The front door flew open before either Nora or I had an opportunity to knock on it. A petite, slight blonde with captivating, rich blue-green eyes that watered just enough to remind me of the ocean greeted us with nervous warmth.
It wasn’t until she’d invited us into her home that I realized that her vision was impaired. She informed us that she could see shapes and colors, but not much in the line of details. This made her legally blind. It was because of this affliction that she was unable to determine exactly what was happening in her home and why she needed our help.
“I can clearly smell him even if I can’t clearly see him,” she explained as she served us tea with such ease and expertise that we were hard pressed to remember her vision impairment. “When he gets close enough to touch and I reach out, there’s nothing there. It’s so frustrating. If he were a technological wizard, I’d think that he was using some type of equipment to project his scent and his image.”
“I was just considering that as a possibility,” I admitted.
She turned to me and smiled. “Sadly, Marcus could barely work his cell phone. He uses his muscles, not his brain, to get through each day.”
“What type of work does he do?” Nora patiently asked.
“He’s in construction,” she replied. “Mainly roofing. He works for a builder who has him traveling quite a bit. That’s the root of why we fell apart. He was never home.” She sighed. “It got pretty lonely, but I stayed faithful. Unfortunately, he didn’t reciprocate the consideration. He’d had too much to drink the night he left. He foolishly asked me to grab his phone for him when it rang. His girlfriend was on the other end.”
I’m not sure why it bothered me to hear her story as much as it did. I’d dealt with plenty of cheaters in my years of being a detective. Even so. There was something about the fact that she’d been left home waiting for him while he was out playing with other women that cut to my core.
“So, he left on his own accord?” I asked in an effort to realign myself back with my normal professional behavioral pattern.
Her voice sounded sheepish as she admitted, “Actually, I kicked him out.”
When Nora quickly asked, “Would you consider taking him back?”, I gave her an odd look. What was she thinking by asking such a question? Not only was it unprofessional, but why would this poor woman want to reunite with a man who so blatantly cheated on her?
It was at that moment that clarity as to why the situation affected me like it did came about. Hadn’t I done to Lance what Marcus had done to Amy? The circumstances may not have been identical, but, if Lance spoke truth, he’d been faithful to me. I, on the other hand…
I shook my head to clear my thoughts.
“Is there a chance that he wants to come back?” I asked with a steady, business-like manner.
“He did for the first month or so. Now, if he does, I wouldn’t know. He stopped contacting me a few months back,” she said. Then, she quickly added, “It’s okay though. Believe it or not, I feel less lonely now that I’m alone than I did when we were together.”
“How long ago did he leave?” I asked.
“It’s been almost six months since he left and at least four since he’s contacted me,” she said.
“When did things start happening in the house?” Nora asked.
“About a month ago,” she replied.
I leaned forward. “Tell me just what it is that you’ve been experiencing. Is it just the visions of Marcus? Or is there more?”
“More, actually,” she said. “Things get moved about. That’s never good when you suffer impaired vision like I do. I try to keep the house just so. It lessens the risk of injury for me and breakage for my belongings. I’ve also heard him calling my name a few times. It was faint, like a whisper, but it was his voice.”
“Are the occurrences nightly?” I asked.
“Night, day,” she explained, “but never steady or consistent. That’s been the problem. Whenever I call the police, things go quiet.”
I stood up and looked at Nora. “I’d like to take a look around the place if that’s okay. Nora has some paperwork for you while I do that.”
“You’ll take the case?” she eagerly asked.
I nodded. “I can’t make any promises, but we’ll do our best to get to the bottom of what’s going on.”
