Through Her Touch (Mind's Eye Book 5)

by Deborah Camp

  “What?” she asked. “You don’t like baseball?”

  “No, I mean, yes. We like baseball. I just . . . have you run this by Levi?”

  She gave a quick shrug. “Not exactly, but what’s your point?”

  “Well, he’s never . . .” Wes cleared his throat and straightened to his full, impressive height. His shoulders and tattooed arms looked even beefier in his tight, white t-shirt. “We’ve never actually socialized, Trudy. I’ve been here on Saturdays when he’s had a few guys over to watch a game so that I could help serve refreshments, but that’s about it.”

  “You’re kidding.” She felt her lips go slack in surprise as she stared at him while she grappled with this information. Wes was undoubtedly one of Levi’s best friends – and he didn’t have many of those. Quintara, Wes, Pete “Gonzo” Gonzales, and maybe Darla, although she didn’t think he thought of Darla quite that way. How could Levi not have palled around with Wes? But from the bewildered expression on his face, she could tell that Wes also found it a bit strange. “That’s crazy.”

  “He’s a loner, in a way. You know that.”

  “But you’re his compadre, his main man! He trusts you like a brother.”

  Wes gave a little nod of agreement. “Yes, and he pays me. I think he has some difficulty with that. Same with Gonzo. We’re his friends, but he’s also our boss.”

  She digested this, conceding his point. “Would you have a problem with us all going somewhere together? Like to a game or maybe to a movie?”

  He wrung out the mop and began cleaning the floor again. After a few seconds, he said, “No, I don’t think so.”

  “And Mya, would she think it’s weird?”

  “No. Mya likes you a lot and she’s always been fond of Levi. For as long as we’ve known Levi, Mya has invited him to our home every holiday, even though he has never accepted. She hated that he was alone on Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

  Trudy leaned a shoulder against the doorframe, perplexed by how Levi compartmentalized his life. If he didn’t pal round with Wes and Gonzo, then who in the world did he befriend? Did his sexual encounters with Sissy Franklin and other willing females count as friendships to him? He was surely too smart to believe that. So, who had he kicked back with before she’d come along?

  “It’s okay, Trudy,” Wes said, giving her a quick smile. “Mya and I know how it is with Levi. It’s sweet of you, though, to want to get us all together.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s still going to happen.” She “shot” him with her finger and gave a wink of assurance. “Just because you’re on his payroll doesn’t diminish his esteem for you or for Gonzo. He relies on you guys. He trusts you guys, which is saying a lot.” She shoved away from the doorframe. “I’ll talk to him. He might be okay acting as if you aren’t part of his posse, but that’s not my style.”

  Wes chuckled, his muscles working under his t-shirt as he finished mopping the floor. “It could simply be awkward for him. He might be concerned that if we’re too chummy it will cross some kind of line that will put a strain on our working relationship.”

  “You and Gonzo can certainly come to some kind of tacit agreement to treat him as a boss when you’re at work and as your friend when you’re not at work. People do it all the time in businesses all across this country.” She pivoted away, but then paused to say over her shoulder, “I’m going to Oklahoma this weekend for a conference and I’m pretty sure that Levi will stay here because he’s up to his eyeballs in work. Could you leave him some easy-to-microwave stuff in the fridge?”

  “Certainly.” He grinned and placed a hand over his heart. “For a second there, I thought you were going to suggest that I ask him to go to a movie or something like that this weekend.”

  She shared a laugh with him. “No, Wes. Baby steps, my friend. Baby steps.”

  Chapter 8

  “Is it too clingy of me to tell you that I miss you and I wish you were here right this minute so that I could wrap my arms and legs around you and dry hump you? You can be honest with me. You won’t hurt my feelings.”

  Levi’s eyes grew wide and then narrowed to glinting slits. Trudy grinned at his image on her cellphone screen.

  “Honestly? You just made my dick hard and you’re not here to –.” One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Handle it.”

  Trudy fell back on the bed in her hotel room. She was only halfway teasing because she really would like to have him in Oklahoma City with her. She squinted at the screen. “Are you still at work? It’s after eight. Why aren’t you home?”

