“Matthews say everything was on the up and up?”
“Yep, but I’d still feel better if I saw for myself.”
“I’m with ya man.” We headed out of the station and to the car.
Fifteen minutes later, I pulled up behind Matthews’ Accord and saw him leaning against the driver side door. “I went and knocked after you called.” I could see on his face that he was as concerned as I was. “No answer. I didn’t see anyone going in or out last night but there was no movement when I knocked a few minutes ago.”
The three of us headed up the narrow sidewalk to Cassie’s front porch. Taylor was right, something was definitely wrong. I could feel it. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and adrenaline started coursing through my veins.
“Shit man, I got a bad feeling about this,” Stevens said from behind me.
That made two of us.
“Seattle police,” I called as I knocked heavily on the door.
Nothing.
I banged harder on the door hoping that she was asleep, or maybe in the shower. Still…I got nothing.
I looked over my shoulder at Stevens whose hand was resting on the butt of the gun at his hip. My gaze shot to Matthews and he gave me a small nod. It was completely against protocol but we needed to get into that house. All three of us knew that.
I took a step back and rushed the door, shoving my right shoulder into it as hard as I could. It didn’t budge.
After two more attempts, the aging wood around the doorframe finally gave way with a loud groan and the door flew open.
“Son of a bitch!” Matthews called from behind me once I’d righted myself.
We’d barely made it two steps across the threshold before we were met with complete chaos.
The house was a wreck. Furniture was overturned, glass was broken, pictures were knocked off the walls and from the mantle above the fireplace. There had been a struggle…a big one.
We made our way from the living room into the kitchen where the backdoor that led to the alley behind the row house sat open.
“Jesus Christ,” Stevens muttered.
“I swear, Donovan. I never heard a damn thing. I was out front all night and never suspected a goddamn thing had gone down.”
I turned to Matthews and saw the distress etched into the lines on his face. “It’s not your fault. Go radio it in. We need to get moving on this. Christ knows how long she’s been missing.”
He nodded his head and started for the front of the house. “I’m on it.”
Taylor
I’d been nervously pacing the length of the office in the back of Benny’s Diner for an hour after my call to Jordan, while simultaneously blowing up his phone. Every call went straight to voicemail. Benny came back to check on me a few times, but when she’d been unsuccessful at calming me down she just went back out front.
I’d finally decided I couldn’t wait any longer so I grabbed my purse and rushed toward the front door when it swung open and Jordan and his partner Barry Stevens walked through.
The stoic expression on both men’s faces knocked the breath out from my lungs; it caused my steps to falter.
“Where is she?” I whispered, feeling the tears building up in my eyes.
Jordan stepped closer and reached for my arms, trying to pull me in the direction of the office. “Why don’t we go talk in the back?”
I jerked my arm from his hold and stepped up to him so that we were practically chest to chest. “Where is she?” I demanded so loud that most of the diner turned to see what the commotion was.
I felt soft hands land on my shoulders and turned to see Benny standing behind me. “Come on, doll. Let’s not do this out here.”
I allowed her to turn me and lead me away from the customers’ prying eyes. I could hear the sounds of Jordan and Stevens following behind us but my thoughts were too chaotic to concentrate on their words. This wasn’t right. I’d embraced the visions and had done everything in my power to stop them from happening. This wasn’t right!
I entered the office and turned to look at them. No one said anything for what felt like an eternity. I saw a look pass between Benny and Jordan before she placed a hand on Stevens’ forearm to get his attention. “Why don’t I get you some breakfast? It’s on the house.”
I watched numbly as the two of them walked out the door and closed it softly behind them. When I turned back to Jordan, he was wringing his hands in front of him and I could see the ticking in his jaw from how tightly he was clenching it.
“Where is she?” I asked again, barely recognizing my voice. The tears I was trying desperately to hold back made it difficult to talk and my words came out raspy and broken.
“We don’t know,” he whispered.
With those three words my knees gave out, and if Jordan hadn’t been standing so close, I had no doubt I’d have ended up on the floor. He pulled me to his chest and wrapped his arms around me as he backed both of us up and lowered onto a chair. He pulled me into his lap and stroked my hair soothingly. “We’ll find her, Taylor. I swear. Forensics is combing every fucking inch of that house. If he left anything behind…anything at all, we’ll find it. I’ll get Cassie back.”
Before I could respond, the office door flew open and Daniel stood before us looking more disheveled than I’d ever seen him.
“Taylor –” was all he was able to get out before I cut him off.
“I did everything you said. I stopped ignoring the visions. I did everything I could to keep her safe,” I insisted.
“I know,” he said morosely. “You did all you could. It’s just that…after you do your job it’s out of your hands.”
I shook my head in disbelief. I couldn’t accept that.
I wouldn’t.
I turned back to Jordan and started telling him everything I knew. “There are stairs,” I started. “He keeps them in a dark room. I never got a look at it with any of the other visions except for the one with Cassie…” I stopped and squeezed my eyes shut as the memories of that horrible nightmare came spilling back. “I think it’s a basement or something. The walls were concrete…or cinderblock. There are stairs outside the room but they looked unfinished, you know…like the carpet or something had been torn up. I think they led up to a house but I don’t know where. And a door! There’s a heavy metal door. It’s industrial or something…I don’t know.”
