***
Kate didn’t want the dream to end. She wanted to stay in that horrible place with Cori to prevent the little girl from being alone. A fierce hatred rose inside of her for the monster that had done this. The frustrating thing was, he remained faceless to Kate. Cori had not been able to snatch a good look at him as he struggled with her and carried her from behind into the house. However, Cori did see one thing of great importance: his car.
Rolling over in bed, Kate was surprised to see the sun was up. Alarmed, she looked at the clock and realized she’d overslept. If she didn’t hurry and get ready, she would be late for work. As she began pulling on pieces of clothing in a half-hearted effort to put on a cohesive outfit, she dialed Jared’s number.
“I saw his car,” she said in a breathless rush before he could even get a greeting out.
“What?” he asked with excitement. “You had another vision? She’s ok? Did you see what he looked like?”
“Whoa, slow down. Yes, he took her from the house in the trunk of the car. Her head was bothering her and she was scared, but otherwise she was unhurt. He grabbed her from behind and forced her into his house, which unfortunately means I didn’t see his face again.
“But as he was taking her out of the garage, I could clearly make out the details of the car. I’m horrible with cars. I can’t tell you exactly the make and model. It looked about ten to twelve years old. It was a green four-door sedan. The front end of the driver’s side looked banged up like it had been in an accident before,” she explained.
She looked in the mirror and waited as he digested this information. Realizing her hair was not cooperating today, she pinned it back with a clip.
“Anything about the house that stood out?” he asked.
“I only saw the inside and it was dark, but it was definitely a shithole. Clothes and garbage were kind of all over the place. Cori didn’t see much, he…locked her in the basement,” Kate said in a small voice.
Kate shuddered at the memory of Cori alone and scared in the dark. Cori had been imagining all sorts of bugs and rats crawling over her as she was trapped by her bindings. “You have to find her soon. She’s scared in this horrible place and he already threatened to kill her.”
“Can you come down to the station this morning to go over everything again? Maybe we could look at a few photos of cars and get an idea of the model?”
“I can’t right now, I’m running late for work. Besides, I would rather avoid the station if that’s all the same to you. Don’t want anyone to recognize me and link me to the case, you know? Why don’t you meet me around lunchtime at my office? In the meantime, I could probably draw a pretty good sketch of the car.” He agreed and she gave him the address of the medical complex where she worked before hanging up.
Later that day, Kate sat at her desk and looked at the drawing she had created. It wasn’t half bad considering the fact she wasn’t a professional artist. Hopefully, the car would be enough to lead them to Cori. Kate had no idea what the abductor wanted with the girl or if he planned to care for her. Although the images from last night were right after her abduction, it had been close to a week since her disappearance. Cori would need sustenance to survive. He could’ve abused her in the meantime. She slipped the drawing into her purse and turned back to her computer. The office was always busy on Mondays and it had kept her occupied enough to not dwell on her fears for Cori.
One of the other medical receptionists, Diane, came up behind her. She was in her late forties and had been working there practically forever. Her eyes were wide as saucers as she said in a scandalized tone, “Kate, there’s a detective from the police department here to see you.”
Kate rose and walked over to the reception area. The three other receptionists were looking back and forth between her and Jared. She only imagined what kind of thoughts they were having. Jared gave her a soft smile as Diane whispered, “What does he want with you?”
“He’s here to question me about the drug and prostitution charges,” she mock whispered.
Jared shook his head at her, which only made her smile wider. The receptionists rolled their eyes, already guessing they wouldn’t be getting the truth from her. She sauntered up next to Jared and said, “How about you cuff me for the girls? They’d get a real thrill out of it.”
“I think you would be the one to get a thrill out of it,” he said wryly.
“Saucy! I like it,” she said and turned to the receptionists. “I’m heading out for lunch. If I’m not back in an hour, Detective Corbett has me in the clink and I’ll need bail money.”
“It was a pleasure to meet all of you,” he said in friendly tones with a wave to the staff and followed her out of the office.
