“In here,” a man called back from the room to our left.
She stuck her head in. “I have Killian with me,” she told him.
“Well, don't make him stand in the hall! Come on in and have a seat.”
“I didn't want to interrupt if you were busy,” she said, walking into the room and motioning me to follow.
The room we entered was a cozy den-like room. A ratty old sofa sat facing a big screen TV with an equally beat-up looking recliner off to one side. Against the front wall, under the window overlooking the street, a large wooden desk had been set up and that was where Chris' father sat now. He was a big man, tall and broad shouldered with the beginnings of a beer belly. His short dark hair was beginning to gray and his pale blue eyes seemed tired, but kind. He pushed away a stack of papers he'd been working on and smiled a warm greeting in my direction.
“I welcome the interruption. The problem with police work is there's too much damn paperwork. You must be Killian.”
I shook his outstretched hand and smiled in return. “Yes sir. And trust me, Mr. Silver, there's plenty of paperwork in the private investigator business, too.”
He laughed. “I don't doubt it. And none of this Mr. Silver business. Call me Louis. Have a seat.”
I took a seat next to Chris on the sofa.
“So how'd the first day on the case go, Christina?”
“It went ok I guess. Mostly I stood around waiting.”
“I told you most investigative work is hurry up and wait,” he said with a smile.
I almost laughed at how much he sounded like Novak when he said that.
“Still, we did manage to find out something that I think you might be able to help us with.”
He raised his eyebrows questioningly.
“Killian found out that Paul Flynn supposedly kept a safe in his bedroom closet and that may be what the killer was looking for when they ransacked the apartment.”
“Really? Do the investigating officers know about this safe?”
“I don't know. That's where we were hoping you'd help out. You can tell whoever is in charge of the case that you've heard about this safe. If they already know about it, no harm done, but if not then maybe you've given them a big clue.”
“And in this job we just love when an officer from another precinct tells us how to conduct a case on our own turf.”
“Oh come on, Dad. You aren't a bunch of street gangs in a turf war. Isn't the point to solve the crimes?”
“I supposed I could pass this information along. And I suppose you want to know what's in the safe once they open it?”
Chris beamed. “That would be wonderful.”
He chuckled. “Just like you're mother. Consider it done, but remember, I can't guarantee anything.”
“We understand, sir...er, I mean Louis,” I said.
He turned his attention back to me. “So how is old Shane Novak these days?”
“He's good.”
“Is he keeping busy?”
“Busier than he'd like, according to him, but really I don't think he'd have it any other way.”
“You're right about that!” he laughed. “He was one hell of a cop, I can tell you that. You've got a good teacher when it comes to learning the investigative process.”
“You don't have to tell me.”
“How about the home front? Has he moved on after his wife's death?”
“You're one to talk, Dad,” Chris interjected.
“Hush,” he said, but his eyes were warm. “That's my business. I'm prying into Shane's right now.”
I laughed. “I don't think he'd mind. He's been dating someone for a little while now. Her name is Judy.”
“Have you met her?”
“Oh, yes. I introduced them.”
“She a good woman?”
“The best.”
“Good for him. He deserves it.”
“If the inquisition is over,” Chris spoke up, “I'd better get Killian back to his car so he can head home.”
“You're welcome to stay here tonight,” Louis offered.
“Thank you, but I'd really like to get home,” I replied.
“The offer stands anytime you need it. Shane says you're a fine young man, and that's all the recommendation I need.”
I blushed at the compliment and nodded awkwardly. Chris saved me from further embarrassment by grabbing my arm and dragging me toward the door.
“It was nice to meet you,” I called out at the last minute as I remembered my manners.
“You too, Killian,” he called back.
Just as we were heading out the door a skinny kid with dark hair and eyes just like Chris' came down the hall.
“Hey, Chris,” he said, eying me over.
Chris stopped with a small sigh. “Hello, Kevin,” she said. “I don't have time to talk right now. We have to go.”
“You aren't even going to introduce me?”
“Kevin, Killian, Killian, Kevin,” she said from behind clenched teeth.
“Is he your boyfriend?” Kevin asked in that annoying sing-song voice kids use. “What happened? Decide to switch teams?”
Chris merely shut the door firmly and started towards the Metro station.
