“Good,” she said, her voice tired. “Be careful though. He’ll try to come after you. I know he will. In his eyes, you got him fired and humiliated him in front of everyone. This’ll go on his record too, his career will probably be over because you’ve got your friends backing you up. I wouldn’t even go back. You’ve got this great place, just… you don’t look like you need to worry about getting a degree so you can get a job. I’d stay here if I were you, and as far away from him as possible.”
“Thanks, Cecilia,” I said. “I appreciate that you care. I won’t run any risks. I take this guy very seriously, and so does Miles.”
“Okay,” she said, but she didn’t look convinced. How could she be? She didn’t know about my superhero husband.
Cecilia looked behind me, so I turned around. Miles was just entering the parlor from the arched doorway nearest the kitchen.
“Sorry it took me so long,” he said. “It’s worth it, though.”
Chef had outdone himself. I didn’t realize just how much baking he’d been up to. There were several different types of cookies, the cinnamon rolls, even tiny little sandwiches. There was a pot of hot tea, and one of hot chocolate. Miles set the tray on the coffee table.
“What would you like Cecilia, tea or hot chocolate?” I asked, ready to pour either into one of the waiting mugs.
“Tea’s great, thanks,” she said. “You guys sure live different than the rest of the planet. Why are you even in college, anyway?”
“We’re hoping what we learn there will be useful,” Miles replied. “We have people depending on us to make wise business decisions that will affect them positively, rather than negatively.”
“Oh,” she said, accepting that, even if she couldn’t quite comprehend it.
“Here you are,” I said, setting Cecilia’s tea within reach, and handing her a plate. “You’re welcome to help yourself.”
I poured tea for Miles and me also, and the three of us spent some time talking. Cecilia’s life had been difficult even before her run-in with Pretend-Mead, and I felt for her. She didn’t make a big deal out of it, but reading between the lines didn’t take a magnifying glass.
“You’re great with animals,” I commented, as she alternated between petting the two cats and the two dogs. They were all loving it, even Night and Pandora, who tend to think the only people who exist are me and Miles. “Have you considered becoming a vet, or working as a vet tech?”
Cecilia thought about that.
“I don’t know… I couldn’t stand to put an animal to sleep. Even if that’s the humane thing to do… I know sometimes it is. I don’t think I could, though.”
“I can understand that,” I said.
“What about dog training?” suggested Miles. “We have a friend with a service dog, and he makes an amazing difference in her life. I know of a program that’s opening up near here. They’re accepting applications, if you’re interested.”
Cecilia’s eyes lit briefly, then the light dimmed.
“That sounds great, but I don’t have any experience.”
“You’re good with animals,” I pointed out. “This is a new program, and considering the sparse population of the surrounding area, I have a feeling they expect to provide training for some of the positions.”
“That’s correct,” said Miles. “You should call.”
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained,” I said. I held my hand out and waited, and Miles took a business card out of his wallet and handed it to me. I passed it along to Cecilia.
“You just… carry these around?” she asked, looking from it, to me and Miles.
“Just that one,” said Miles. “It’s a program we’re very interested in. But please, take it. I can easily get another.”
“Okay… thanks. You’re absolutely sure they wouldn’t care that I know nothing about dog training?”
“Call them,” I said. “You won’t be disappointed.”
I could tell she wondered if Miles and I would be on the phone the minute she left, giving the place a heads-up to expect her call and to give her a chance, but she didn’t ask.
After she left though, that’s exactly what we did! Miles, the Executive Director of the Bannerman Foundation, called and gave the director of the assistance dog training facility the heads-up to expect Cecilia Tayler’s call, and to give her the training she needed and the opportunity to succeed.
“It’s up to her now,” said Miles, after he ended the conversation. “As long as she calls, she’ll get her chance.”
“Thank you,” I said, giving him a hug. “That’s all she needs.”
Chapter 18
“You’re here, you’re here, you’re here!” said Jenny, opening the door to her apartment and stepping out into the hall. She quickly closed it behind her.
“We are, we are, we are!” I said, and laughed. “You missed us that much?”
Miles unlocked our door without using his key. He’s so handy that way! He swung it open too, and we carried in our things and deposited them on the floor next to the entryway table.
“So what’s going on?” I asked Jenny, ushering her in and closing the door behind her, so that Miles could release our cats.
“I realize you just got home,” she said. “But Cheryl is at our apartment, and Xander and I were hoping…”
Miles and I looked at each other.
“I’ve got this,” he said, and gave me a smile and a quick goodbye-for-now kiss. “You’ve got a puppy to save.”
I laughed. Later I’d have to explain to Jenny what he was talking about.
“Okay, I’ll do my best,” I said.
I hugged Miles, then followed Jenny down the hall toward her and Annette’s apartment.
“So is she coming right out and saying that she’s still trying to look into this guy?” I asked softly.
“Not in so many words,” said Jenny. “On Thursday when she said she’d back off, was she telling the truth?”
“She nodded, but she didn’t actually say anything,” I said. “Miles and I realized that later. Since she didn’t speak, I don’t know.”
Jenny made a frustrated face.
