by Lisa Olsen
“Hot or not, I’m not in the habit of letting a psychic dictate the direction of my case. So anything she says, we just note and then proceed with our own investigation, got it?”
“You got it, Kemosabe,” Cooper sketched a half salute. “So you’re not going to tell the Captain that the kid’s a runner?”
“I might… but not for the reasons that Lexi wants me to.”
“Why does she want you to?”
Not wanting to get into it with Cooper, Gabriel shrugged it off. “It doesn’t matter. Look the point is, we’re the ones running this investigation. Not her, not the mother, and God willing, not the media. So let’s just go by the book, and hope we can pick up Neil before he gets too far with her.”
“So you’re gonna stick with it?”
Gabriel looked up towards the house, unable to keep from feeling that it looked more ominous now, and he didn’t think it had anything to do with the rapidly fading light. “Yeah, I’m gonna stick with it.” One way or another, he was going to find that girl.
Chapter Seven
Paul’s car was conspicuously absent when she pulled up to the house, but it looked like Maddie was home, and Lexi was glad that she wasn’t coming home to an empty house. It felt good to see the cheery light shining out from the windows; she was definitely relieved to be leaving Allie’s gloomy house behind. During the entire drive home, she hadn’t been able to shake the growing feeling of dread; something terrible had happened to Chloe. The rational side of her could accept Gabriel’s explanation, that it was a dream she’d picked up on, but it had felt so real…
“Hey grumpycakes, dinner’s gonna be here in two shakes. I hope you’re hungry, I think Paul was planning on trying to drown your sorrows in garlic hot sauce,” Maddie called out from the kitchen.
Lexi dropped her bag off in the living room and wandered in to join her. “King Chwan’s?”
“Of course.”
Ordinarily that would set a smile on her face, but now all Lexi could think of was that the last time she’d seen Chloe, they’d gone to King Chwan’s for dinner.
“Not in the mood for Szechuan?”
“No, it’s fine. I’m just kinda tired,” Lexi yawned for emphasis, blinking when it made her ears pop.
“I was surprised to get the text that you were coming home; I thought you would be staying at your sister’s house tonight. Not that we’re not glad to have you home where you belong,” Maddie gave her a pat before getting the kettle going for tea. At least once a week they ate dinner together and they frequently went for Chinese food. Each of them had their roles down pat. Maddie made the tea, Lexi set the table and Paul went to pick it up.
“She wanted to be alone,” Lexi shrugged, getting down the little delicate cups and the teapot.
“So you just left her there?”
“What was I supposed to do? Move in?”
“Well… yeah.”
Maddie was adorably naïve about the oddest things; it always caught Lexi off guard, given her roommate’s usual tough as nails approach to things. “You don’t know my sister; I think I make her uncomfortable sometimes.”
“But she’s your sister.”
Blood might be thicker than water, but her relationship with Allison wasn’t as close as she was to Maddie or even Paul these days. “Says the only child,” Lexi gave her a pointed look. “Just because she’s my sister doesn’t mean she can’t think these babies aren’t creepy,” she waggled her fingers.
Maddie took insult on her behalf. “But she called you to help her.”
“Yeah, and that’s one of a handful of times she’s called me in the past year. She calls me when she needs a free photographer or a baby sitter for Chloe, but only as a last resort. Maybe she thinks it might be catching?” Lexi tried to make light of it. She was long past the years when she felt any bitterness towards her sister’s attitude, and now that Gran was gone, Allie and Chloe were all she had in the way of family.
Maddie however was feeling less charitable. “Evil troll,” she muttered irritably, twin spots of color appearing on her cheeks.
“Maddie!”
“What? I know it’s shitty what’s going on with her, but come on, she’s always been kind of a bitch.”
“Yeah well, she doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her or Chloe.” Nobody deserved that, especially not Allie who couldn’t help it if she ended up a little narrow minded.