“That was my twerpy little brother,” she said in an aggrieved tone.
“Hey, I have one too,” I told her. “I can't tell you how many times he's embarrassed me in front of people. And it's usually at the front door too.”
She laughed. “He's not so bad, really. It was hard on him when Mom died.”
“That would be hard on anyone.”
She shrugged. “I was prepared. Or at least as prepared as you can be for something like that. She'd suffered a long time. At least she's not suffering now.”
I nodded and we walked the rest of the way to station in silence. Once there I turned and prepared to say goodbye. To my surprise, Chris was inserting money into the fare card dispenser.
“What are you doing?” I asked. “I can get back fine on my own now; you don't have to go with me.”
“I know I don't have to. I want to. I have a few questions for you.”
“What kind of questions?” I asked warily, although I had a sinking feeling that I already knew what the answer to that.
She finished getting her fare card before she answered, turning to face me with a look of resolve. “Earlier today we both agreed that we couldn't be partners unless we were honest with each other. You avoided the issue when I asked, but now I want to know about this help you got finding the key and you're going to tell me the whole story if you want my help from now on.”
Chapter 15
I had plenty of time to think about my conversation with Chris on the long drive home alone. I was surprised when she asked for the whole story, but after thinking about it for a few minutes while she waited patiently, I decided that it was best if I told her everything. If she was going to be my partner in this investigation, and I really hoped she would be since it looked as if we would work well together, then she needed to know. What if I had another one of my `psychic friends' moments? She needed to be prepared. I decided that if she couldn't handle it, or chose not to believe it, then that was her choice, but at least she'd know what was going on.
So I told her. I started by telling her about Seth and his murder, and how he had started coming to see me. Then I told her about Amalie and everything that Judy had told me about the Gifts, how I had been reluctant to use them. I finished up by telling her everything that had happened in Paul's apartment. To my surprise-and relief-when I had finished the whole story she just nodded and said, “Ok.”
“Ok?” I had responded, not sure what she meant.
“Yeah. It's no biggie.”
“No biggie? Dead people talk to me, or at least they communicate with me, and all you have to say is no biggie? Don't you care?”
She gave me a withering look. “Why should I care? A good investigator uses whatever tools he has available. I can't even pretend to understan
d this...gift that you have. I do know I'm very glad I don't have it. But as long as you do, you should use it. I mean, hell, the results speak for themselves. You found that key and there's no way you would have ever found it otherwise, right?”
I nodded.
“Then what's the big deal. You have an ability most people don't have. I don't envy you for it, but it could definitely have its uses. My advice, unsolicited as it is, would be to get all the training for it that you can. Maybe you'll be able to control the, er, attacks like the one you had in the apartment, when you felt like you were being strangled. At any rate, the better you understand it all, the more helpful and the less scary it all will be.”
“You know, that's pretty much what Judy and Seth have been saying all along, but hearing it from you seems to makes more sense.”
She laughed. “Well, at least something makes sense.”
The Metro pulled into New Carrolton station just about then and we said our goodbyes.
Our conversation had given me a lot to think about as I drove. It was the first time I'd laid everything out like that for someone else, and she was only the second person I'd ever told about Seth. I'd never even told Micah, and I wasn't at all sure I ever would. There was just something about Chris that I trusted instinctively. She had a down-to-earth quality about her, a certain practicality that I found comforting.
More importantly, however, I realized that I had made up my mind to do what Judy had been bugging me to do for months now, get training for my Gifts. It was a scary thought because it meant I had to face them to do that, and I still wasn't entirely sure I wanted to do that. As much as I didn't want to, though, I knew I had to. Things seemed to be escalating and I didn't like it. Had all my Gifts manifested themselves or did I have more surprises to come? I wasn't at all sure I could handle any more surprises.
I arrived home around eight to find an empty house. The way things had been going lately I somehow wasn't surprised. I debated whom I should call first, Novak or Judy. Novak could wait for morning, I decided; Judy I needed to talk to now.
I breathed a sigh of relief when she answered on the third ring.
“Are you busy right now?” I asked.
“Not really,” she answered after a slight hesitation.
“I need to talk to you.”
“Is it about...?” Her voice was filled with tension.
“Jake? No, this is personal.”
“You want to talk now?”
“Yes, please, if it isn't too much trouble.”
