Free Coalescence (Camden Investigations Book 1) by Gary Starta Page B

be guilty of is wasting is my time, wouldn’t it?”

 
 
    D AN CHECKED messages on Iris’s old phone before heading
into the store.
    Iris, got some good news, just found a lab to inspect the
plants at last night’s scene. The guys are busy researching the meaning of the
caduceus symbol. Let’s talk about the next step of your “ghost”
investigation . . .
    The text was from Mitchell. He had to be the UFO Guy. Dan
pursed his lips and exited his vehicle. As he crossed the store’s parking lot,
he reasoned his daughter probably wasn’t actually doing anything more than
engaging in some dating foreplay with her suitor. It was highly doubtful any
investigation of a crop circle would lead to anything substantial. They never
did. But Dan was intrigued by the reports of the lighted balls or what he knew
to be OBOLs. The Organization would love to get a hold of one of those
babies. He recalled a colleague joking that they probably held the secrets of
humankind’s origins. Dan didn’t believe the colleague was joking then. He didn’t
believe the elusive OBOLs were anything less substantial now. Moments later, he
greeted the counter clerk with a big smile.
    “Can you help assist me in activating my daughter’s new
phone? I’m afraid I just don’t know much about technology.”
    “That’s okay,” the young attendant said with a smile.
“I’d be glad to assist.”
    Even with his psychic gift inhibited, Dan Camden knew the
clerk believed him 100 percent. To her, he was just another technically
challenged father hoping a material gadget would bring him a bit closer to his
family. In a way, the clerk was partially right.

 
 
    DJ SLINKED into the house as normal. She didn’t want to
raise any suspicions with Iris. She hung up her coat on the rack and trudged
upstairs. Just another day at work . . . decorating cakes. She
knew the cake decoration wasn’t important; it was what the thought meant to
recipients. Why couldn’t these people just come out and say they loved without
forcing you to eat lard and a ton of sugar?
    Her outward appearance concealed the teeming emotions
within her. At least DJ hoped they did. She couldn’t let Iris know her
matchmaking might be successful. It was just pride talking, she knew that. But
she didn’t want her sister running her life. Once she hooked her up, who knew
what else Iris might have in store for her? That’s why she avoided conversation
with her elder sister at all costs. She still could be found out via psychic
means. In fact, she knew all about Dad’s visit just from her psychic tether to
Iris. She just hoped her feelings didn’t translate as easily as thoughts
concerning her telepathic networking.
    DJ believed her initial meeting with Darian had been
momentous. He wasn’t just someone who was outwardly attractive or a soul who
seemed to understand what she was all about. He also was an investigator at
heart. DJ didn’t want to let on that investigating was what she wanted to do.
It hurt her to leave it. She was reminded of this last night. When the crop
circle was discovered, she felt her heart was going to leap out of her chest. She
hadn’t agreed to go out on an investigation, at least not yet. But the tug was
there and this wasn’t even a haunting. It was just the thrill of a new
discovery. DJ had come to realize in the past few months that investigation and
discovery could only rival her love for public speaking and debate. She was
back on track to getting her life together, but it was a slow process.
    So how could she get back in the game quicker, so to
speak? If she opened herself up as a medium, she would be vulnerable to
visitations from her mother at all times of day. Still, to work with someone
like Darian was enticing. Maybe she could stand a few more visits from
Mom . . .
    As if Doris had heard her child, her mother appeared as a
wispy apparition before morphing into a solid form. In this interim, DJ balled
her fist in rage. She had