“What do you think?” Nora asked as she slowly backed the car out of the driveway. “Normal or paranormal?”“I hope it’s normal,” I huffed as I adjusted my seat belt, “but, with my luck, it will be paranormal.”“We really need to work on your attitude lately,” she scoffed.I shrugged. She was right. I’d been incredibly moody and negative since we’d escaped through the portal and returned home. It was more than the mess with Lance and Killian. I knew that, but I just couldn’t pinpoint what it was.Staring out the window at the row of shabby and ill-kept homes, I went over my life in my mind. My childhood was something that I considered normal. I had no recollection of being taken from my birth parents and transported into the future to my new parents. College was so normal as to be considered dull. The fact that my life wa
Making love with Lance never ceased to be a special and exciting experience. Just the mere touch of his hand would send tiny electrical currents through my body that extended far beyond my erogenous zones.Like a typical male, he’d always fall asleep almost immediately afterwards. I didn’t hold it against him. I had the idea to research why men did this years ago when I got offended by my partner continually falling asleep right after sex. I learned that men release a cocktail of brain chemicals, including norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin, vasopressin, nitric oxide, and the hormone prolactin during their orgasm that makes them tired and sleepy. I wasn’t able to find research stating that women released the same type of cocktail, so I forgave the opposite sex for what appeared to be a lack of romance long ago.I listened to his steady breathing as I lay next to him. Peering through the darkness, I focu
It wasn’t until I felt the thick carpeting of the first step beneath my bare foot that I realized how profoundly affected I was by the news that Lance intended to take me back to his time. My legs trembled like they were made of rubber and my knees threatened to buckle beneath my weight. Worried that they wouldn’t hold me, I held tight to the railing and pulled myself up. First one step and then another. Looking up at the steep and seemingly never-ending climb awaiting me, it felt like a daunting task.I instantly regretted getting out of bed to investigate what was happening downstairs.“You’re pretty affected by this news, my sweetheart,” Killian whispered as he swept me into his arms.I rested my forehead against his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his neck as I weakly protested, “Put me down.”“I will just as soon as we reach the top of the stairs,” he replied.
“Bloody hell, what am I seeing?” Anton bellowed.“You know what you’re seeing,” Nora snapped over her shoulder while glowering at me.It was at that moment that I fully understood the term, ‘If looks could kill.” My dear friend was clearly furious with me.I let out a small squeak while pushing at Killian’s chest. If he was aware of the commotion about him, he made no indication of it while he continued to seek his second climax. He must have been on the verge of it when Nora opened the door because after just a few more thrusts I could feel his release inside of me.Shuddering with orgasmic satisfaction, his body collapsed against mine and I pushed all the harder.“Killian,” I said in a harsh tone that was still kept low to avoid waking Lance while I aggressively slapped his shoulder. “Get off me, now.”Eyes that always reminded me of a cle
“What about Amy Whitehall?” I asked as I slathered butter onto my toasted blueberry bagel. “We accepted her case.”“You’re more worried about her than you are your parents?” Nora said with surprise.I shook my head. “It’s just that I plan on coming back and I don’t want our reputation tarnished because we didn’t work a case that we’d contracted for.”“I’ll work your case for you if it means you’ll come back,” Killian said as he entered the room. Sauntering over to the coffee pot, he grabbed a nearby mug from the mug tree and filled it with the rich, black liquid. Grabbing the free half of my buttered bagel before I could slap his hand away, he took a quick bite.With his mouth full of my coveted bagel, he asked, “Is the case normal or paranormal?”“We don’t know yet,” Nora offered. &
It was almost noon before we ceased making plans for our return to the past. Lance was far more understanding about my desire to maintain a good relationship and reputation with my clients than Nora had been. So much so that he offered to wait for us to return to the past until I’d solved the case. When Anton entered the room and explained to him the entirety of Jason’s evil doings, he quickly changed his mind.“You beat me to telling him,” I said with a nervous chuckle once he and Anton finished their conversation.It was the truth. I’d intended on informing Lance of Jason’s nasty doings myself. In fact, I was just formulating my explanation as to why we needed to go back right away and I’d have Killian act in my stead where Amy Whitehouse was concerned when my cousin of old entered the room.I don’t mind saying that I was filled with relief over being spared discussing Jason wi
Nora and Killian sat, side-by-side on the ugly yellow sofa in the servant’s quarters as Lance, Anton, and I clustered together in the foyer at the foot of the grand staircase.“Is this enough to keep us out of the way?” Nora asked.“You should be good,” Lance said with confidence. “Although I cannot guarantee you will appreciate what you see.”“I found it fascinating the last time,” she replied.“And… how did you say it? Creepy,” he said. “This could prove to be even more creepy to you.”She turned to Killian. “Have you seen something like this before?”He nodded. “Not in a long time, but I have.”“Is it creepy?” she timidly asked.He shrugged. “I didn’t think so. It really depends on the mindset of the person.”After a moment’s thought, she took a
Extraordinarily little had changed with Viviane Northrup since I’d faked death and escaped to the future. She was still lovely to look at, stately in action, and very much resentful of me.With the date of my return being only a few years past the date that I’d escaped back to the future, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Even though I’d been through dimensions while in servitude to Marduke and traveled back in time with Lance, my rational mind still had difficulty accepting and absorbing the concepts at times. This was one of those times.As with everything that was going on with me at that point, I accredited my inability to truly grasp what I was in the middle of to the fact that I’d traveled from one century to another without the use of a portal. This had to be the reason my body was not feeling its normal self. Traveling through portals was something that I’d grown accustomed to. I