Through His Eyes (Mind's Eye Book 1)

by Deborah Camp

  “Sissy Franklin?”

  A muscle flexed in his jaw line, but he said nothing.

  “You don’t think I should have been told about that before Sinclair?”

  “Sinclair wants to play slap and tickle with you.”

  “Sissy Franklin already plays slap and tickle with you. So what?” She set her back teeth and counted to ten. When she spoke, she was proud of her lighter tone. “Tell me something. When, exactly, are we going to begin working together?”

  Scowling, he didn’t look at her, preferring to concentrate on Key West traffic. “I don’t understand the question. We’re working together already.”

  “But you didn’t tell me about the Court TV thing.”

  “Did you want to appear on there with me?”

  “No!”

  “That’s what I thought. You’ve made it clear that you don’t work that way, so I didn’t tell you about it because you wouldn’t appear on the show with me anyway.”

  “That’s not the point. You should have asked me first.”

  His scowl deepened and she wished he wasn’t wearing sunglasses. She could tell so much more about his moods when she could see his eyes.

  “Ask you what first?”

  She gritted her teeth, irritated with his dense act. “You should have asked me if it was okay for you to appear on Court TV.”

  He released a short, harsh laugh. “Are you joking? Tell me you’re joking. Why the hell would I have to ask you for permission to appear on that show? I’ve been on it many times before without your permission.”

  “I know that, but we’re working this case together, Levi. Therefore, we should make decisions about it together. You didn’t even tell me that you’d e-mailed your notes to the detective.”

  “Well, since you can’t e-mail anything because your phone can’t access e-mail or the Internet and you have no e-notebook yet, that task was left up to me.”

  “I have a laptop and an e-mail account, for your information. Back to the point, if you would tell the truth, you would simply say that you didn’t tell me about the Court TV appearance because you knew I would advise against it.”

  “I know what I’m doing, Trudy.” He set his mouth in a firm line and his jaw tensed, the muscles bunching and flexing. “When I appear on a show like Sissy’s to shed light on a specific case, people call in with tips that often pan out and help us catch the killer. I mainly want to shake the tree and see if anything falls out if it.”

  They pulled to a stop at a traffic light. Suddenly, his chin bobbed up and he smacked one palm against the steering wheel. “Now we’re talking!”

  Perplexed, Trudy followed his gaze and saw a Best Buy store straight ahead of them. She slumped down in the seat, resigned to spend more of her disappearing savings.

  Chapter Eight

  “Do you think you’ve got it now?” Levi asked.

  Trudy looked from her confusing new cell phone to him. He sat across from her at the picnic table beside her RV. The afternoon sun threw shadows, engulfing them. A cool breeze combed his jet black hair off his forehead and then let it fall back again. She knew how soft his hair felt sliding through her fingers and that he liked for her to tug on it when she came or when she wanted to direct his mouth to a different part of her body. She knew so much, so why did she feel that she didn’t know him at all?

  He’d removed his jacket and loosened the knot of his tie. His blue eyes moved as he read something on the screen of his own cell phone, concentration settling over his handsome face.

  It was a sin for a man to look that sexy with little or no effort, Trudy thought. No wonder he had women falling all over him. Did he take it for granted? Or did he gaze in the mirror every morning and thank God for his good genes?

  He’d been fiddling with his cell phone for several minutes, typing messages, hitting buttons, typing something else. What was he doing? He could be sending sex-texts to Sissy Franklin for all she knew. The very thought of that made her cringe.

  “Trudy, are you going to answer me?”

  “Yes! Yes, I think I can figure it out from here,” she said, forcing herself to focus on the stupid phone instead of the jealousy poisoning her mind and making her even more aware that her feelings for him were deepening and that was dangerous for her heart and her head. She knew she should make more use of electronic gadgets. “I liked my little phone. This one is much bigger.”

  “Believe me, bigger is almost always better.”

  A delightful shiver arrowed through her. She glanced at him through her lashes and wasn’t surprised to see a devilish smile tip up the corners of his mouth. “How do I get on the Internet?”

