Through Her Touch (Mind's Eye Book 5)

by Deborah Camp

  Levi shifted his attention to Sunshine. She was either pissed off, ashamed, or a mixture of both. He really couldn’t tell. “You’re a single woman, Percy. Why lie about sleeping with Billy?”

  Perchance chewed on her lower lip and gave a half-hearted shrug as her gaze slipped over to her sister again.

  “It’s a thing between us,” Sunshine said in a fluster of waving hand gestures as she batted her big, blue eyes. “We made a pact not to share the same man. We share everything else, but not men.”

  Levi waited for the other shoe to drop. From the corner of his eye, he saw Trudy’s leg stop swinging.

  Sunshine stuck out her lower lip in a mutinously cute pout. “I was with Billy the night before.”

  A huff of surprised laughter burst past his lips before he could stop it. For her part, Trudy stared at Sunshine, her green eyes going wide.

  “Yeah, but I didn’t know that,” Perchance took up the explanation. “If I’d known . . . well, I would have told Billy ‘no dice.’ He didn’t say a thing about having been with my sister. Not that he had any obligation to do so, but . . .”

  “It would have been the gentlemanly thing to do. Right, Levi?” Sunshine turned to him, her body language all but begging him to agree.

  “Sure.” He wondered if he would have done the same before he’d met Trudy. Probably, he allowed, so he wouldn’t throw Billy under that particular bus. “However, I don’t think it’s wise to assume that we’re all gentlemen. Plus, you hadn’t told Billy about your ‘sister code,’ had you? So, he couldn’t have known that you’d have a problem with it.”

  Trudy groaned. “Really? You have to be told about such things?” She looked at the sisters. “It’s a given. Men should know that you don’t bed a woman and then jump in bed with her sister the very next night.”

  Levi sighed. He was outnumbered and wouldn’t win this argument.

  “It caused a rift between us,” Perchance said, reaching out and grasping her sister’s hand. “But we’ve gotten past it. Right, Sunny?”

  “Oh, yes. It’s all water under the bridge. We’ve even forgiven Billy.”

  “But neither one of us are going to screw around with him again,” Perchance added. “There are other fish in the sea.”

  “Plenty,” Sunshine agreed, her happy smile back in place. “Even if that means we have to venture farther outside Eureka Springs to catch them.”

  The sisters shared a giggle, looking pleased with themselves. Levi downed the rest of the lemonade and digested the information. The drone of a bumblebee busily bouncing from one rose to another drew him out of his introspection.

  “Have you been in contact with the killer again, Trudy?” Perchance asked.

  “Yes. Last night, in fact.”

  “Really?” Perchance rested one elbow on the chair arm and motioned with her free hand. “Well, come on, come on. What happened?”

  “We were at Joshua Longfeather’s for a fish fry.”

  Perchance slapped her hand on the chair arm. “If that don’t beat all!” She glanced at Sunny, who also looked peeved. “What does a girl have to do to get an invitation to his place? What’s your secret, Trudy? Levi? I’ve been angling for an evening at Joshua’s for years.”

  Grinning, Trudy bobbed her shoulders in a helpless shrug. “I wanted a bone reading and he called and invited us over. Do you have a crush on him, Percy?”

  “A crush?” Perchance scoffed. “Shoot, I’m too old for crushes. Would I like to knock moccasins with him? Hell, yeah!” She rocked her head to one side. “Did he read the bones for you?”

  “Yes, and it was during the reading that he realized we were all in danger. Immediate danger. That’s when I felt that someone who wanted to do us harm was right outside the cabin.” She nodded at Levi. “Levi felt it, too.”

  “Did you run outside to look?” Sunshine hugged herself, getting wrapped up in their narrative. “I wouldn’t have! I wouldn’t have been that brave.”

  “Levi and Joshua went out to look around. We had our two security guards with us, too.” She nodded in the general direction of the two cars parked in the street, one containing the same two men. “I remained in the cabin and that’s when I was able to feel what the other person was experiencing. I sensed that she was in the back of the cabin. She set the door and yard on fire.”

  “Oh, my!” Sunshine covered her gaping mouth with trembling fingers. Her blue eyes looked as big as saucers.

  “So, it’s a woman? You’re sure?” Perchance asked.