  “Because you’re not home.” He shrugged. “I figured I might as well stay here and work.”

  “Levi.” She made his name a warning.

  “Trudy.” He did the same to hers. “Are you nervous about tomorrow’s panel discussion?”

  She glanced up at the beige ceiling in quick contemplation. “Not really. I’m a little anxious, but there are four other women on the panel, so I won’t have to say much. One of them is that medium on TV who can talk to the deceased like you.”

  “Not quite like me,” he amended. “She never goes out in the field.”

  “Yes. She just takes phone calls from detectives.” She picked up the conference brochure from the bedside table. “Then there is Marty Wright. She’s worked with prisoners who claim they’re innocent.”

  “Right. I’ve met her.”

  “Just met her or . . ?” She raised an eyebrow.

  He scowled playfully at her. “Just met her, Trudy.”

  “Oh, good. It’s always awkward when I meet someone you’ve boned.” She grinned at him.

  “Marty Wright is sixty if she’s a day.”

  “That never stopped you before.”

  He made a let’s move on gesture. “Who else is on the panel?”

  “Jennie Sizemore and Lora Brighton. They’re the most accomplished, I suppose, when it comes to helping police with open cases. Have you met them, too?”

  “Yes. I’ve met them. I’ve been on several panels with them. That’s a nice group. Should be a great discussion.”

  “Quintara says I shouldn’t be surprised if I’m asked questions about you.”

  He looked perplexed. “Why would there be questions about me?”

  She heaved a put-upon sigh. “Because I’m married to you. Duh. And women tend to drool over you. Someone is likely to ask something about how we met and if we’re going to have a baby soon. Stuff like that.”

  He made a face. “Surely not.”

  “Levi, get real.” She shifted onto her side and repositioned the phone so that she was in frame again. “Do me a favor, my pretty, and go home. Have something to eat, down a glass of wine or milk, read something wonderful or watch something on TV, and relax. Snuggle up with Mouse.”

  He stared at her for a few seconds, his expression softening, his smile becoming more tender. “You worried about me, Mrs. Wolfe?”

  “A little.” Someone rapped on the door and it gave her a start. “Oh, that’s probably the conference chairwoman. She said she might stop in.”

  “Okay. Go on.” He pursed his lips and blew her a kiss. “I love you. See you soon.”

  Her throat tightened and her heart gave a kick at their routine sign-off when they were apart from each other. Reflexively, her hand went up to her throat and her fingertips brushed the pendant Levi had given her. It was engraved on one side “S.Y.S.” and on the other “B.N.S.E”. “But not soon enough,” she whispered. “I love you, too.” She pressed her lips to the screen before ending the call.

  With a sigh, she bounded off the bed and checked in the mirror to make sure her hair wasn’t standing on end anywhere. She plucked at her spikey bangs and ran a hand down her short, red skirt and white and red striped oxford shirt. Sticking her feet back into her brown flats, she jogged to the door and peered through the peephole. The man she saw made her breath whistle down her throat. She drew back, her eyes and mind blinking. How in the world . . .? With hands that slightly trembled, she unlocked t
he door and opened it slowly.

  “Chason, I didn’t know you were speaking at this conference.”

  Chason Bolt in white jeans and a plum colored pullover shirt was worthy of a magazine cover. His blond hair, parted on the side, was attractively mussed. He stood with his fingers tucked into the front pockets of his jeans and rose up and down slightly on the toes of his tan, suede boots as if he were anxious. He dipped his head in an almost shy way that made Trudy instantly suspicious.

  “I’m not a speaker. Just here on a whim.” He shrugged and his smile took on a practiced sheepishness. “When I saw your name in the line-up, I couldn’t resist popping in on you. Actually, I’ve been dying to talk to you about something.” He angled a little closer. “Something personal.”

  She moved back a fraction. “Personal?” She rocked her weight over onto one hip and didn’t invite him in. “Really?”