She gave him a sideways glance and tried not to let him catch her staring. He wore a white button-down shirt with a black and maroon tie and black slacks. He played with his tie nervously as he seemed to be mulling something over in his mind.
Turning to her when they reached the parking lot, he inquired, “Where to?”
“Do you get a big expense account, being an important detective and all? I’ve been dying to try that new Italian bistro downtown…” She stopped at his exasperated expression. “Or a diner works.”
“Great. I usually go to the one on Billings Road. You can hop in with me and I’ll drop you here afterwards.”
She followed him to a black Crown Victoria and slid into the seat next to him. Wow, he smelled good, she silently marveled. Nothing like the cheap cologne and Speed Stick smell of most of the guys she made out with in college. It was more like a woodsy clean scent. She fought back her desire to hop on his lap and begin sniffing him like a dog.
“You’re uncharacteristically quiet,” he remarked, peeking over at her as he turned out of the parking lot.
Classic rock played at a low volume out of the speakers. She resisted the urge to fiddle with the station. “Well, you know, just enjoying the ride. I’ve never been driven around in a cop car before.” She tried to make her laugh sound twinkling, but it came out more like a hyena. Embarrassed, she quickly changed the subject. “I have the drawing for you. Maybe you’ll be able to figure out what kind of car it is.”
“I passed out the description you gave me over the phone, so at least that’s a start. It helped that there’s damage to it, narrows down the possibilities.”
A short time later they arrived at the diner and were seated in a booth in the back. The waitress took their drink orders as Kate perused the menu. “Are you paying? Because this affects what I’ll be ordering.”
“Do you always antagonize everyone or is it just me?”
She gave him a flirtatious smile. “No, it’s just you.” She laughed. “I was just kidding. I wasn’t really expecting you to pay. I don’t have a lot of money, but I’m not a total broke ass.”
She had a thought. “Hey, do I get a salary for this? You know, helping to solve the case?”
“No, you’re doing it simply out of the goodness of your heart.”
“Aww, bummer. I wouldn’t mind the cash to get my own pad. Don’t want to be thirty years old and still living at home. That might be what ends up keeping me single forever,” she complained.
His gray eyes remained fixated on the menu as he asked, “No one special in your life right now?”
“No, but I’m on the prowl for a guy. After the whole Matt Spencer thing, I rarely ventured out of the house. Kind of hard to meet anyone when you’re as sheltered as me,” she answered.
Noticing his impassive expression, she decided to test the waters. “Hey, do you know anyone you could set me up with? Got a cute brother or anything?”
He gave her a long measured look before answering. “Kate, we just met, would you really trust me enough to pick out someone for you to date?”
“Well, you’re a cop, right? Who could be better than that to screen potential boyfriends? Nothing is more telling than an extensive criminal background check,” she replied.
/> “No one is coming to mind, but I’ll be sure to inform you if that changes,” he said dryly. However, his tone implied she wasn’t likely to be hearing from him any time soon.
She looked over the menu at him and spoke in a more serious tone. “Anyway, back to the whole money thing. I don’t want anything for helping, you know that, right? I got the sense Nikki thought I was trying to scam you guys. I might be a pain in the ass, but I’m not a shitty person.”
He drummed his fingers lightly on the table. “Kate, you don’t have to explain anything to me. I get you. Don’t worry about Nikki—she’s very skeptical about this type of thing. It’s definitely nothing personal. She called my own aunt bat shit crazy for believing in psychics.”
I get you? What the hell was that supposed to mean? His comments were making her feel unsure and suddenly exposed. Quickly, she decided to change the subject. “Your aunt doesn’t have any abilities?”
“No, she just always felt there was more to the world than we could see. Most of her major life decisions are based on answers she receives during tarot card readings. Some of her ideas are pretty out there. But I learned from a young age how to take things with a grain of salt,” he explained.
“Is she local?”
“Not anymore. Kind of lives off the grid now. She met this guy from Maine and moved up there about five years ago. He makes these amazing homemade brooms and Aunt Lizzie helps him run his business.” He gave a fond smile as he thought about his aunt. “You should meet her one day, you’d love her.”
