Deadly Prophecy: A Second Sight Series Spin-Off Page 9

  “What’s going on then? I thought you’d get over your bad mood, but you’ve been distant all week. I asked Derek what’s going on and he’s not saying. Bri, if there’s tension between you and Derek, you can tell me. I won’t say anything to Liam—”

  She paled as she cut her off. “I’m pregnant.”

  “What?” Chelsea sputtered, dropping one of the beers out of her hand. The beer soaked Brianna’s feet before rolling off the swing frame onto the grass. Brianna stared at the foam, refusing to meet Chelsea’s horrified expression. Chelsea’s mouth hung open in shock. As she put a hand carefully on Brianna’s knee, she whispered, “Are you sure?”

  Brianna didn’t move her friend’s hand, but stared at its presence with a world-weary expression. “I took the test today. I’ve been waiting for Derek to be out of the house.”

  “Holy shit. I have no idea what to even say right now.” Chelsea set down the other beer next to the swing. Leaning forward, she said gently, “I don’t get it, though. Why wouldn’t you take the test with Derek?”

  Brianna looked squeamish over the question. “Because I won’t keep it.”

  “Oh… okay. But still, Derek’s a good guy. He’s not going to force you to have his baby,” Chelsea countered.

  “Men are progressive until it turns out to be their baby. We’re young, but we’re out of college. We both have good families with plenty of money. He’s not going to understand why I can’t keep it,” she whimpered into her hands.

  “It sounds like you’re having a hard time understanding why you can’t keep it,” Chelsea said softly, reaching out to her.

  Brianna swatted her hand away. “What the hell do you know, Chels? You wouldn’t have the slightest clue what to do with a baby either. You can barely take care of yourself. You live with your parents who employ a full staff catering to your every whim. You barely know how to drive.”

  Chelsea’s flush matched the color of her mane. “Look, I’m trying to help, but you can deal with your shit on your own.” She pushed past Brianna to leave.

  Regret seeped into Brianna’s expression as she reached out for Chelsea’s arm. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m a bitch and a terrible person. I’m upset and you’re the unlucky one who happens to be nearby. The truth is maybe a part of me really wants to have Derek’s baby.”

  Chelsea relaxed her shoulders before answering although the frustration remained fixed on her features. “I get it. But I’m telling you. Whether you keep it or not, everything is going to be okay. Derek adores you and nothing will change the way he feels. He truly loves you and will understand that there will be plenty of time later for babies.”

  Brianna didn’t look comforted by her words. If anything, she seemed to turn in on herself. Her eyes welled up once again and soon after she cried out in despair. Chelsea was quick to hurry back over to her, engulfing her in a tight hug. The slight Brianna seemed to want to disappear forever in her friend’s arms. Chelsea stood by silently as Brianna continued to cry out every last one of her tears.

  ***

  Two weeks of nothing. Two weeks of Declan and Kate spying on the lives of the rich and boring. Day and night, Declan would witness the mundane memories of Derek’s friends—none of which connected any of them to Derek’s death. Declan wanted answers for Jenna. He hated calling her daily to report nothing new.

  Each passing day, Declan had more and more doubts regarding Jenna’s theories. Inconsistent witness testimony was par for the course. He had actually read up on a phenomenon called the misinformation effect. If one person in the group presented wrong information about the night of the murder, the rest of the witnesses’ testimonies were potentially corrupted. Most convictions overturned by DNA evidence were traced back to inaccurate eyewitnesses.

  Conversely, Declan also believed in gut instinct. Jenna felt strongly the crime wasn’t a random attack. She conceded Derek’s friends might not have stabbed Derek to death, but she insisted they knew more than they were telling the cops.

  So Kate and Declan trudged on, keeping their focus on the five friends. And finally their efforts were paying off. Declan hadn’t merely uncovered a secret, but a motherfucking bombshell. Brianna was pregnant. But she had evidently kept the pregnancy from the Carnavale family. But why? Wouldn’t she want to let them know she was carrying a piece of Derek inside of her? Or had she gone ahead with an abortion?

