Page 21

Chapter 21

Alex

I never thought the day would come when I’d approach the Lowery’s Crossing police department building and walk through the doors voluntarily and yet… here we were.

Donovan limped along beside me in support, which supported Will’s lies about why Donovan hadn’t been with the search party. He’d told the chief Donovan had slipped on some ice and messed up his knee. She hadn’t questioned why Donovan hadn’t called in himself about the injury, which had given Donovan a sleepless night spent thinking his boss was building a case to fire him.

Lelo’s poultice had done its work, at least, and the venom was out of his system, but she couldn’t do anything for the gash across the back of his thigh. With it positioned so high on his leg, it made walking nearly impossible, but he powered through it to be with me today.

“We don’t have to tell her that you knew,” I said as we made our way up the short path from the sidewalk. “I don’t want to put your job at risk. I can say I just told you yesterday.”

“Thanks, but like I said the last four times you offered, if we’re telling her the truth, then we’re telling her the full truth. If we try to convince her I didn’t know after what happened at the McAvell farm, she’ll probably fire me, anyway, for being the world’s shittiest detective,” he said wryly.

Donovan was far more confident about the outcome of this whole thing than I was. While he assumed the best, I was still more than halfway convinced I’d end the day in another psych hospital. I never would have believed I’d take the risk of telling someone again until I’d met Donovan. That had been scary enough, even knowing he cared about me. After him, telling my friends had been easier, but while Bev Cornell was a regular customer at A Likely Story, she and I weren’t exactly friends. At the end of the day, she was still the chief of police and I was the hapless psychic who kept stumbling into her cases.

We’d timed our arrival carefully. I’d wanted to get it done and over with as early as possible, but Donovan suggested we wait until the morning chaos had passed and she’d had time to catch up on any emails or pressing business that had come up since she’d left the office. The snowstorm two days ago had turned the roads into slushy messes and caused more than a few accidents, not to mention the confusion and questions about Landon DeVor, all of which she had to deal with in one way or another, while also being down one of her two detectives.

So we’d waited until just after her lunch hour, when she’d hopefully be about as relaxed as she’d get.

The receptionist at the front desk, an older woman named Ruth who looked like she’d bake apple pies and knit doilies for fun but in reality was the reason I kept so many gory horror books on the shelf, greeted us with her usual cheerful smile when we walked in. She just waved us on in, then went back to her computer.

Last time I’d been here, I’d been escorted by two officers after being brought in for questioning. I knew at least one ghost haunted the place, but with any luck, he wouldn’t wander past the file room he’d been in last time. Maybe that had been his old office before he’d died? Donovan had told me his name, or at least who he thought it was, but I’d promptly forgotten it. Either way, he was kind of a dick and the last thing I needed right now.

The door to Donovan and Will’s office was open as we passed, and I caught a glimpse of Will inside at his computer. He glanced up but didn’t greet us, obviously still mad. I’d have to talk to him soon, too. I owed him that.

Then we were at the chief’s office, and I was officially out of excuses and distractions. The door stood open and Chief Cornell sat at her desk, flipping through some papers. She glanced up at our approach and raised one dark, perfectly shaped brow when she saw us standing there.

“Come in and close the door,” she said, neatly stacking the papers and slipping them into a desk drawer. The only other thing on her desk was her computer, everything else organized and put away. Two chairs sat across from her, old wood and leather, smaller versions of the chair she sat in.

Donovan gave my hand a quick squeeze, closing the door behind us. I sat in one chair and he stood beside me, his hand in mine. With his injury, sitting was nearly impossible.

I expected her to start questioning us, but she just sat and waited, hands folded and resting on her desk.

Now that we were actually here, I had no idea where to start. I’d rehearsed what I wanted to say, revising and editing it in my head almost nonstop since I’d decided to come clean, but every single word of it disappeared, along with the English language itself, apparently. I floundered, opening then closing my mouth like a complete idiot.

What the hell was wrong with me? I’d agreed to this. Donovan’s job could very well be on the line, along with my own freedom, and all I could do was sit and stare? I’d told Donovan. I’d told Raina and Camille and Will. What had I said to them? Why couldn’t I remember what I’d planned?

The longer I sat there, the more my brain froze up and the more awkward the silence became. Donovan, bless him, caught on fairly quickly that I was struggling and gave the chief a small smile.

