Pieces & Parts, page 8
“To make sure I understand, you and Lily held hands and then you had a lightning flash?” Chaundra asks, and I nod. “Lily, did you feel it too?”
“Yes. Through my whole body. It hurt,” she sobs.
My heart breaks for Lily—the last thing I ever want to do is cause her pain. “I’m so sorry, honey. I would never hurt you on purpose. I’m sorry.” Again, sobs overtake me.
“What did you guys see?” Chaundra asks, gently.
“Dominick, Chase, Anna, Scott, AJ, Leah, Stephanie, David. Dominick, Chase, Anna, Scott, AJ, Leah, Stephanie, David. Dominick…” The same names that fill my mind pour out of Lily’s mouth on a loop.
“Shh, honey. It’s okay. Shh…” Chaundra says and pulls Lily tighter.
“The bad man hurt them all. He killed them. Then cut them up,” Lily says.
“He wants to make them new. Make them whole,” I say, not even sure what this means. “He wants forgiveness. He’s broken. Sad.”
“So, this bad man is killing kids. Cutting them up and saving their bones? And he’s sad about it?” Chaundra asks.
Lily and I both nod.
“Mommy, he’s going to hurt Liam if we don’t stop him.”
As soon as she says the words, I remember. I had blocked that part out. Liam will be his next victim. His bones will become a piece of the puzzle if we don’t stop him. I pull away from Jonas and run to the bathroom to vomit, but he follows behind.
After I’ve thrown up, I sit back against the wall. “I saw it too. Liam with the right half of his skull missing.” Once the words escape me, I throw up again as Jonas holds my hair back.
“We will stop him. He’s not going to do a thing to Liam.” He sounds so much surer than I feel.
Liam is twelve, about the same age as the other children I saw in my mind.
“We need to find him now. Chaundra can’t lose another child. I won’t let him hurt Liam.” I hiccup a sob as a sense of determination rises within me. “I also saw something else. I don’t know why, amid all the other faces, I saw another one. Our child’s.”
Jonas gasps. “Being hurt?”
“No. I’m not sure why she was there,” I say and realize my mistake. I put my hand over my mouth.
Jonas’ whole face breaks into a smile. Joy replaces his earlier fear. “We’re having a girl?”
I nod. “Sorry I let that slip and that you have to find out this way instead of like any normal person would get to.”
Jonas places his hand on my stomach. “Who needs normal? Which name do we go with?”
I hesitate, not sure if I should take away all the surprises but give in when Jonas raises his eyebrows in anticipation. “Zoe. Our little Zoe.”
Jonas leans down to my stomach. “Hi, baby girl. I’m your daddy. I love you already. I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep you and Mommy safe.”
My heart bursts at his love for our little girl, but it breaks at the same time. How can we bring a child into this world full of monsters? And Liam—how do we save him?
“Let’s go talk to Chaundra and Micah to see if we can figure this out,” I say. “We’ve got to stop him.”
Chaundra has brewed a fresh pot of coffee by the time we make our way back downstairs. I look at Jonas with raised eyebrows to see if he’ll object to me having a cup, since I’m certain she didn’t make decaf.
“I’d say you’ve earned a cup, as long as you don’t think it will make you more anxious,” he says.
I walk toward the kitchen. “Nothing could make me more anxious right now.”
“Sit, Tess. I’ll get it,” Chaundra says and grabs my favorite mug from the cupboard while I take a seat at the dining table next to Micah.
“Chaundra showed me the painting and explained a bit more about your abilities,” Detective Oliver says.
I nod and brace myself for his disbelief. Chaundra places a mug in front of each of us. I can’t miss the quiver in her hand. She must be an absolute wreck with hearing the news about Liam, even though she’s a master at hiding it.
“I’m sure you’ve caught quite a bit of flack over the years about it, huh?” he says.
I nod and take a drink.
“Tessa, you said a name that caught my attention. Anna. What can you tell me about her?” Micah says.