  “It is,” Levi said. “And she’s taking more chances. She has it out for psychics. She believes we’re phony because we gave her bad advice. Or maybe the victims saw flaws in her personality, recognized the red flags.”

  Perchance pushed her feathery bangs off her forehead and sat back in the colorful chair. She brought her legs up, resting her heels on the edge of the seat. “Sunshine doesn’t do in-person readings. Hasn’t in a long time. I work for one of the psychic hotlines. I take phone calls once a week so that I don’t get too rusty. We have manuscript deadlines and book store signings. They take up most of our time.”

  “I never was good at readings of any kind,” Sunshine said with a regretful sigh. “I have my dreams. Visions, if you will. When something comes to me – something big like an assassination or a big natural disaster or mass shooting – I’ll book myself on some of the radio stations to get the word out.” She bit her lower lip and distress lined her oval face. “The hurricane season will be particularly severe this fall. Several Caribbean islands are going to be hit very hard. I should call some radio stations about it.” She let out a small sigh. “But that sort of thing wouldn’t put me on a ‘hit list,’ would it?”

  “No, Sunny,” Levi reassured her. “This person has a thing against psychics who read fortunes or has intuition about someone’s desires or past deeds.”

  “Oh, I get it. That’s what her victims had in common,” Perchance said, almost as if to herself. “Kathryn told fortunes and she was damned good at it. Glenn could tell you about yourself and what was troubling you, past and present, by reading your aura. He was the best of the best. Chason tells people about their future and how to avoid pitfalls in their lives. He makes a lot of money doing that.”

  “Don’t forget Eudora,” Sunshine said. “She was one of the very best at reading people.” She swung her gaze to Levi. “You commune with the dead and Trudy can connect with the living. Neither one of you reads fortunes, so you’re probably not on the hit list. But Joshua could be. I heard that he has a waiting list of people who want him to do a reading for them, but he’s real picky about his customers.”

  “The killer was probably there last night to do him in,” Perchance said with alarm.

  “I think she was there because all three of us were there,” Levi amended. “Or maybe just because Trudy was there.” His gaze slipped to Trudy and he noticed the tightening of her mouth. She didn’t like to hear that, but he felt it was fact. From what Trudy had told him, Sabra had taunted her, asking if Trudy could see her, feel her, know what she was doing. Everything in him wanted to grab Trudy and take her back to Atlanta, away from this place. But he knew she was dug in, determined to see this through now. The best he could hope for was a speedy arrest so that they could return to their lives and never have to visit Eureka Springs again.

  “She wasn’t there only for me,” Trudy objected. “I think she followed us to Joshua’s.”

  “That’s spooky.” Sunshine shivered. “It’s like she’s a ghost, haunting all of us. We can feel her, but we can’t see her.”

  Perchance tipped back her head and laughed.

  “What?” Sunshine asked, giggling with her.

  “That we’d find ghosts spooky!” Perchance swiped at the tears in the corners of her eyes and tried to stop giggling. “We’re surrounded by them, sis! Heck, we played with ghosts when we were kids. We write about them and make a damned good living off them now!”

  “Oh, yeah.” Sunshine gave a
little shrug. “Ghosts aren’t that spooky, are they? Not to us, anyway. Well, she’s like a ghoul following us. How’s that?”

  “Better, I suppose.” Perchance gave her sister’s shoulder a playful shove. “Nut butt.”

  “Butter brain,” Sunshine shot back, grinning.

  Levi shook his head at their sisterly verbal jabs. He caught Trudy’s eye and could tell she was ready to take off. “Ladies, it’s been a pleasure, but we should be going.”

  “So soon?” Sunshine frowned. “We’ll see you again, right? You’re going to visit Billy in the hospital.”

  “Yes, of course. We’ll be around. Maybe we can get together one evening for drinks.” Levi angled toward Perchance and lowered his voice. “I’ll see if I can’t get Joshua to join us.”

  Perchance elbowed him in the ribs. “Do that and I’ll show up in my slinkiest dress and sluttiest heels.”

  “Percy!” Sunshine admonished with fake affront.

  “We could even invite Sabra, if she’s still in town,” Perchance said. “Is she or did she go back to St. Louis?”