Frustration poured through me when I couldn’t think of something more helpful.
“It’s okay, baby,” Jordan said, as he took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay, just take a breath.”
I did as he said and sucked in a deep breath. When I felt a little calmer I opened my eyes and gave Jordan what I felt was the most important pieces of information.
“She’s going to fight.”
He shook his head in confusion. “What do you mean?”
I felt a tear run down my cheek and brushed it away with the back of my hand. “I saw her fighting him, Jordan. In my vision. She fights for her life harder than any of them did. She’s so strong but that’s going to set him off. You don’t have much time.”
At that, I broke down in tears again at the realization that the odds were, I was too late…again.
I sat on my couch holding a cup of coffee in one hand as I fiddled with my locket with the other. Daniel and Jordan flittered around the apartment trying to act like they weren’t watching me like a hawk. If I caught one more side long look or pitying smile, I was going lose my shit.
I took a sip of lukewarm coffee and caught Daniel smiling at me from where he and Jordan were standing in my kitchen. I’d had enough.
“That’s it!” I yelled. I’d finally reached my breaking point. “I’m tired of you standing here hovering over me.” I turned to Jordan and asked, “Why are you even here? You need to be out there trying to find Cassie!”
“Taylor, we’re just worried about you,” Daniel said trying to extinguish the situation before it got too volatile.
I sucked i
n a slow breath and blew it out through pursed lips. I didn’t mean to snap at Jordan but I was having enough trouble relaxing as it was. Jordan and Daniel weren’t helping the situation by worrying about me when there were more important things to worry about. “I’m sorry,” I explained to Jordan. “I didn’t mean to yell. I just…I just need you out there looking for Cassie, okay? I know you’re doing everything you can. I’d just feel better if you were out there not in here trying to take care of me. I trust you and I know you can find her.”
Jordan’s eyes changed from concerned to warm when I spoke. He walked up to me and wrapped his hands in my hair. “Okay,” he said softly. “I’ll get out there and look for her.” He rested his forehead against mine and whispered, “Thank you for trusting me.” He placed a gentle kiss on my lips and smiled sweetly before backing away. “Keep an eye on her for me, will ya?” he asked Daniel as he headed for the door.
Daniel saluted Jordan. “You got it, chief.”
Jordan shot Daniel the finger before heading out the door to search for Cassie.
All of the anger I’d been holding onto in an attempt to protect my heart from Jordan disappeared the instant Cassie went missing. It was impossible to think of anything but getting her back. Finding her was all that mattered. Jordan was there and he was doing everything in his power to make sure Cassie was found. Because of that, I couldn’t hate him any longer.
Once Jordan was gone, Daniel sat next to me on the couch and the look of pity returned to his face. “You doing okay?”
With that, I was done. I stood from the couch and sat my cup on the coffee table in front of me. “My best friend’s been kidnapped and there’s a chance she could possibly die. And I knew it was going to happen and couldn’t do shit to stop it. How do you think I’m doing, Daniel?”
I didn’t even give him a chance to respond. I just turned on my heels and walked away.
Jordan
I’d never felt so impotent in my entire life. I should have done something sooner. I had no one to blame for Cassie’s kidnapping but me. It was my own damn fault. If I would have just listened to Taylor…if I had only believed what she was saying from the very beginning, none of this ever would have happened. Looking for a house with unfinished stairs leading to the basement was harder than trying to find a needle in a haystack.
“Fuck!” I shouted as I ran an arm over my desk, scattering everything on the top of it onto the floor. “There’s not a goddamn piece of evidence in that entire house. How the fuck is that possible? With that kind of struggle Forensics should have had a fucking field day. You’d think they would’ve at least turned up blood or hair or something. It’s like he’s a fucking ghost!”
Stevens ran a hand over his balding head. “I don’t know man…I don’t know.”
I couldn’t think straight. My brain had been going non-stop while I functioned on no sleep for God only knew how long. I’d been wracking my brain for hours trying to come up with something that would help us find Cassie but I was still at a total loss.
Stevens’ phone rang but I was so lost in thought I didn’t even register what he was saying.
“Jordan…Jordan, did you hear what I just said?”
I was pulled back to reality when Stevens’ hand landed on my shoulder. “Sorry… what?”
The look on his face told me everything I needed to know.
“There’s another body.” He dropped his head and gave it a shake. “It was The Poet.”
No…Oh Christ, no.
Bright yellow tape blocked off a large section of the public park as police and crime scene analysts worked to collect as much evidence as possible.
Walking toward the body, I couldn’t help but pray over and over that it wouldn’t be her. “What do we have?” I asked one of the medical examiners, a short, balding man with pale skin and a paunch that would rival Stevens’.
I took in the white sheet that was lying on the ground. Seconds later the sheet was pulled back and all of my hopes were crushed.
