"But you think I might be one of them."
He slid out from under the 4-Runner. "But I don"t know. know.A year ago I would"ve known, but now I don"t."
"Is that so bad?"
"Right now it is. I really don"t think it"s Angela, but every fiber of my being wants to believe it. And because of you, a tiny piece of me does doesbelieve it."He stared into the open hatchback, where he"d taken out the trunk panels."s.h.i.t. There"s nothing in here."
"Call the radio station."
"Right."Joe grabbed his cell phone, called information, which patched him through to 96 Rock. The nighttime deejay had never even heard of "Verdi Cries"and a.s.sured him that it had never been played on his watch. Joe cut the connection.
"They didn"t play it?"Suzanne asked.
Joe shook his head."No."
"Well, there goes the idea of the song stirring up old memories for you."
"Maybe someone was following me."
She raised an eyebrow. "Following you with a hacked radio?"
He thought it through."Yes.A low-power CB radio hacked to transmit on the FM band. This is the only station I listen to. If they were tuned to this frequency, they could have transmitted the song, Angela"s voice, everything. Low wattage, so they had to stay close by."
Suzanne nodded. "Otherwise, everyone in the neighborhood would be listening to your wife"s voice. But how did they know about your song?"
"I don"t know."
"Who would do this, Joe?"
"I don"t know that either."He glanced back at the 4-Runner."I don"t have one single bit of proof, but it"s all I can think of."
"Sounds reasonable to me."
He turned toward her. "Thanks for helping. I thought I was going a little crazy."
"If it helps any, I thought you were too."She smiled. "But I"m glad you thought of me."
"Yeah."
She stepped closer."Can I talk you into staying?"
G.o.d, it was tempting. "It would only make a crazy day that much crazier. You wouldn"t believe all that I"ve been through."
She took his hand."Come inside and tell me about it."
Haddenfield slammed on his brakes to avoid being run off the road. Christ. Dylan"s monstrous SUV cut in front of him and squealed to a stop. They were on a dark street in Midtown, only a few blocks from the hospital observation center.
Dylan jumped out of his SUV and charged toward him. Haddenfield opened his door. "Hold on, Dylan. Let me just-"
Dylan pulled him out and threw him onto the hood of his car. "What the f.u.c.k did you tell them, Haddenfield?"
"Nothing, I swear. I just told them what they needed to hear."
Dylan applied pressure to Haddenfield"s neck. "That"s what I"m afraid of."
"No,"Haddenfield rasped."Bailey found our testing center. I had to explain what Monica Gaines was doing out there."
"And the Narada Study?"
"A complete failure as far as they"re concerned. I didn"t tell them anything else."Haddenfield gasped for air."Please ...You have to believe me."
Dylan released the pressure. "You didn"t talk to them about what happened to your idiot team member? About Gary?"
"I didn"t tell them anything. Why would I do that? I"m practically an accessory, for Christ"s sake."
Dylan fixed him with a doubtful stare. "You"d better not be lying to me."
"I"m not."
Dylan stepped back.
Haddenfield sat up, gingerly stroking his throat. "The son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h cop broke into the testing center. We couldn"t keep it a secret anymore."
Dylan nodded. "What do you know about Joe Bailey?"
"Just that I represent everything he"s against. He"sgood at his job, and most psychics won"t go near him."
"Monica Gaines did."
"We both know that she"s a special case."
"Is Bailey a threat to us?"
Haddenfield thought for a moment. Could his answer actually get Bailey killed? It should"ve given him a feeling of power, but instead it just made him sick."I don"t know,"he finally replied. "We should wait and see how his investigation progresses."
"We don"t want to wait too long, Haddenfield."
"You never give up, do you?"Suzanne smiled at Joe as she walked into her seance room.
"I couldn"t sleep."
"Well, you could have at least put on a robe. It"s chilly in here."She tossed him a throw from the back of the sofa.
"I needed to cool down a little."As usual, s.e.x with Suzanne was fiery and pa.s.sionate, yet incredibly tender. He"d never felt so connected with anyone else besides Angela.