  “I don’t know.” He stuck his hands in his pants pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet. “She isn’t working right now. Summer break, you know. Maybe she’s with Chason.”

  “Chason?” the sisters chorused.

  “Why would she be with him?” Perchance followed up.

  Levi arched a brow and sent Trudy a knowing glance. He’d been right. The Galaxy sisters were in the dark about the Chason and Sabra tryst. “You didn’t know that she was with him that weekend in Vegas when he was stalked by the killer?”

  “No!” Perchance exchanged a startled glance with her sister. “Chason is balling Sabra?” She folded her arms and shook her head. “How do you like that? He hasn’t let on about that to me at all. Not one damn word.”

  Sunshine placed a hand on her hip and pursed her lips in a schoolmarm’s scowl. “Percy decided she was going to make a play for him, so I graciously backed off. She and Chason have been flirting up a storm over the phone the past couple of weeks.”

  “That two-timing sneak. We’ve been having phone sex, for Christ sake!”

  “OMG, Percy!” Sunshine covered her ears and then her eyes. “Information overload!”

  Levi chuckled and then laughed when he saw that Trudy was fighting not to. She gave in and leaned against him, weakened by her battle against giggles. He put his arm around her shoulders. “Perchance, put away the mental knives and guns. The Chason and Sabra thing could be history. I just know that she visited him in Las Vegas for a weekend.”

  “I’m surprised she’d give him the time of day,” Sunshine said. “Yeah, he’s handsome and all, but he’s psychic. Sabra’s never been that keen on psychics.”

  “Her mother was psychic,” Trudy said, unnecessarily.

  “Yes, but Sabra isn’t. Sabra is a scientist. She’s good-natured about it, but she barely tolerates things related to ESP.” Perchance received a nod of agreement from her sister.

  “Well, thanks for the refreshments.” Levi rested a hand on Perchance’s shoulder and then grasped Sunshine’s hand. “It’s always fun to be around you two.”

  Trudy gave them hugs. “I’ll call you. We’ll stay in touch.”

  Hand-in-hand, Levi and Trudy wended their way down the steps to their car. Levi lifted a hand to the two men in the sedan parked behind theirs. Once he and Trudy were buckled in and Levi started the engine, he acknowledged Trudy’s questioning expression.

  “That was interesting,” he said.

  “And entertaining.”

  Levi chuckled and swayed sideways to kiss her cheek. “I checked Sabra out online. She’s on several social media sites, but it’s nothing personal. Cute videos, funny stuff about science and teaching. There was one thing that I found interesting. A photo of two German shepherds with signs around their necks. The one on the left’s sign read, ‘Karma’s a bitch’, and the other one read, ‘I’m Karma.’”

  Trudy turned her head slowly to face him. “Again with the Karma. Did she snap all of a sudden and go nuts or does she think the victims contributed somehow to her mother’s death? She’s a real mystery. Maybe that’s the way she likes it.” She was quiet for a few moments before asking, “Okay, so let’s go to Rhema and Alan’s. They’ll give us a lot more insight into who Sabra is and what her life has been like.”

  “I wonder if Sabra’s there.”

  “That would be awkward. If she is, maybe we can invite Rhema and Alan out for a drink or dinner.”

  “We’ll see. While we’re there, I’ll take Quintara aside and tell her to pack her things. We’ll find her other accommodations.”

  “She won’t like that, Levi. She’ll probably refuse.”

  “She can refuse all she likes. If I have to, I’ll throw her over my shoulder, fireman-style, and carry her out of there.” When Trudy burst out laughing, he had to join in.

  “I’d love to see that!” she said between giggles. After a minute, she grew quiet and a worry line appeared between her eyes. “If you think Quintara could be in danger, what about Rhema and Alan?”

  “They’re Sabre’s family. It’s different for them. Even if they have their own suspicions about her, I doubt they’d be afraid to be around her.”

  “Right. If Sabra is there, maybe we should take her out for a drink.”

  He tossed that around before grudgingly agreeing. “I suppose we could. However, I doubt that she’s hanging around Eureka Springs. I would wager that she’s keeping close tabs on Billy’s progress and she’s making travel plans.”

  “You think she’ll make a run for it?”

