Rilynne felt her cheeks growing warm and she couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. Amber saw it and chucked.

  “So, Ben,” Amber said when he walked back into the room. “Tell me some more about yourself. Are you seeing anyone?” Rilynne felt as if her entire face was going to burst into flames. She just shot her mom a shocked look and sipped on her beer.

  “Well,” Ben started, his ears flushing pink as his eyes flicked quickly to Rilynne before settling on Amber. “Work actually keeps me pretty busy. Not many women understand or put up with the hours.”

  Amber leaned back with a smile on her face. It was a smile Rilynne knew only too well, her all-knowing smile. “That’s just a shame. It really does take a special kind of girl to accept that level of dedication. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find the right girl.”

  Again his eyes shot toward Rilynne, and she couldn’t help but notice a smile slowly creeping across his face. As her cheeks started to burn again, she redirected her attention to her mother. “So, Mother, I never did ask what brought you to town. I thought you weren’t going to take your vacation until next month.”

  “I decided to take it a little early.” She seemed to be amused by Rilynne’s sudden change of subject. “There was a big storm rolling in, so I thought I would come down here to enjoy a little more warm weather before winter starts.”

  Ben finished the last of his beer and stood up. “Well, ladies, I have to be in early tomorrow, so I really should be heading home. Amber,” he held out his hand. “It was great to see you again. And you,” he turned toward Rilynne. “Lock the door behind me.” He gave her his familiar stubborn look.

  “She still has problems with that one?” Amber asked as she followed Ben to the door. “I have been telling her for years she needs to keep it locked.”

  “Thanks for ganging up on me,” Rilynne said. Ben just gave her a blissful smile and walked to his car.

  “So how long was he here before I got home?” Rilynne asked as she took Ben’s seat on the couch.

  “Oh, maybe two hours. He came by to drop off one of your boxes that had gotten left in his car when you moved. You know that boy is crazy about you, right?” she said bluntly to Rilynne. “Because he is.”

  “I…It’s…” Rilynne couldn’t come up with a good response. “I know,” she finally said. “It’s just complicated.”

  Amber contemplated her daughter’s answer before continuing. “What’s so complicated? He likes you, you obviously like him,” she said in her mother-knows-all tone. “It seems pretty simple to me.”

  Rilynne sighed. “It’s just…” she trailed off.

  “Christopher?” Amber asked. She didn’t need to wait for Rilynne to respond before continuing. “Christopher’s gone, sweetheart. And he wouldn’t have wanted you to mourn for him forever. Things are different now; you’re officially a widow, and nothing’s going to change that. You should let yourself be happy.”

  “I know, Mom, but it’s not just that. I have to take work into consideration as well,” she said.

  “You told me the no-fraternization rule had been lifted.”

  “It has,” said Rilynne. “But we work together, closely. What about when things go bad? It would be hard enough to run into an ex-boyfriend around town every now and then, but to have to see him everyday at work, that’s just too much for anyone to take.”

  Amber leaned forward and took her by the hand. “And what if things didn’t go bad?”

  Rilynne didn’t know what to say, so she just laid her head down on her mother’s shoulder. After several minutes she was ready to speak again. “Telling Christopher about my…ability,” she searched for her words. “It was the hardest thing that I’ve ever done. And you remember how he responded. He thought I was crazy.”

  “At first, but he loved you and he came around quickly.”

  “But who’s to say that Ben would do the same thing. You know I could never be in a serious relationship and still keep my secret,” she stated. “You didn’t see how upset he was when he found out that I wasn’t honest with him about Derek Hartley. Then to find out that I’ve been spinning this monster of a web of lies; I don’t want to see that look in his eyes again.” When Derek Hartley had been found by hikers, Detective Wilcome had ordered them not to tell anyone, including members of the department, that he was actually still alive. When Ben found out that she had kept it from him, he made no effort to hide how hurt he was. Not because he had been left out of the loop, but because Rilynne had lied.

  “You can’t live in solitude because of your gift,” Amber said gently. “If Ben’s truly the man I think he is, he’ll stand by you. And while he may be hurt, he’ll understand why you had to do what you did.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” Rilynne said, squeezing her mother’s hand.

  “So tell me more about this case.”

  Rilynne leaned forward and groaned. “We tracked down the men responsible for the burglary ring. I spent the majority of the day interviewing them, but no one is standing out as Villarreal’s killer. Like I said, they all seemed genuinely shocked when we told them that he was an undercover police officer. With no evidence, it would be nearly impossible to determine which one, if any of them, killed him.”

  “Well, what have you seen?”

  “The only thing that I saw about the actually killing was Villarreal being shot. I haven’t seen anything relating to who was holding the gun.”

  “Have you seen anything about the house he was found in? Anything that could tell you who would have known about it? Or about the beach house?” Amber asked.

  “No,” she replied. “Most of what I have seen has been about Villarreal as a person. I think this thing with Christopher has got me a little messed up. All of my dreams lately have been in some way connected to him. I actually had one last week about him and Ben having a few beers out in the middle of the woods.”