“You’re right. She didn’t say anything, did she. This girl—she’s way worse than you ever were for side-stepping and, well, deceiving with the truth.”
I doubted that was a compliment!
“Well, I’ll see if I can get through to her,” I said.
Jenny opened the door to the apartment, and ushered me in.
“Hi Anika, how was your weekend?” asked Annette. She and Cheryl were sitting at the table. It looked like Jenny had been baking again, and they were sampling her latest culinary masterpieces.
“Hi Anika!” said Cheryl, bouncing in her chair a little.
“Hi,” I said, giving Annette and Cheryl a collective wave. “Our weekend was great. It was good to see Grandma Polly again. Chip and Trixie had a great time playing on the grounds, but we did have some stormy weather too, that drove them inside. How was your weekend?”
“Good, fairly uneventful,” said Annette.
Oh my goodness, she and John had a big argument, and haven’t talked since. She looked at me, and realized I knew. She managed to straighten out her sad expression, and I straightened out my concerned one.
“Want to talk later?” I asked.
“Yes, I do. Maybe Miles can talk to John, too.”
“Sure,” I said.
Jenny looked sympathetic. What had happened? Annette was still wearing her ring at least, and they hadn’t broken up because the truth didn’t include that.
I was supposed to be concentrating on talking to Cheryl. This was going to be hard, I felt very distracted.
“Have a seat,” said Jenny. “I’ll get you a plate.”
“Thanks,” I said, and did. “So what’s up, Cheryl? How was your weekend?”
“It was okay. There’s a lot more to do during the week though, when classes are going on.”
“Have you made many friends?” I
asked, as Jenny set a plate in front of me. She’d made some kind of pastry, and it looked delicious. “Thanks, Jenny!”
She smiled in response, then took a seat as Cheryl answered.
“I’ve got some friends here. I’m from here, you know.”
“Oh, okay. So do you live with your family? I would have, if it weren’t for my scholarship. And the fact that living here, I could be closer to Miles.”
“Yeah, I do,” she said. She still seemed a little embarrassed about that, even though I said that’s what I would have done.
“That’s smart. Very economical,” I said. The pastry was as delicious as it looked!
“Yeah, I guess,” she said, then her bounce kicked up a notch. “Have you learned anything new about Professor Mead?”
“Have you?” I asked.
“I’ve been—” she started enthusiastically, then stopped. Maybe it was the look in my eyes. She was suddenly nervous. “You said not to.”
“I did. So what did you do instead? Please tell me you didn’t go out with him again.”
“I didn’t go out with him again.”
Oh my goodness, that girl is lucky that liars’ pants don’t really catch on fire! Maybe she thought repeating what I told her to wasn’t the same as lying, but it was!”
“So what do you call Friday night?” I asked.
Her eyes got big, and so did Jenny’s and Annette’s. There was silence, and I wasn’t going to fill it. I waited for her to answer.
“It was just dinner,” she said, assuming I knew who she’d been out with. Which I did! Thank goodness it was just dinner.
“Are you falling for this guy?” I asked.
“No!” she said quickly. She was telling the truth again.
“Okay, good. So tell me why you’d do something so incredibly dangerous.” I was experiencing what Miles felt last year, and I did not like it!
“He didn’t pick me up, I met him,” she hurried to say.
“And you did this why?” I asked.
“I wanted to help with the investigation, but you said not to. But then he called and asked me to go out with him. It was like a sign. So I went for it.”
There was a loud thud as Jenny’s forehead hit the table. Annette sat back in her chair and covered her face with her hands. I prayed for patience, because all of mine was gone!
“Okay. So… let’s say I told you not to jump off a bridge, but you really wanted to. Then you’re taking a walk, and see a bridge. Do you think that would be a sign you should jump? Or your parents tell you, don’t do drugs. But then someone offers you some. Is that a sign that you should?”
Cheryl didn’t answer. She’d lost her bounce, and looked like she was about to cry. I softened my tone.
“Cheryl, if you ever tell anyone what I’m about to say to you it will come back to hurt me and Miles. Can I trust you to hold on to this and never tell anyone?”
Jenny and Annette’s eyes were huge and filled with horror. Cheryl’s eyes were huge, and very bright.
“No, I’ll never tell anyone!” she said. “I promise.”
She was telling the truth. I love this ability!
“Okay, then. We know that this guy has killed before. He is beyond dangerous. He’s the kind of guy that will murder his best friend, his only friend, the only friend he’s ever had, because his friend wouldn’t do what he wanted.”
Cheryl was stunned by this new information.
“Miles and I have been collecting evidence. So has our PI. When he gets the last piece, he’ll be turning it over to the authorities so this guy can be tried and convicted for his crimes. Miles and I do not want to be connected with this is any way, so do not ever tell anyone that we are, or that we had any part in locating the evidence.”
Jenny and Annette looked relieved. What, they thought I was going to tell her Miles’ real age, and about my abilities? No way!
Cheryl’s eyes were still huge.
“How do you know all this?” she asked.
