Free Loose Ends by Terri Reid Page A

to her and finally make sense.
    She had used it a lot when she was a cop in Chicago. She always felt she was allowing her intuition take over. It was a way to let the things percolating in the back of her mind come forward.
    Now when she used it her new abilities combined with her intuition and she received a better connection with the ghost she was trying to help.
    Mary concentrated on Renee Peterson. How had Renee felt that day, discovering her pregnancy, wanting to tell her lover, but knowing her news had to take second place to the election?
    Wondering if he would reject her, reject the baby? Wondering if she would keep the baby or get an abortion?
    She must have had a lot on her mind that night and the world on her shoulders.
    Mary slowed to 30 miles per hour as she entered Elizabeth. The road curved around a large bluff and went downhill into the town.
    As she entered the town, she thought one of the houses looked familiar. After a moment, she realized it was the house from the photo in the paper. The story about the little girl, Jessica Whittaker, who had disappeared on the same night Renee had died. That was the house her parents stood in front of, holding her photo. She had lived there.
    Suddenly Mary could see Jessica, riding her bike carefully down the street. The town was no longer the Elizabeth she had driven through earlier that week. Now the town appeared as it had been in 1984. Mary pulled her car to the curb, jumped out and ran down the sidewalk to follow the little girl on the bike.
    Jessica wove slowly down the sidewalk and turned at the corner. Mary jogged behind her, keeping her in view. She wore her hair in two blonde ponytails and had pink Strawberry Shortcake ribbons streaming from it. She was dressed in pink pedal-pushers and a matching t-shirt.
    The street was steep and Mary had to angle her movements to keep from falling, but Jessica seemed to know every bump and curve and directed her bike like a pro. Jessica drove off the sidewalk and onto a path that led into a wooded glen.
    Mary paused for a moment, watching the girl maneuver down the dirt path. While she was still in view, Mary saw her stop her bike and look into the woods. Mary started forward, watching the little girl hold a hand to her ear, as if she was trying to hear something being said. Although she understood she was only watching a shadow of the past, Mary couldn’t stop herself from running and trying to stop her.
    She could see Jessica looking up and talking with someone. Someone taller, certainly an adult, and then she climbed off the bike and walked into the woods.
    “No! No!” Mary cried to herself, jogging as quickly as she could down the steep hill. Mary picked up speed when she saw Jessica being lifted up in the air. Jessica was screaming, pounding her little fists against her unknown captor.
    “No,” Mary cried aloud breaking into a run. Pain exploded in Mary’s head and she fell backwards into darkness.

    She could hear voices. She could smell grass. Her head was pounding. What the hell happened?
    Mary slowly opened her eyes.
    “I saw it, I saw it all,” said a drawling masculine voice. “She just ran right into the side of the fort. Darndest thing I’d ever seen – it was like she couldn’t see it.”
    “I think she’s waking up,” a feminine voice uttered.
    Then Mary remembered Jessica. She sat up quickly and immediately regretted it, the whole world tilted to the side.
    “Take it easy,” a deep masculine voice commanded. “You’ve got a pretty nasty bump on your head. You might have a concussion.”
    “Ran right straight into the fort, darndest thing,” the voice from earlier repeated.
    This time, Mary slowly turned her head and found herself looking at the paramedic who was kneeling at her side. “Can you remember anything?” he asked.
    I suppose telling him that I was chasing a ghost isn’t going to work , she thought.
    “I was jogging down the hill and I must have tripped because suddenly I was