  “So your subconscious introduced your late husband to the man that you’re interested in,” her mom grinned at her. “Were they getting along?”

  Rilynne nodded and took a swig of her beer. “Almost uncomfortably so.”

  “Interesting,” Amber said. “So in a way, your dream was telling you that Christopher would approve of Ben.”

  Rilynne sighed as she pulled her knees up to her chest. “Or it was just a dream about the two men that I have been closest to over the last few years doing what men do, drinking beers and chatting.”

  “You can deny it all you want, sweetheart. But even your ‘normal’ dreams have never been without some kind of meaning. Have you ever started that dream journal that I suggested?” she asked. “I’m sure if you looked back at even your most mundane dreams, they would, in some way, be related to something you were working on, or something going on in your personal life.”

  “That’s the last thing I need to do,” Rilynne replied. “What would happen if I wrote down everything I saw and someone found it? How would I explain that one away? They would probably assume that I was either a nut having violent dreams, or was in some way involved with the cases they related to.”

  “That still doesn’t mean that you should ignore the dreams you have just because you don’t want to deal with them. Christopher’s gone now, and you obviously have a connection with Ben. Even your subconscious it telling you that.” Amber folded her arms and leaned back, examining Rilynne’s face. “I bet that wasn’t the only dream you’ve had about him. And I’m not talking about dreams related to his abduction or being in danger a few months back.”

  Rilynne had never been able to hide anything from Amber. If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought that Amber had some abilities of her own. She had even asked her about it once when she was young, but Amber just told her that it was all part of being a mom.

  “That still doesn’t change the facts. You even told me yourself that it’s never smart to date people that you work with,” she explained. “Besides, you know that I don’t have the best track records with men. He’s the best friend I’ve had, well… since Christopher. I don’t want to do anything that could mess that up.”

  Amber patted her gently on the knee, as if to say that she understood. “You know you will never be able to focus on seeing what you need to if your mind is other places. Why don’t you go soak in a hot bath, try to clear your mind, and see if anything comes to you? I’ll clean up out here.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Mom,” Rilynne said as she stood up. “Just leave it here and I’ll take care of it in the morning. Do you need me to get you anything before I head to bed?”

  “No thank you, sweetheart,” she replied. “I’m going to turn in soon myself.”

  After giving her mother a hug, Rilynne walked to her room and started a bath. Sinking down into the steaming water made her want to fall asleep right there.

  “Clear my head,” she said aloud to herself. She took in a deep breath, and tried to blow all of her thoughts away with it as it passed back through her lips. Despite her efforts, she could only keep her mind blank for mere seconds at a time before it drifted back to the sight of Ben and her mother when she walked in. She had been so distracted when she pulled in the driveway, that she hadn’t noticed Ben’s car in front of the house behind her mother’s rental.

  Then her mind shifted to Christopher and the way that he used to make her feel.

  She had met him her first week of college, and they had become instant friends. From the beginning, she felt like there was something different about him. Even before they had moved from friendship to a romantic relationship after college, she had considered telling him her secret. She had finally decided to tell him half way through their yearlong engagement. He didn’t take it as well as she had hoped. He ended up calling off the engagement for two days until he finally came around. Until that point, he had never done anything to hurt her. As she remembered that feeling, her bathroom disappeared in front of her.

  Shane Villarreal was walking up the walkway to the house they had found him in, but he was not in the same clothes. The leaves on the trees were also a vibrant green, instead of the red and orange that they currently were. As he walked through the front door, he stepped onto a path of red and pink rose petals that had been lined by dozens of flickering candles.

  When he rounded the corner into the same room he had been killed in, the path ended at a blanket laid out in the middle of the floor. He crossed the room and picked up one of the glasses of wine sitting on the tray next to it. This doesn’t look related to the case, she thought to herself. He walked through the candle lit room and into the kitchen, which was empty except for a bright pink alligator print purse sitting on the counter. “Hello lover,” a gentle voice came from behind him.

  “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you,” he said, setting the wine glass down next to the purse. An intense wave of passion flashed through her, along with a second feeling: guilt.

  Rilynne sat up so fast that it caused water to splash onto the floor. “He was really having an affair?” she asked herself in disbelief.

  She pulled the plug in the tub and stood up. After drying off and putting her pajamas on, she walked to the kitchen and found the back porch light shining through the window. Peeking quickly through the blinds, she pulled the back door open and walked out onto the wooden deck.

  “Mother!” she said sharply. “You’re a nurse, you know how bad those things are for you.”

  Amber was sitting in her robe and slippers on the porch swing with a lit cigarette in hand. “Would you believe me if I said I was just holding it for someone?” she asked.

  Rilynne walked over and sat down next to her. “You were there when I was born, was it yesterday?”

  “How was your bath?” Amber asked. “Were you able to clear your head and see anything useful?”