  “Not like that.” He chuckled, his blue eyes nothing like Levi’s. His were Caribbean blue and the glint in them set off warning bells inside her. “It’s something I don’t want to get out. Not yet, anyway. I need some advice.”

  “I see. I suppose I could meet you in the hotel bar in a few minutes.”

  “Could I just step in for a minute or two? I don’t want anyone to overhear and if people recognize me in a public place, we’ll have no privacy.”

  She regarded him with wariness, not because she was afraid of being alone in a hotel room with him, but because she suspected he knew that Levi would blow a gasket if he had any inkling about this impromptu visit. After a few more seconds, she shrugged and stepped away from the door. “Come on in. By the way, how did you know my room number?”

  “I asked around.”

  His smile, and the way he could make it go all shy and boyish, was probably his way of wheedling information from people. He glanced around and then moved to stand near the small desk by the draped windows. He pulled out the chair and sat down.

  “You could have called me and asked my room number.”

  He nodded and motioned to the bed. “Won’t you have a seat? I was so pleased to finally meet you in Eureka Springs.”

  She waited.

  He cleared his throat when it was obvious she had no rejoinder and wasn’t moving. “Anyway, I wanted to share with you what happened to me a few days ago.” He looked from her to the bed again.

  Trudy backed up to the low bureau and hiked a hip onto it. “I’m listening.”

  He smiled knowingly at her. “Yes, well, I was in Chicago for a taping of a talk show and I received a call from Sunshine. She said that she’d dreamed about me and that I should be careful. I had a target on my back in her dream.”

  “Had you felt that you were in danger?”

  “We’re all in danger, aren’t we?” He spread out his hands and Trudy noticed that his fingers were short, not long like Levi’s. “With the killer on the loose in Arkansas? We all agreed we needed to step lightly. You haven’t had any visions about the killer, have you?”

  “No. Have you?” Not being in contact with the person who ran Glenn off the road was fine with her in one way, but the other side of that coin was anxiety. She wanted to know exactly what happened on that winding highway, but didn’t want to further upset Levi. He didn’t like being in Eureka Springs. She didn’t fully understand why. All she knew so far was that he didn’t even want to discuss going back there. Yes, he wanted to keep them safe, but she could tell that it was more than that.

  “Not exactly. You see, after I received that call from Sunshine, a limo driver picked me up and took me to the studios for the taping. Afterward, I stepped out into the alley behind the building, waiting for the limo. A small car with tinted windows whipped into the alley and the driver tried to run me down.” He paused for her reaction. She could tell he was disappointed with her raised eyebrow. “If I hadn’t been quick, I would have been run over! That car was doing forty or fifty miles an hour. I think it was a Jaguar. Something sporty.”

  Trudy braced her hands on either side of her hips and dissected Chason’s story. She couldn’t tell if he was nervous about what had happened to him or about her cool reception to it. “Did you get the tag number?”

  “No tag.” He shrugged. “So, that makes me feel that it was intentional. Not just some reckless driver under the influence of something. I tried to get a sense of who was in the car, but I couldn’t. And I couldn’t see inside it. It all happened so fast.”

  “What did the police say about it?”

  He looked down at his hands and turned them over as if he suddenly found them interesting. He wore a gold ring on the third finger of his right hand. It had an infinity symbol etched in it with small diamond insets. She’d read about the ring in an article on the Internet. It represented his view of life-after-death. “I didn’t report it.”

  Ah. Here we go, Trudy thought. Here’s where we go awry. “Why not? Someone tries to run you over and you don’t report it to the police?”

  “I didn’t want the publicity.” He sighed as if the world had landed on his shoulders. “I can’t prove anything or give much information. No tag. Can’t I.D. the driver.” He sprawled back in the chair, making it creak. He fiddled with his ring, moving it slightly so that the overhead lights flirted with the diamonds. “If I made a report, then it would be in the news and perhaps make me an even bigger target for the crazed, murdering person. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. What do you think I should do? I value your opinion.”

  What a load of crap. Sometimes she could tell when someone was telling her big, fat lies and this was one of those times. “I think that, instead of showing up here and telling me about it, you should report the incident to the Chicago police. There needs to be a record of it. And since when have you decided to shy away from publicity?”

