Free A Touch of Gold by Joyce Lavene, Jim Page B

and the chief will be here later to talk to you,” Nancy said. “He’ll call first. Dae?”
    “Hmm? Oh, right. He wants to talk about what I saw at the museum before it exploded.”
    Nancy shut the door and sat down in one of the chairs that faced my desk. “What did you see?”
    “Nothing, as far as I know. But he and Cailey and that new arson investigator from Manteo think there might be something important that I don’t realize I saw.”
    “Did you”—she gulped—“did you see Max explode?”

Chapter 6

    “N o! He was in the museum. I didn’t really even see the museum explode. It happened so fast. One minute I was at the door, the next there was a flash of light and I was in the street.”
    “Oh, Dae. How awful !”
    My throat felt tight and I knew if I said anything else about it, I’d start blubbering again. Instead, I looked around my little office that had once been a storage closet. It had a window overlooking the sound, and I had put all the sea paraphernalia I could find in it. I had a ship’s bell from a freighter that went down in the early 1800s and seashells I’d collected. I’d left my white oak desk the way I’d found it so that it looked a little banged up and unfinished.
    Nancy came around the desk and hugged me. “It’s all gonna work out, sweetie. You’ll see.” There were tears in her brown eyes, but her smile and resolve didn’t waver.
    “Thanks,” I whispered.
    “I’ll make sure you aren’t disturbed for a few minutes.” She walked out and closed the door.
    My mother’s face stared back at me from a barnacleencrusted picture frame. She’d been dead thirteen long years. Like Max, she was gone too soon. I’d lived with her death on my conscience every day since she’d gone off the bridge coming back from the mainland. Her body was never recovered.
    It was my fault because I was a stupid, young, knowit-all in college. We’d argued when she came to see me. My last words to her were said in anger, carelessly flung like sharp stones, meant to wound.
    I came home from college after she died and had prayed every night since then to see her ghost, to have a chance to say good-bye and tell her that I was sorry. But though I could find things with my special abilities, I couldn’t see spirits like Shayla could. She’d tried to help me contact my mother, but it hadn’t happened.
    I looked out of the window at the sun-kissed, sparkling water. Sniffling, barely in control of my emotions, I knew I had to get out of there. I couldn’t dredge up all the old, bad memories again to heap on the new, bad memories. I had to do something constructive.
    I waved to Nancy as I left town hall, not trusting myself to speak. I headed down the gray boardwalk to Missing Pieces. I wanted to recapture the excitement I’d felt about going to Kevin’s for dinner. It wasn’t easy.
    Then I remembered a dress I’d taken in early September. I’d picked it up and admired it twice since buying it with a group of other clothes from a woman in Grandy. I’d even thought about keeping it for myself, but I couldn’t imagine where I’d wear it.
    With the shop door open and the blinds pulled up on the sunny day, I walked to the back of the shop where I kept the clothes. There were only a few racks since clothes weren’t my principle sales. Customers came in and bought them randomly, so I purchased with care.
    The dress was still there. It was a simple, elegant creation of blue silk with a knee-length skirt and a low neckline that would be perfect for my grandmother’s pearls. I tried it on and decided it looked nice with my blue eyes and sun-bleached brown hair. I still had my summer tan, and thankfully, my bathing suit top had extended low enough that my chest had no white areas—at least none that the dress would reveal.
    I twirled around in front of the mirror, feeling pretty and a little fragile. I smiled at myself and messed around with my hair, holding it back from my face on one side and