Suzanne pulled her bedsheet tighter around her nude body and sat down on the sofa beside him. "If I were a little less secure, I"d think that you bedded me down to sneak another peek in here."
Joe shook his head. "You know better than that. You"ve never had a problem with my unexpectedly showing up for your seances, and you"ve always allowed me to impose any conditions I wanted."
"You"re right."
"You"ve even allowed me to choose the time andlocation of your seances with no advance notice. Not once have you used the lame excuses that almost every other spiritualist and psychic has used on me."
Suzanne smiled. "Oh, like your negative vibes are inhibiting my abilities?"
"Exactly. I"ve never met anyone like you."
"I hope you"re not just talking about the paranormal stuff."
"Of course not."He gently touched her cheek. "You"re amazing in every way."
"I"ve always felt the same way about you."
"Jesus, I"m sorry I shut you out for so long."
"I"m sorry too. I wondered if I"d ever see you again."
He looked away. "When I thought there was just a one-tenth-of-one-percent chance that your abilities were real, I liked it. Thanks to you, my door was cracked open to an amazing new world."
"So what happened?"
"The more I saw you, the less I could explain."
"Couldn"t stand to lose your perfect record, huh?"
"It was more than that. You threw that door wide open. I wasn"t only imagining that world, I had to find a way to live livein it. It was harder than I thought it would be. When you spend your whole life thinking one way, it"s not easy to change."
"Good G.o.d, you mean you actually believe in me now?"
"Let"s just say that the scales have definitely tipped in your direction."
She nodded."Good. I"m glad for small favors."
"And thanks for helping me out with this Angela stuff. It"s been ...difficult."
Suzanne reached out and rubbed his back. "What made you come in here?"
He glanced around the seance room. "I don"t know. Maybe because it"s where I first started to believe in you."
"Could there be another reason?"
"Like what?"
She hesitated. "Maybe you think you can speak to Angela here."
He opened his mouth to deny it but stopped himself. "Maybe."
"Are you ready for that? Because if you are, I think I can make it happen."
He instinctively backed off."Not yet."
"I didn"t think so."She leaned her head against his shoulder. "When you"re ready, and one day you will be, the offer"s always open."
Are you fast enough to catch me, Joe?"
He ran faster. This time he could do it. He could catch Angela.
He"d been here before, chasing her in this white, sandy desert. The sand slowed him down, but Angela glided over it, moving like the wind.
"I need you to catch me. Hurry, Joe."
He tried to say something, but he was out of breath. He needed all his energy to chase her.
He heard only Angela"s voice and the sound of his own breathing. d.a.m.n, it wasn"t fair. Every time he got near her, she glided out of reach.
Was she taunting him? Was she being cruel?
No, of course not. There was nothing cruel about Angela. This was a dream. The dream he"d had almost every night when Angela was in the hospital. He forced himself to open his eyes.
Angela was still there.
She was on the television, laughing as she tried onsnow skis for the first time. It was a video of their trip to Big Bear, California, only three years before she died.
He checked his watch: 5:19 A.M. He"d come home from Suzanne"s a little after four, popped in the videotape, and promptly fell asleep.
"She was a beautiful woman."
Joe turned to see his father leaning against the doorjamb."Your note said you were staying at Carla"s."
"Nikki"s still there. Carla"s going to take her to school. I thought you"d like some company."Cal came into the room."Been thinking about Angela, son?"
"Always."Joe stopped the video. "I just wanted to-sort out some things."
"It"s nothing to be ashamed of. We all need to spend some time in the past."
Joe stood."It"s not like that. This falls under the category of research."
"If you say so. But if you want to talk, that"s why I"m here."
"Thanks, Dad."His father had always been there for him. "Right now I think I just need to go to bed."
Eight-fifteen A.M.
Joe awoke to the sound of the phone ringing. He was about to answer it, when he heard his father pick up in the next room. A few seconds later, Cal rushed into his room."Come on, Joe. We have to go to Nikki"s school."