Kathleen Creighton - Danger Signals

"Hey, man, you okay?" He didn't wait for Wade's reply, but moved the look of concern and compassion past him to where Tierney sat silent and pale.

"Yeah," Wade growled, and it was so obvious a lie he amended it to, "will be."

"She needs to be away from here. You want me to drive her-"

"No. Stay here. Make sure they get every scrap of evidence, every hair, fiber and print. I want this guy, Ed. I want him caught. Locked up."

Which was another lie. He wanted him dead. And he knew his old partner understood when he gave the window-sill a slap and stood back, his jaw set and eyes like obsidian.

"We'll take care of things here." Ed said quietly. "You go on-get her to a safe place. And keep her there until we get the sonofabitch. okay?"

"Count on it." Wade made another try with the keys and this time his hand was steady as a rock.

Once again Wade drove with the window down, one-handed, elbow on the sill and his hand across the lower part of his face. For once, though, Tierney didn't mind that he was walling himself off from her in every way he could.

Although she didn't blame him for it, she was still shaky from that terrible blast of emotion he'd hit her with. It had been the worst thing she'd ever experienced, all the horror of the crime scenes and the killer's twisted mind amplified a thousand times by Wade's own rage and fear.

Fear of what might happen… to me.

It wasn't until she realized they were heading in the wrong direction for downtown that she summoned the will and courage to attempt to penetrate that wall. It took her one abortive try and a throat-clearing before she was able to ask, "Are you taking me to pick up my car?"

He moved his hand, cleared gravel from his own throat. He glanced at her. then back forward, and after a long pause, shook his head. "No. Your car stays where it is until impound can get it under lock and key. In the meantime, I'm going to be driving you wherever you need to go. As of about fifteen minutes ago. you are under twenty-four-hour police protection. I, or someone on the task force, is going to be with you 'round the clock. Understand?" He threw her another look, this one as hard and grim as any she'd ever seen from him. "No arguments."

"I wasn't going to give you any." Tierney said quietly. "But I do think I deserve to know why. I know you found something in that house. Something terrible. Something you don't want to tell me about." She laughed shakily. "Trust me, Wade, nothing you tell me could possibly be worse than what I've been imagining."

The side of his face she could see formed an ironic smile. "I keep forgetting you don't read minds." There was another long pause, then an exhalation.

"Okay, for starters, he's definitely our guy. And he's in the wind. He's been derailed, thwarted, and for that…he blames you. He's read those damn newspaper articles about the department consulting 'our crystal ball,' and is scared enough by the notion of a psychic on his trail that he's gone to ground. For now. But he won't stay there."

They'd stopped at a traffic light. He scrubbed a hand over his face, then turned to look at her. His eyes were red-rimmed but brilliant and hard as diamonds. "He's targeted you as his next victim. He's got pictures of you. Tacked up all over the place. And he's done…to those pictures…what he means-ah, hell."

The light changed. The car moved forward, and Tierney watched trees and cars and buildings go by in a shimmering blur. The palms of her hands and the soles of her feet felt tingly. She swallowed. "Does he know where I live?"

This time the glance he gave her was bleak. "I don't know, Miss Tee."

But she felt his fear. "You think he might, though, don't you?" And she fought to keep her own desperate terror out of her voice. Oh God… Jennie. Gran…dearest Gran. How I wish I could hear you!

"Or that he can at least find out." Wade whipped the car into a no-parking zone near the front of the gallery and cut the engine. He gave her a stay-put gesture, then got out and surveyed the street and sidewalks in every direction as he circled briskly around to her side of the vehicle. He opened her door and held out a hand.

"I don't think he's here," Tierney said breathlessly as she gave him hers. "I can't feel him, anyway."

"Thank God for that." Taking her elbow in a firm grip, he hurried her into the gallery and flipped over the Closed sign on the front door.

"Hi, welcome to Jeanette's Gallery, my name is Clair, just let me know if there's anything I can help you with…" Clair Yee, the Reed College freshman who helped out with the gallery and Jeannette sitting when Tierney had to be away for more than an hour at a time, came in through the back door, giving off waves of worry and concern-and a little bit of annoyance she was trying to suppress.

She halted in her tracks when she saw Tierney and Wade, and said, "Oh! Oh, my God." in the overly dramatic fashion of the young. "I am so glad you're back."

Tierney's heart rate kicked into high. "What's wrong? Is Gran-"

"I didn't know what to do, I mean. I know she gets upset sometimes, and it's not like I don't know… I mean, I've dealt with her before, I'm sort of used to her moods…"

Wade gave Tierney's elbow a little squeeze, then released it and fell back to let her climb the stairs side-by-side with Clair.

"I mean, she just got so upset. Just all of a sudden, and for no reason, you know? One minute she's sitting there at the table working on this really pretty Monet jigsaw puzzle I got for her, and then all of a sudden she just, like, gets up and starts crying, and walking back and forth, back and forth. I didn't know what to do. I mean, should I have called 9-1-1?"

"It's all right," Tierney said soothingly. "It's hard to know what might have gotten into her. Maybe she had a memory, or-" She broke off as a familiar little pain stabbed at her heart. "Clair, how long ago did this happen?"

"Oh, gosh. I'm not sure…not that long. Half an hour…forty-five minutes, maybe? I haven't let her out of my sight since, though, I swear-I mean, until I heard the dinger just now. I hope-"

"No, no- Clair, it's all right. Really. I'm sure she'll be fine. She'll settle down, now that I'm…" She stood on the landing and grasped for a breath. The shivery thrill of emotion inside her was moving dangerously close to tears. She glanced over her shoulder to see what had become of Wade, but judging from the thumps and bangs resonating from the rooms below, he was still checking doors and dead bolt locks. "You know." she said to Clair, "I think I'm going to close up early today, anyway, so why don't you just go ahead and go home now? Make sure you leave me your hours, though, okay?"

"Oh." The girl's expression was doubtful but her emotions exuded relief and joy. "Well…if you're sure…"

"I'm sure-and, Clair, you're a dear to come at short notice like this. Thanks."

"Oh, no problem, Tee. Any time." She went skipping down the stairs like a dog that had just been let off her leash.

Tierney drew in a breath that hurt her chest, then unlocked the door and pushed it open.

Jeannette was sitting on the couch, staring straight ahead and rocking…rocking. Her hands were clasped together in her lap and her face was streaked with tears.

"Jennie, darling." Tierney called softly as she moved forward on uncertain legs, "it's me…Tee."

Her grandmother's grief-stricken face swiveled toward her, coming slowly alight now, with hope. "Tee?" Her voice sounded quavery and frail, an old, old woman's voice. "Is it you? I thought…"

"I know…I know." Tierney sank onto the couch and gathered her grandmother into her arms, crooning to her like a mother to a frightened child. "It's all right, Jennie, dear…it's all right. I'm here now. Tee's here." As she crooned the words of comfort she let the tears come, and they were tears of joy mixed with inexpressible sorrow.