “How can you be sure?” Tommy said.

  “I talked to him. He didn’t know anything about it until the three of you accosted him.”

  “You didn’t have these visions,” Roz said. “You didn’t feel the person being killed. I won’t let someone else die.”

  Judy gently touched Roz’s arm. “Is someone else in trouble?”

  “Not if we stop Adam first,” Tommy said.

  She whipped around to face Tommy. “It’s not Adam!”

  “We’ll see.” Tommy picked some dirt out of his fingernails. “Anything else?”

  She narrowed her eyes at Tommy, but he was entirely unfazed.

  “Well?” He folded his arms across his chest. “Wouldn’t want to keep us from getting our quality education.”

  She finally broke her stare, but then added, “It’s not him.”

  “Always have to have the last word, huh?” Tommy said. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

  She glared at him, but didn’t say anything else.

  After we left the office, I said to Tommy, “You enjoy screwing with her, don’t you?”

  He simply smiled.

  “I can’t believe she’s still protecting him. It’s crazy, right?” Roz said.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, but I understood why. If Tommy were the one accused, I would defend him, too. And by her reaction, it was clear she was still very much in love with Adam.

  * * * *

  It was nice to see Roz smiling at lunch. Tommy settled in across from me right after I sat.

  “Did you talk to Nydia?” I asked.

  “Yeah. It was easier than I thought. I found out she had a visit scheduled with Adam after school.”

  “Had?” Tommy said.

  Roz absolutely beamed. “I convinced her to cancel it. She called her mother with me standing right there.”

  “That’s great news,” Tommy said.

  “I think we’re going to stop it this time,” she said.

  I wished I could share their confidence. But I had a feeling it wasn’t over.

  At the end of the day, I met Tommy at his locker.

  “Are you busy tonight?” I said.

  “No. You want to do something?”

  I sighed. “I don’t think it’s Adam.”

  “So you want to swing by Nydia’s house?”

  “I have to be sure. If it’s someone else, maybe we can get there first. I don’t want this to happen, either.”

  He smiled and took my hands into his. “I’ll come get you.”

  Nothing appeared out of order at Nydia’s house. In fact, it was almost too quiet. The sprinkler was on and the flag was up on the mailbox, exactly like in Roz’s vision. Then I caught Tommy’s serious expression, right before he dashed out of the car.

  He sniffed the air. “Adam…” In a flash, he was at the front door, knocking.

  In a burst of strength, I muscled the heavy car door open to get out, practically falling on the sidewalk next to me. Once I regained my balance, I sprinted towards the house.

  My heart raced as Tommy began to pound on the door. Is she already dead?

  No response. He stepped back and drew his leg to kick the door open, but then he stopped. “What the…”

  A few seconds passed before the door opened, and the woman who I presumed was Nydia’s mother stood in front of us.

  Her brow furrowed. “Can I help you?”

  “Are you all right?” I blurted out.

  She squinted her eyes at me. “Do I know you?”

  “No, I’m one of…” I started, struggling to come up with a plausible lie. I was grat
eful when Tommy took pity on me and bailed me out.

  “We thought we heard a scream from inside,” he said.

  “No, everything’s fine here. Thank you for your concern.” Smiling a little too politely, she closed the door shut.

  “She’s alive,” I said. “How? I mean, if he was here…”

  “Why was he here is a better question.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “Let’s go find out.” He grabbed my hand.

  I didn’t have a chance to respond before he pulled me along and helped me into the car. Within minutes, we were parked near Adam’s house. There was a car parked in the front, and I knew who it belonged to.

  “That’s—”

  “Judy’s car,” Tommy finished.

  His eyes grew large when we approached the door. “Holy shit, I think they’re making out.”

  “No way!” In all the commotion, I couldn’t believe she was actually getting it on with Adam. It seemed so irresponsible.

  “Oh, she’s leaving the doctor.” He laughed. “She said she finally came to her senses.”

  “But… I mean… We still don’t know what Adam’s involvement is in all this.”

  “Only one way to find out,” he said. “Uh, they’re making out again. If we’re going to question him, we should do it soon. Before they get too far into what they’re doing.” A wicked grin materialized on his face.

  I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. I looked at Tommy.

  “Yeah, they’re still going at it,” he confirmed.

  I knocked harder the second time, and even I was able to hear Adam say, “Gimme a minute.”

  He answered the door with his hair a mess and his shirt out of whack. Is that remnants of lipstick on his lips? “What is it this time?”

  “We thought you might be interested in a magazine subscription,” Tommy said.

  I punched Tommy in the arm. “We were, uh, wondering what you were doing at Nydia’s house earlier?”

  Judy came to the door, and I had to hold back a giggle at how aggressively she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. A reddish pink smear remained on and around her lips. “I thought I recognized those voices. What are you two doing here?”

  “You know Roz had another vision. She knew the daughter of the next victim, and she convinced her to cancel the appointment for today with Adam.”

  “Wait a minute—you’re responsible for the cancellation?” Adam said. “Why?”

  “We wanted her to be safe,” Tommy said.

  Adam frowned. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I told you he was innocent, Emily,” Judy said. “Why didn’t you believe me?”

  “I did.” I was the only one who believed you, I thought. “We were concerned when we discovered he was already there.”

  “And how did you know that?” Adam said.

  Tommy grinned proudly, but didn’t say a word.

  “I stopped by to check on her,” Adam explained. “She sounded upset when she cancelled. I wanted to make sure she was okay.”

  I felt the conviction in his words. It was clear he really did care about the families he worked with. I knew then he was innocent of the murder.

  Adam glanced over at Judy covertly, and I sensed his feelings for her. I didn’t have the heart to keep them apart any longer.

  “Sorry to have bothered you,” I said.