  Before he called Jenna to tell her the news, he decided to swing by Kate’s house. Kate’s contribution to the business was handling the more delicate areas. Declan inadvertently came off as a dick when he had to give sensitive news. He couldn’t express empathy because he had to turn off his feelings most of the time. Although he was usually an outside observer in visions, deaf to a person’s inner thoughts, he sometimes found himself inside others’ heads. Declan’s theory was that reduced mental defenses allowed for mind reading. So aside from hearing children’s thoughts, he got to tune in regularly to crazy-ass radio. Being inside the mind of a serial killer or child predator was the stuff nightmares came from. If he allowed too much emotion in, he’d end up permanently institutionalized.

  Over the last weeks, Kate and Declan had reached an impasse. He could almost pretend there wasn’t a decay starting to seep into their friendship. Working a case together put them back in sync. Swapping psychic visions always brought them closer. As much as Kate might have loved Jared, her fiancé would never really understand her in the same way Declan could.

  Shockingly, Kate had yet to discover he’d been sleeping with Nikki. Declan was almost hurt by her not zeroing in on the big secret he was carrying around. Did she never visit his memories? Did he mean so little to her that she never decided to peek around inside his head? Declan’s pride convinced him that she was trying to do the stand-up thing and respect his privacy. He never gave her any such courtesy. They never lay down any set rules about whether poking around in each other’s heads was off limits. Besides, at night, they lacked control over their visions. Even if he wanted to steer clear of Kate’s thoughts and memories, avoidance wasn’t always a possibility.

  His ongoing tryst with Nikki reminded him of his drug addict days. As a pill popper, he’d open his eyes each morning and give himself a mental pep talk. Today is the day, Declan. You’re going to wake up and flush those pills down the toilet. Until you start feeling the pain, you’re never going to recover.

  Unfortunately, his good intentions went straight to hell once the pain set in again. That was the way things were with Nikki. Declan always rehearsed what he would say to break off whatever it was they had going on. But in the end, a filthy text was all it took for him to cave and invite her back into his bed. The physical pain wasn’t causing his weakness; his emotional pain held the reins.

  His thoughts returned to Jenna as he rang the bell to Kate’s house. He had mixed feelings about his latest vision. At the very least, he had some news to finally give her. He wasn’t sure if he’d been projecting his frustration onto her, but each time they spoke, he sensed a growing mixture of disappointment and skepticism. His vision offered proof Brianna wasn’t forthcoming with the Carnavale family.

  Declan’s depression lifted marginally the instant Kate opened the door. Half of her face was covered in large orange streaks—markings she was trying to unsuccessfully hide behind a curtain of her brown hair. Declan burst out laughing, unable to stop even as she glowered at him. Kate reminded him of a Chihuahua when she was angered and he had a hard time taking her seriously.

  “What the hell happened to your face?” he managed as she stepped aside to usher him into the house.

  She fell back into a dramatic heap on the couch. “I tried a self-tanner with disastrous results. I’ve scrubbed my face like ten times already and I still look like shit run over twice.”

  He sat down next to her. “It’s not that bad,” he said lamely.

  “Yes it is. Jared came in late for work and I woke up to the sound of him yelping. My face legitimately made my fiancé scream in horror.”
She covered her face with her hands.

  “Why would you put that crap on your face anyway?”

  “I didn’t want to go to Hawaii as pale as a ghost and I’m way too neurotic to go to a tanning salon.” Removing her face from her hands, she gave him an imploring look. “Please pretend I look normal for the time being. What are you doing here so early? I thought we weren’t meeting until one o’clock?” Before he could answer, her eyes widened. “You saw something! What was it?”

  Declan chewed on his thumb before he answered. “I finally had another vision of Brianna back at the beach house. I think it took place a couple of days after they arrived. Brianna was pregnant. She had taken a test while Derek was out with the guys and admitted it to Chelsea.”

  Kate sank back into the cushions and let out a low whistle. “Wow. That’s huge.”

  “I know, but it doesn’t add up. We’ve both seen Brianna in recent visions and she’s not pregnant.”

