“You know what’s weird, though?” I said. “This is hard to explain. The truth I’ve learned when people lie doesn’t seem to float around in my thoughts.”
“Can you explain that a little more?” asked Miles.
“Well… usually, if you learn something, that knowledge pops up on its own. You can’t control it, thoughts just appear. You can choose to shove them aside, more or less successfully, but you can’t control their appearance.”
“Okay, I think I know what you mean. Kind of like what happened last year. Xander was right, you and I both have had to deal with some PTSD after that. The memories are haunting, and I worry about whether you’re okay or not when you aren’t with me.”
“I know, me too,” I said. “Well… actually I feel just pretty confident that you can take care of yourself and that you’re going to be fine all on your own, now.”
“Good, because I am,” Miles smiled. “Don’t start trying to protect me again.”
“I won’t, I know you’ve got it covered. And, by the way, what’s with this new force field you’re working on?”
“You noticed that, did you?” smiled Miles. “It’s kind of handy when walking through crowds.”
“Yeah, I liked that. Very cool, Mr. Superhero husband. I need to practice my abilities, too. I’d like to know what I’m capable of.”
“You’re learning awfully fast. You’ve come a long way since last week. We’ve wandered off topic, though. What were you saying about these truths not floating around in your thoughts?”
“I have to want to remember. I never think of these things otherwise. It’s almost like not remembering. I don’t remember, unless I want to.”
“You’ve completely lost me,” said Miles.
“I’m doing a horrible job of explaining it,” I said. “It’s just that if one of these threads of truth is relevant to what I’m thinking, I can access it. But otherwise, they’re out of my mind completely.”
“Well, I don’t understand that, but if it continues to be the case then I’m glad.”
“Me too. I have a feeling that this ability is going to show me things I’ll be happy never to remember.”
“I’m afraid so,” Miles agreed.
“So what should I ask tomorrow? Or what should Xander ask? I’ll bet I could get Delia to help. Only… never mind. I can’t make up a reason, like we’re doing a psychological study on Pretend-Mead. I had it all figured out, but I can’t do that, it wouldn’t be the truth.”
“Hm. I’m not sure what to suggest. If you decide you need her help, then… be honest and say you can’t explain how, but you have reason to believe he’s guilty of a crime and that if she’ll help surprise him with questions, you’re hoping he’ll reveal something that will prove his guilt.”
“Oh my goodness, you are so good,” I said, impressed. “That’s perfect.”
“Thank you,” Miles smiled. “Whatever I can do to help.”
We reached our building, and Miles parked in our covered spot. We said hello to the security guard on duty, picked up our mail and took the elevator to our floor, then we walked down the hall to our apartment.
“Someone wants to go on a walk,” I said, as Miles took his keys out of his pocket and looked for the right one.
“Judging from the sound, I’d say there are eight sets of nails tap dancing in the entryway.”
“I think you’re right,” I said. “Poor things, they’re probably bored out of their minds.”
“I hope you didn’t leave any shoes out,” said Miles, as he unlocked and opened the door, and our dogs began to spin in circles they were so excited.
“I hope so too,” I said, as I set my purse down. I could trust Chip not to touch anything that didn’t belong to him, but Trixie… socks and shoes were at risk if she was left alone for too long. Living in the apartment and having to abide by the rules of a regular dog was hard on her, after all of the freedom she’d been used to for so long.
“You kids don’t want to go on a walk again, do you?” asked Miles, and Trixie gave him a look. “Oh. You want to run. Do you realize I just finished playing basketball?”
I watched Trixie as she thought about that, looked Miles over, and then gave him another look.
“You’re right, it was an easy game. Fine then. Get your leashes, and we’ll go for a quick run. Not a marathon, Anika and I have classes tomorrow. We want to go to bed soon.”
Trixie and Chip turned and went for the basket which held the leashes, when they weren’t in use.
