- •In Sight of the Seer
- •In her vision, Terence skated to a wall. Guin narrated the years-ago conversation.
- •It really was the minute that changed…everything.
- •Chapter Two
- •In an odd synchronization, she took a step toward Guin as Guin took a step backward. The front door was squarely behind her. She tightened her grip on her bag strap.
- •If she was going to share her secret with anyone, it would be someone she trusted implicitly. Someone she truly felt at peace with. That would be Cheryl.
- •Chapter Three
- •It was comfort that only Terence could administer. She smiled at last, covered her lips slightly so he wouldn’t know how good a job he’d done cheering her.
- •Chapter Four
- •Chapter Five
- •In the squad car Guin brushed her hands off and wiped the last crumbs from her frozen burrito off her lap. She took a sip of water and glanced in Cheryl’s direction.
- •Chapter Six
- •It was really all he wanted to hear. Briggs nodded. He saw her to the door.
- •Chapter Seven
- •Chapter Eight
- •Chapter Nine
- •If only she could control the visions. If she must be haunted, she could ask for a haunting of a different nature. A Cheryl nature.
- •Chapter Ten
- •It didn’t make a lot of sense to her, but nothing her mother said ever did.
- •Chapter Eleven
- •It was a bad night gone worse. Guin wished more than anything that she could strike her unwilling confession from the record.
- •Chapter Twelve
- •In the lounge, Guin and April were signing off on their daily reports when Sloan poked her head in. She motioned toward Guin.
- •Chapter Thirteen
- •It had turned into an absurd conversation. “Oh really?”
- •Insanity. She shrugged it off.
- •Chapter Fourteen
- •In the parking lot she let out the tiniest growl of exasperation. “What a nutty bitch.”
- •Chapter Fifteen
- •Chapter Sixteen
- •Chapter Seventeen
- •Chapter Eighteen
- •Chapter Nineteen
- •Chapter Twenty
- •In the office, Mr. Johnston sat on a stool, breathing hard. April whipped out a notebook and pen, readied herself.
- •Chapter Twenty-One
- •Inside Captain Briggs’s office, Lieutenant Sloan was getting her ass chewed out.
- •Interesting. “And?”
- •It wasn’t nearly as enchanting as the tv show made it look.
- •Chapter Twenty-Two
- •It was Guin’s first time seeing the omitted pictures and she studied them for several long seconds. The shots were of her standing next to what appeared to be her dead partner.
- •Chapter Twenty-Three
- •Chapter Twenty-Four
- •It was Guin’s turn to answer the April question. “We fought.”
- •Chapter Twenty-Five
- •In fact she had felt a little guilty for issuing the poor guy a ticket. But that’s the price you pay when you miss lineup because of good sex, she consoled herself.
- •Chapter Twenty-Six
- •Chapter Twenty-Seven
- •If all else failed, given the right night and the right ambience, perhaps she wouldn’t be opposed to a little…haunting.
Chapter Twelve
After lunch, Detective Burnette laid the evidence pictures out on a lightboard in his office. He carefully matched each marker with the correct shot and made notes. He flipped through the stack until he came to the ones of Guin, April and the perp. Then Guin and the perp. Then Guin…
His eyes grew wide and he held the shot close, studied it for a long time. Without altering his puzzled stare, he picked up the phone and pressed a single button.
“Lieutenant Sloan, Burnette here. I’ve got those meth lab shots back.” He raised the picture to the light, squinted at it before stacking it back with the others. “There’s something you should see.”
They covered the usual niceties with few words.
“Burnette.”
“Lieutenant.”
And then Detective Burnette entered her temporary office and shut the door behind him.
“Adjusting?” he politely inquired.
“Trying to.” She raised her eyes to him, smiled hospitably enough. “That’s why this better be important.”
Burnette looked troubled, blinked too much. “It’s important. Mostly it’s weird.”
She made a give-me motion with her hand and he forked over the envelope of crime scene photos. He watched as Jace Sloan carefully examined and shuffled the pictures until she zoomed in on one in particular interest. He patiently awaited her reaction.
There was a very clear image of Sergeant Cheryl Jones standing in the photograph next to Guin. Moreover, Guin appeared to be looking at the woman, and for the first time in as many weeks, she seemed relatively at peace. Cheryl, on the other hand, seemed relatively…transparent.
Sloan stared for several moments, then replaced the photos in the envelope and calmly addressed the detective. “You have a report to accompany this montage?”
He seemed confused. “I do, but…”
“Where is it then?”
“It’s on my computer still.” He shook his head. “Didn’t you see—”
“What I see is an old picture of Sergeant Jones superimposed over top of one of today’s crime scene photos.” She set it aside. “Technology isn’t perfect, Detective.”
“But the way Marcus is looking at her…”
“Bring me that report as soon as you’re done with it, would you, Detective?”
He stood there, stunned. Lieutenant Sloan looked at him. He shrugged. “Sure.”
“Anything else?”
“No, ma’am. There’s not.” He turned and started to leave her office. “Detective Burnette, are there any more of these?” She nodded toward the envelope he’d just delivered to her.
“Yeah, a few more in that envelope. Some even wackier than that one.”
“I see.” Lieutenant Sloan seemed to be mulling it over. She reopened the envelope and shuffled through the pictures again. She selected one, studied it for any trace of the apparition and decided it was a clean shot. She handed it to the detective. “That’s the one you’ll use for this report. Are we clear?”
He took it from her.
“There’s no sense in causing a commotion around here over some malfunctioning software. Only makes emotions run high. Gets folks talking nonsense.”
“If you say so, Lieutenant.”
She looked squarely at the detective, made sure he knew there was no wiggle room on this issue. “I do say so, Detective. I appreciate your cooperation and confidentiality on this matter.”
“Of course, ma’am.”
“These on your computer?”
“They are.” He looked at her blankly, then realized what she was getting at. “You don’t want them to be, do you?”
“Take care to delete them, please. And make sure that I have the only disk copy, will you?”
“I will, Lieutenant.”
When she was alone again, Jace Sloan took another look at the pictures, laying them out one at a time on her desk. There was no mistaking that the hazy image was Sergeant Cheryl Jones, and she appeared to be interacting with Officer Marcus. Sloan studied them for a long time.