Thirty-Two and a Half Complications
Page 84

“I found Mr. Sullivan’s body.”
“So you overheard these men discussing the matter when you saw them kill him?”
I took a deep breath. “No, I just found his body.”
He spread his hands wide. “So you found him with a note of explanation pinned to his shirt?”
“No, of course not.” I swallowed, my nerves a tangled mess. “I just know things.”
I let out a shriek when he grabbed my throat and gave it a slight squeeze. “I already get that you know them. What I’m interested in is the how of it.”
I tried not to panic when my vision started to fade, not because he was cutting off my oxygen supply, but because I was about to pass out from fright. I had nothing to tell him. Why had I presumed he’d just take the information without me being able to back it up?
“She has the sight,” Bruce Wayne said. “She can see things.”
I would have gasped if I wasn’t in a choke-hold. How did Bruce Wayne know? I’d certainly never told him.
Skeeter dropped his hold, and turned his attention to Bruce Wayne as I sank in my chair. “You’re shittin’ me, right?”
“No. She can see things—the future, only she has no control over it. It just hits her and she blurts out what she saw. That’s how she knows. I suspect she had a vision of the robbers while she was at the bank and another one at church yesterday. She was near a group of four guys and Samantha Jo when she had it and I don’t think she knows which one it was.”
My eyes widened in shock.
Bruce Wayne gave me his puppy-dog eyes. “I ain’t stupid, Rose. I’ve known since we were working on the grounds of Reverend Jonah’s church. I just didn’t say anything because I know it embarrasses you. And I was at church yesterday. You just didn’t see me.”
“Well, well, well. This is interesting.” Skeeter sat back on his desk, looking amused. “Who else knows about your gift?”
“You believe Bruce Wayne?” I asked.
He crossed his arms. “I’m reserving judgment, but I’m open to the possibility. My grandmother knew an oracle in Lafayette County and swore she was legit. I wouldn’t have believed it, but a few of her predictions came true.”
My heart raced and I struggled to catch my breath. This whole thing was spinning out of control. “She was my grandmother.”
“You don’t say.” He grinned, but there was something sinister underneath the expression, like he was placating me. “Now tell me who else knows you have this ability.”
“Just my sister and my boyfriend.” I kept Neely Kate out of it. I couldn’t put her in danger.
“Both of your boyfriends?”
Why did he want to know? “I only have one at a time, thank you very much. But yes. Both of them know.”
“No one in town?”
“Why do you care?” I asked, my senses returning. “What does it matter to you?”
“I want to make sure you’re not telling other people things they might want or need to know.”
I snorted. “I hate having visions. And if I tell someone about something I’ve seen, you can bet I wish I hadn’t.”
He studied me with new appreciation. “That night you came to the pool hall this summer and told me I was gonna lose a lot of money? That was a vision, wasn’t it?”
I nodded, still in shock that this man, of all people, now knew my secret.
He grinned and propped his arms behind him on the desk, bracing himself. “Tell me if I’m gonna win the auction.”
“It doesn’t work that way. It’s like what Bruce Wayne said; I don’t have control over what I see or when I see it.”
He sat up, his eyes twinkling. “You said your boyfriend doesn’t know you’re here. How about I keep you here until you have one?”
Oh, crappy doodles. “Then you better order out for pizza. It might be a while.”
“So you don’t have any control at all?”
What should I tell him? If he kept me here, Neely Kate would tell Mason, then Skeeter would think I’d set him up. He already knew this much, so I figured I might as well tell him the rest. “Sometimes I can force one, but I never know what I’m gonna see. And just because I see something, doesn’t mean it will definitely come true. Sometimes the future can be changed. This summer I saw myself dead several times and as you can see, that hasn’t happened yet.”
“Obviously what you have is a rare talent that many people would kill for,” he said. I had a feeling that he wasn’t speaking metaphorically. “I want to buy you.”
“Excuse me?”
He waved his hand. “Your services. I want to buy them.”
“They aren’t for sale.”
“Then the deal’s off.”
I stood, squeezing my hands into fists at my sides. “You can’t do that. I gave you my information. You agreed.”
“And I warned you that you couldn’t trust me.” He laughed. “Too bad you didn’t have a vision of that.”
I spun around and headed for the door.
“Don’t leave, Rose,” he called after me, sounding amused. “We’re not done.”
“I am. I have neither the time nor the patience to play your games, Skeeter Malcolm.”
“Rose. Stop. I was joking.”
I turned around, irritated as snot. “You don’t seem like a joking kind of guy.”