Vibrations

by Wood, Lorena

  Nick put his arm around her and pulled her head to his chest. He could smell the scent of her hair. She smelled like vanilla. He held her close and waited. She was tense at first, and then she seemed to give in and relax. He could feel the warm tears falling onto his arm.

  “Let it out Whit. Take some time to heal yourself. I’m here.” He waited until her breathing calmed down to push the hair out of her eyes and brush some tears from her cheeks.

  “I’ve had my share of failures and I know it’s not easy. I’m glad I can’t feel the victim’s pain on top of everything else.”

  Whitney realized he was thinking about his past failures. She could see the woman in his mind. He had gotten too involved in one case two years ago. He became very close to a woman who was being stalked. He promised her he’d keep her safe. In the end, he held her in his arms as she died. He tried to tell her how sorry he was but it didn’t help. He saw her face in so many of his dreams.

  Nick looked down into her deep brown eyes, now full of compassion, and he felt his stomach flip. She now knew one of his painful memories. The moment felt surreal, sharing more of himself in a few seconds than he ever had in his life. He brushed a finger over her cheek and wondered what it would be like to have her know his every thought. At that moment, it didn’t seem as scary as it had before.

  His heart was beating faster, and he could feel himself getting aroused. This woman should scare the crap out of him but, instead of running, he wanted to be closer. Holding her lightly he brushed his lips over hers in a light caress. She pushed back and he loosened his grip.

  Whitney’s heart was beating faster too. She could feel the heat building and she wanted to get away. He gently pulled her close again and pressed his lips to hers. She couldn’t think. His tongue slipped into her mouth and Whitney felt a jolt go through her loins. Her nipples were tingling and her hands reached up to stroke his hair. He tasted like coffee and caramel. She suddenly wanted to see where this would go. She wanted to experience passion, and not through someone else’s memories. She kissed him back and moved her hands down over his shoulders and arms.

  Nick couldn’t believe how good she felt in his arms, but he didn’t want to push. If he didn’t stop it soon, he didn’t know what would happen. He slowly ended the kiss and let out a sigh.

  “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I know it’s a bad idea, but it just felt right. Since you know what I’m thinking, you probably know I’m very attracted to you. And you also realize that I suck with relationships. I don’t want to hurt you Whitney. Everyone else seems to do such a good job with that, I don’t want to add to it.”

  Whitney’s head was spinning. Thank goodness Nick had the sense to pull away.

  “I’d better get back now.”

  “Whitney, please stay here. I won’t bother you. Just sleep here so I won’t worry. You could get fleas in that nasty dump.”

  She laughed and nodded. Her face still felt hot as she hurried to the guest room. She’d wanted him to stop, and when he did, she wanted it to go on. She’d dreamt of letting this happen someday, but reality was so much more confusing than dreams.

  Nick needed to get some fresh air. He called up the stairs, “I’ll be in the garage if you need me.” He headed out to find a project to distract himself. The go-cart he was fixing for his nephew just needed a few more adjustments. He grabbed the wrench and started working, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Whitney. He felt guilty for what had happened, and afraid it would happen again. If he had some self-control he would have been able to comfort her without acting like a horny teenager.

  As soon as Nick closed the door to the garage, Whitney dove for her phone. She called her friend Tara. They weren’t close friends, but she just had to talk to someone. This wasn’t as stressful as sharing her pain. She just needed some information. Tara used to be with the FBI, but now she ran her own detective agency. She preferred to spend time with civilians. That’s why she had hit it off with Whitney. After some small talk, Whitney started quizzing her about her relationships. Tara had lots of experience in that area. Whitney carefully explained the situation, and explained her fear of hurting Nick.

  “I don’t know if I can do this.” Whitney whined.

  “It’s not like you need to make a commitment right now. All relationships have to start somewhere. No one starts out sure this is THE one. So who is the lucky guy?”

  “His name’s Nick. He’s a cop down here in Phoenix.”

