Free Don't Touch by Elise VanCise Page B

go.
     
    Better yet, how far was he willing to go?
Since the night he had camped out on her porch Jackson had watched
her come to life again. Remembering the way she looked with the
breeze coming off the lake lifting her hair. The intense
expressions as she examined the artwork in the museum. The way her
lashes rested on her cheeks as she fell asleep.
     
    Guilt settled in the pit of his stomach for
pushing her today. The cemetery plus the Kessler place was too much
for her just learning about what she was. Then her sister acting
like Ryan was out on a day pass. He knew that cut deep. After this
case was over he decided not to just forget about her. Ryan had
become someone he cared about. He would make sure she wasn’t alone
anymore.
     
    Ryan woke up on the couch. The last thing she
remembered was talking to Jack. She stretched and sat up her bare
feet hitting the floor. He had slipped off her shoes. She knew it
was all an illusion. That as soon as they caught the killer that
Jack and his partner would be gone and she would be alone
again.
     
    She dialed the phone then hung it up again.
She was not going to call her sister. Not after the way Amber had
acted. Over the phone the last week she had seemed genuinely happy
that Ryan was starting to come back to the world. It was apparently
a lie to placate the crazy lady. Except now Ryan knew she was not
insane. She tried to figure out what had caused the first horrible
vision of these killings.
     
    She had touched Jillian Hilliard’s clothes
but cloth didn’t seem to hold anything, like paper. Maybe she had
brushed her body when the glove tore. It seemed so long ago now.
Could she ever go back to work? Today, she realized how much she
missed it.
     
    The phone rang Jack’s cell number flashed on
the screen. “What’s up?”
    She could hear him grin over the phone. “The
sky.” He laughed at his silly joke. “I’m calling because somebody
found out about you.”
     
    Ryan propped her feet on the coffee table.
“Bad or good?”
     
    “To be determined.” He propped his feet up on
the desk. “I didn’t wake you up did I?”
     
    “No, I was up. I guess that was more activity
than I’m used to. Plus the emotional roller coaster.” She was
thinking of Amber but his thoughts drifted to her frightened scream
at the Kessler house.
     
    “No more pushing so hard, alright? It’s going
to take time to catch this guy and it will take longer if you fry a
circuit or something.”
     
    She laughed at him but could hear the
sincerity in his voice. He cared. “You’re not in trouble or
anything because of me are you? I mean I know some departments use,
I can’t believe I’m going to say this, psychics.”
     
    It was his turn to laugh at her. “No trouble,
Captain Heinz our department supervisor shocked me by saying he
didn’t have a problem with using a, and I don’t really think you
fit in that category, psychic. But he called you an amateur and
wants to have a pro come in as see how accurate you are. If you
pass you stay on the case, his word. Especially since someone who
lives by the grove and cemetery called and gave the exact
description, you did of the possible suspect walking through her
yard. Anyway Heinz wants you here at three tomorrow. Listen, you
don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”
     
    Ryan played with the fingers of the gloves he
had given her. “If I don’t do it he’ll take me off the case. I
wasn’t officially on to begin with; we just sort of jumped in. To
tell you the truth I think it’s a good idea. I mean I don’t know
what I’m doing and this person does. They can tell us if I’ve
screwed everything up or what I can do better.”
     
    Shaking his head he could envision her
talking with her hands, she did that when she was excited or
nervous. “I wasn’t so sure you’d be good with this. After the
Kessler place you were pretty shaken up. I don’t know if I could do
it again.”
     
    Switching ears and putting the lunch