by Dale Mayer
In response, her ribs pulsed with healing. Lord, she’d have come here immediately if she’d known it was an option. The scan continued up her chest leaving her ribs to ooze with a sense of wellbeing. The collarbone received the same attention that the ribs and legs had and oddly enough so did her arms. She must have injured them more than she’d realized. The heat pulled right to the end of her fingertips then slowly moved back up her neck. She smiled as her face was bathed in that same warm glow. The heat rose and stopped right above her eyebrows.
She whimpered in distress. She wanted that heat at the top of her head. She needed it there. That’s where the worst of the injuries were. Surely the scan could pick that up. Dr. Maddy would have requested it.
She could sense the scan trying to go higher. Maybe there was an equipment malfunction. She waited in anticipation, but the heat slowly slid down her spine. The sensation was so surprising and unexpected she arched her back to accommodate the pulsing efforts.
She groaned when it reached her lower back then zinged all the way back up to the top of her head and…stopped. Right at the base of her neck. Then inched higher to just above her ears. But no farther.
As if it couldn’t go into that area.
She was so frustrated her entire head was being left out of this incredible experience, and yet it was the one part of her that needed it the most.
As the heat started to fade, she cried out, “No, please don’t stop.”
And it hesitated.
She tried again. “Please scan my head. It feels so good and my head hurts so much.”
The heat came again, this time in a light, warm touch over the top of her head and slowly worked downward toward her ears. She smiled and tilted her head into the scan. “Thank you,” she whispered.
The soothing warmth jerked to a stop, then continued only to stop yet again, as if it wasn’t working properly. Didn’t that figure? She needed it. Like she needed it. She mentally reached out to plead for it to work. And it worked again for a little while, then stopped. Damn it.
She did it again and sure enough it worked again. Well, if it was going to work that way then she wanted it to work properly, and she demanded that it scan her full head like it had done her body.
Feeling stupid but what the hell, she reached for the scan in her thoughts.
And the heat of the scanner slammed down on her head and covered all the areas that had been missed before.
She laughed and then cried out as the heat turned up to impossible temperatures and the joy became pain. A scream ripped out of her throat, a long horrible sound that echoed through the room, and she collapsed down onto the bed, limp.
She might even have lost consciousness… Finally the pain drifted away enough for her to move.
Lying there trembling, she opened her eyes to see a very worried man standing and staring down at her.
And marching into the room, holding a hand to her head, a tall elegant woman.
“Hannah, how are you feeling?” the man asked, reaching out for her hand.
She stared at him and swallowed hard, her gaze darting from one to the other.
“Hannah,” the woman said. “How do you feel?”
Feeling as if she’d been here a dozen times before with the sense of Deja vu rocking her soul she said in a small voice, “I feel fine now, but…” she took a deep breath and asked, “Where am I? Who are you? And what’s wrong with me?”
*
Talk about rocking his soul. Trevor sat down on her bed, stunned by her words. He studied the look in her eyes, looking for some sign of recognition of him and Dr. Maddy. Nothing.
He turned to face Dr. Maddy. She didn’t look worried. Instead she looked fascinated. And that made him all the more worried.
“You’re Hannah,” Dr. Maddy said calmly. “I’m Dr. Maddy, you’re in my clinic. And this man is Trevor. He’s your husband.”
Hannah blinked at the beginning of Maddy’s words, and her eyes widened to shocked orbs as they stared at Trevor. “How can that be?”
“Why can’t it be?” he asked. “You obviously don’t remember much about today then.” And oddly he was hurt by that. Stupid really. Why should he care that she didn’t remember the wedding? Hell it wasn’t much to remember. Except the panic and the fear of possibly being caught.
“No I don’t. But…” she said slowly. “I’m already married.” She frowned. “At least I think I am. Right now I can’t seem to think straight.”
He wasn’t sure what to say. He had done his due diligence prior to tying the knot, and there were no records of her having married anyone else in the US. But that didn’t rule out marriages in other countries. Only that he couldn’t find any record of any.
He could sense Dr. Maddy’s curiosity and her need to ask questions, so he settled back slightly, giving her the opportunity.
“Dr. Maddy needs to check you over, but first, can you tell me the name of your husband?” he asked curiously. He’d never seen a case like this one. Not sure Dr. Maddy had either. He should call Stefan. He’d love this twist.
She played with the edge of the sweater. When she took so long, he wasn’t sure she remembered the name.
Then finally she raised her gaze and something inside that direct look unnerved him. “I think his name is Will.”
Of all the names…that she’d say that one…said much about her mental state. With a nod at Maddy, he stood up and walked out to the hallway. He didn’t know what to think. But he’d call Stefan and see what his take was.
“She said Will was her husband,” Stefan repeated slowly a few moments later. His surprise easily discernible through the phone. “Did she sound sure of it?”
“No, she didn’t. It’s like she was grasping for a name that sounded right, and that’s what she came up with.”
“Fascinating.”
Typical of Stefan and Dr. Maddy. Was there anything in the paranormal sensory world that didn’t make them sit up and take notice?