“License says her name is Cassandra Sinclair,” the M.E. answered.
“Fuck me,” Stevens muttered next to me before turning and walking away. By the look of pure anguish on his face, I knew he was feeling the same thing I was…guilt and pure rage.
“Death was caused by multiple stab wounds to the chest and abdomen,” the pale man continued, “but from the looks of things your girl here put up one hell of a fight.”
I spun around to look the pale man in the eyes. “What makes you say that?”
He pointed down so I could take in what he was talking about. “See the bruising on her left arm here?” I looked down to where he was pointing and saw a bright purple bruise in the perfect shape of a hand. “If you take a look at the knuckles on her right hand you’ll see bruising and even more scratching. From what I can gather, it looks like he grabbed her by this arm here, and when he did, she spun around and swung at him with all her strength.”
Taylor’s words echoed to me as the medical examiner spoke.
“This asshole really did a number on her before he finally killed her. On top of all of the bruising, there’s three fractured ribs, a shattered cheekbone, and a gash along the back of her head. It looks like he jerked her hair so hard he ripped it out, along with some of the skin.”
“Fuck,” I hissed out as I ran my hands down my face. Seeing Cassie lying naked on the cold ground was bad enough. Having to hear, in vivid detail, everything she went through was making my earlier breakfast threaten to make another appearance.
“Jesus Christ,” Stevens said. “So basically, you’re telling us that she was tortured before he finally killed her?”
I didn’t want to hear the answer to that.
The guy dropped his head and shook it sadly before finally looking back at us. “I hate to say it, but yeah. This girl went through hell before she died. From the looks of her wounds, I’d say death was probably a relief.”
Taylor
“Will you get that?” I was in the middle of pouring my fourth cup of coffee when I heard a knock on the door. I hadn’t slept at all the night before, and I was running strictly off caffeine, adrenaline and worry.
I lifted my head from stirring in creamer and saw Jordan standing at the threshold, eyes rimmed red and glassy, hands shoved deeply into the pockets of the slacks he’d been wearing the night before.
One look at his face and I knew. The cup falling from my hands and shattering on the floor didn’t even register as darkness started closing in. “No! No, no, no, no!” I sobbed as my knees gave out from under me.
Jordan was there in an instant, scooping me from the floor and carrying me into the living room.
“No,” I screamed at the top of my lungs as my body shook uncontrollably. “Not, Cassie. No. Jordan, please. Please,” I begged. “Not Cassie.”
I could feel his tears dampening the collar of my shirt from where he had his face buried in my neck. “I’m so sorry, baby,” he cried. Having this grown man crying on my shoulder as I broke down made my tears fall even harder. He held me in his lap and rocked back and forth. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he repeated over and over.
Not Cassie. Please, not Cassie.
Even as I prayed, I knew there was no point.
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. All I could do was sit in Jordan’s lap and let the paralyzing grief take me over.
She was my friend. She was one of the very few people I’d let get close to me. I loved her.
And now she was gone.
She was gone and it was all my fault.
Jordan
“She finally asleep?” Daniel asked as I walked out of Taylor’s bedroom.
I nodded my head. I had to make her take two Tylenol PM to get her to relax and with the help of the medication, she finally cried herself to sleep. She’d been in hysterics from the moment I showed up at her apartment and there was nothing I could do or say to help her. Seeing the woman I loved break down over the loss of someone c
lose and not being able to do anything was the worst feeling I’d ever experienced. It was a knife to the gut.
“Why’d this happen, Daniel?” I asked, trying to understand, trying to wrap my head around everything that was going on in my life. “She did everything she was supposed to. Why’d she have to lose Cassie?” Tears stung the back of my eyes as I remembered seeing the pure anguish on her face.
Daniel leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Just because a Seer does what they can to prevent the loss of a life doesn’t mean the outcome is always going to be the one we want. We can only do so much. Human nature does the rest.”
“A Seer? So that’s what she’s called?”
“Yeah.”
“So what’s that make you?”
“I’m what they refer to as a Guide,” he responded.
“You keep saying they. Who’s they?”
“They are whatever higher power you choose to believe in.”
“Wow,” I replied. “Could you be anymore vague?”
Daniel let out a little chuckled and leaned back into the couch. “You asked, I answered, my man. Sorry if my response doesn’t satisfy you.”
I sat there in silence for awhile, trying to absorb everything I’d learned over the past few weeks. I had so many questions and I didn’t know if I’d ever get the proper answers for them. Still, I took a shot. “So, was becoming a Guide kind of the same process for you as becoming a Seer was for Taylor? I know her gift, or whatever you call it, didn’t start to develop until she turned seven. Were you around the same age when it all started for you?”
He gave my question some thought before answering. “Not quite. I’m not really like you and Taylor,” he replied.
“In what sense?”
He scratched the back of his neck and I knew that whatever he was going to say would be just as vague as before. “Let’s just say that I’m…omnipresent.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised after everything that had happened since meeting Taylor, but I was. “You aren’t even really human, are you?”
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