“She sounds cool. Although introductions might be a little awkward. How would you present me? As your psychic sidekick?”
Before he could reply, the waitress returned for their order. He ordered a grilled chicken sandwich and potato salad. Against her better judgment, she went for the cheese fries with a side of gravy.
Jared gave her an undisguised look of distaste once the waitress had left. “How can you eat that crap? Sounds disgusting.” As he let his gaze run over her body, she felt heat rise to her cheeks. “Why are you so thin? You should be a hundred pounds overweight if you eat that kind of stuff.”
Kate snorted. Jeez, she really needed to stop snorting in his presence, talk about one of the least attractive qualities. “I’m hardly thin. I saw your girlfriend. I look like Cartman from South Park next to her.”
“Ugh, girls with their weight issues,” he said and waved her off. “Want to show me that sketch now?”
She pulled the picture out of her purse and he examined it thoroughly. After a moment of thoughtful consideration, he remarked, “You did a good job. I have a few ideas of what type of car it may be. Looks like an older model Ford or Toyota sedan. You said about ten years old and dark green?”
She nodded and he continued, “I’ll work on getting printouts of models from around that time period. See if we can get an exact match.”
“I wish I could’ve seen the license plate, but it wasn’t visible from the angle he brought Cori out in. The garage was well-lit, but the rest of the house was dark. The layout of the house looked like a Cape Cod style, but honestly, he dragged her through so quickly I couldn’t say for sure.” She sighed and then took a sip of her diet soda. She figured ordering the diet soda helped to cancel out the massive amount of calories in the cheese fries.
“Do you have any idea of a time frame? How long she was in the car for?”
“She was unconscious for part of the ride. She didn’t have a good sense of time, but I would say he was driving for no more than twenty minutes while she was awake. It was very dark in the house, which makes me guess it could have been a lot later after he left the Prestons’. Not sure if he went anywhere first before heading to his house. Maybe someone near Cori’s house will remember seeing that type of car. I can’t imagine too many of the Prestons’ neighbors drive a hoopdie like that.”
He leaned back and chewed on his thumb. “With the damage to the front, it would definitely stand out. Of course, I wish we knew more, but this has been extremely helpful, Kate. Thank you.”
Closely, she watched his movements as he patted her hand. It only lasted a second, but Kate felt the touch long after he pulled away. Suffering a loss for words, Kate was grateful for the interruption when his phone rang.
After answering, he put his hand over the receiver and addressed her. “I’m going to step outside and take this. It’s a call from another one of the detectives working on the case.” After her nod, he disappeared out of the diner. While she waited, she fidgeted and tried not to think about how right his hand felt on hers.
A couple of minutes later, he returned with an apologetic look on his face. “Sorry about that. He wanted to let me know that they’re organizing a search party for tonight. The plan is to comb a few wooded areas in town to look for Cori. We have other detectives going door to door with Cori’s picture to see if anyone has any information,” he explained solemnly. It was hard to not get drawn in by his intensity as he spoke about Cori.
As the food arrived at the table, she became convinced greasy food would help get rid of these butterflies she was feeling. She saturated the fries with the gravy. After shoving a forkful in her mouth, she closed her eyes and sighed. “These are heavenly.”
Jared gave her a dubious look while taking a bite of his sandwich. “I can see your arteries clogging right before my eyes.”
She held out her fork to him. “Go ahead and try them. You know you want to.”
He looked on the verge of denial, but eventually caved. “Fine, but I have a feeling I’ll be regretting it.”
She grinned as he took a large bite. He showed no reaction, but she giggled as he reached over and took another large forkful. “I can’t tell if I like it. I better taste some more in order to make a sound judgment.”
“Sounds like a plan,” she said. She grabbed a side dish plate and piled some on it. “Here, stop denying yourself. One serving of disco fries will not kill you.” Her grin could not seem to fade as she pushed the plate to his side of the table.
“So, that’s what these are called? Now that you have me addicted to them, I can blame you when I get too fat to chase anyone down,” he commented between bites. He cut his sandwich in half and held out a piece to her. “Wanna share?”