  Kate leaned forward on her elbows, evidently taking a minute to think over the revelation. “But Derek only died like three months ago. Maybe she isn’t showing yet? Two of my cousins had babies last year. The first one blew up to the size of a house within a couple of weeks while the other one didn’t look pregnant up until the day she popped that little sucker out. In fact, all my relatives thought she was faking the pregnancy since her husband is a known cheat—”

  He interrupted her. “Stay focused, Kate.” At her nod, he continued, “How do we handle telling this to Jenna? I’m not sure what the protocol here is….”

  “Hmm, that’s a tough one. I guess we tell her, right? We’re not pulling off the mask of the killer, but the news could be relevant. Especially if Brianna hasn’t told any of Derek’s family she’s pregnant. There has to be a reason, she’s chosen to keep it secret.”

  “You should call Jenna,” he said with growing urgency. His leg bounced up and down as he stared at her expectantly.

  “Ugh, I hate that you always turn me into the harbinger of doom and gloom. For once, I’d love the job of delivering happy news,” she said. Giving him the once-over, she must’ve mentally came to the conclusion his stance was unmovable. With an exaggerated groan, she said, “Fine, I’ll call her now.”

  Before he could protest, she whipped out her cell phone. After putting the call on speakerphone, Kate set the phone down on the coffee table in front of them. Jenna answered on the second ring.

  “Hi, Kate.” Declan felt a little soul-crushed by the hopeful edge to Jenna’s voice. He heard the same cadence every time he called her.

  “So, Declan is here with me and we have some news. He had a vision last night of Brianna at the beach house.” Declan understood Kate’s long pause was his cue to jump in and continue but he shook his head in refusal. With a roll of her eyes, Kate continued, “Derek wasn’t in the vision, but he saw Brianna and Chelsea talking. Dec wasn’t sure how to tell you this since he feels bad about invading Brianna’s privacy, but….”

  Tapping his knee against Kate’s, he sent her a confused look. The last thing he cared about was Brianna’s privacy. The girl was way too shady. His reluctance stemmed from not wanting to cause Jenna any additional pain. Inadvertently, he had found himself having visions of Jenna more and more lately. Derek was always with her in them. The lack of present-day memories told Declan a lot about Jenna’s current state of mind. She was obviously retreating into a world where her brother still existed.

  “Brianna is pregnant,” he blurted out. “Sorry, the conversation was getting way too awkward for me.”

  “What?” Jenna whispered.

  “I don’t know much else, but in a way, her being pregnant explains the earlier weirdness. She was moody and not drinking. Telltale signs of being knocked up.”

  Kate mouthed, “Really?” at him before chiming in with Jenna. “We don’t know how this relates to Derek’s death, but it gives us a clearer goal. From here on, we can focus more of our attention on Brianna. We’ll hope her memories enlighten us to what happened between finding out she was pregnant and Derek being killed.”

  “I’m going to confront her,” Jenna said suddenly with a steely edge to her voice.

  “Whoa, that’s a terrible idea,” Declan said, panicked. Kate cast a troubled look in his direction, silently confirming she agreed with him.

  “How is confronting her a terrible idea? She’s lied to my entire family. No wonder she’s been avoiding me.”

  Kate swung her hips to face Declan as she addressed Jenna. “We don’t know enough for you to confront her. Declan saw one isolated incident without any context. We have no idea what happened after that day. Maybe she took another test and it was negative. Maybe she lost the baby.”

  “And you don’t want to let her know that we’re onto her,” Declan added, trying to be helpful. He decided not to divulge the part of the vision where Brianna lamented over whether to keep the baby. Throwing fuel on the fire could yield disastrous results.

  Jenna released a long, shaky breath. “I emailed Adam and Liam. I told them I want their help figuring out what happened to Derek.”

  “What? Why would you do that?” Declan demanded. A sensation of foreboding told him Jenna reaching out to any of the friends was a terrible idea. Currently, they had stealth on their side. If no one suspected they were under investigation, Declan hoped they were more likely to slip up.

  “Because I don’t think they had anything to do with murdering Derek,” Jenna answered resignedly. “The three of them were friends since practically diapers. And they’ve reached out to me again and again since Derek’s death. They’re not avoiding me like Brianna. Your vision makes me think more than ever she’s involved.”