  “There are all kinds of publicity. We don’t know what kind of sociopath we’re dealing with here, do we?” Again, he paused, waiting for her to give him something, to let him know what she was thinking and feeling. When she simply stared at him, he cleared his throat and studied his ring again. “You think I should go to the police, then.”

  She nodded, enjoying this odd game. He was used to getting what he wanted from a female. She had a lot of dealings with that. She’d married a man doted on by women and she had sharpened her skills on him.

  “I thought of calling you right after it happened, but I chickened out.” He bestowed another boyish smile on her.

  “I can understand that you’d want to call Sunny and tell her about it, but why would you think to call me?”

  “Because I like you. I feel a connection to you.” His gaze tracked up her body to her face. “The thing is, ever since I heard about your marvelous work at catching killers, I’ve thought about getting into that line of psychic work, but I know so little about it. I believe in learning from the best and I was hoping you’d take pity on me and teach me the ropes.”

  He really was a piece of work. She examined his handsome face, his pleasant, expectant expression, those twinkling blue eyes. It was amusing, really, that he thought he had a ghost of a chance with her.

  “I confess that I’m here only for you.” He shrugged and emitted a chuckle as if he were mildly embarrassed by his actions. “I think you’re incredibly gifted. It’s hard to explain, but I’m a fan of yours.”

  Yeah. Right. She straightened, standing on both feet. “You’re not stupid, Chason, so quit acting as if you aren’t aware that my husband can barely stand to be in the same room with you.”

  “That’s his problem, not mine or yours.” He looked mildly hurt. Distressed, even. “I have no quarrel with Levi Wolfe. Never have. He’s always felt threatened by me, though.”

  She bit her lip to keep from laughing in his face. “Levi believes that you copy everything he does and that you want everything he has. Am I next on your bucket list?” She shook her head, slowly, and gave him a chiding smile. “’Fraid not. This has been interesting, but you should have called my room instead
of showing up here unannounced.” She walked to the door and opened it. She arched a brow at him, and he pushed up from the chair.

  “I really was almost run down,” he said, a bit peevishly. “I didn’t make that up just to talk to you. Although, like I said, I am a fan of yours.” He stopped beside her and lifted his hand as if to touch her cheek.

  Trudy jerked back. “You don’t want to do that,” she said with ice in her voice.

  He held up both hands and eased past her with a wry smile. “Okay. Sorry.” He dipped his head in a jaunty nod and winked. “I’ll call first next time. Good luck tomorrow on the panel.”

  “Stay frosty out there, Chason.” She shut the door and locked it.

  “Guess what the first question was from the audience.”

  Levi folded his hands behind his head and leaned back in his office chair. His suit coat spread open to reveal the inner lining of oyster white silk. “When was the first time a murderer entered your mind.”

  “Nope.” Trudy had been looking at the service plaques on the wall in Levi’s office. They ranged from the ACLU to Hurricane Relief in Puerto Rico. She turned toward him to catch his reaction. “A girl who couldn’t have been long out of high school asked, ‘How did you and Levi Wolfe meet?’”

  His hands dropped to the desk top. “You’re shitting me.”

  “No. And the next question was, ‘How did he propose to you?’”

  “Oh, Christ.” He made a face of disgust. “You didn’t answer them, I hope.”

  “I gave vague answers. I did finally get a couple of questions about my psychic work. Mainly, I listened to the other panelists.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Why? It’s not your fault that you’re so hot and sexy.” She laughed at his stormy expression and strolled around his spacious office as she stalled for time.

  “How’s your mom and dad?”

  “Great. They sent you smacking kisses and Tucker hugs.” Glancing over her shoulder, she shared a grin, before focusing on his array of university diplomas and scholarly awards. They hadn’t had any time alone since she’d arrived home. She’d visited her parents in Tulsa over the weekend and had flown to Atlanta that morning. Wes had met her plane and driven her home. “I spoke to Darla on the way in and she said you were here before she came in this morning. Did you sleep here while I was away?”