  He leveled his gaze on her briefly. “I think she’ll try, but she won’t get far. The police must have her under surveillance. She probably couldn’t produce a solid alibi for where she was when someone tried to murder Billy. You’re right. Sabra is smart. She knows that when Billy comes out of that coma, her killing spree is over.”

  Rhema, Alan, and Quintara were sitting at the dining table, working on a huge jigsaw puzzle that would eventually be a photo of old car license plates. Levi joined them and immediately located three interlocking pieces.

  “Smart ass,” Quintara said with a wrinkle of her pug nose. She looked at Rhema and Adam, in turn, making her big hoop earrings swing. “He’s really too clever for his own good.”

  Trudy stood behind his chair, not in the least tempted to join in the jigsaw hunt. While devotees claimed that the puzzles were relaxing, they had the opposite effect on her. They made her want to yank out her hair and scream in frustration. She noticed a shadow box on the wall that was filled with small figurines of dogs and cats. It made her smile, thinking of veterinarian Alan Martin collecting them over the years.

  “Is Sabra around?” she asked, trying to sound casual.

  Rhema looked up from the puzzle. “I believe she’s upstairs in her room reading. She ventured down this morning, but I haven’t seen her since. Have you, Alan?”

  “No, not since breakfast.” Alan snatched up a puzzle piece and joined it with others along the side. “Ah ha! That’s sneaky. See how the red barely shows? It looks all white until you examine it closely.”

  Rhema and Quintara nodded, agreeing with his assessment.

  “Would you mind if I go upstairs and say hello to her?” Trudy asked.

  “No, please, go on,” Rhema said, giving her a go-ahead wave. “Ask her if she’s hungry. We had a late breakfast – more like a brunch – so we skipped lunch. We have some shaved ham and some leftover spaghetti salad in the refrigerator, if she wants it.”

  “I’ll tell her.” Trudy patted Levi’s shoulders and whispered near his ear, “Be right back.”

  He gripped one of her hands and his gaze held hers in a moment of caution before he released her.

  “Her room is the second door on the right of the stairs,” Rhema called to her as Trudy began climbing the staircase.

  On the landing, she paused to listen for music playing or any other sound
s of life, but all was quiet. She went to the second door and rapped on it. “Sabra? You in there?” Nothing. She turned the knob and the door swung open to reveal a sun-filled bedroom.

  Lacy, thin curtains covered the two windows, allowing sunshine to spill in. A double bed filled the space between the two windows. A copy of Edgar Degas’ The Dance Class hung on one wall and a framed copy of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed graced another, imbuing the room with femininity. The coverlet and shams were swirling colors of pink, blue, white, and green, like petals thrown onto a background of pale yellow. It was a lovely, restful room, but something about it was wrong. It felt . . . empty.

  Trudy went to the closet bi-fold doors and pushed them open. Three hangers, one laundry hamper, an old tennis racket. Nothing else. No clothes. No shoes. No luggage. Whirling around, Trudy surveyed the room with a new objective, her mind whirling. Sabra was on the run. Were the police right behind her or had she given everyone the slip? Obviously, Alan, Rhema, and Quintara had no clue that she was on the lam.

  She went into the adjoining bathroom and wasn’t surprised to find no toothbrush, hairbrush, or cosmetics. The medicine cabinet held a half-full bottle of aspirin, two Tampax, and a breath atomizer. Just for good measure, she opened every drawer – empty – and checked under the bed – no Sabra or other monsters.

  “Now, now,” she chided herself. “You don’t know that Sabra did anything monstrous.”

  But in her gut, she knew. It was like that for her. Once she zeroed in, locked onto a suspect that felt right in every way, there was no need to bat it around anymore. She’d tracked her quarry and now all that was left to do was make sure the prey was caught.

  As she was getting ready to straighten from crouching by the bed, a whiff of something teased her nostrils. She froze, then lifted the coverlet and planted her nose in the tan sheets. Wood smoke. Images of last night’s fire burned her mind, accompanied by the scent wafting from the sheets. Well, if there had been any doubt, it was ashes now.

  Downstairs, the jigsaw puzzle group was still at it, so she sat in the empty chair beside Levi. He turned questioning eyes on her and she gave a little shake of her head.