“I’ll be back soon,” Miles said. “At least since it’s a run, it won’t take as long.”
“It’s okay, I’ll be here when you get back,” I said, as we hugged and kissed each other. “Don’t be gone long, though.”
“I won’t,” he smiled.
The dogs brought their leashes, and I clipped Chip’s to his collar while Miles clipped Trixie’s to hers. He kissed me again, then he and the dogs left. I could hear the jingling of dog tags all the way to the elevator.
It would be so great to have a house, and a yard! It would take a yard as large as the grounds of the estate to satisfy Trixie, though. Still, to both be able to sleep in sometimes like we’re able to do when we’re at the estate, and to not have to take the dogs out for a walk before bedtime, that would be so nice.
I picked up my purse and put it away, then looked around. Nothing to straighten, we’d hardly been here today.
Night wandered in, and spoke to me.
“Hi, Mr. Fluffy,” I said, and picked him up. “You’re getting to be an armful.”
He rubbed his cheek on my shoulder, and against my hand, and on the side of my face.
“All right, enough, I’m sure if I come in contact with another cat it’ll know I belong to you,” I laughed, scratching behind his ears.
Pandora walked in the room. She yawned and stretched, then sat down and looked around sleepily.
“Sorry Pandy, but Miles isn’t here.”
She looked disappointed, and left.
“I guess we just don’t compare, huh Night,” I said. I kissed his furry forehead, then set him down.
When Miles took me to pick out a kitten as my Christmas present last year, we ended up with two kittens picking us out. Night chose me, and his sister Pandora chose Miles. So far they hadn’t changed their minds.
I yawned. It was already getting close to nine o’ clock, so I got ready for bed. It had been a long day. I couldn’t imagine staying up very late, once Miles got back with the dogs.
My phone vibrated as I belted my robe, and I looked at the screen.
“Hi, Mom,” I answered.
“Hi, honey! How are you enjoying your classes?”
“They’re okay,” I said. “How is everyone there?”
“We’re doing well. The kids are enjoying being back in school, in spite of the obligatory complaints about classes and schoolwork.”
“How does Doreen like middle school?” I asked.
“She seems to be liking it really well.”
“I can’t believe how grown up she is,” I said, gathering together the books I needed for class the next day. “She’s almost as tall as me.”
“She may be as tall as you now, she’s had another growth spurt.”
“We just saw you guys less than two weeks ago!” I exclaimed.
“That’s how growth spurts are, they happen overnight,” said Mom.
Not that I’d know anything about that! I never did have one.
“How is Tryon?” I asked.
“He’s doing good,” said Mom. “Dad’s helping him with some homework right now.”
“Homework, already? He’s just a little kid!”
“Things have changed since you were in elementary school,” said Mom. “I’m not convinced this is better, you turned out just fine without being loaded down with homework, when you were his age.”
“Thanks,” I said, picking up the stack of mail and carrying it to the office. I set it on the desk inten
ding to sort through it, but saw that a fax had come in while we were out.
“How is Miles?” asked Mom.
“He’s doing great. He and the dogs are out for a run. It’s hard on Trixie being cooped up like they were all day today,” I said, as I picked up the fax and looked at it. I managed not to laugh. It was from a contractor regarding building our fortress on the island. Not that the contractor called it that, but that’s what it was!
Mom was talking again, and I was missing everything she said as I looked over the information on the fax. I set it aside so I could focus.
“What did you say, Mom? I’m sorry, I got distracted,” I said.
“I was asking if you’ll be here this weekend.”
“Oh. Not this weekend, no. We’re going back to the estate Friday.”
“That’s too bad. How about the weekend after? Or I suppose we could have dinner during the week, if that’s better.”
“Sure, Mom. Just not on Tuesdays. That’s the busiest day of the week for us.”
“Alright, we’ll figure something out then. It feels like we don’t see you nearly enough, even though you’re living here in town again.”