“Who’s hungry?” Paul called out, kicking the front door shut with his foot.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you smell good enough to eat,” Maddie grinned when he entered the kitchen, eliciting a grin and a wink from Paul.
“Not in front of Lexi, she’ll get jealous,” he teased, setting the bags down on the kitchen counter. “How are my girls?” He pressed a kiss to each of their foreheads, lingering a fraction longer on Lexi’s head.
“Better now that you’re home with dinner,” Maddie replied, going right for the fragrant bags of food. “Did you get the broccoli?”
A roll of the eyes was given. “Don’t I always?”
Lexi smiled over the exchange between her best friends, still feeling a bit subdued over the day’s events, but enjoying their company. It felt a little like she was going through the motions as she set the table, listening to their chatter until they were all seated together.
“So, what did I miss today? What’s going on with your family?” Paul asked, going straight for his fork while Lexi and Maddie opted for the disposable wooden chopsticks provided by the restaurant.
It didn’t take long at all to fill them up to speed on Chloe’s disappearance, her conversations with Allie, Gabriel and even Detective Cooper and more importantly, what she’d seen in Chloe’s room.
“Wow, talk about scary, are you okay?” Maddie asked; concern etched on her delicate features.
“Yeah, of course,” Lexi nodded with more confidence than she felt. The vision had really spooked her and it wasn’t so easy to shake off its effects. “The only thing is, I don’t know if what I saw was real or part of a nightmare.”
Paul let out a low whistle. “That’s gotta be a mind scramble.”
“Could you maybe try again with another object of hers? Something that isn’t associated with bedtime?” Maddie suggested.
“That’s a good idea. I’ll have to try again tomorrow; see what I can come up with. It just took a lot out of me today.”
“Do you think the house is really haunted?”
Lexi knew that Maddie was on the skeptical side, in fact, they both liked to watch those ghost hunter shows on TV and laugh over how ridiculously melodramatic they were in their supposed brushes with ghosts. “Maybe? All I know is, the place is starting to give me the heebie jeebies big time. I don’t know how Allie can stand it there by herself.”
“Do you want me to come with you tomorrow?”
Maddie’s offer was appreciated but Lexi shook her head. “No, that’s sweet of you, but I’m not gonna let a little creepy feeling scare me away from doing everything I can to find Chloe. Wherever Neil is, he deserves to be sent up the river for taking her like this,” her lips pressed together into a grim line.
“To tell you the truth, I’m more concerned with this detective guy, showing you that stuff with his tie,” Paul changed the subject. “That’s sexual harassment.”
Laughter bubbled up out of nowhere as Lexi tried to imagine what that complaint would look like. “I’m thinking that’ll be kind hard to prove in a court of law, Paul.”
“Still, you should complain about him, that’s hardly professional behavior the police department would want their employees displaying, is it?”
“It’s not that big of a deal, it just surprised me is all,” Lexi insisted. “But maybe Maddie can think of something to do to him?” She flashed her friend a mischievous grin.
“Oh I’m sure I can come up with something,” she returned the grin, blue eyes sparkling. “Do you think your friend Detective Ryan would be on board for a little pa
yback?”
That was harder to answer. Sometimes Lexi thought Gabriel was a by the book kind of guy and other times he caught her off guard with his lopsided grin and willingness to include her in the investigation; he was difficult to read. She expected the skepticism with regards to her hands, hell she was used to it, but the way he held her after she’d been so freaked out in Chloe’s room… he acted like he believed her. Apart from Paul, he was the only man who hadn’t run for the hills after finding out about her hands and she wasn’t sure if that was because he accepted it or dismissed it. “I don’t know. I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask,” she shrugged.
“We’ll come back to this,” Maddie promised, picking up her plate from the table. “I’ll catch you two later; I’ve got a date with my computer.”
“Online dating?” Lexi raised a skeptical brow.
