Twisted Screams Page 3

  Even now, she could recall how angry he’d been with her, and he’d been justified in his feelings. Particularly considering that, at the time, she still hadn’t crossed over to embrace her own truth. That came later, when she was finally able to admit it to herself. Denial was so comforting, but truth had a way of making itself known despite all obstacles.

  Peace, at least for her, came the day she’d stepped out of the proverbial closet and accepted what she’d dimly known all along. She didn’t abandon her marriage because she didn’t love Bryan. In her own way she loved him very much and always would. But she didn’t want to be his lover; she wanted to be his best friend. Her ideal lover didn’t sport the shadow of a beard or pee standing up. No, her heart had longed for another, who was soft and rounded, full breasted, and all woman.

  As she’d evolved into the woman she’d always wanted to be, Bryan’s bitterness toward her had grown. Once again she couldn’t blame him. It was tough enough going through a divorce under normal circumstances, but finding out your wife had left you because she wanted to love another woman, well, that could be a hard pill to swallow. He was a good guy, but even good guys had their limits.

  Today things were still a bit strained between her and Bryan, and though she hated it, she understood. Perhaps someday he would be able to forgive her enough to be friends once again, and she hoped that day would come. She still loved him and prayed he would find it in his heart to love her again too.

  If Lorna felt that same reluctance to be around Anna that Bryan did toward Renee, she really didn’t have the right to push it. Except this situation was different, and despite her own reservations, deep in her heart she felt they needed to help. It was unfortunate that the aid needed to come primarily from Lorna. Just the same, it was unavoidable. The universe in its infinite wisdom had seen fit to bestow the gift of sight upon Lorna, and all Renee, Jeremy, and Merry could do was be there to support her.

  Gazing at Lorna now, her heart constricted. Being there for Anna was the right thing to do, yet she hated the thought of having Lorna in the same room with Anna. Renee had seen pictures of the woman, and she was beautiful. In fact, not only was she beautiful, but she was incredibly accomplished as well.

  In comparison, what did Renee really have to offer? Her home and livelihood had gone up in flames. She was essentially jobless and homeless. Well, she did have a million-dollar offer for her property on the table, and that was something, except it was just money, and that wasn’t likely to be the thing that would attract Lorna. She wasn’t that shallow.

  Asking her to be with Anna again was like throwing a match on gas-soaked logs. Who knew what kind of sparks still existed between the two women, ones that could potentially ignite? Their breakup had been ugly, but that didn’t mean a reunion might not be tender or stir the sort of feelings that had brought them together in the first place. She could lose the life she was living now, the plans she’d made with Jeremy and Merry to rebuild her company after losing it all to a fire, and the dreams she had for a future with Lorna. By pushing this, she was putting everything important to her at risk.

  She shifted her gaze to her mother, Jolene, who gave her a slight nod. Sometimes she had the feeling her mother could actually read her mind. It had been that way since she was a kid and hadn’t changed in the years since. Mom knew the truth, just as she did, and she sensed the risks, just as she did. Turning away from this situation would be wrong. Her mom gave her another tiny nod, and Renee managed not to sigh. Sometimes a person just had to walk into the fire and hope to hell she walked out alive on the other side.

  Her eyes went to the handset Lorna held. “Call her,” she said. “And when you’re done, we’ll talk about the fiancée thing.”

  Silently she prayed she was making the right decision and wasn’t about to lose everything she held precious.

  *

  Jeremy would be lying if he said he was one hundred percent okay with this recent turn of events. Yeah, he totally believed Lorna needed to take the trip back across the mountains. Whatever this psychic thing was that his sister had developed, she rocked it, and it seemed like it had some greater-good element they couldn’t, or more accurately, shouldn’t ignore. Karma could be a nasty bitch if blown off.