  “So,” she giggled, “what does Nick look like?”

  “Mmmm. Pretty damn sexy!”

  “You go girl!” Tara laughed. Whitney couldn’t believe she was having this conversation. She wasn’t used to sharing her intimate feelings with anyone, but she needed advice. She gave Tara more details and then promised to keep her updated.

  She got ready for bed and tried to feel sleepy. Her mind wouldn’t shut off. What would happen if she showed some interest? She knew that Nick was afraid of relationships, but she also knew he was holding back for her sake. Maybe she was just afraid of getting hurt. No. She put her emotions at risk almost every day. Nick had seen her at her worst more than once. He knew all about her, and he hadn’t taken off running in the other direction. Yet. Maybe this could work. She was twenty-nine years old, and it would be her first attempt at a real grown-up relationship. That was too sad to think about. She decided to let down her defenses and see what would happen. She kept re-running the conversation with Tara over and over in her mind. She drifted off to sleep hearing Tara’s voice telling her “You go girl.”

  Chapter 5

  Nick was in a nasty mood when he woke in the morning. He had barely slept, and when he did the nightmares chased him. The reality of morning wasn’t much better. The case was hanging, and all he could think about was kissing Whitney again. They’d eaten breakfast quietly and he tried to keep the conversation light. It was unnerving knowing she could read his frustration so clearly. Teddy called early saying Hollerman had scheduled a meeting. They had to rush to be ready and didn’t have time to talk about the night before. Whitney seemed lost in thought and Nick assumed she was mad at him.

  When they arrived at the station, Teddy handed Nick a coffee. “Here, looks like you need one of these.”

  “Thanks Teddy. Always there for a friend huh?”

  Whitney went straight to the conference room. She could see Nick was in a bad mood. The sullen expression would have given it away even if she hadn’t been able to intrude into his private thoughts. The thought of letting him know how she felt gave her butterflies in her stomach. She felt like a schoolgirl, except that she had avoided boys even back then. It was a new feeling to realize that Nick was miserable because he thought he couldn’t have her. She wanted to let him know, but the timing hadn’t seemed right. She’d assumed he’d make another move, and she’d respond. Instead he backed off and turned his mind back to the case. That was only right and made her feel guilty for thinking of allowing herself to be distracted.

  Just as Whitney was trying to find a way to break the ice with Nick, Agent Hollerman entered the conference room.

  “Thanks for coming in. We have some bad news. Another boy is missing.”

  Nick glanced at Whitney and saw the fear and then determination. They all knew they had little time to find the boy, and that he might already be dead. The agent gave them the details of the latest abduction.

  “The boy’s name is Kevin Hunter. He’s twelve years old and plays on one of the SVWC teams. He lives in Tempe. His parents share custody. He lives with his Mom and spends every other weekend with his Dad. He was at his Dad’s for the weekend, and he was outside skateboarding when he disappeared.”

  “I have a few more details to share from our investigation so far. We all know that everyone of the victims is associated with the SVWC. They also seem to be the starring athletes on their teams. They’ve all shown outstanding abilities in their sport. Other than the sports connection they seem to have little else in common. The killer doesn�
��t seem very worried about getting caught because he’s hitting weekly, in this same area, and on the same base of kids. He’s right. We still have little to go on. We are assigning agents starting tomorrow to keep surveillance on some of the top kids on each team. We have enlisted help from all the police departments in the valley. If we get lucky, someone will see something. He must spend some time watching them because he hits when no one is looking. Any questions?”

  Nick spoke up. “Are we sure it’s a he?” He remembered Whitney saying the hands were not very large for a man.

  “We don’t have much to go on. For now, we’ll use the term ‘he’ for the unsub. This person could be a man or woman they know, and so would not need much force to get them to follow. Oh, and we got the lab reports back. The boys were drugged at some time. They had Xanax in their systems. It’s a prescribed tranquilizer for adults. They had too much in their systems for children. At least they were partially unaware of what happened to them.”