“She had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. She had dimples in each cheek. After he killed her, he cut off her lower right arm. He threw her in a ravine where she was hidden amongst fallen branches and leaves.” Nausea fills me as I stare into my coffee mug.
Micah blows out a loud breath. I look up to see what caused his reaction.
“I… uh… need to step outside for a minute if you don’t mind.” Detective Oliver rushes out onto the deck.
“What’s going on? What’s wrong?” I ask Chaundra. “And are you okay?”
She takes a deep breath. “Actually, I’m freaking out. You guys saw Liam? I can’t even…” She picks up her cup, takes a drink of coffee, followed by a deep breath. “Anyway, we’ll deal with all of that later. I don’t know the whole story, but Micah’s little sister was murdered when she was twelve. Her name was Anna. Hopefully, he’ll be able to tell us more when he comes back in. I think we should give him a minute.”
We sit in silence and drink our coffee. Images of the children continue to batter my brain. His voice echoes in my mind, begging for absolution, pleading for forgiveness. Lily has managed to drift off on the couch, which I’m a bit envious of. I wish I could get these thoughts out of my mind long enough to rest.
“Lily told me the news. A little girl, huh?” Chaundra asks.
Jonas’ face breaks into a huge smile. “Yep. Zoe.”
God, I hate that he couldn’t find out about all of this like a normal father would, instead of this way. Why does my ability have to interfere with our lives, especially now? I don’t want this back. The last five years have been so peaceful without it. Now, at one of the happiest times of my life, it rears its ugly head again. Why?
Cold air rushes in as Detective Oliver opens the door. “I’m sorry about that,” he says and sits next to Chaundra.
“I hope it’s okay, but I told them about your sister,” Chaundra says.
Micah slowly nods. “Normally, I’d have a really hard time wrapping my mind around your gift, but I’ve had some encounters with people through the years who have made me question my beliefs. One was a psychic that worked with our family when my little sister, Anna, went missing. She was the person who helped us find her body.”
I meet his gaze. No wonder he didn’t act totally freaked out by some of the things I told him the first time he was here.
Micah clears his throat and takes a deep breath. “The little girl you described with the dark hair, brown eyes, and dimples. That was my sister. Her body was found, thanks to the psychic, in a ravine at the bottom of the Unaka mountain in Tennessee. She was missing her lower right arm.”
“Oh my god!” I cover my mouth with my hand and try to push the image of Anna’s mutilated corpse out of my mind. “When did this happen?”
“Thirteen years ago. She was twelve. I was twenty-four.” He pauses to take a drink of coffee. “It feels like yesterday.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jonas says. “I can’t imagine what that was like for you. Your family.”
“It was terrible. It’s one of the things that made me go into law enforcement because before then, I was determined to break the family tradition. I didn’t want other families to ever go through what we did. It seems like my plan didn’t work, though. It appears that he had many more victims than my sister.”
“At least seven more and he’s not finished,” I say. “I’ve been in his mind. He’s only halfway done. And, like Lily said, if we don’t stop him…” I trail off without finishing the sentence as my gaze falls on Lily sleeping peacefully on the couch. I hate knowing that she saw the same things as I did—the atrocities Liam will suffer if this guy isn’t caught. Jonas pulls me close, trying to shelter me in his arms.
“Then we need to figure out who he is and make sure he never hurts another child,” Micah says, his jaw rigid with determination. “There’s only so much I can tell you because of the ongoing investigation, but I think there’s a lot you and Lily can tell me, which may help.”
My voice comes out barely louder than a whisper. “I’ll do whatever I can to assist.”
“Lily will too,” Chaundra adds.
Micah nods. “How about we all try to get some sleep tonight and talk more tomorrow? I’m beat and I can only imagine how drained you are.”
He has no idea. These flashes have only been back for a couple of weeks, but it feels like a lifetime already. As exhausted as I am, though, there will be no real rest for me until we figure out who is killing these children and collecting their bones. I will not stop until we find him. I refuse to let Liam be one of his victims.
