Joe sat bolt upright. "Is she okay?"
"Yes, but her day is over. Monica Gaines Monica Gaines"s PsychicWorldjust went public with your so-called visitations from Angela."
That b.i.t.c.h Tess Wayland. He jumped out of bed. He had to get to Nikki before the media descended on her.
"What"s wrong, Daddy?"Nikki stood up from a chair in the princ.i.p.al"s office.
Joe hugged Nikki while Cal closed the door behind them. "Sorry to yank you out of your cla.s.ses, honey."
Nikki shrugged. "No prob. You saved me from having to stand up and give a report on the agricultural revolution."
"You"ll make it up later."
She made a face."Great."
"What did the princ.i.p.al tell you?"
"He said that you were going to take me home and that you"d tell me why when you got here."
"Honey, remember the last time I investigated a murder case and all those reporters bothered us?"
"How could I forget that? that?It sucked out loud."
"Well, it"s going to happen again. Monica Gaines"s TV show is doing a story about the things that have been going on."
"What things?"
"The things in our apartment. The furniture, the fingerprints, maybe even the voices."
"The voices?"
Joe nodded. How could he tell her? "After you thought you heard Mommy the other night ...I heard something too."
"Heard what? what?"
"Something ...that sounded like Mommy"s voice."
Nikki"s lower lip quivered."I knew it was her."
"I said it sounded soundedlike her, not that it was washer. There"s a big difference."
"What did she say?"
"Honey, I"m sure it wasn"t really-"
"What did she say?"
Joe shared a quick glance with his father. "Just some stuff about me being careful. Nothing specific, nothing that proves anything."
"She"s trying to warn you."
"Warn me of what?"
"Whatever hurt Monica Gaines. Whatever hurt those other people."
"Honey, we don"t know what"s going on here, but I wanted to talk to you before someone else did. Monica"s show just did a story about it and they uplinked it to their syndicator on a satellite. Reporters are already starting to call my precinct with questions. They may be coming after us next, so it would be best if you came home. Grandpa will look after you."
"No."
"Sweetheart, it"s only until-"
"I don"t want to go home. If any reporters bother me, I"ll tell them to bug off."
"It"s not just the reporters. When this story breaks, the other kids and even your teachers will be asking you about it."
"So what?"
"They"ll ask you a lot of things about Mommy. It might upset you."
"What"s to be upset about? I know she"s dead. It can"t get any worse than that."
"They"ll ask about the voice you heard. They might make fun of you."
"If they laugh or pick on me, that"s their problem. Isn"t that what you always say?"
Cal chuckled. "Yeah, Dad. Isn"t that what you always say?"
Joe turned toward him. "Whose side are you on?"
"Yours, when we walked in here. h.e.l.l, it was my idea to come get her. But now I don"t know. The girl makes sense."
Nikki gave him a curt nod."Of course I do."
Joe wrinkled his brow. "I still think you should come home."
"I want to stay here. Please?"
Joe sighed. Nikki could be so d.a.m.ned stubborn, just like her mother."Do me a favor. Don"t talk about this to anyone, not even your friends or teachers."
"What am I supposed to say?"
"Say that it"s a police investigation and you"re not allowed to talk about it."
Nikki picked up her canvas knapsack and slung it over her shoulder. "You"re afraid people are going to think I"m crazy. You"re afraid they"re going to lock me up like they did Suzanne."
"She told you about that?"
Nikki nodded. "When she was a kid, she spent a whole year in a special hospital because she heard her dead friend talking to her."
"That"s right."Joe pushed Nikki"s hair off her forehead. She had always liked Suzanne. "But that"s notwhat this is about, honey. I just don"t want you to talk about it until we have a handle on things, okay?"
"Okay."
"Leave it to the Spirit Basher to steal my thunder,"Howe said as Joe entered the squad room.
Joe shot him a quizzical look. "What are you talking about?"
Howe grinned. "I proposed to Regina this morning, and she accepted. We"re getting married in May."
