Chapter 47: A Visit

A voice stopped Grace at the door to where Dolores lay dead.
“Miss Harmony?”
Grace’s eyes closed. “What?”
“Will you listen to me?”
“Miss Johnson I asked you to leave me alone.”
“I can’t. You’re wasting your talent. You could do some much more good with it.
Grace turned to face her. “No, I’m doing all that I can. Someone has died tragically and they deserve to do that in peace and privacy.”
“I’m not interested in saving Dolores Holten.”
“What did she ever do to you?”
“Marry and hurt my brother.”
Exhaustion weighed on Grace. She just wanted this rewind over and done. Then what the woman said hit her. “You’re Zach’s sister?”
“He’s not proud of me. That’s why he didn’t tell you.”
“But if his sister has powers why is he such a skeptic?”
“Because I steered him wrong once. He lost his career because of it.”
Grace leaned against the wall. “So my power is a threat to him.”
It all made sense. He would never really believe and even if he did he wouldn’t trust her. The realization went through her like a knife.
“Then maybe it’s good I’m rewinding.”
“Oh?”
A man in a white uniform wheeled a gurney past her into Dolores’ room. She knew he was from the morgue. This may be her only chance to see Dolores. They would question here down there.
“Look, if you’ll excuse me, Miss Johnson I need to go. I need to rewind.”
“Will you talk to me when you come out?”
“Of course.”
The woman let her go. Now she had to convince the orderly to let her alone with Dolores body.
***
Grace had no desire to honor her promise to talk to Celia who now sat with Zach in the waiting room. She’d only assented because she thought she’d have rewound by now. The orderly had stood by the fact that he had orders to get the body to the morgue for autopsy.
This was a murder case, he kept saying.
Zach eyed her as if he’d lost faith in what she had to say. Celia looked past him a worried look on her face. “Now will you talk to me? I may have some insight into this case.”
Grace ignored Celia Johnson. “Zach, can you get me into see the body?”
He frowned then raked a hand through his hair indecision written on his face. “Not my investigation, Grace.”
She stepped closer to her. “You’ll try?”
He reached out a hand to her and his touch warmed her very soul. But she knew he no longer believed her. His touch was of a friend or a stranger comforting a stranger. Not a lover or someone who believes in you all the way.
Her heart slowed its beat, having been here before this and not liking the situation now either. “Thanks.” She turned to the reporter. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“You promised.”
“I can’t.”
Right then two detectives joined the party.
***
Zach’s world spun out of control when he saw his colleagues. They stared at Grace as if she were the spawn of the devil.
Had he misjudged, totally misread her? He didn’t think her story of rewinding had been hiding a murder. “What’s up, guys?”
“We need to talk to Miss Harmony. At HQ.”
This was serious. They really thought they had something on her. A chill started in his heart. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll go, Zach. It’s okay.”
Defeat lowered her shoulders while it etched lines in her brow. He longed to hug her and take away from all of this. But he couldn’t and his impotent rage threatened to choke him. “I’ll get you a lawyer.”
She handed him a card as she crossed the room. “Call Mark. His uncle’s a lawyer.”
Mark again. That guy ended up everywhere. Why did she trust him so much? He looked at the number. Why was that so familiar? He shook it off knowing he’d think of it when something else was on his mind.
The reporter appeared in his personal space. “See. Even the cops here think she did it. Strange, huh?”
Zach’s temper spiked. He had little use for the press and even less use for this woman. “She’s innocent until proven guilty.”
“Yeah, you cops always believe that.”
“And reporters never try someone in the public domain.”
She shrugged, obviously undaunted by his accusation. “Talk to Jeff Becker.”
“Who is he?”
“The last person Grace convinced she could help. His mother’s dead and Grace was brought in for questioning on the that one, too. She predicted it.”
“If they had a case, why isn’t she in jail?”
“She made bail then ran.”
He shook his head. She wouldn’t have been stupid enough to get involved with him if that were true. “I don’t believe it.”
Jane pulled out a notebook and tore off a piece. “Here’s Jeff’s number. Call him. I think you’ll be enlightened.”
“The newspaper reports said nothing about her being on the run.”
A smirk lifted a corner of her mouth. “So you have checked up on her.”
He had and now he wished he hadn’t. He needed to believe her, but the cop part of him knew he would talk to this Jeff guy. He took the number, then stuffed it into his shirt. “None of your business.”
“My cell number is on there, too. Call me if you want to know the real story.”
***
“How come all interrogations rooms look the same?” Grace said to the two-way mirror at one end of the drab room.
No pictures hung on the gray-green walls. The table was functional and the chair she sat in uncomfortable. Her stomach rumbled from hunger and her bladder screamed to be emptied. Three cups of coffee had settled there the moment she entered this room.
No one had come to talk to her, letting her stew. She knew the tactic. The cops in the last town had done the same.
The door opposite the mirror opened and two detectives entered the room. She braced herself even though she was innocent. Would they ferret out her secret?
She wasn’t a murderer, but a freak. And time was getting short. Tomorrow was her birthday. She had to touch Dolores soon.