  “The second boy we found had diabetes and it doesn’t appear the killer new that or cared. That’s all the new facts for now. Whitney, I would like you to go with the detectives again today and visit the parents of Kevin Hunter. Everyone doing surveillance keep your eyes open and note anything and everything that happens. We need to break this case now!”

  “One more thing,” he said scanning their faces to be sure he had everyone’s attention. “The media caught sight of Whitney coming in and out of the station and they did their research. Word is out we have a psychic assisting the FBI in the manhunt. Whitney’s name is in the papers today. Sorry Whitney. Hope this doesn’t cause any problems.”

  “No problem sir.” Whitney had been through it before and, based on past experiences, she knew it would be a problem. They would try to track her down and question her. People would start recognizing her from the news. She tried to put that out of her mind as she readied herself for another brutal day.

  Nick followed her out of the station. He didn’t want to put Whitney through anymore of this. He also wasn’t so comfortable working with her. He wanted to protect her, to hide her away from all of this. He wanted her. And she would know all about it every time he thought about it. He was beginning to see why she had so few close friends. You couldn’t hide anything from her unless you avoided her. A friend wouldn’t be able to pick and choose times to disappear. Nick tried to put on a professional face, and clear his mind.

  “Whitney, we’re going to the dad’s first. Teddy’s got all the addresses and phone numbers. They’re waiting for us. Do you need anything before we head over there?”

  “Nope, I’m all set.” Whitney’s positive thinking of this morning had faded away.

  Her own mind kept circling back to Nick. She was glad he wasn’t the mind reader. Her own thoughts were shouting inside her head, “Talk to him. No, I can’t. I can’t even believe last night I was willing to try to pursue this thing with Nick. He’s scared out of his mind to be around me right now.” It was the same thing as always, but it still hurt. It seemed to hurt more than ever this time. “At least he wants my body,” she thought, trying not to let it get her down.

  Nick saw Whitney’s slight smile and wished that he could read minds. Actually, it was one mind in particular he wanted to unlock. She had been very tense and he didn’t know if it was a reaction to him or the case. At least seeing her smile helped him to calm down. When he was done with this case, maybe he could write a book about it and retire. He figured he would have to write it as a fiction to get anyone to read it. He wouldn’t use Whitney’s name or give anything away about her. Who was he kidding? He’d never write a book. Nick was a cop. He couldn’t imagine himself sitting at a desk all day.

  On the way to the house, Teddy gave them the rest of the details about the dad. He was forty-three, divorced, worked for Motorola as an engineer, and he loved his kid. He was the one that got him into the SVWC. His mom had cooperated so that Kevin could get to the games and practice. Kevin was their only child.

  They pulled up to the apartment complex and slowly wound around looking for apartment one thirty eight. It was one of those nice places with three pools, tennis courts, the newest appliances, and this one sat right on a golf course. They pulled up to the door and got out of the car. It was Sunday so there were a few kids outside. They were probably friends of Kevin’s. Teddy decided to talk with some of them while Nick and Whitney went inside. Nicholas Hunter didn’t say a word as he escorted them to the living room.

  “Nicholas Hunter, I’m Nick Naylor. This is Whitney Bentley. We need to ask you a few more questions about last night.”

  Mr. Hunter just nodded. Whitney moved so she was sitting closer to him and reached out for his hand.

  “I’m so sorry about all this Mr. Hunter. We need to know anything you can think of that will help us find Kevin.”

  Mr. Hunter looked up and she could see anger in his eyes. “I see the news!” he shouted. “Don’t you think I know what happened? That freak took him and he’s probably dead already. Right? Isn’t that what you’re thinking? And you’re that psychic lady they talked about. What can you do to help me now? If you are psychic why haven’t you caught him already?”

  Nick stood up and calmly placed his hand on the man’s shoulder. “We understand your frustration Mr. Hunter and we’re trying to help. Think of Kevin. We don’t know what’s happened yet. He needs you to help us find him. Try to calm down and tell us again what happened. Where did you see him last?”

