The way he felt with Jenna was completely dissimilar. As if he’d been sleeping through life and her presence woke him up. He always held onto the belief getting a person to change was bullshit. His father was an alcoholic and his mother was a bitter shrew. And Declan was the selfish ass who would continuously take without ever giving anything back. But he didn’t have to be that caricature any longer. He felt at ease with Jenna. There was no need to consistently fight to get her to see through his crap. They were good for each other with a fair give and take.
“I think we’ll stay,” she said checking her watch. “It’s getting late, but I still want to go to the police station. We should head there first thing in the morning. If none of the detectives on Derek’s case are available, I’ll leave a message for them to contact me. I’m not sure if they’ll think it’s significant that Brianna was cheating with Derek’s best friend, but it could give them a new direction to look at.”
He agreed with a quick nod. “At the end of the day, they could all just be selfish assholes. But if I’m not seeing them murder Derek, maybe the cops will discover something I’m not able to. Liam was involved with some real shady shit. He said it was just sex, but maybe he did have feelings for Brianna. He could’ve been in love with her and decided to get rid of Derek. What about the possibility Liam hired someone to kill Derek?”
Jenna’s silence was loaded. Her head was obviously spinning as she tried to come to terms with Liam’s betrayal.
“I can’t picture it….” she trailed off before adding, “but I couldn’t imagine him sleeping with Bri and taking heroin either. Liam was always the annoying friend of my brother’s who always seemed to get Derek in trouble. But he was like family.” She took another second to collect her thoughts. “Bri never mattered to me. She was merely a standoffish stuck-up girl my brother would eventually tire of and move on. To be honest, her betrayal of Derek was a foregone conclusion. The thought of Liam doing something so horrible to Derek as a way to live happily ever after with that evil girl is stomach-turning.”
“You look tired,” he said looking deeply into her expressive green eyes. He could get lost in her eyes indefinitely. His timing for developing these serious feelings for her couldn’t be more inconvenient. His heart was telling him to confess every emotion she was drawing out. Tell her he suspected he had never fallen in love before…but he thought it could be happening at that very moment. Tell her he would do everything under the sun to find the killer because then they could be together. And he would just about do anything under the sun to have Jenna in his life forever.
“I’m exhausted, but you’re probably hungry; we could go and get some dinner,” she said. He could see the suggestion was halfhearted. After such an emotional day, she likely wanted to climb under the bed covers and tap out, get a short-lived reprieve from all the chaos.
“Lie down. I’ll check my phone for some local places that deliver,” he said rising from his chair. He gave her his best encouraging smile as he held out his hand. She took hold of it, allowing him to lift her out of the chair. “We are getting closer every day to the truth. And I know how much this hurts and I almost wish I could change my visions and see an alternate version. But I’m never going to lie to you. That’s not me. Because I can tell you don’t want fairy tales. You want reality, no matter how ugly it may be.”
She swayed on her feet as he held tightly onto her hand. “I hate the ugly.”
His shoulders drooped at the sound of despair in her voice. He was falling hard at the worst possible time. Derek’s ghost was everywhere he turned inside the beach house.
“I hate the ugly too. And I’ve seen the worst in people. The moms who post about their perfect lives and perfect kids on Facebook and then one day up and leave for good without a backwards glance. The husbands who are at every search party looking for their wives with tears in their eyes when they’re the ones responsible for their deaths.” Her pallor turned gray, encouraging him to put a positive spin on his psychic abilities. “But then I see glimpses of people who would give their lives to find their loved ones. Or turn around the most horrible situation in the world into something positive.”
Cupping his hand tenderly against her cheek, he lowered his voice. “Before I met Kate I had this case. It was a case I thought was straightforward: a deadbeat father who decided to nab his eight-year-old kid walking home from school. But the more I searched in the father’s brain, I realized he had nothing to do with it. He had fought often with the mother and thought leaving her was best for the kid. Two weeks later, the boy’s body was found in a swampy area in the Pinelands.”
Jenna’s eyes filled although she had no connection to the case. Her compassion was one of the qualities he found most attractive. She had so much heart that she could even spare empathy for complete strangers. “What happened to him?” she asked with a noticeable tremble in her voice.
“Sick, terrible things that should never happen to a child,” he said. A heavy sensation sat upon his chest. “But it wasn’t the parents who had hurt him. A child predator lived on the route the boy took home. The cops found the boy’s backpack and clothing in the man’s basement.” Declan shook his head to free himself of the repulsive memories he had experienced first-hand. “My point is that the mom and dad had the worst thing possible happen to them. How do you recover from that? How do you wake up and live another day?
“But they did. They poured their grief into something heroic, creating a foundation together in his honor. They got past their own baggage and could work together to become victim advocates. They’ve helped so many families since that time to get the resources they need when a child goes missing.”
Jenna stared at his shoes, overcome with emotion. “When this is all over, that’s what I want to do. Find a way to do some good in Derek’s name.”
He encircled her close. “We will get through this. And you will live the best life possible in his honor.” He kissed her chastely on the lips. “Take a nap. Crash for the night. Whatever you want to do. I’ll have food when you wake up.”
