The waiting was the
worst.
He hoped desperately
that what he had felt, had seen, was an overly
involving nightmare but he knew it wasn't. Somewhere out there she
lay dead, still waiting to be found. It made him feel nauseous just
thinking about it but he couldn't put it out of his mind. He'd ended
up leaving the book-store closed, unable to concentrate enough to
consider dealing with people – pitiful indeed.
After two days what he
had been waiting for turned up online. It was a basic report about
the discovery of the body of Anna Castle in the early hours of Friday
morning in an affluent area of town. Pleas for anyone who had seen
or spoken to the victim at any point during the twenty four hours
previous to her demise to come forward and contact the relevant
police department, or who had any information at all that would help
the ongoing investigation.
Short. Precise.
Devastating.
After reading the report
through several times on his tablet, he took a few moments to settle
himself, taking deep breaths as he finally allowed the fact to
solidify that it was well and truly back. Whether it had been a
one-off or whether his gift had returned in it's entirety remained to
be seen, but in this instance it was obvious there. He could never
again relax into the idea of being normal. Six years of being a
blank, six years to get over the horrors of that time, all of that
hard work rebuilding himself gone in a matter of hours. His life was
about to get really complicated and he might well end up having to
leave and start all over again.
Checking the online
report yet again, Kol recognised that the co-ordinating police
department was less than five minutes away from the book-store –
karma was indeed a major bitch and gunning for him.
A quick shower and shave
and he dressed as though preparing for battle. He knew it didn't
matter how he looked – it never made any difference to how they
perceived him. Initially they would be thinking of him as some
attention seeking crazy. That would probably be the case up until
they heard what he had to say at which point he would be upgraded to
suspect number one. He was ready for that too – he had a folder
full of details of the cases he had assisted on in the past. He
hoped the contact numbers he had were up to date but he didn't intend
to do all of their work for them.
Looking in the mirror he
tried to see himself the way that they would. Dirty blond hair fell
into his face, and he regretted not getting his hair cut the previous
weekend. His eyes were still a little bloodshot from lack of sleep,
the normally bright blue-green looking dull and lifeless with stress.
His nose was neat, his mouth a little too pouty – sometimes he
thought it made him look girly, especially with his short stature and
lean frame. A white tee-shirt peeked out from the vee neckline of
his navy blue fleece; black-blue jeans were cinched at his waist with
a simple leather belt but apart from that they only fitted where they
touched – baggy and comfortable, albeit clean enough that people
wouldn't think he would some kind of skater kid. He shook his head,
a rueful smile twisting his lips as he admitted that procrastination
was an art form he could get behind. He so didn't want to do this.
His Puma trainers were
red suede, a splash of colour in an otherwise bland ensemble and
grabbing the file he had prepared, he accepted that it was time to
go. Nothing was being achieved by standing and staring at himself in
the mirror. Get it over with and see if he could be of any assistance
– his mother insisted that being blessed with the sight meant he
should use it to help people. Very Spiderman. He should really ask
her how the idea of second sight meshed with her Pentecostal beliefs
but he didn't want a slap around the back of his head for his
troubles. Better to do as his siblings did and just accept Marmee's
word as law – life was so much simpler that way...
* * * * *
“Who's that in with
the Captain?” Nick watched through the office windows as much as
he could see with the blinds pulled down. It wasn't like Captain
Cannon to close them unless he had the big brass in or someone was in
trouble. Cannon was still a policeman first and bureaucrat second,
something his team appreciated.
David was busy typing up
a report on the computer, his two finger typing technique always
something that made Nick smile. He was actually quite a competent
typist (too much time on internet forums in his youth) but he refused
to do all of the reports, convincing Threadgood that his two finger
effort was still miles faster than Nick himself could do.
“Taylor, Threadgood,
in here.” The loud sigh of relief from David made Nick laugh, an
expression he stifled as he caught a look at Cannon's face. Whatever
was going on, Cannon was looking mighty ticked off which didn't bode
well for them being called in. He couldn't think offhand of anything
he had done but that didn't mean he wasn't guilty of something.
Feeling out of sorts and unaccountably guilty, Nick headed across
the room towards Cannon's office. Whatever he'd done, he'd lay money
on Threadgood having done worse. Slipping into Cannon's office, Nick
found himself face to face with a stunning and stunned pair of blue
green eyes, grinding to a halt as he found himself unable to move
further.
“Shift Nick!”
Stuttering an apology, Nick dragged his gaze away from the wide-eyed
stare, moving so that he was standing to the right and slightly
behind Cannon's visitor. He was shaken by his reaction, taking a few
moments to get his equilibrium back. What the hell was going on and
who was the pretty boy sitting opposite the Captain? He noticed the
guy was shifting nervously, eyes flicking to Nick a number of times
before steadfastly staring at his hands. With two small steps, Nick
was stood staring at the man's profile, leaning back against the wall
so that he wasn't hovering in quite so menacing a fashion. He didn't
like his reaction to this guy and he had a pretty good idea that he
seriously wasn’t going to like what the guy was going to say but
judging by the Captain's expression he didn't have a choice about
hearing it. The Captain cleared his throat and Nick forced himself
to pay attention and stop trying to figure out if the sea green/blue
eyes were contact lenses or not.
“Kol Barrington, these
are Detectives Taylor and Threadgood. They're the lead investigators
on the Castle case. You two, I want you to listen to what Mr
Barrington has to say and I don't want you to interrupt until he's
done. We clear?” Nick saw David nod and followed suit, shifting
his legs forward as he folded his arms across his chest.
Kol was sat stiffly in
his chair, shoulders squared, head lowered slightly as he continued
to look at his hands. To all intents and purposes, he seemed to be
trying to disappear in front of them which seemed strange if he had
volunteered to be there. Shaggy looking dark blond hair fell forward
into those stunning eyes and he pursed his lips before beginning to
speak.
“I'm psychic.”
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