“I know Mom, maybe life will settle down and we won’t be so busy.” We could hope, anyway.
I heard the front door open, and the dogs dancing across the entryway.
“Miles is home, so I’ll talk to you later Mom,” I said.
“Okay honey, tell him hello for us,” said Mom.
“I will. Bye!”
I ran to the entryway and threw myself into his arms.
“I’m suddenly reminded of those basketball games we played over the summer,” smiled Miles, managing to hold his ground.
“I missed you, that’s all,” I laughed. “You were gone forever. I thought you’d never come back.”
Miles looked at his watch, and raised an eyebrow.
“I was gone fifteen minutes!”
“It was the longest fifteen minutes of my life,” I said, maintaining my grip on Miles. “Well, actually no. But it was long!”
“I’m so sorry dear, next time I’ll just tell the dogs to wait until morning,” Miles smiled, and I laughed. I wasn’t looking at Trixie, but I was sure she was rolling her eyes.
“A fax came for you,” I said.
“Oh?” asked Miles, managing to free himself so he could unclip the leashes from the dogs’ collars, and hand them to Chip and Trixie. They carried their leashes and put them away.
“It would appear you’re serious about building that island fortress,” I said, and Miles smiled as he put his arm around me and we walked through the living room to the kitchen.
“Can you think of a better vacation spot than our very own tropical island?” asked Miles. “It’s uninhabited, so there’s no chance of coming in contact with this darkness you’re able to sense. I can imagine needing a retreat to escape to between murder investigations, if you run into this very often.”
“It doesn’t surprise me a bit that you’re doing this,” I said. “I’d be shocked if you weren’t. I think an island retreat sounds great. How far away is it?”
“Just a plane ride away,” said Miles, taking a couple of bottles of water out of the refrigerator and handing one to me. “Unless you prefer to travel by boat. I’m having an airstrip put in anyway. We need a way for supplies to be delivered, since there won’t be a friendly neighborhood grocery or convenience store nearby.”
“It would be fun to invite our friends sometimes, don’t you think?” I suggested, as Miles put his arm around me and we walked back into the living room.
“Your family too, if you want,” said Miles.
“Sounds great,” I said. “So how about electricity and plumbing? Or are we giving up those modern conveniences?”
“No going back in time!” said Miles. “My guess is that for power we’ll be using a combination of wind and solar. We’ll need to have a well dug and use a pump and a pressure tank to provide running water.”
“This is going to be so fun!” I said. “It’s too bad we have college classes keeping us here, I want to go see our island.”
“Let’s at least wait until the airstrip is put in. I do, however, have photos if you want to see.”
“You do? Yes! I’d love to see them!” I smiled. “How long have you had them?”
“They were sent to me today. They’re on my phone.”
“Your phone’s in my purse, I’ll get it,” I said.
“Are you hungry?” asked Miles.
“Maybe, are you?” I asked.
“How about ice cream?” he suggested.
“Perfect!” I said.
“I’ll dish it up as soon as I get out of the shower,” said Miles, kissing my forehead as he headed toward our room. “We can look at the pictures while we eat.”
“Sounds great!” I said. “I’ll see you in a minute.”
I went through my purse and found Miles’ cell phone. I set it on his nightstand, then went to the kitchen. In the time it took me to assemble two bowls and spoons, Miles was back. He brought over the cartons of ice cream from the freezer.
“I’m glad you’re here for so many reasons, and this is one of them,” I said, watching as Miles used the ice cream scoop to effortlessly pile both bowls full. “I’d have to microwave the ice cream if I wanted to have any hope of scooping it out.”
“I’m glad you find me useful, maybe you’ll keep me around,” he smiled.
“You can count on that,” I smiled back.
Miles carried the bowls and I piled pillows to lean against. While we ate, we scrolled through the photos.
“This is beautiful,” I said, impressed with the white sand and lush vegetation.
“It’s even better than I hoped,” agreed Miles.