“I wish,” she snorted. “Work. But who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky later and have to call tech support and I can live chat with a sexy computer geek,” she waggled her eyebrows playfully.
“Later Maddie,” Paul smiled, pushing the leftover water chestnuts on his plate around. “What about you? Are you going back out to the studio tonight? There’s a couple of good movies on tonight if you feel like some company,” he looked up with a hopeful smile.
That smile was hard to resist, but Lexi wasn’t sure she was in the mood to be social. While Paul would give her that solid, comforting presence she craved, she knew he often had work to do in the evenings too, and he was probably just being nice by offering to spend the evening with her. Or worse, it was pity, which was the last thing she wanted. “Thanks, but I’ve got to get some pictures emailed to the detectives and it might take a while, I don’t know how many I can send at once without it hanging.”
“Okay, but after that…”
Lexi met his gaze across the table, silently willing him not to push too hard at the moment. “I’m just gonna go to bed early. It really took a lot out of me today. But maybe some other time…”
“Yeah, some other time.” That smile appeared on his face, the one that made her wonder if it was something other than pity motivating him after all. Still, Lexi was glad that he dropped it for the moment. It was her turn to clean up, but Paul took the plate from her hands before she could set them down. “I’ll take kitchen duty tonight, you go take it easy.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, no problem. I’ll see you tomorrow,” he nodded easily, running the plates under the hot water.
“Okay, goodnight Paul.” Feeling a little guilty, she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before heading to the stairs.
***
Lexi loved her bedroom. One of the first remodeling projects to tackle on her own, it had taken the better part of six months before she’d been satisfied, wanting to take the time and get it just right. The first thing she’d done was strip down the peeling wallpaper, adding a texture similar to old fashioned plaster rather than boring drywall. Each wall was a different shade of muted purple going from light to dark along the same color palette, and the effect ranged from subtle to dramatic depending on the light. The ceilings were high, as were the windows, letting in plenty of light; a big window seat piled high with pillows offered a perfect spot for sketching or reading a book. (It had taken her the longest time to figure out how to hinge the seat for storage inside)
Most of the furniture in the room were castoffs from her Grandmother’s house that she’d taken with her when she moved out. A small desk in the corner held her laptop and not much else. The antique white bed tucked into the opposite corner was the same bed she’d slept in as little girl, though she’d splurged on a new pillow top mattress last year. A matching white dresser nearly overflowed with clothes since the closet was so small and she supplemented her storage space with plastic bins tucked under the bed. Built-in bookshelves held favored books, although the majority of her collection was housed in the dilapidated study downstairs.
Sitting down at the desk, she connected her camera to the laptop, kicking off her shoes as the pictures transferred to the machine. It was too bad she hadn’t gotten Gabriel’s email address; Lexi would much rather deal with him instead of that Cooper guy, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. To her surprise, next to the email from Tim Cooper, asking her to contact him any time of the day or night to discuss the case, was a quick email from Gabriel, with the simple message, “In case you don’t like ham.”
Her lips quirked into a smile, and she was still smiling twenty minutes later when she finished tweaking the pictures of Allie’s house from her camera. After sorting them into the right order and labeling, Lexi started sending pictures in batches of three to Gabriel’s email address. Ham indeed; Cooper was more of a tool than hammy, pulling that trick with his tie, but she could see why Gabriel would use the gentler term. She was just opening up a new email to send a more personal message when her cell phone rang, Elton John blaring into the room about Benny and the Jets, her ring tone du jour. “Lexi here,” she answered, not recognizing the number.
“I see you found my email address alright,” Gabriel’s voice came through, relaxed and low, almost tickling her ear.
“Speak of the devil,” she smiled into her end of the phone. “I was just thinking about you.”
“Good thoughts, I hope.”
“Mostly.”
“Only mostly?” Lexi could practically hear the affronted expression she imagined on his face, “I could have sworn I made a better impression than that.”