  Mr. Hunter’s body slumped and the tears started to fall. “I let him go outside to practice on his skateboard. He’s so good at it, just like lots of other things. A twelve year old boy can’t stay cooped up in here all day. How was I supposed to know this could happen? I try to protect him.”

  Whitney spoke in a low soothing voice. “It’s not your fault. No one could have seen it coming. You’re a good dad and you love your son. I know it’s hard, but try to think of who you saw around here that night.”

  He nodded and wiped his eyes with his hands. “He went outside after dinner at about six thirty. All his friends were busy so he was just going to practice some tricks on his new board. I checked on him out the window while I was doing dishes. At about seven I saw him talking to someone in a red van. I asked the other boys and they think it sounds like Ann Marie’s van. She stops by and visits the boys in the Winner’s Circle, the SVWC, sometimes. She’s devoted to them. I didn’t see her. She usually stops in to say hi to me too, but she may have been in a hurry. Next time I saw him he was trying to grind on the handrail over there and I watched for two minutes to be sure he was being safe, then I sat down to read. I get too nervous when he does those tricks, but I don’t want to hold him back. Then, at about seven thirty, I figured we could go out for some Ben and Jerry’s so I grabbed my keys and headed out. I couldn’t find him. His board wasn’t here either so I thought he just went around the corner or down to the ramp at the next building. I searched for a while and once my neighbors saw me starting to panic, they all started helping. I don’t even know who called the police. The rest seems like a blur right now. I haven’t slept all night.”

  He put his head in his hands and started sobbing. While Whitney sat with him, Nick went into the bedroom to look around. He started going through the desk and found a notebook. It said ‘Private, keep out!’ He started reading through the boy’s journal, starting from the back. Maybe something had happened in the last few days that would give them a clue.

  The childish writing made it even more heart rending to read.

  I made the Star team again!!! Yippeeeeee. I’m going to be a famus soccer player. Or maybe an Olympic skier. Maybe Mom and Dad will be so happy they’ll get back together. I could buy them a huge house and then tell them they can share it. Ann Marie says I can do anythin I want. I can even be presdent. As long as I don’t get a brokin back like Derrick.. Ann Marie says he can still be presdent, but hes too grouchy to be presdent. Maybe he can be a teacher. There always grouchy. Im go
nna be the best skateboarder too. Better than Jim Mcray. Gotta go. Oh yeah. Jordon loves Alison. I kinda like you know who. Bye

  The days before that looked pretty much the same. Nick decided to let the FBI pick through it for clues. He found Whitney looking through the pictures of Kevin on the wall with Mr. Hunter. She was telling him how handsome he was and how much he looked like his dad. After she had a chance to check the room they said good-bye and went outside to meet Teddy. Teddy was playing basketball with some of the boys outside. He had his jacket off and was running around with three boys chasing him. He moved pretty fast for such a big man. He slam dunked the ball and picked up his jacket. The boys were begging him to stay but he laughed and promised he’d be back. Knowing Teddy, he would keep that promise. Teddy’s face was red when he got back into the car. He turned the air on full blast and listened to Nick’s account of the interview.

  “Whitney, did you get anything in there?”

  “Nothing helpful.”

  “The boys didn’t see anything either.” Teddy wiped his face with his hand and blew out a big breath. “Most of them were at home. They did say that Kevin thought his coach was a creep. He really pushed the kids to win. But that’s part of the game plan for that group. Push to succeed. I guess the coach makes them do sit-ups and push-ups and that stuff for hours if they lose a game. And then they can’t tell their parents or he’ll keep them on the bench. Sounds a little like a sadistic guy in the perfect setting. A bunch of kids dependent on him and led to believe their whole future depends on winning. Seems like a little bit of child abuse going on here.”

  “I’ll talk to Marcia in Social Services and have her start checking out the league’s policies and the coaches. Find out if that’s the norm or just this one guy. We should check him out after we talk to the mom.”