  So far, she’d solved a hundred-year-old mystery here at the house, and then she’d helped find a murdered friend back in Spokane and in the process stopped a serial killer who didn’t appear to be in the mood to stop killing. Without Lorna’s psychic gift, who knew if anyone would ever have recovered the body of Catherine Swan or stopped the killer in Spokane. Now, from what Renee told them, Anna’s wife was missing and could be hurt or in danger. Anna’s situation wasn’t that very different from the other two.

  Except it was different, at least in one very important way. Anna had hurt Lorna, and he’d been there during the aftermath. At one time he’d wondered if he’d ever get his sister back, and he blamed Anna for that. Yes, he got that every story had two sides, and honestly, he wasn’t sorry they weren’t together any longer. In his opinion, Anna wasn’t the one for Lorna and never had been. That said, the way Anna had ended it was inexcusable, and a part of him would always hold that against her.

  Despite everything, he didn’t hold on to animosity. He could forgive even if he never quite forgot. He could be friendly with Anna even if he would never fully trust her. Did he wish her harm? No. Did he wish harm to the woman she married? Absolutely not. And, in reality, good people did not turn away from this kind of plea for help. He wanted to believe they were good people.

  So he would urge Lorna to help and flex her super-power muscles and use them to get Sadie back home. He would urge Lorna to trek the high road, and he would be there beside her every step of the way. He didn’t intend to take a bitch-slap from karma anytime in the near future.

  Besides, in not too many months he was going to be a father, and that changed the rules of the game in a big way. He wanted to be the kind of parent a child looked up to. That meant doing the right thing, like helping out his sister’s ex-girlfriend even when he wanted to tell her to fuck off. Oh, yeah, and he was going to have to clean up his mouth too.

  “What are you thinking about, handsome?”

  Merry came up beside him where he stood on the patio overlooking the expanse of ocean shoreline and put her arms around him. He loved the way she felt, her warm and swelling belly pressed against him. She was more beautiful than ever, and that was saying a lot considering she had been, in his opinion, stunning from day one. It was true what they said about expectant mothers. They glowed.

  “I’m just thinking about this thing with Anna.”

  Merry kissed his cheek and then laid her head on his shoulder. “You were right, what you said in there. Lorna has to help. We all do. My new-mother intuition seems to be kicking in, and it’s telling me it’s important we all do this together.”

  “It’s going to be painful for her.”

  “Probably.”

  “We have to be there for her.”

  “Without question.”

  “I have to marry you soon.”

  “Absolutely.”

  He wrapped her in his arms, and this time he laid his head against the top of hers. “I love you.”

  Chapter Three

  Clancy jumped up on the bed and grabbed a single sneaker out of her suitcase. Looking at her as if to say “ha ha,” he jumped off the bed and carried it out of the room. Lorna laughed, knowing she’d find the sneaker, intact though slobbered up, near the windows in the living room. It was a game Clancy played with her daily. Usually he grabbed a shoe from the closet, but today he seemed to be making a statement by unpacking the shoe she’d tucked in the suitcase.

  “I don’t think Clancy believes I should make this trip,” Lorna said to Renee, who was, like her, packing a small suitcase. “It would probably be a good idea to listen to him. Dogs have a good sense of right and wrong.”

  Renee cocked an eyebrow and shook her head. “Clancy’s a smart dog,
and he’d urge you to do the right thing. He’s just showboating by taking a shoe out of your suitcase. Nice try, though.”

  Lorna smiled because even though she didn’t like it, Renee was right. Clancy was playing, and Lorna enjoyed the game as much as he did. Turning, she stared out the master-bedroom windows. Outside, twilight was settling in and darkness was following close behind. It had taken her hours to make peace with this trip. She should have left shortly after taking Anna’s call, but she couldn’t get herself moving, and everyone had wisely let her work through her slow start in her own time.

  “Why don’t I feel anything?” she asked Renee. Honestly she wasn’t sure if she meant she didn’t feel anything toward Anna or that she didn’t feel any psychic pull at all.

  Renee walked up to stand beside her at the window. “I don’t know,” she said after a moment. “Maybe there’s more to this than what you experienced with Catherine Swan and Alida Canwell. Who knows, considering there’s no user’s guide for what you can do. Or maybe we just need to be closer to Spokane for you to start picking up vibes.”