“Thanks, Dec,” she said. She kissed him back with a little more passion. His insides came alive as he felt her soft, plump lips push against his mouth.
When he pulled away, he kept her tight in his arms. She felt unmoored to him, like if he let go, she’d disappear forever. “I care about you, Jenna. So damn much.”
Declan held his tongue before he whispered his love for her. He was too afraid. What if she rejected him? What if she was turning to him only because she was grieving and he was the closest warm body in proximity? He wanted to tell her a thousand times over she was loved and there would be a happy ending for her—in spite of how far off it seemed at that moment.
Finally, he let her go, his fears overruling his heart. But if he never put himself out there, would he ever have the love he desperately craved?
***
Off-season shore town food was dismal. Besides a few local pizza restaurants, all the good eateries were closed until next Memorial Day. Once the pizza and wings arrived, he didn’t bother waking Jenna. No need to interrupt her sleep for sub-par food. After choking down a slice, he placed the food in the refrigerator and cleaned up. Instead of feeding Jenna disgusting pizza, he would try to help her by summoning another vision of Derek and his friends. With the high emotions of earlier, maybe the events of three months ago would be fresh in everyone’s minds and Declan would witness more of what happened the night Derek went missing.
He prepared the living room for meditation. Pulled down the blinds, lit a few candles he had found beneath the kitchen sink, and arranged the throw pillows on the floor. After getting comfortable, he rubbed at the back of his neck to work out a kink. Brianna was the obvious choice of whose memory to dive into, but she usually gave him very little to work with. After a few weeks, only two or three visions had provided insight on her relationship with Derek. Declan needed to investigate Liam further, especially after the revelation of his affair. For now, D
eclan would lessen his focus on Adam and Chelsea. They weren’t the major players in whatever story was left to tell—he was close to certain of it.
Closing his eyes, he felt the veil between reality and his visions shimmer. He reached his mind out to Brianna, summoning her image in his brain. He pictured every detail of her: her black hair, sad eyes, and wan complexion. Declan felt transported out of his body as if he were weightless and traveling across worlds to be a silent witness to other lives. His breathing became steady as he opened himself up to the vision.
The silence was shattered by a floorboard creak behind him. Before he could completely slip into the vision, he felt jolted back into his body. A footstep closer to him made his eyes fly open. Revolving his body in the direction of the sound, he expected to come face to face with Jenna. But before he could register much, a figure in dark clothing was charging him. All he saw was the nozzle of an aerosol bottle before all went black.
***
“You’re not leaving me. I’m pregnant, you ass.”
The vision returned Declan to the night of the fight between Brianna and Derek. It was as if the pause button had been hit and the characters had frozen on screen. As soon as the vision commenced, all the same emotions were back in place: the rage Brianna felt over Derek ending their relationship and the weariness Derek experienced while dealing with Brianna’s toxicity.
Spinning around, Derek stared at her with disbelief. “You’re lying,” he managed.
“I’ll show you the test! I took it a couple of days ago, but I was too afraid to tell you. I knew you wouldn’t want a baby with me,” she said, starting to cry loudly. Her cries grew in urgency, almost as if she were close to hyperventilating. Suddenly, she picked up a glass off of the end table and tossed it toward him. The glass shattered at his feet.
Derek watched her with a blend of disgust and incredulity on his face. “I’m not doing this with you anymore. You need help. Serious mental help.”
“Go, then. Do you think I need you and your sanctimonious family a part of my baby’s life?”
“You’re sick, Bri. And do you think, on the off chance you’re really pregnant, you would be able to actually care for a baby? You can’t even take care of yourself. How many mornings have I driven over to your apartment to force you out of bed? How could you possibly raise a baby?” he demanded. He shook his head at her as if he felt pity for her.
Her response to his pity was pure, undiluted rage. She obviously hated how little he thought of her. Hated everything he was saying, possibly because of how much truth was inside his words. He started to spin away from her again and the dismissal fueled whatever darkness was taking over her body.
There was a long kitchen knife on the dresser—left on top of a small pile of dishes. As she heaved out sobs, she lunged for the knife. She gripped the handle tightly and slashed the air with the blade. Diving for Derek, she caught him by the arm while his back was to the door. Spittle came out of the sides of her mouth as she hissed at him. Every action of hers had become animalistic.
His eyes had barely a second to register the knife. But the shock of the situation kept him stationary. He made no defensive move to block what was coming. Instead, Brianna had a clear pathway to thrust the knife deep into his chest cavity. Blood squirted out of the wound as the knife recklessly tore through skin and bone.
“Why?” he managed to whisper to her. Brianna’s face didn’t register she had actually heard him. Or her heart had hardened to a point where she would not give him the satisfaction of an answer. His hands grasped at the knife, trying to pull the blade out of his own chest, meanwhile making painful cuts inside his palms.
Using all of her strength, she snatched the knife back and hit him again and again. Blood gushed down his t-shirt, saturating the fabric in seconds. He gurgled, grabbed at the wound unconsciously to slow the bleeding, before crumbling down hard on the floor to his knees.
