How can an old lady just vanish in her own hometown? And why? Police ask a reclusive psychic and her reformed young assistant to unearth clues through visions and investigation. They must ask themselves what in the woman's past needed silencing...
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The next morning JC's body felt bruised and stiff. Not sure if that's from the scare at 11 McDonnell or hunching over my math books past midnight, she wondered as she eased her shoulders with a hot shower and then hurried to school for her exam.
By the time Mr. B. let her in, she'd worked most of the kinks out. Her head was perched wooly on her tired neck. She pulled earbuds.
"Man, it's hot out there."
Mr. B. swiped at his forehead and closed the door with a swift motion. "Keeping the humidity out," he explained, sending her in the direction of the sunroom. "She's waiting. Lemonade?"
JC shuddered, but masked it with a polite no thanks while stuffing her MP3 in the pocket of her shorts.
"Tell me about your boogie man," commanded DeeDee as soon as she entered the bright space.
JC parked her butt on the café chair across from the old lady. Boy, you can feel the energy off her, she realized as she dropped her chin on knuckles. "He was taller than me..."
"That's not saying much!" DeeDee chuckled, but the laugh was brittle.
"Maybe six feet tall?"
"Broad shoulders? Like a grizzly?" DeeDee took over, her eyes dancing.
"Uh-huh. How'd ya know?"
"I was there."
JC understood. "Brownish hair? Not too long. Just sort of standing straight up."
"Yes!" shouted DeeDee, waving her hands over her head like a rooster's comb. "Broad nose like maybe it'd been broken too many times?"
"Yeah, kinda flat and squashed."
"Hands?"
"Like baseball gloves. And thick arms...under the plaid shirt." JC brightened at the thought of not being alone with the memory.
"Oh. I didn't get all that. Just his teeth...sort of crooked...and one missing off center."
JC noticed Mr. B. shuffle in with a tray and jumped up to help. Ice tinkled in the jug and glasses rattled as she guided him to the glass table. He straightened by forcing fists into the small of his back and then poured.
"You sure?" he asked, glancing at her.
JC shook her head and then continued, "I didn't really notice the teeth, but that house was creepy enough."
"I've only been on the inside. Seems like a center hall plan. Living room at the front with the kitchen. Bedrooms at the back." Mr. B. sipped and stared out the sliding door at the wilting greenery.
JC nodded again. "Yeah, could be? I think the small windows by the carport had lace curtains. Coulda been the kitchen? The long window across the front with the curtains closed woulda been the living room. Big ones like that are usually living room or dining room, right?"