“How did we end up with an island, anyway?” I wondered.
“My brother James’ son accepted it as payment for something or other,” said Miles. “I can’t remember what. I only vaguely remembered the family having an island at all.”
“I’m glad you did, this will be fun.”
“I think so too.”
“I love planning for the future with you,” I said. “I’m never going to take that for granted.”
“Neither will I,” agreed Miles.
“While you guys were playing basketball, I told Jenny and Annette how we met. It was really cool to be able to do that. It was great how our friends were able to support us when Cheryl had questions, too.”
“Now that they know, I’m glad they do,” said Miles. “We couldn’t ask for better friends. If anyone learns anything about either of our powers… it won’t be from them.”
I set my empty bowl on my nightstand and turned so I could face Miles.
“Promise me something,” I said seriously, taking his hands in mine as he put his own empty bowl aside, wondering I’m sure, what I wanted him to commit to.
“I trust you… but I’d still like to know what I’m promising before I do,” Miles said, his voice and expression serious, but with laughter in his eyes.
“Find jobs for all of our friends so that they aren’t tempted to move away after college.”
“I’d like to do that,” said Miles. “There’s only one problem.”
“What?” I asked, wondering what problem there could be.
“I have no idea what Annette’s major is.”
“I don’t either!” I laughed. “Neither does she, yet. She’s struggling to decide. But eventually she will, and I’m sure you can find the perfect job amongst all of our many businesses.”
“I’m sure I can,” smiled Miles. “I promise I’ll do my best to tempt our friends to stick around and work for us after they graduate.”
“Excellent,” I smiled, and hugged him. “I knew I could count on you.”
“Always,” Miles said softly, as he kissed me.
Chapter 12
I knew exactly what it would feel like to be on pins and needles, because that’s how I felt. If Miles was a
nyone else, I’d probably be on his last nerve. I couldn’t sit still.
“I’m going to nickname you Fidget at this rate,” said Miles, as he finished bringing up the webcam feeds on his laptop. We sat in the study lab, waiting for my Soc class to start.
“I know! I can’t help it, I’m so anxious to learn something that will wrap this up.”
“Those two lattes this morning probably aren’t helping any,” Miles commented.
“I think I’ve built up an immunity to the effects of caffeine,” I said, squirming in my seat.
“I’m not so sure,” Miles smiled. “I understand how you feel, though. You’ll do great. Just relax, take a deep breath, and think calm.”
He massaged my shoulders for good measure, and I tried to do as he said.
“Students are beginning to show up,” said Miles. “There’s Xander. Delia, too.”
“Okay,” I said. I turned and gave Miles a hug and kissed him. “I’ll see you after class.”
“I’ll see you the whole time,” Miles smiled, and I laughed.
I walked down the hall and into the classroom, taking my seat beside Delia.
“Hi Delia, how are you?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she said. “I still feel just terrible about what happened though.”
“It’s fine Delia, we’re fine. Don’t let it bother you anymore, okay?”
“Alright… I’m glad I understand what’s going on, now. I really did wonder after the last class.”
“Yeah. I’m sure you did! I’m glad you know now, too, and that you know he was lying when he said he was friends with Miles and me.”
“I can’t believe what a liar he is,” said Delia.
“He’s a con artist,” I said. “He can’t be trusted. I’m glad you know that, he won’t be able to fool you again, although he may try.”
Students filed in steadily as we talked, and suddenly it felt as though a dark shadow fell over the classroom. It had nothing to do with the skylights. Rob Westin had entered the room.
The darkness was more pronounced as we made eye contact. Either he murdered someone else since I last saw him, or he meant to do me harm. Judging by the look in his eyes, it was the latter.
I used my laptop to message Miles what I saw, and to warn him to be especially on guard. Miles messaged back that he had me covered, and that he loved me. I smiled and messaged back a heart, then closed the messaging window and focused on the task at hand.
Darkness Falls Page 20