“And Dr. Maddy is checking her over now?”
“Yes.” Trevor felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to find Dr. Maddy motioning for him to move further down the hallway and away from Hannah’s bedroom.
“Let’s go to my office,” she said in a low voice.
She led the way. In her office, Dr. Maddy sat down behind her desk and closed her eyes as if to marshal her thoughts. Stefan was still on the phone. Trevor put the call on speaker phone and laid the phone on the desk. “Stefan, you’re on speaker phone and we’re now in Dr. Maddy’s office.”
“Good, Maddy. How did it go?”
“I’m not really sure,” she admitted. “I did a scan from toes to her head and ran into a complete block – but felt like there was an absence of energy from the space above her ears, right around, and over the top. Imagine a bowl placed on her head that came down to her ears. Then imagine all that is under the bowl as being missing.”
“Missing,” Trevor exclaimed. “How is that possible?”
“It isn’t, of course,” Stefan said in a thoughtful voice. “But for some reason it’s how it appears at this point. And likely how she has been functioning for a long time.”
“Except she was unsure of her surroundings and didn’t recognize either of us when she came out of the scan. I don’t believe she lost consciousness although at the end it was pretty heavy. If she had, it was only seconds.”
“But that might have been enough.”
“Obviously it was.” Dr. Maddy fell silent.
Trevor, not sure what they were implying, asked, “Long enough to do what?”
“We have to determine if she has a multiple personality disorder,” Stefan said. “Which of course is not what the traditional world would think it is.”
“No, of course not. And not something I suspected either until Stefan brought it up,” Dr. Maddy admitted.
“Why not just memory loss?” He needed it to be memory loss. Multiple personalities was a touchy subject legally, and given what he’d seen so far, h
er father might have had full grounds to believe she wasn’t capable of handling her own affairs. He was at a loss. As if he’d had a straight path forward, knew what he had to do, and indeed already had much of it in place to go forward, only to have the rug pulled out from under him.
“I’m not sure it is yet,” Maddy said in a low voice, her face pensive.
“What are your thoughts?” Stefan asked.
“I’m wondering about auto suggestion.”
Silence.
“Is that possible across such a distance?” Stefan asked then answered himself. “Of course it is. If there is one thing we know to not do is to curtail the abilities by time and distance. We need more information.”
“I have something I can look into,” Trevor said. “She said she has a friend who works at a florist shop. I’ll go speak to her.” He glanced at his watch. “I might be able to catch her now before she leaves work for the day.”
“I’m on my way to you,” Stefan said. “I need to speak to you before you leave.”
“You do that,” Dr. Maddy said. “At the moment, your presence is going to disturb her more than reassure her.” Dr. Maddy leaned back and rubbed her temple. “Stefan, her head was cold. As in icy cold. I approached from several different angles and couldn’t get in. Nor could I cover it completely. But more than that. She was getting angry I couldn’t get all of her head scanned as of course she felt so much better after the heat hit the wounds with healing energy. She reached for my energy and tried to pull it down to her head. As in really wanting to heal.”
“That’s a very good sign,” Stefan said in surprise.
“It is,” Dr. Maddy said slowly. “But I have to tell you that I let the energy lower a little more, and she reached up and snatched a hold of my healing energy and dragged it down to her head.”
She sighed. “That’s when the overwhelming pain hit. She was fighting what was going on inside, but the thing is she was strong enough to fight off my safeguards and pull me into the event. She was really strong. Naturally, psychically strong. And she was completely unaware of what she was doing.”
“Maybe she was – but maybe she wasn’t the one who was doing it.”
*
Stefan arrived at the hospital in ten minutes. He wanted to speak to Trevor face to face about Drew’s call. He found him still sitting beside Hannah.
“Trevor. We need to talk.” Stefan walked forward, studying Hannah’s sleeping face. The energy drain on her system was one thing, the physical healing another altogether. He motioned to the hallways. “Let’s move out so we don’t disturb her.”
In the hallway Stefan walked to the small visiting area and the outside patio. They shouldn’t be overheard here.
Trevor walked over to Stefan. “What’s the matter?”
Stefan explained about Drew’s phone call. As he watched the younger man’s face whiten in shock he wondered how much more dirt they were going to find on everyone involved.
“Wow. I wonder if that will ever die.” Trevor rubbed his temple. “I guess I should have seen that coming. Just haven’t had time to think straight. Everything has happened so fast.” He laughed, although there was an edge to it. “My history is brought up every time I hit a new high profile case.”
“Just as it is now.” Stefan didn’t need to study his friend’s aura to understand the regret and anger pulsing at the edges.
Trevor nodded, his gaze far off. “I presume Goodman is trying to rattle my cage. A warning. Have me placed under suspicion.”
“He’s the most likely suspect, but it’s never as clear as we’d like it to be so don’t presume anything,” Stefan warned.
“No, I won’t. I’ve been here before.” Trevor shook his head. “Many times actually. It gets easier.”
Stefan nodded. “Yes, but there’s no easy answer as to how to handle those who try to harm you.”
