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"If I can. If she comes back."
"Is there a chance she won't?"
Nick sighed. "There's always a chance. But she probably
will. They usually seem to stick around until whatever it is
that's keeping them here gets taken care of."
"And that's where you come in." Mitch thought for a
minute. "Is there some way we can get her to come back
sooner? What about one of those, you know, Ouija boards?"
Leaning back in the seat, Nick shook his head. "I've never
tried. Do you have one?"
"Well, no."
Nick gave him a long, appraising look.
"What?" Mitch said.
"What about the place where her body was found?" Nick
said. "I know it's not where she died" and that was
information that hadn't been released in the news,
information it would have been damned hard for Nick and
Matthew to come across "but it's probably the next best
place if we want to talk to her."
"Okay," Mitch said. Going into something like this without
backup went against his training, but then again training had
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never covered what to do with someone who was claiming to
be a psychic. And he knew what Leo's reaction would be if he
called him. So instead he started up the car and put it into
reverse. "Let's go."
* * * *
The park was only a couple of minutes away, but Mitch's
phone rang before they got there. He flipped it open, saw that
it was Clay calling, then sighed and answered it anyway. "Hi."
"It's me," Clay said.
"I know," Mitch said.
"I was thinking about going out for a while after work,"
Clay said. "But if you were going to come home ... back. To
the house? And you wanted to talk "
Mitch interrupted him. "I can't. I'm working."
"Your shift ended half an hour ago," Clay pointed out.
"I know, it's just ... something came up. I'm going to be
tied up for another hour or two." Mitch glanced at Nick for
confirmation of the time frame they were looking at, and Nick
nodded.
"Probably not more than that," Nick said quietly.
Not quietly enough Clay overheard. "Are you seeing
someone?" he asked, his voice rising into a near-shriek.
"No!" Mitch said. "Not like that."
"You're so full of shit, Mitchell Anderson," Clay snapped,
and hung up.
"I really, really am," Mitch said, shutting the phone and
dropping it down into the cup holder.
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"God, I'm sorry." Nick leaned forward and put his face in
his hands.
Mitch reached over and rested his hand on Nick's shoulder.
"It's not your fault. Things have been screwed up for a while.
Now we're just ... I don't know, trying to figure out how to
untangle our lives so we can go on alone."
Nick looked at him. "It doesn't sound like that's what you
want," he said.
"I don't know what I want," Mitch said honestly. "I guess I
want every little thing he does not to get under my skin.
Things that used to be cute " He winced at the word choice,
but went on, "Now they just annoy me." He slowed down as
the neared the public parking lot that was adjacent to the
park. "Here we are."
"Okay." Nick took a steadying breath. "Are we close to
where her body was found?"
"Not really. It's on the other side, over there." Mitch
pointed. "Don't worry, I have a flashlight and stuff. It'll be
fine."
Nick smiled grimly. "Oh, don't worry, Detective Anderson. I
stopped being afraid of the dark a long, long time ago."
Made sense. "Well, good. And it's Mitch."
They walked across the park through the twilight it was
strangely quiet, when this time of day should have been one
of the most crowded. Mitch supposed it was because of the
news reports; things like that spooked people, and probably
with good reason. The fact that they didn't know Paige hadn't
been killed in the park didn't help. Despite his claims that he
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wasn't afraid of the dark, Nick stuck close, to the point where
his arm bumped Mitch's a couple of times.
"You okay?" Mitch asked the third time it happened.
"A little nervous," Nick admitted. "I don't usually do this
without Matthew."
"We don't have to," Mitch said. "We can go back and get
him, if you'd "
"No," Nick said. "As long as I can trust you. I can, can't I?"
He looked at Mitch, expression serious. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]