  Those two names Renee said so casually sent chills through her whole body. Catherine Swan was the murdered Makah woman Lorna had been led to by the ghost of her love, Tiana McCafferty. Alida Canwell was her childhood friend who fell victim to a vindictive serial killer. She had found them both and brought them home. As heart-wrenching as it had been to find the bodies of the murdered women, it had also been satisfying to know they were no longer lost and alone. Since she was stuck with this thing, whatever it was, it was comforting to know she could bring the lost home.

  Which led right straight back to the original question: could she really turn her back on Anna’s plea for help in finding Sadie just because her heart had been bruised? If she could, what did that say about her? Nothing good, that was for certain. No matter what direction she came at the question, she had to go, and she knew it. The knowledge didn’t make this trip any easier. Having Renee at her side was the only thing that did.

  Slowly she turned and looked at Renee. “So, tell me again about my fiancée.”

  A look somewhere between sheepish and delighted crossed Renee’s face. “Well, it seemed like the right thing to say at the time.”

  “Really? That’s what popped into your mind when you were talking to my ex?” The thought sent warmth flowing through her. Though they’d never talked about marriage, the idea was not unpleasant or unwelcome.

  Renee’s smile lit up her eyes. “Well, how was I going to get Anna’s attention if I didn’t give her something to think about? After all, she ran right into the arms of another woman, and I didn’t want her thinking you were just sitting around moping, now did I?”

  Lorna couldn’t help but return her smile. “I kinda was sitting around moping, if you remember, and it wasn’t pretty.”

  Renee put her hand against Lorna’s cheek. “You know that and I know that, but she doesn’t need to. This is what’s called having your back.”

  “God, I love you.”

  “Right back atcha.”

  Lorna put her hand over Renee’s where it still rested against her cheek. “So let’s talk about this fiancée thing…”

  Renee’s smile grew, but before she could say a thing, Jeremy came winging into the room. “Come on, you two. Quit with the lovey-dovey stuff and get your butts moving. We’ve got pavement to burn. I hate driving the pass in the dark, and it’s going to be dark really soon.”

  Renee grabbed her suitcase, gave Lorna a peck on the cheek, and zipped out of the room. Apparently, they’d be talking about it later. Lorna grabbed her own suitcase and headed toward the front door. Later was fine, but they would talk about it.

  *

  Anna tried Sadie’s cell phone again and, just like every other time she’d called, had no luck. Over the last few hours she’d called everyone she worked with. Nobody had seen her since bright and early yesterday morning, but according to her coworkers, that wasn’t unusual during this phase of the project. When Sadie was scouting, it could be several days before she checked in. She’d been known to cover hundreds of miles gathering pictures and making sketches of places she thought would work for a given movie or, as in this case, a weekly television series. No one in her office had given it a second thought that she hadn’t called in yet.

  Apparently the only one who knew something was wrong was Anna. The police didn’t believe her. Sadie’s coworkers didn’t find it odd. She felt it deep in her stomach, and the sensation made her ill. Was this her penance for taking the coward’s way out when it came to ending her relationship with Lorna? Maybe she had it coming, but to take it out on Sadie wasn’t right.

  From her point of view, they couldn’t waste any time before trying everything possible to locate Sadie. Obviously from her fruitless efforts so far, she couldn’t do it alone. Until the call she’d made to Lorna, nobody wanted to extend help of any kind, except Lorna. Anna wasn’t entirely convinced she had bought into the idea that Sadie was in trouble either, but unlike the others, she was willing to help. It said a lot about the woman she’d turned her back on.

  It also said a lot about her that she would walk away from someone like Lorna. Not in a good way, either.

  Getting caught up in her own character flaws was a waste of precious time. It was water under the bridge. She couldn’t change any of it now, and even if she could, Anna didn’t believe she would. The realization that she and Lorna weren’t the forever kind of couple hadn’t dawned on her in a flash of understanding but rather in a gradually growing understanding that she had to be free.