  Kate held out her hand to silence his response. “I get it, Jenna. I do. Her behavior is raising every red flag. But we’ve seen pictures of your brother and Brianna. Even if she surprised him, he’d probably have time to defend himself.” Kate added in a gentler tone, “We read the autopsy report. He had defensive wounds on his hands from fighting back. And I sincerely believe he’d have the ability to overcome Brianna.”

  Jenna let out a labored sigh. “So, you think it’s one of the guys?”

  “I don’t know, Jenna. Declan’s vision is the first we’ve heard of anything suspicious going on at the beach house. I’ve seen visions of Liam and Adam over the past couple of weeks and if Derek popped up in their memories, it was always in a positive way. They were reliving ski trips, barbecues, parties. Derek has been on their minds lately, but in a good way.” Kate looked at Declan before speaking. “What if his friends are completely innocent?”

  “What?” Declan and Jenna asked simultaneously. He could’ve throttled his psychic partner at the moment. Kate was supposed to share any theories with him first before running them by clients.

  “I admit Brianna’s behavior is unusual, but people spiral after losing someone they love. Their heads are too full of grief to make rational decisions. Derek may have been killed for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

  Declan didn’t want to call Kate out, but he felt she was heading down the wrong rabbit hole. “But the police can’t say for sure robbery was the motive,” he pointed out.

  “People kill for other things besides money. It could have been a thrill kill. They happen more often than people realize,” Kate said. Declan tried not to shake his head in disgust. The girl watched a few episodes of “Criminal Minds” and fancied herself a profiler.

  “Do you think we should look at other suspects, Declan?” Declan couldn’t help but feel touched Jenna had turned to him for advice. He had mentally tried to distance himself from the case, but even when he wasn’t working, Derek and Jenna invaded his thoughts. His self-proclaimed rules seemed to fly out the window whenever he heard the soft lilt of Jenna’s voice.

  “Kate and I could poke around a bit. Find out if there are any local suspects the police are considering,” he answered diplomatically. “But I’m not going to stop investigating Derek’s frien
ds. Brianna was already caught in a lie and we need to find out what else she’s hiding.”

  “Okay. I don’t want to come across like I have a vendetta against Brianna. Derek loved her. Really loved her. And it breaks my heart to think she could have hurt him in any way,” Jenna said sadly.

  “Don’t worry, Jenna. We may not have all the answers yet, but we’re getting there,” Declan said. “Call us anytime if you need to talk.”

  Kate sat up straighter at hearing his offer, staring daggers at him. Declan gave her a questioning look as he finished saying goodbye to Jenna. Kate picked the phone off the coffee table and disconnected. She was still scrutinizing him closely as he laced his fingers behind his head and propped back on the couch cushions.

  “You’re being nice,” she said with an accusation in her tone.

  “Huh?”

  “You’re being nice and you’re never nice,” she elaborated.

  “Damn, Kate, I thought we were friends and after all this time, you still think the worst of me.”

  She shook her head, denying his claim. “No, Dec, I know you’re a great guy. You have probably hundreds of great qualities, but being empathetic isn’t one of them.”

  “I have empathy,” he countered.

  She nodded. “Okay, you do have empathy. What I should have said was you struggle showing empathy.”

  “Well, I’m trying. You should be giving me a gold star and patting me on the back. Not looking at me like I’ve grown a dick out of my head,” he said rising to his feet. He headed toward the kitchen, pointedly trying to ignore Kate’s perusal as he opened up the refrigerator. He frowned at the lack of food. Besides takeout containers, there were three diet sodas and an expired carton of milk. After sniffing the milk, he made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. “Shouldn’t you start learning to cook soon? You and Jared are going to have obese children if all you feed them is McDonald’s and Chinese takeout.”

  Calmly, Kate walked over to him while relieving him of the milk carton. After placing it back into the refrigerator, she stared up at him. Her hazel eyes were wide and serious and those feelings he had been burying reared up again. “We talked about you not sleeping with Jenna. And it’s a given that I’d find out one way or another if you lied to me. But what I just witnessed in the living room wasn’t you lusting after our new client. That was something else entirely. That was your tender side showing. Something I haven’t seen since…,” She trailed off. Her throat bobbed up and down as she struggled to swallow.