“I prefer a gunfight to this endless stream of innuendos and lies. I like a fight where I can see the enemy.”
“Yet most fights are done below the surface. When it involves psychics it involves even more that isn’t visible to the eye.”
Startled, Trevor asked, “Do you think Goodman is a man of power?”
“Oh, definitely.” Stefan snorted. “Most businessmen who make money like he does are men of power. But like many, I suspect he just thinks he has killer business instincts instead.”
“Hmm.” Trevor turned to study the direction of the bedroom where Hannah lay. “We need to leave here soon. I was going to use Kali’s house but wonder now if that’s too close. As in maybe it’s a good time to go visit my brother in Maine,” he joked. “But it would be foolish to do that. We need to stay where we can keep an eye on the enemy.”
“I think Kali’s house is a good plan,” Stefan said comfortably. “Besides, Grant’s office is ready to step in and help if need be.”
“Are we heading into FBI jurisdiction at this point?”
“We’ll have to wait for more information to come to light first.” He could feel the headache coming on. It promised to be a doozy. “You should know I saw a vision while speaking with Drew. It showed me an image of your teacher’s body.” Stefan paused. This is where it got dicey. “The message in that image clearly told me that your teacher had been murdered.”
“What?” Trevor froze in front of him.
In spite of himself, Stefan studied the energy as it flowed out and around Trevor. Confusion, shock. Disbelief. Anger. And maybe…a bit of knowledge.
Interesting. He hadn’t killed the teacher but that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of someone who might have. Or had a suspicion that he stomped down to never see the light of day again. Except secrets always came to the surface. And often at the worst possible time.
“Tell me.”
Trevor didn’t pretend to misunderstand.
“There were seven of us originally but five by the end. We were all lost and alone and banded together to survive the school. We were in the alternate school, all dropouts. All needing education but shunning it. We were a mess. Most of us were in the foster care system. Most of us needing a good smacking to set us on our rights, but so many of us having already been given them – too hard, too often, and too many. That being the main reason we ended up on that path in the first place.”
He reached up and ran a hand through his hair. “My father was abusive. I ran away several times until the state put me in foster care and that was almost worse as I could relax, but couldn’t rest. I was always looking for the next place to go. Another home to live in that was safer. I went through several. Ended up at this school and finally found a group of friends who were in the same position I was. Either foster care or desperately unhappy at home. It made no difference. We were discontents. Unable to adjust to the circumstances around us.” He stopped, his face showing the strain of accessing the memories.
Stefan waited as Trevor marshaled his thoughts.
“I turned around after Mr. Niggard’s death,” Trevor said in a stronger voice. “He was a good man. A great teacher. I really loved his classes. Had planned to go into chemistry after catching some of his passion.”
“It was never solved?”
“It was assumed accidental but couldn’t be proven as such and became one of a thousand cold cases. At the time, we discussed it being murder. But there was no proof. We kicked the idea around and blamed a dozen people but we never had any proof. We were just trying to be big shots.”
“Suspicions?”
“Oh many.” Trevor sighed. “If it was murder, most of us knew it would have to be one of us.”
Stefan’s eyebrows shot up at that. “Now that you know it was murder, who would you say was the most likely to have done it?”
“It could have been any of them.” He threw up his hands. “You have to remember that they – we – were all angry cocky young men.” He shook his head. “So many years where we planned horrible accidents for many people as a way to vent our anger. It was a game to us. It wasn’t
just us but everyone at the time. Wish your enemy dead. It was part of what we did. Did any of them actually kill anyone, possibly, but I don’t think so.”
He groaned. “I felt guilty as hell after Mr. Niggard’s death.” He stressed the last word. “I hadn’t had anything to do with it, but we’d been so angry that day. Over what? He’d pulled a surprise quiz on us and the anger just blew up. When he died the possibility that he’d been murdered came up, I felt so damn guilty because of how we’d said he should be shot for giving us the quiz. Of course being shot was the easiest death we all had imagined for him.”
“Which as you now know absolutely does add to the potential for this to happen,” Stefan murmured. He saw it the world over. People didn’t realize, didn’t want to realize the power of their thoughts, and how much more power giving voice to those thoughts helped to create them. “Did the police question all of you back then?”
“Yes, and we were all cleared at the time.” He walked to the railing to stare at the gardens below. “I straightened up but I lost track of all others.”
“Exactly. Hence the guilt.”
“I switched schools after the accident and became the best student. A new page in my life and that part I am proud of. But it meant walking away from them too. Until then, I was a waste. A wastrel. I had a lot to make up for.”
“And you have, don’t be so hard on yourself.”
Trevor shook his head. “If I contributed at all to Mr. Niggard’s death, then I have so much more to make up for.”
Chapter 11
Hannah studied the man at her side covertly. Her husband? How could she have forgotten such a person? This person was dark, dangerous. Sexy. Not her normal partner choice. They were…she frowned unable to access any images of her other boyfriends or husbands. If she had one, who knew, she might have a half dozen.