Brianna looked him over like a specimen splayed out on a tray, ready to be dissected. She didn’t care about his pain. Her pain was too great to hold in and she had found the only way to let it out. She knotted her hand into his dark hair and tossed his head back to face her looming above.
“It’s not your baby,” she hissed into his ear. Derek was dying, bleeding out and barely clinging to life—but he still managed to demonstrate pure loathing in his eyes. He could no longer speak, but he obviously wanted his face filled with hatred to be the last image she saw of him alive.
Something about his expression seemed to wake her out of a trance. Remorse filled her expression as he collapsed to the floor. His eyes shut as he lost consciousness.
Brianna fell to her knees and then grabbed his cheeks in her hands. “No, no, no….” she cried as his breathing became more intensive and labored. His eyelids were fluttering as her head shot up at the sound of the bedroom door creaking open.
Adam and Liam pushed inside of the room. Both of their eyes went wide with abject horror as they stared down at a bleeding Derek on the floor. Brianna skittered away from them with fear. As she checked her own body, she saw her shirt completely drenched with Derek’s blood. The knife fell to the floor with a clatter.
“Holy shit, call 911,” Adam gasped as he went to reach for Derek. Liam’s arm shot up, preventing him from moving forward. In response, Adam let out a strangled cry while trying to swipe Liam’s arm from blocking his path.
“Just wait!” Liam shouted as his eyes scrutinized the scene before him. He took in Brianna’s bloodied clothing, the knife, and Derek barely clinging to life.
Brianna was shaking uncontrollably. “Liam….” she managed. She didn’t have to say more to make her meaning clear. She needed Liam to save her from whatever hell she had just created. Her lip quivered as she begged him for mercy with her anguished eyes.
“He’s dying! What the fuck are you waiting for?” Adam shouted as he tried once again to unsuccessfully push past Liam. Liam wrestled with him for a moment to keep him away from Derek. The tussle turned aggressive with Liam shoving Adam with all of his strength. Adam crashed backwards into the wall.
“What happened, Bri?” Liam’s voice was too calm and measured for the situation. His shock had evidently worn off and he was trying to analyze what could be done. While questioning Brianna, he was keeping Adam pinned against the wall.
She sobbed in response, sloppily crying into her palms. When her hands pulled away, a bloodstain was left behind on her cheek. “We were fighting and I blacked out. I can’t remember what happened. I must have taken the knife and stabbed him….” she stammered. She looked close to passing out as she watched Derek continue to struggle for breath. Derek’s chest was rising and falling dramatically as more blood drained out of his body. His eyes had remained closed. Most likely, Derek had mere minutes left to live if nothing was done to save him.
“Tell the story to the cops, Bri. I don’t know why the fuck you’re taking witness statements right now, bro. Your best friend could die!” Adam growled as he again tried to move around Liam. Liam was a wall and he wasn’t letting him a step closer to Derek’s body.
As Derek started to gurgle, a deep pain seeped its way into Liam’s feature. He bit down hard on his lip as the wheels in his brain turned. His grip loosened on Adam and he reached into his pants pocket to pull out his phone. Brianna jumped to her feet and rushed at him. Her palm covered the phone as her eyes became wild. “You can’t call the police. I can’t go to jail—”
“Just shut up!” Adam screamed raising his fists at her. “Make the call, Liam! Who cares what this bitch has to say?”
“I’m pregnant,” she whispered, tightening her hand around Liam’s phone. “It’s probably yours.” His eyes searched hers as if he was trying to read the truth on her face. He must’ve found something because he slipped the phone back into his pocket. Brianna fell against him, moaning with relief. She began to cry again, but this time began to rub her belly protectively.
Adam pulled at his hair. “This is fucking cra
zy!”
Pushing them both aside, Liam plodded to the center of the room. He picked the knife off of the ground, turning it over in his hands while staying on bended knees. Without a second’s hesitation, he slid the knife across Derek’s throat. Blood spurted out and pooled around his body. With a final strangled sound in the back of his throat, Derek’s labored breathing stopped altogether. Brianna pivoted away and resumed blubbering. She started to speak gibberish while shaking her head. Before long, she began to systematically rock back and forth on her heels.
Liam climbed to a standing position, wiping the blood on his hands against his jeans. Adam went wild-eyed and tried to run out of the room. Before he could make it through the doorway, Liam tackled him to the ground. With ease, he restrained him by sitting on top of him.
“Fuck me, this can’t be happening,” Adam wheezed out. He looked intently at the knife still in Liam’s hand. The fear was in his eyes as he waited for Liam to cut his throat as callously as he had just done to Derek.
“Calm down,” Liam commanded. “Listen to what I’m saying without freaking out.” Liam waited for a reply. Adam looked as if he was trying to find a way to reason with a crazy person. He nodded although his eyes remained fearful.
“He was going to die—”
Adam didn’t let him finish. “Are you a doctor now? You don’t know that!”
“He wasn’t going to make it. And he was suffering—”
Adam shook his head hard. “Holy shit, you’re going to pretend that was a mercy killing.”
“It was. And you have to get your shit together for us to get through this. We need to clean up this room and move his body,” Liam said, his voice too calm given the situation.
Deadly Prophecy: A Second Sight Series Spin-Off Page 18