She took the sandwich from him and felt a jolt as their hands brushed. She was in big trouble and she knew it. More of this and she was going to ask him to procreate on the table right then and there. He returned her smile and seemed to also revel in the intimacy of the moment. She wished she could’ve thrown his phone against the wall when it rang again a second later. Kate felt embarrassed that she was weirding him out when she noticed how uncomfortable he suddenly looked.
“Hey, I’m going to step outside and take this,” he said and hurried away from the table without a further explanation.
She chided herself as she began to devour his sandwich. The time she was spending with him was making her more confused than ever. Had she imagined him flirting back? She knew it was inherently wrong to entertain the possibility of something happening with him. He had a live-in girlfriend who happened to be in the midst of a major crisis. Nothing screamed unavailable more than that. Jared and Nikki had obviously been together for years. Did she really think he was going to throw that away on a girl he met a few days ago?
Not to mention, he was out of her league. What would a detective seven years her senior want with a sheltered girl who lived at home with her mother? Embarrassingly enough, she was inexperienced in more ways than one. She had only had one serious boyfriend and he broke up with her when she was eighteen, a couple of months before her infection. They had only been together intimately one time and it had been awkward and painful. The asshole took her v-card and then dumped her the next day. Jerk didn’t even have the balls to break up with her in person. Instead he did it via text message.
Too bad she came back from the brink of death with the ability to see memories and not the power to make her ex infertil
e. This lack of sexual aptitude made her doubt Jared would be interested in drawing her a roadmap before they hit the sheets.
Jared walked back into the restaurant and she could already feel the wall he was starting to put up. He had a tense smile and his eyes didn’t meet hers. It must have been Nikki on the phone, Kate assumed. It was highly probable she gave him an earful for having lunch with her. Mumbling through a mouthful of food, she remarked, “This is delicious, by the way.”
Some of the tension lifted from his face and he resumed his seat across from her. “Not as good as the fries, but definitely edible. Anyway, I’m thinking I’ll probably be able to get those photos of the car models some time tomorrow. Would you be able to get together? Maybe late afternoon or early evening?”
“You could email them to me if it would be easier. I don’t want to take up all of your time.”
Kate figured she’d back off gracefully. His uneasiness was obvious and she wasn’t going to push anything. She wasn’t sure why he was suddenly very withdrawn. They’d only shared food; it wasn’t like they’d swapped spit. It may have been her imagination getting carried away, but she couldn’t help but wonder if this attraction was as one-sided as she originally thought.
“No, you’re not. Like I said, you’ve pretty much provided our only leads. I’ve kind of dumped my caseload until Cori is found,” he said and pushed away his plate.
“Ok. I actually have a ton of homework for an online class I’m taking. My mom is having her friend over for dinner and I was planning to head to the library for a few hours. Why don’t you meet me there?” she suggested.
Jared agreed and she realized she had to hurry back before Diane and the other women did start calling the police station looking for her. Jared tried to pay for lunch, but she threatened to kick his ass if he didn’t let her buy her own meal. He gave a shrug and they departed.
The awkwardness still hung in the air as they drove back to her office. She normally had no problem starting a conversation, but she actually stayed quiet on the return trip. She felt moody and sullen, saddened by the certainty that nothing was going to happen between them. She tried to rally as they pulled in front of her building.
At the very least, maybe they could have a platonic friendship. Since she only had one friend, it would instantly double the pool. Who knew? Maybe it would be the start of a tidal wave of new friendships and she’d actually know enough people to start a Facebook page. She tried to give him her best “it’s cool if we’re friends—don’t be scared I’m trying to boink you” expression. “Thanks for lunch, it was fun. Sorry about my strangeness. I’m sort of a social outcast and don’t have the capacity for normal conversation.”
He returned her look with his best “hey kiddo, don’t worry” expression. “You’re not strange. You’re very sweet and pretty damn hilarious. I’m… Nikki and I are grateful for your help.”
“Ok, well great then. See you tomorrow.” She hopped out and gave a quick wave. Although she didn’t turn around, she could feel Jared watching her as she walked away.