  “I’ll show you that in a minute. First, I’ll send you an e-mail. Let me know when it appears in your Inbox.” He typed a few letters and then pressed a button with his thumb. His gaze lifted to hers. “Is it there?”

  She looked at the phone. It made a little “bing” noise. “The light has gone off and I can’t see anything on the screen. It must be broken.”

  He sighed. “Press the button on the side. The other side. The left button is the volume control, remember? The right button turns your screen on and off. Is my e-mail there?”

  “Okay, okay. It’s just that my other phone lit up when a call came in,” she grumbled.

  “I’m not calling you. I’m e-mailing you,” he reminded her, and she could tell his patience was wearing thin.

  She studied the screen and the number “1” blinked on the envelope icon. “Yes, it’s here!”

  “Good, open it and send it back to me.”

  She read the e-mail’s message. Test Levi Wolfe. Keeping the smile from her lips, she typed, Don’t you mean Testy Levi Wolfe? I agree! She hit send.

  The phone in his hand, an identical one to hers, “binged” and he touched the screen with his forefinger and read her e-mail. His gaze bounced to her for a second, then back to the screen. He grinned.

  “How do I get on the Internet?”

  “Touch the globe icon.”

  “Right. Same icon as the one on my computer.”

  “Same one,” he agreed.

  “This had better be worth it,” she said. “My other phone only cost me twenty bucks a month. This thing costs three times that a month!”

  “It’s a valuable tool and you can write off the expense.”

  “What did you do with my other phone?”

  “I donated it to a battered women’s shelter.”

  “You . . . you did?”

  His gaze met hers briefly. “Yes, that’s what I do with mine every year when I change phones. The shelters wipe them clean and program in emergency numbers for the women in the shelters to use.”

  “I see,” she murmured.” Levi, the socially aware benefactor. Hmmm. She liked that. Then the other part of his statement hit her. “Wait . . . you buy a new phone every year?”

  He grinned at her shocked expression. “Yes, almost every year.”

  Shaking her head at the consumer-gone-wild aspect of that, she pressed the button at the bottom of the screen to return to the “home” page. Another question crept into her mind; one she had contemplated before. “Is Leviticus Wolfe your real name or is it a stage name you made up?”

  He whipped his head from side to side as if watching a race car zip by. “You should issue a warning before changing subjects that fast.” He rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced. “You gave me whiplash.”

  She smirked at him. “Such a showman.”

  He shrugged. “Believe it or not, Leviticus is my given name,” he answered. “Wolfe isn’t, but it’s my legal name now.”

  “You changed your last name – for theatrics?”

  “Mainly to spare my family further embarrassment.”

  She saw the cloud descend again in his eyes. His family was a very touchy subject. His family or his father? “Why Wolfe?”

  His smile was back. “For theatrics, of course.” He arched a brow. “Do you know the Bible fairly well?”
/>   She wrinkled her nose. “Not as much as I should, I suppose.”

  He shrugged. “Leviticus was quite vocal about the evilness of mediums. He preached that people should never consort with a psychic or necromancer.”

  “No kidding? That’s ironic.”

  He smirked. “To say the least. The whole reason for naming me Leviticus backfired on my old man.”

  She examined the bitterness tingeing his smirk, but decided to steer clear of his family for now. “Where do you live?”

  He regarded her for a few seconds as if she thought she was teasing him. Finally, he said, “In Atlanta.”

  “Atlanta?” she repeated, stunned.

  “Yes. Why are you looking at me as if I said I live on the moon?”

  “I thought you lived somewhere near Tulsa. Oklahoma City, maybe.” She’d actually had sex with him and she hadn’t even known what city he lived in. Unbelievable. She really knew next to nothing about him. “Why Atlanta?”

  He shrugged. “It has a good vibe about it, a big airport, and the seasons are fairly mild – except for summer, of course. They don’t call it ‘Hotlanta’ for nothing.”

