Free A Watery Death (A Missing Pieces Mystery Book 7) by Joyce Lavene, Jim Lavene Page B

my soul after she’d abruptly died one evening when her car went off one of the bridges that joined Duck to the mainland.
    It had happened after we’d had a bad quarrel while I was still in college. She’d left to go home early because of an approaching storm. No one had ever seen her again.
    “What is it?” This place in time had become a haven for me. I didn’t like the idea that something could upset it.
    “I believe I figured out a way for you to come back and visit with your mother.”
    “How?”
    “You know that you have to hold something that connects you to that person and the time.” She sat opposite me. “You’ve come back at times when you’ve seen your mother, but she can’t see you because she doesn’t have our gift.”
    “Yes, I know that. What can make that different?” I was impatient for the answer because I knew she was right and the connection between us could be broken at any moment.
    “There was a traveling psychic who came to town last week for a carnival. I believe he was the real thing. I spoke with him briefly, just to get a feel for him. Dae, if you came back at the moment when your mother met with him, I think he could bridge the gap between you. You could speak with her through him.”
    I was amazed at the idea. “That would mean I could warn her not to go home the night that she died. She could still be alive in my time. You’re a genius, Grandma Eleanore!”
    “You can’t do that. I just meant you could talk to her. You can’t try to change her fate. You don’t know what else will change if you do that.”
    “I don’t care. Do you know how awful my life has been since the last thing we said to each other was in anger? I’ve had dreams since that day of her sitting in her car underwater, waiting for me to find her. I could stop all that.”
    “At what risk? What are you willing to give up? It could be that your grandfather will be dead instead of your mother. It could be that she’d be alive but in a coma or crippled. We can go back in the past, darling, but we can’t change it.”
    “Is that why you’re trapped in the past? I’ve tried my best to find that moment when we lost you, but I don’t have a lot of your possessions. What should I use to contact you during that time and bring you back?”
    “You can’t bring me back either.” She smiled gently. “I wish you could. But even if I knew what possession you could use, I wouldn’t tell you. You can’t change things that happened before you were born. I made that mistake. Don’t you make it too.”
    “How do you know that’s what trapped you in the past?”
    “Let’s not waste our time on things we can’t do,” she said. “Your mother won a stuffed unicorn with a rainbow horn. I don’t know for sure that she kept it as an adult, but she was a great believer in saving everything. If you can find it, use it to contact her through the psychic. Be careful what you say. I love you, Dae.”
    “Grandma—”
    “You’re starting to fade. Tell your grandfather that I love him. Goodbye, darling.”
    I came back to myself in my time, breathing as hard as if I’d run a marathon. My heart was pumping fast. I had a difficult time separating myself from the past.
    Treasure softly cried out in his sleep and snuggled closer.
    I was still in my bed, still clutching Grandma’s old watch. I realized that I was crying. I wanted to bring her back and find a way to talk to my mother. Sometimes it was all I could think about.
    For years, I’d gone to séances with my friend, Shayla, as she attempted to contact my mother. None of them had worked. But maybe Grandma Eleanore was right and the traveling psychic could work as a conduit between me and my mother.
    Shayla had moved back to her home in New Orleans. I had given up séances when I realized, by accident, that I could travel into the past holding an object that came from that time. I’d thought it was the way to be with my mother again.
    Even though it was