"Hey, that"s great. Congratulations."
"Of course, you"re the only one that anybody"s thinking about today. Timing was never my strong suit."
"Sorry about that."
"Apologize to the public information office. All the nutty calls about you are being directed there."
Carla walked into the room. "I just talked to the feds. The Narada Study has been officially disbanded, but the U.S. Department of Defense still respectfully requests that we maintain our silence about it."
Howe rolled his eyes. "About a half-baked study that yielded zero results? Fine."
"What"s Monica Gaines"s status?"Joe asked.
Carla shrugged. "Hanging in there. You gotta give her credit, she"s a fighter. Doctors didn"t think she"d make it through the night."
"Still unconscious?"
"Afraid so."
Joe sat down at his desk. "I wish I knew who she met in that bar. There was something interesting going on between them."
"What, you don"t check your voice mail anymore?"
Joe turned to see Sam walking into the room, accompanied by a uniformed officer from downstairs.
Sam hefted a thick brown package under his arm. "I called you four times yesterday. You don"t think I have better things to do?"
Joe motioned for the officer to leave."Sorry, Sam. I was kind of busy."He pointed to the package. "What did you bring me?"
Sam tossed it onto his desk. "A gift, made to your specifications. I"m still not sure about this."
Joe tore into the paper and revealed half a dozen white terry-cloth robes. "Excellent. Thanks, Sam."
Howe grinned. "More hotel robes? Are you going to model those too?"
Joe carefully rewrapped the package. "Not yet. Tonight."
"Why tonight?"Carla asked.
Joe nodded at Sam."We need to rehea.r.s.e."
"You should have given me the security tape, Bailey."A faint tone of defiance tinged Tess Wayland"s voice.
"Extortion is against the law."Joe fell into step with her as she hurried down the twenty-seventh-floor corridor of the Georgia Pacific Building. He"d come from Sam"s shop and was amazed to find that the Monica Gaines Monica Gaines"s Psychic Worldproduction offices had moved overnight. The building"s conservative atmosphere was shattered by the blue-jean-and-T-shirt attire worn by the dozens of technicians and a.s.sistants.
Joe ducked to avoid a boom microphone. "I told you that there was no way you were getting that tape. Is it true that you did a reenactment with actors playing me and my daughter?"
"We usually try to get the real people for our reen-actments, but I had a feeling you wouldn"t be inter-ested. We found a good match for Nikki, but I"m afraid that the man who plays you is about thirty pounds overweight."
"Oh, this just keeps getting better,"Joe said sarcastically.
"He"s actually quite good. The look on his face when he hears his late wife"s voice gave me chills."
"Are you sure it wasn"t nausea?"
"You haven"t seen it yet, Detective. It"s tastefully done."
"Right. Like the Monica-Gaines-on-fire reenactment?"
"That"s airing on tonight"s show too."
"Can"t wait."
"If you came here to try to pull your story, it"s too late. It"s already gone out to the stations."
"That"s not why I"m here. I came to give you a different story."
"I see. A little grat.i.tude for giving you cell phone info?"
"No. Any grat.i.tude was instantly erased when you released that story. I may be fair game, but you have no right to upset my daughter. I"d like to break your neck."
"You"d have to stand in line. So what"s the story?"
"Bring a camera crew to Monica"s hotel at eight-thirty tonight. You"ll see then."
"Give me a hint. How do I know you"re not intentionally wasting my time?"
"In order to get back at you? Not a bad idea."
She studied him for a moment. "But I don"t think you"re doing it now. I"ll be there."
"And, by the way, don"t think I"m naive enough to think that you haven"t already checked out that phone number she called."
"You mean to her sister? Okay, so I put a research a.s.sistant on it. Too bad it wasn"t somebody more interesting or exotic. Are you sure you can"t give me some idea why I"ll be paying overtime for a camera crew tonight?"
Joe stepped aside to allow a crew member and a camera dolly to pa.s.s."No."
"I did didget under your skin, didn"t I?"