  “Did you have friends there? Family? Is that why you ended up there?”

  “No. I went to college there – mostly on an academic scholarship.”

  “Which college?”

  “Georgia State.”

  “Do you live in a house?”

  “No, an apartment.” He slipped his cell phone into his trouser pocket. “I’m not there all that much. I travel a lot.” He waited a few seconds and then arched his brows. “Any more questions, Miss Tucker?”

  “That’s all for now, Mr. Wolfe.”

  “Good. I prefer to be a man of mystery.”

  “Oh, really?” She told herself sternly that she needed to stop sleeping with him if he wasn’t going to let her get to know him. Now if she could only convince her libido of that.

  He squared his shoulders and grabbed his jacket from the picnic table where he’d placed it. “Okay, you have your cell phone and your netbook, so we can keep in touch.” Flicking back his shirt cuff, he glanced at his watch. “I’m going to—.” His words were chopped off by Mouse, who chose that moment to bark furiously.

  At first, Trudy thought the dog had awakened from her nap, saw Levi and had forgotten that he’d been there a few minutes ago. On their arrival at the RV, she had introduced them, allowing Levi to give Mouse a treat and get on her good side.

  “Mouse, hush! This is Levi. You remember him, don’t you?”

  Levi looked away from the dog and surveyed the empty RV lots behind him. “She’s not barking at me. She’s barking at something back there.”

  Trudy followed his eye line and her heart sputtered. Ethel was back. She stood no more than six feet away, a sweet smile on her face.

  “Do you see her again?” Levi asked, his voice soft and calm.

  “Yes,” Trudy groaned. “Can you see her? Please tell me that you can see her.”

  Levi shook his head. “No. She’s for your eyes only, Trudy. What’s she doing?”

  “What she always does – she’s waving and trying to talk to me.” Trudy spread out her hands to Ethel in a helpless gesture. “I can’t hear you!”

  “Speak to her with your mind. Concentrate.”

  “That didn’t work before.”

  “Try it again.”

  Sighing, she drew in a deep breath and then released it in a quick sigh. “Okay. Here goes.” Staring at Ethel, she imagined her words to be small darts. She took careful aim and threw them at the vision before her. I can’t hear you. Talk to me this way.

  Ethel’s smile wavered and Trudy knew a moment of triumph. Did she make contact with her at last? But then Ethel’s smile turned upside down and she even looked a little afraid. In a blink, Ethel was gone, replaced by a dark veil that floated over Trudy’s mind.

  This is my favorite, so far.

  Everything inside her froze. Those thoughts were not hers. Ethel? No, they weren’t Ethel’s. She was sure of that. Bad feelings were attached to them. Fog filled her head and blocked her vision.

  Took it off that college cunt. What was her name? Oh, yeah. Janie. Stupid cow, but she was fun. I liked hurting her.

  An inner vision suddenly speared her. A red, cardboard box in the shape of a valentine. Inside she caught sight of a passport, a bracelet . . . what were those? Charms? Keychain. Frog figurine.

  What will I add to my collection this time?

  The black mist in her mind lifted and the sinister feeling blinked out. Trudy heard a whimper and realized it had come from her as she went limp.

  “Tru? Trudy!”

  She felt bands close around her waist and then her head cleared like she’d been zapped and she found herself staring into wide, navy blue eyes. Levi was holding her in his arms.

  “You with me? What just happened? Did you hear Ethel?”

  “Ethel.” She looked to where Ethel had been, but was no more. “She’s gone.”

  “Did you hear her? What did she say?”

  “It wasn’t her.” She swallowed and closed her eyes, her head spinning. “It was him. The killer. He has souvenirs from each one of them. He had one of Shelly’s frogs.” Tears burned her eyes. “He’s so proud of his collection, the sicko!”

  “Shhhh.” He placed one hand at the back of her head and pulled her to him. She rested her cheek against his tie and breathed in the scent of him. He always smelled so good. “They usually always take souvenirs. You know that.”

  “I know.” Her voice sounded small to her ears.