Chapter 19
After everyone leaves, Jonas leads me back to bed. I try to sleep but children’s faces, their screams, their pain fill my mind and prevent me from drifting off. Jonas fought to stay awake until he was sure I was asleep, but before long, his snores fill the room, as the sun is starting to peek over the horizon.
Since trying to sleep is pointless, I ease out of Jonas’ embrace and tiptoe downstairs. I start a fire, grab my laptop, and head to the chair next to the fireplace to do my research. I type in Anna Oliver murder and wait as pages of search results load. Her picture pops up and there is no doubt in my mind that she’s the girl who Lily and I saw. I scour each article for clues as to what happened to Micah’s little sister, finally grabbing a notebook to write down the important details.
Micah and his family were on vacation for spring break, and they had rented a cabin near the base of Unaka Mountain for the week. Micah and Anna were on the trip with their parents and some of their siblings. According to the many articles, on March nineteenth, the third day of their getaway, Anna said she was taking a walk to a stream that was less than a half-mile from their cabin and promised she’d be back for lunch at noon. The family knew something was wrong when she wasn’t back by twelve-thirty, so they all split up to look for her. After hours of searching, the only thing they’d found was her pink backpack resting along the edge of the path leading to the stream. It was filled with rocks, feathers, and other little trinkets she liked to collect on their trips. Anna was gone. The family called the police to report Anna missing at three in the afternoon, and officers arrived on the scene within forty-five minutes.
Daily searches and press conferences were held for the next four days, but still, they couldn’t find Anna. By this time, the family’s vacation was over, and they were supposed to leave the cabin to return to their normal daily lives. But they couldn’t leave without their daughter. They instead rented a room in a nearby hotel, where they were contacted by a psychic on the sixth day after Anna went missing, who said she could help them locate their daughter. None of the articles state the psychic’s name. On the seventh day, the psychic led the family to the ravine where Anna’s body was later recovered. The ravine was so deep and overgrown—the only thing the family could see that told them their daughter’s body was there was her red t-shirt, as well as one of her jelly sandals about half-way down the slope of the ravine. The police recovered the body, but the case is still open. No suspect has been named.
I scan my notes and circle March nineteenth. My heart falls to my stomach when I realize that not only is it my due date, but there’s something else familiar about it. I pull up websites about Tatum Wright and quickly make the connection. It is the same date he went missing. March nineteenth is the key to this. I type in the date starting in 2005, two years before Anna went missing, and scour news reports for that day but nothing comes up that is familiar or important.
“What happened on March nineteenth?” I whisper, asking the ghost in my brain for an answer. I don’t dare pose the question of whether or not it’s a coincidence that it’s the same day that Zoe is supposed to be born.
As though in answer, a pain stabs me through the heart like someone has reached into my chest and tried to rip it from my body. A name courses through my mind at the same time—Sam. Along with the name, the sandy blond-haired boy with the brown eyes and chubby cheeks that I painted takes over my thoughts. Makes me gasp for breath and my heart shatters into a million tiny shards. I don’t know who the bad guy is or what happened for sure, but I am certain that Sam is his son and something terrible happened to him on March nineteenth. Something that forever changed this man’s life and made him kill these children. Something that turned him from a loving father into a monster.
“Hey, why are you up?” Jonas asks from halfway down the steps, as he rubs his eyes.
His voice snaps my attention away from the laptop and back to this room. “I couldn’t sleep, so I did some searching.”
He makes his way to the couch and moves my laptop to the coffee table, then rests his head in my lap. “Hon, you need rest.”
I nod. “I know, but I couldn’t. I needed some answers… which I found a few.”
“Fill me in, please,” he says, stifling a yawn.
I share what I found about Anna and about the date, March nineteenth, being the key. Jonas’ eyes widen when I mention the date, but he continues listening attentively, successfully burying his shock at hearing that our baby’s due date is important to this case.
Once I finish, he says, “You’ll need to pass on that information to Micah. My guess is he’s more apt to figure out the meaning than you are by doing random searches. Plus, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to worry about all of this.”