  “Yeah, sorry for the interruption.” Tommy smirked at Judy. The venomous glare she shot him gave me goose bumps, but he merely chuckled as we left.

  “If Adam is innocent…” I trailed. My heart began to pound. “Tommy, what if we didn’t stop it?”

  He grabbed my hand and together we ran to the car. As we arrived at Nydia’s street, I cringed at the police car farther down. Tommy drove past slowly.

  “It’s happened,” I said. “I wonder if she’s all right.”

  “Em, she’s dead,” Tommy quietly said. “Heard one of the cops radio it in.”

  “Who was it? It couldn’t have been Adam.”

  “We’ll come back later and check it out. After they leave.”

  I couldn’t believe we missed it. We were there, I talked to her. If we would have stayed a few minutes longer… I looked away, afraid I would break out in tears.

  Tommy reached for my hand. “We’ll figure this out.”

  I sighed. I knew I’d have to break the news to Roz.

  * * * *

  He drove past the corner from my house. “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “It’s a surprise.”

  “Found that land in West Texas?”

  “How’d you know? There’s a family of alpacas waiting for us.”

  “Let’s go.”

  But we ended up at the park instead.

  “West Texas is closer than I remember,” I said.

  “Thought your friends might cheer you up.” He reached around to the backseat and produced a loaf of bread. “I happen to have some old bread from the shop.”

  “That’s so sweet.”

  Tommy took my hand in his, and we walked to our familiar park bench. He was right—the ducks did make me feel better, a welcome distraction from the craziness of my life.

  By the time night fell, I was more relaxed but reluctant to go back to Nydia’s house. Yet at the same time, I had to find out who was behind the murders, now that we knew it wasn’t Adam.

  Nydia’s entire block was dark, as if the tragic news convinced people to huddle indoors. Her house itself was deserted. Tommy worked his magic on the back door lock to get us in. There was nothing spectacular about the house—the interior was plain, and everything seemed eerily in order somehow. We made our way to the front, where Roz said the murder took place in her vision. It was beyond creepy to be there, in the spot where someone had died moments before.

  “Could you stand over there, please?” He pointed to the kitchen, in the direction we came from. “Your scent is distracting.”

  “Distracting, huh?” I muttered, but moved off anyway. It wasn’t long before he walked back to me, wearing a satisfied grin.

  “Did you smell something?” I asked.

  “Yeah, I did. I think it’s your doctor’s scent.”

  “My doctor?” My jaw dropped. “Are you sure?”

  “I guess it could be someone else with the same cologne, but I’d never smelled that scent before your last appointment with him.”

  In a flash, it all came together. The Kenneys were referred from Adam, plus the doctor could read minds—and Roz told us the killer could see into his victim’s mind. And then the perverse pleasure he got from hurting me in our sessions. It wasn’t hard to picture him as the killer.

  On the drive home, my head felt full, still trying to come to terms with everything. I dreaded telling Roz, the news would devastate her. She was so confident at lunch she had prevented the attack.

  My heart was in my throat as I approached her door. And the cheerful smile on her face as she answered it only made me feel worse.

  “Em, what’s wrong?”

  I stepped inside and sighed, trying to formulate the words in my head to lessen the impact. “It’s happened.”

  She looked at me blankly. “What?”

  “Nydia’s mother… She’s—”

  “No,” she whispered and then continued louder, repeating the word over and over. Her legs started to wobble, and I grabbed her arms before she fell. I walked her to the couch and sat with her, hugging her. She was unresponsive at first, but then she suddenly hugged me back tightly. Burying her face in my shoulder, she began to cry.

  “I thought we stopped him,” she sobbed.

  “We tried. We did everything we could.”

  “Tell that to Nydia. How did we fail? Did he show up there anyway?”

  I didn’t want to tell her. I knew it would be difficult to hear. “It wasn’t Adam.”

  She broke off the embrace and looked into my eyes. “How do you… Are you sure?”

  “Tommy was there
with me. He picked up the doctor’s scent.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Your doctor?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Well maybe he’s wrong,” she said. “Maybe their scents are similar.”

  “We were at Adam’s house when it happened. He was there with Judy. It couldn’t have been him.”

  She was silent, her eyes staring off into the distance. Then she gasped.

  “What?”

  “If I hadn’t told her to cancel her appointment with Adam, her mother might still be alive right now.”

  “Roz, you don’t know that,” I said. “It simply may have been her time.”

  The look she sent my way was one of annoyance, or maybe sheer disbelief. And then she dropped her gaze to the floor. “I want to be alone.”

  “I don’t want to leave you—”

  “I need some time,” she said quietly. “I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”

  “Are you sure? I can heal you.”

  She tried to smile, unsuccessfully. “Yeah, I’ll be all right.”

  Her tears resurfaced on the way to the door, and with them I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and regret. It was so powerful I started crying with her.

  “It’s not your fault, Roz. We did the best we could,” I said.

  “I know,” she whispered.

  I hugged her tightly once more, and didn’t let go for a solid minute or two. “Call me if you need anything. I’ll be here.” I grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze. She nodded in acknowledgement, right before she closed the door.

  I scoured the internet at home, searching for anything I could find about the doctor. His business website was chock full of testimonials from all the patients he’d helped. Did these people really go to the same doctor I did? I kept searching and came across the obituary for his wife, dated a couple years back. Then I found a news article in the same time frame about an accidental electrocution—faulty wiring in his office. Somehow, he survived it unharmed and returned to work the next day. Several pages in on the search results showed an article about an award he received a year ago for his work with a schizophrenic patient. I had to hold back a laugh at the irony. He helped all those people, the psycho killer. Knowing his compulsive nature, I shuddered. There was no doubt in my mind what his next move was.