“No, I don't suppose it is. Do you want to come here or would you rather I came there?”
“I'd rather you came here, but it doesn't really matter.”
“I'll be over shortly,” she said and hung up. I had the feeling that I was interrupting something but she was too polite to say so.
True to her word, Judy was knocking on the front door in no time.
“Thank you for coming over,” I said as I let her in.
“You're welcome. Now, do you mind telling me what this is all about?”
“Something happened today and I needed to talk to you about it.”
“In DC?”
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “How did you know I was in DC? Oh…your gift?”
She laughed. “Shane told me, you goof. Look, before we get started, can I make some tea?”
“Sure, I'll show where everything is,” I said while blushing furiously.
We went into kitchen where Judy went to work heating up a kettle of water on the stove.
“I don't think we have any tea leaves,” I said with my head in the cabinet. “Just Lipton tea bags.”
Judy leaned against the counter with a bemused expression. “That's fine. I wasn't planning on doing any readings. I just want tea. Now tell me what happened today in DC.”
I sat down at the table and took a deep breath. “I'm investigating a murder,” I started out. “I don't know how much Novak told you…”
“Just that you were in DC on a case. No details.”
“The boy who was murdered, well man really, he was strangled in his apartment. I was in there looking around and when I opened the door to the room where he was killed, something happened.”
“Wait, do I need any background information?”
“Um, I don't think so. Except, the police don't seem to be too interested in solving this case. The man killed was an escort. You know what an escort is, right?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Sweetie, I wasn't born yesterday. I would hope I know what an escort is. My question is how did you stumble on this case? It's in DC, as far as I know you don't frequent escorts, and for that matter, how'd you get in his apartment?”
“Ok, so maybe you do need a little background,” I said with a sigh. “The man killed, his name is Paul. He was a…friend of Micah's.” I knew my pause told her more than I'd intended so I rushed on. “That's how I got involved and that's why I had a key to his apartment.”
“Ok, got it. So you were in his apartment. You opened the door to the room where he was murdered and something happened. What happened?”
“I…I don't even know how to describe except…I think I experienced his murder.”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…I felt like I was being strangled. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't scream, it felt like someone was choking me.”
She stared at me in silence, her eyes wide, until the kettle began to whistle causing us both to jump. She pulled the kettle off the burner, turned off the stove and poured the hot water into a mug she'd set out on the counter. I handed her the box of tea bags. She nodded her thanks, dropped one into the mug, and sat down at the table across from me.
“And that's not all,” I said.
“There's more?”
I nodded. “The person I was with, his neighbor and friend wanted to leave, but I felt really drawn into the bedroom. She wouldn't go in with me so I went in by myself. The room had been cleaned by the police, but I saw some sort of double image of what it had looked like right after the murder. Or maybe that was just my imagination, but I don't really think so. And then…I don't know why I did it, but I asked…I asked Paul to show me what he wanted me to find.”
Judy calmly pulled the tea bag out of the cup and squeezed it out. She added a spoonful of sugar and took a sip. “And did he?”
“Sort of. There was a noise from the closet. Or maybe it was just a coincidence.”
“But you don't think so.”
“No, as much as I'd like to, I don't. And then…”
“There's more?”
“And then the closet door was locked so I asked him to help me find the key. There was a noise from behind me in the armoire. That's where the key was.”
“What was in the closet?”
“A safe.”
“What was in the safe?”
“I don't know,” I said in exasperation. “That's not the point.”
“I know, I know. I was just caught up in the story. The point is you're exhibiting new aspects of you Gift and it's scaring you.”
“You're damn right it's scaring me. I felt like I was being strangled.”
“But no physical harm came to you, right?”
“Not unless you want to count being scared half to death.”
“I don't. This is very interesting.”
“Interesting? Is that all you can say? It's not interesting; it's terrifying. I don't want this Gift. It's not even a gift! A gift is a nice sweater or a good book. This is a curse.”
“Gift or curse, you have it. Now what are you going to do about it?”
I took a deep breath and tried to calm down, although God knows Judy was calm enough for the both of us. “That's what I called you about. Chris made me realize today that I really do need to get training for this…whatever. Or at the very least I need to understand it better.”
“It's about time you came to that conclusion. Good for Chris. Who is he?”
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