“I agree about sharing the information with Micah. Hopefully, Chaundra will call soon. Maybe they can both come back over later today. I feel awful about interrupting their get together. I also know it’s impossible for me not to worry about it.” I run my fingers through his hair. “I know you caught the date, right?”
He nods but doesn’t speak, and instead rubs my belly, right as Zoe gives a kick.
“Hey sweetie! Daddy’s here.” He kisses my stomach and then looks up at me. “I’m sure no one cares about a ruined date right now. How about you come back to bed with me for a bit? I’m still exhausted, and I know you have to be, too.”
As the words tumble from his mouth, my whole body shuts down from sleep-deprivation. I yawn and nod. Jonas stands and holds out his hand to me. I grab my phone and follow him up to bed.
Chapter 20
The ringing phone startles me awake. I glance at the clock before picking it up—it’s two in the afternoon.
“Hi, Chaundra,” I say after checking the display.
“Did I wake you? I’m so sorry! Twice this week, ugh,” she says.
I yawn. “It’s okay. I need to get up. I was awake all night, but Jonas finally dragged me to bed about nine this morning. How are you?”
“It was a rough night for Lily. She kept talking in her sleep and woke up several times. I called and spoke with Ophelia about recommending a counselor. She referred me to someone she thinks would be a good fit for Lily—her appointment is next week. Micah ended up crashing on my couch and left only a little while ago.”
“Oh, I totally forgot to ask. How was your date? Well, before my interruption.”
“A-maz-ing. One good thing about everything happening the way it did is it kept me from breaking my no sleeping together on the first date rule.” Chaundra laughs.
“Oh no! Details, please!”
“Things were getting a little hot and heavy when Jonas called,” Chaundra says and then sighs. “But like I said, it’s probably good you interrupted. I really like him and don’t want him to get the whole package on date one.”
I smile. “You sound happy. Do you have another date planned?”
“He’s going to come back after his shift tonight for a nightcap, which will be nice because the kids should be in bed. He’s a great guy. We have a connection. He feels it too.”
“I’m happy for you, Chaundra. I’m sorry about all this weirdness on your first date. How was he after the revelations about Anna?” Jonas stirs at this question and reaches his hand out to caress my back before his eyes open.
“He was rattled. We talked about her quite a bit last night and I got more details,” Chaundra says.
“Yeah, I did some searching after you left and found out more information about her. My heart aches for his family. I can’t imagine how hard that was on all of them.” I pause, not sure if I should unload the rest of my discoveries. I finally decide to reveal what I found. “One thing I think is important is the date Anna went missing, March nineteenth.”
“Your due date? Why do you say that?”
“It was also the date that Tatum went missing, and I think it’s the day that something happened to the killer’s son.”
Chaundra puffs out an audible breath. “Oh, wow! It sounds like there is a connection then. That’s only a few months away.” The anxiety in her voice is palpable.
Jonas stands and mouths that he’s going to make coffee.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
Chaundra sighs. “I’m trying to be but, honestly, I’m scared to death. Especially now that I know his killing time is fast approaching. We have to catch this guy before…” She doesn’t finish the sentence.
“We will. We have no choice. In the meantime, make sure Liam is safe. Please share this with Detect… I mean Micah, to see what he thinks. We can talk more about it later. I really need to wake up a bit.”
Chaundra takes a deep breath and then laughs. “You mean you need coffee first.”
“Yeah, well, whatever. Same thing.” I chuckle.
“Okay. Go get your coffee. I’ll make sure to tell Micah. Please let me know if you figure anything else out. I’ll try to talk to Lily some more today too.”
I pull on my robe. “Okay, and Chaundra?”
“Yeah?”
“First, tonight is officially your second date, so you wouldn’t be breaking any rules if you seduce him. Second, I’m here for you, and I’ll do everything in my power to keep Liam safe. You can always be real with me and talk about what’s going through your head. Don’t suffer in silence.”