  Rilynne rolled her eyes at her mother’s attempt to change the subject, but decided to let it go. “Yeah,” she said. “It looks like Villarreal was having an affair after all. He went to the house that he was killed in, and it was full of rose petals and candles.”

  “Couldn’t he have just been meeting his wife there?”

  “Usually you don’t feel guilty about having a romantic evening with your wife,” Rilynne explained. “And that feeling was undeniable. I really didn’t see that coming. I actually thought he was a really decent guy. Don’t get me wrong, I know that undercover assignments can change some officers, but I really didn’t think that he was one of them. He sincerely seemed to have loved his wife. I just didn’t take him for a cheater.”

  Amber dropped the rest of her cigarette into the empty beer bottle at her feet. “Some people can really surprise you, babe.”

  “I know,” she said sullenly. “I just thought I was a better judge of character.”

  “Everyone makes mistake,” said Amber. “Besides, some people are just really good at hiding things. You should know that better than anyone. Now come on,” she added as she stood up. “I think it’s about time for us to be getting to bed.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Are you ready?”

  Rilynne sat up, hearing the low voice coming from her doorway. She slid off the edge of her bed and grabbed her robe before pulling the door open.

  “Are you ready? It’s time,” Christopher said before turning and walking toward the front door.

  Rilynne followed him without question, stepping through the open door and out onto the darkened sidewalk. “Where are we?” she asked as she realized they were not outside of her house.

  “It’s time,” he said, walking steadily down the moonlit street. “What’s taking you so long? Hurry up.”

  “I’m hurrying,” she said as she broke into a jog to catch up with him. “Where are we going?”

  He walked on as if she were not even there. After what seemed like hours, he turned abruptly and walked up to a darkened house. Dropping to his knee along the side of the house, he quickly entered a code into an awaiting lock box and popped it open, revealing a single silver key. He grabbed it and walked back to the front door, unlocking it before Rilynne could react.

  “What are you doing?” she exclaimed as he walked in. “Christopher, you can’t just break into a house. Get back out here.”

  She couldn’t tell if he couldn’t hear her or if he was just choosing not to, but she knew she couldn’t just stand outside waiting for him to come back out. After looking up and down the street to make sure no one was watching, she followed him inside.

  “We have to get out of here,” she said when she found him in the living room. “What are we, wait… I know this place. Why are we here?” Rilynne looked around to find herself in the room that Shane Villarreal had been killed in.

  For the first time since leaving her house, Christopher turned to face her.

  “You know as well as anyone that things are not always what they seem to be, Rye.”

  Rilynne looked around the room, trying to see where he was going. After several minutes, she hadn’t found anything more than growing confusion. “I don’t understand, Christopher. Tell me what I’m missing. I know I have been missing something, but I don’t know what it is.”

  He looked at her blankly. “The answer is right in front of you, Rye, it always has been. It starts with the house.”

  “We have looked into the house, Chris,” she said as she felt herself growing frustrated. “We haven’t been able to find out what the house has to do with anything, or why Villarreal was there in the first place.”

  Christopher reached his hand into his pocket and pulled out a handful of something Rilynne couldn’t see. She moved forward to get a better look, but before she could make out what it was, he threw it at the wall. What appeared to have been dirt left blood splattered where it had landed. She stepped closer and found that it was the same blood pattern that had been created when Villarreal was shot. If this was supposed to clear things up for her, it wasn’t working.

  “I know he was shot here,” she said. “I have already seen that.”

  “It all starts with the house,” he said as he threw another handful at the wall. “It all ends with the house.”

  “He was having an affair,” she said. “Did someone find out? It that what got him killed?”

  “No,” he said bluntly.

  Rilynne watched him as he took a third handful out of is pocket and threw it onto the floor. “You would be amazed at the lengths people will take for love.”

  She opened her mouth to ask him what he meant, but a heart wrenching feeling of betrayal overcame her. She tried to speak, but she felt as though someone was squeezing her heart with two hands.

  “This doesn’t feel like love,” she finally got out as she dropped to her knees in pain. “You don’t do something like this if you love them.”

  “There’s a lot of love here,” he said as he threw a fourth handful on the floor. “You can do anything if you love someone enough.”

  “No,” she said. “If you love someone, hurting them is the last thing you want to do. You don’t put three rounds in them.”

  “It all starts with the house,” he said again. “Look at all this blood.”

  “No, you’re wrong!” she exclaimed as she shot up and looked around her dark bedroom. After waiting a moment for her surroundings to register, she dropped her head back down onto her pillow. She watched the shadow of the ceiling fan spinning in place as she thought about what her dream could have meant. As her eyes finally drifted closed, she was only sure of one thing; she needed to go back to that house.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “There has to be some connection with this house,” Rilynne said to Matthews as they stepped into the empty entryway the next morning. “We haven’t found anything that would have brought Villarreal here for the case. He had to have another reason for coming here.”

  Matthews paced around the living room, making an effort to avoid looking at the blood, which had still not been cleaned. “Well, where do we start?”