  “Was he thinking about his next one?”

  “Yes, but I don’t think he’s made a selection yet.”

  “That’s good. That gives us more time.”

  She felt him move against her and she knew he was staring down into her face.

  “You okay?”

  “Yes.” With some reluctance, Trudy gently pushed out of his embrace. “It just snuck up on me. I was trying to tap into Ethel and he was there – bam! – in my head.”

  “What else did you see besides the frog?”

  “A charm bracelet and a passport. Oh, a key chain! I think the key chain was shaped like a four-leaf clover.”

  “Good.” He smoothed her hair and then rested his hand along the side of her face. “Now, you know what I want you to do?”

  “What?” she asked, loving the tenderness of his touch.

  “I want you to type in your new notebook everything you recall from what you just experienced. Every little detail you can remember. Then I want you to eat something, take a long shower, and get some rest.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Well, for starters, I’m going to move my stuff from the B&B to one of those cabins over there by the boat dock.” He smiled and his hand moved from her face to her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.

  “Really?” She turned her head to look at the four small cabins lined up along the shore. “You’re moving here?”

  “Yes.”

  She wondered if he’d expected to move into the RV with her. It was tempting, but she knew that it would be disastrous. “Have you talked to Mike? They might already be rented.”

  “I’ve already taken one for a week.”

  “When did you do that?” she asked, looking at him again.

  “A few minutes ago while you were learning how to use your cell phone.”

  Oh, so that’s who he had been e-mailing! Sneaky devil. “Those cabins probably won’t be as comfortable as the B&B.”

  “It’ll be fine.” He narrowed one eye when she smiled at him. “What are you grinning about?”

  “You don’t like The Blue Coconut.”

  “No. It’s not my style.”

  She nodded. Maybe she was getting to know him, after all. “Didn’t think so.”

  “The cabin isn’t my style either, but it will be more convenient for us.”

  “What is your style?” she asked before she co
uld stop herself. She suspected he liked modern, sleek, contemporary lines.

  He gave her a measured look. “Someday I’ll show you.”

  “I thought we were going back to Key West to check out the museums.”

  “Later. Maybe tomorrow. Record this latest vision into your notebook and then get some rest. If you need me, I’m only a phone call, e-mail, or text away. All my digits are stored in your new Samsung.”

  “They are?”

  “Yes. I’m at your beck and call, twenty-four-seven. And you’re at mine.” He shook his head and gave her a gently teasing smile. “Welcome to the Twenty-first Century, Miss Tucker.”

  ###

  I’m at your beck and call, twenty-four-seven.

  Trudy smiled as she emerged from the bathroom after her shower and recalled Levi’s declaration. Wow. How many women did she know personally who would absolutely swoon at being told that by Levi Wolfe? Just about every single one of them. Probably even Billy and Jerrod from the Roundtable, too!

  Belting her fluffy bathrobe, she leaned down to peer out the RV’s windows to the cabins. Earlier, she had sat at the kitchen table, her netbook switched on, and had watched Levi move his things into Cabin Four. He had parked the Nissan right in front of the cabin, beneath a lamp pole. She had seen him look toward her RV a couple of times and she had been tempted to open the window and shout to him, “I’m writing down the details of my vision in my netbook!” She knew that’s what he’d been wondering. He was such a task master!

  What was he up to now? She squinted, trying to see the outline of his car under the light pole. Wait . . . his car wasn’t there. Had he gone out for dinner? By himself? Why hadn’t he asked her to go with him? How rude! She glanced at the microwave’s digital clock. Seven forty-five. When did he leave? His car had been there at four o’clock when she’d decided to take a nap.

  Immediately, she thought of her cell phone. She sat in one of the living room chairs and picked up the phone. Should she call? E-mail? Text? Text! She hadn’t done that yet.

  Your car is AWOL. Hope no one stole it!

  She snickered, imagining his reaction. Drumming her fingers on the table, she waited for what seemed like a loooong time, but was probably only a minute. Her phone binged and she jumped.