  At the time, she’d realized they were on different sheets of music. Clearly she could have found better ways to handle breaking away, but she chose a path that was selfish and self-serving. It was easier, but then again the coward’s way usually was.

  She frankly didn’t deserve the help that was on its way. Lorna could, and probably should, have told her to go to hell. That she didn’t made Anna want to start crying all over again. Once Sadie was safely back home, she would find a way to make amends.

  Now, staring out the window into the darkness punctuated by the stream of golden glow of the streetlight, she waited for headlights to pull into the driveway. Each and every approaching vehicle made her jump. Each time another car passed by, her heart sank.

  Again and again her thoughts turned to Sadie. She could see her as she was the morning she left, cheerful and full of life. She was always that way, and it was one of the things that had drawn her to Sadie. She needed that spark of positive energy in her life, and it made every day a little better because of it. The fact that Sadie was also beautiful and sexy and smart as hell didn’t hurt either. For Anna, she was the total package, that once-in-a-lifetime chance that she’d grabbed with both hands. She wasn’t going to let go now either.

  After hours of watching the comings and goings of traffic out her front window, hoping each and every car held Lorna, her vigil paid off. The lights of a vehicle glowed in the distance, growing ever larger and brighter as they came slowly down the street. They were extinguished when the SUV turned and then came to a stop in her driveway. Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart felt as though a band had tightened around it. Help was finally here.

  She forced herself to move from the window and out the front door. The doors of the SUV opened and four people emerged. Three of them she recognized: Lorna, Jeremy, and Merry. The fourth woman she’d never seen before. The fiancée? She had to believe it was the woman she’d spoken with on the phone, and a flutter of something she didn’t want to name hit her heart. She ignored it and charged out the door.

  Without giving herself a chance to change her mind, she hurried to the driveway and threw her arms around Lorna. Tears streaked her face, and in the back of her mind she thought she looked tired, drawn, and well, just plain awful, and maybe that wasn’t so bad. At least Lorna wouldn’t have any questions as to how worried she was. “Thank you,” she cried as she hugged the woman she’d once l
ied to when she’d told her she would love her forever. “Thank you.”

  *

  The streak that came flying across the sidewalk to envelop Lorna in a hug was tall and beautiful. Slender in blue jeans and a white shirt, she was barefoot and devoid of makeup. Though she looked exhausted and stressed, she was lovely in a way Renee would never be. She hated her instantly and had to stifle the urge to scream, “Get away from my woman!”

  As it turned out, Lorna gave her a brief, tight hug, then stepped out of the embrace. Her movements were calm and cool, and something about that quality put Renee at ease. Lorna casually slung an arm around the woman’s shoulders and turned her to face the three of them. “Renee, this is Anna.”

  Her face was tear-stained and distraught, her poise and grace were alluring, and Renee wanted to load everyone back into the SUV and race straight back to the coast. All along, she’d convinced herself she was giving wise counsel to Lorna. Now that they were here, she realized how wrong she’d been. Anna was everything Renee was not. Tall, willowy, lovely, and from the looks of the house, wealthy. Of course, Renee had to remind herself she wasn’t exactly destitute after the sale of her downtown Seattle building, so at least on that score she could stand neck and neck with the amazing Anna.

  On every other score, she was sorely lacking, which made her heart hurt, and she desperately wanted to run and hide. Lorna hadn’t wanted to come here and she’d been the one to push her. Now her own stupid ideals were going to be the very thing to take away the first real happiness she’d known. She was going to lose Lorna, and it was her own stupid fault.

  It was more than just the way Anna looked. Her aura flowed around her like a rainbow cape of colors. In it, Renee glimpsed the soul of the woman Lorna had loved with all her heart. In it she detected not evil or hatred, but the mind, body, and spirit of a basically good woman. True, she’d done Lorna wrong. At her core, however, she wasn’t a bad person, and that made Renee hate her all the more. She’d wanted to find her ugly and mean.