“I’m not going to go into the details. What’s important is that this guy would just as soon kill you, as not. He has no empathy for others. Cheryl, being in public with the guy does not make you safe. Do you remember what he tried to do to me in class? That was pretty public, sitting in a front row seat with the entire class behind me, watching.”
Was I winning her over? I couldn’t tell, so I kept talking.
“He tried to kill a girl because she wouldn’t do what he wanted. That could be you, Cheryl. Just because nothing bad has ever happened to you, doesn’t mean it can’t. The more time you spend with this guy, the greater the level of danger, even if you walk away.”
She sighed and rubbed her forehead. She looked scared. She should be!
“He knows he’s in trouble,” said Cheryl, and her voice was shaking now. “He was fired, and told never to come back. He doesn’t want this to follow him around. He wants me to keep watch over his on-line and hard copy files and remove any reference to what happened, as it’s placed there.”
“Okay, Cheryl,” I managed to say in a calm voice. “Do you know if he’s still in town?”
“I think so,” she said. She was scared, very scared. She blinked and tears rolled down her cheeks. There was something more going on here.
“What is it?” I asked. “You have something else you need to tell me.”
She looked up to try and keep the tears that welled in her eyes from falling, then blotted her cheeks with the tissue Jenny handed her.
“I saw him this afternoon. That’s when he said he wanted me to help him. I came straight here to tell you. I didn’t have your number, and Xander wasn’t answering his phone.”
“Okay,” I said, taking that in.
“He said he wants to see me again, too.”
I could think of all sorts of reasons why, one of which was to make sure she was doing what he told her to, another was to make sure she disappeared after he was sure she’d done what he told her to.
“Okay. Now listen to me carefully. The most important thing is staying alive. Do you agree?”
She nodded.
“I’d like to hear you say it, please,” I said.
“Yes, I want to stay alive,” she said.
“It’s the most important thing, right? More important than your job, or your classes. Right?”
“Yes,” she said.
“Good! You’re telling the truth,” I said, before I could catch myself. She looked a little confused, and I just kept going. “Do not go back to your job. Do not go back to your classes. Stay at home until this is over. If it means dropping out for the rest of the semester, do it. Better to graduate a semester later than you planned, than to end up dead.”
Cheryl wiped her eyes and sniffed some more.
“She shouldn’t go home by herself,” I said.
“Xander and I’ll take her,” said Jenny.
“Okay, good.”
“If this guy is so dangerous, why are you involved?” Cheryl asked. I didn’t know if she was trying to justify her own involvement, or what.
“Miles and Anika have dealt with psychopaths before,” said Annette. “She recognizes one, when she sees one.”
She’s telling the truth. I’ll have to remember the words she used to describe that part of my ability.
“Miles and Anika were both upset by this guy’s behavior toward her,” said Jenny. “They have their own PI, and after their experiences in the past, of course they had the guy looked into.”
“We learned things we never expected to, and hope he’ll be incarcerated for his crimes soon,” I said. “We don’t want anyone knowing we had anything to do with looking into him and gathering evidence though, because we like our privacy. That’s hard enough to have after what happened to us last year. Don’t forget this either, Cheryl. As soon as we realized how dangerous this guy is, I dropped the class. If I knew what he’d done before classes started last week, I would have made some different choices.”
She nodded.
/> My phone alerted me that I had a text from Miles. I took it out of my pocket and looked at it.
Been talking to John, hoping you can talk to Annette, then we can talk to them together. John’s okay with that.
“Excuse me, I need to respond to Miles’ text,” I said.
Finishing up with Cheryl, will talk to Annette and let you know
Miles responded,
Thanks, honey
I responded,
I am soooooo sorry for stressing you out last year by not taking my safety seriously! I’ll never do that to you again.
Miles wrote,
So I take it the puppy’s giving you grief?
I laughed, and responded,
I think the puppy’s going to go in the house and stay out of the yard and away from the street now, but I’m feeling grieved at what I put you through
Miles said,
I forgive you, and I love you. See you when you’re done there.
I sent Miles a heart, then put my phone away.
“Xander’s on his way over, we’re going to take Cheryl home,” said Jenny.
“Good, I’m glad,” I said. “I feel much better about that than having her go by herself.”
There was a knock at the door, and Jenny and Cheryl stood. I gave Cheryl a hug, then reached for the notepad that stuck to the refrigerator with a magnet.
“Here, Cheryl,” I said as I wrote down my number and then tore off the sheet and handed it to her. “If this guy calls you again, don’t answer it. But please do let me know.”
“Thanks,” Cheryl said, her eyes shining a little. “I will.”
We said goodbye, and she and Jenny left with Xander.
I sat back down and turned to Annette.
“You’d think that was the signature of her favorite rock star,” said Annette. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she goes home and frames that.”
“I hope not!” I laughed, then grew serious. “So what’s going on?”
“It’s… me and John.”
“Okay,” I said, and waited.
“I see you and Miles, and Jenny and Xander, and we’re not like that. I wish we were.”
“Does this have anything to do with John studying alone at his apartment, instead of with you?” I asked. I hoped Jenny and I hadn’t made her feel like there was something wrong there, just because they did things differently.
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