“It’s the impression I’ve made on you that gives me pause,” she clarified. “I have to say I’m a little surprised to hear from you, Detective.”
“Uh oh, I thought we were past the labels. Or did you want me to go back to calling you Miss Morgan again?”
“Don’t you dare,” she laughed, easing a little. “Why did you call?”
“I wanted to thank you for the pictures, they’re excellent.”
“Oh,” she wasn’t sure if she was disappointed, or if that was an excuse for his call and he really just wanted to talk to her again. “Well it was my pleasure; I hope they’re of use to you.”
“No, they’re great. You were right; you really are a professional photographer. These are right up there with the pictures we usually get from our forensics guys.”
“Wow, in that case thank you for the compliment,” she grinned from ear to ear.
“Not at all, in fact, if you ever want to try and get a job here at the department, let me know, I might be able to pull some strings.”
That was enough to make her laugh; it was the second time he’d said something like that to her. “Can you just imagine me working for the police?”
“I’ve seen stranger things.”
“Me too, that’s the problem,” she replied sourly. “They’d laugh me right out of the building.”
“Maybe people might surprise you every now and again?”
Maybe, but in her experience, they usually disappointed right on schedule. Not wanting to pursue that depressing thought, she changed the subject. “Did you get the go ahead on the Amber alert from your boss?
“No,” he let out a long sigh, “but I got the next best thing. The spot with her picture will air on all the local news broadcasts tonight and tomorrow morning, and there will be a small article in the paper.”
“Oh,” Lexi nodded on her end; it would have to do. “Thanks for doing that, I know you went above and beyond the call of duty in getting the word out.”
“It’s no problem; I just hope we get a hit soon. Until then there’s not a whole lot more we can do.”
“Did you call Allie to tell her?” Lexi moved to curl up on the window seat, pulling Gran’s brightly colored afghan around her legs as she settled in.
“Uh no, I called you first.” The corners of her mouth twitched a little higher at the admission. So he’d called her first? That had to be a good sign. “Is that okay?” Gabriel asked at her silence.
“Actually, I kinda like that you cal
led me first,” she admitted.
“So… you wouldn’t mind if I called you again sometime?” There was a tiny bit of hope bleeding through in his tone that caught at her heart.
“That all depends.”
“On…”
“Are you calling me as Allie’s sister, or are you calling me?”
Gabriel’s chuckle was low and intimate, sending a ripple of pleasure down her spine. “Definitely calling you. Lexi. Miss Morgan. Whatever you want me to call you.”
“Alright then, you can call me whenever you want to, leads or no leads, even if you just want some company.”
“Thanks, I’ll have to keep that in mind. You know actually… there is something that I’ve wanted to ask you ever since I last saw you.”
“Oh?” Lexi sat a little higher, her heart skipping to a faster beat in anticipation of whatever he was about to ask her.
“What did you see when you touched Cooper’s tie?”
It took her a moment to recover after she realized he was teasing her, but after a skipped beat, she replied with a shake of the head, “you don’t wanna know.”
“I can’t help it; I’m a detective, remember? Unresolved questions bother me.”
“Trust me, that’s an image that’s gonna stay with me until the day I die,” she laughed. “But if it’s bothering you that much, you can ask him yourself. He’s your partner, right?”
“That’s okay, maybe you’re right and this is one I should just let go. Actually, I should let you go too, there’s some work I need to finish up.”
“Are you still at the station?” It was late, but she imagined cops kept unusual hours.
“No, I’m at home, in my bedroom.”
“Me too.” The conversation suddenly seemed much more intimate, knowing they were each in their bedrooms.
“Alone?”
“How else would I be?”
“I thought maybe you and that guy you live with…”
“You mean Paul?” she interrupted.
“That’s the one. So, the two of you aren’t a thing?”
Talk about a fishing expedition… Lexi smiled to herself over the question and couldn’t help but tease a little. “Would it bother you if we were?”