“We wanted to talk to y—”

“I’m a psychic!”

The words exploded out of me before I could stop them, fueled by pure panic, cutting Donovan off. I slapped a hand over my mouth, but it was far too late to take back the words. They landed like a bomb in the small office, blowing apart my decades-old web of lies in just four syllables.

Donovan and Cornell both turned to me. Donovan looked surprised and more sympathetic than I deserved, but her face remained completely blank, her thoughts carefully guarded.

“You’re psychic,” she repeated without inflection. I had no idea if she believed me, if she thought I was a lunatic, or if maybe she just thought she’d misheard me. If I hadn’t been in the early stages of a panic attack, I might have been impressed by her poker face. Instead, I was just terrified. The truth was out there now, though, and I had to follow through.

“Y-yes, ma’am.”

“Is there a particular reason you’re choosing to share this information?”

That… wasn’t the reaction I’d been expecting. Her complete calm smoothed the sharpest edges of my panic, allowing me to battle it back without slicing myself to ribbons.

“I should have told you before, but I didn’t want anyone to think I was crazy,” I admitted. “I… I’m telling you now because I helped find Landon DeVor. With the way he suddenly reappeared, I thought you might be a little suspicious and I didn’t want anyone getting into any kind of trouble because of me.”

Cornell was silent, her dark eyes flitting over to Donovan for a moment before coming back to me. “You found him, like you found Andre Marcel, Zofia Kostek, and Nina Martingale?”

Would hearing those names ever hurt any less? At least Mrs. Kostek’s death had been painless and her passing easy, with her hoping to be reunited with her husband. Andre and Nina had both passed on, but their memory would haunt me until my own dying day.

“Yes,” I whispered. “Well, kind of.”

“Explain.”

Maybe it was her complete lack of emotion, but now that I’d told her the hardest part, the rest came a little easier. Donovan’s hand in mine helped, too, and I kept my grip on it as I explained how the dead had come to me since I was a child. She had my background information thanks to Andre’s case, so I didn’t go into detail about my time in the psych hospital. I also avoided telling her about any of the other ghosts who’d come to me in my life that she didn’t know about. Just because I was telling her the truth didn’t mean I had to tell her literally everything.

Only twice did any sort of emotion break through her mask, the first when I told her a friend had suggested my power lay in finding lost things, not just speaking to the dead. I didn’t give any names, not wanting to incriminate Ori, but I thought I saw a hint of something in her eyes when I mentioned it. Recognition, maybe? Curiosity? It was there and gone before I could fully name it. She didn’t even blink when I told her Donovan and I were the ones who’d found Jaime Smalls.

The second time came when I told her about the chimera in the woods. That got more of a reaction than anything else I’d said so far. Both brows went up and she leaned forward, only a bit, but noticeable. She glanced at Donovan when I admitted it had hurt him, again leaving out Lelo and Ori’s names. I also skirted around Landon and his family, making it seem like they’d already been headed home when we were attacked and the gunshots alone had been enough to scare it off. I was here to tell my truth, after all, not to spill everyone’s secrets.

Silence fell around us once I finished. Cornell stared into the middle distance, contemplating everything I’d told her. She surely saw the holes in the story, where I’d left out the mention of others with abilities, and I could only hope she wouldn’t prod at them. Hell, my only hope at this point was that she believed me and didn’t fire Donovan and have me locked up as a lunatic.

“What is your plan going forward?” she finally asked and again, that was not the reaction I’d been expecting.

“I’m sorry?”

Cornell tsked, all business now that she’d come to whatever decision she’d come to. “Your plans. Should I be expecting more anonymous phone calls whenever someone dies?”

“No? I mean, no.” I shook my head. “I was thinking, if it happens again, Donovan could help me and he could maybe call you and tell you directly? I don’t exactly want the whole town to know. And if there’s ever anything that happens here I could help with, you could call me or Donovan could tell me? Like with Landon. I’m still learning how it all works, but I want to help.”

“Using information obtained from a psychic won’t fly in a courtroom. It may make solving the case easier, but the paperwork will be a nightmare.”

“Does that mean you believe me, then?” She sounded like she did, but I needed to know. Some part of me, the part that felt suspiciously like a traumatized little boy, needed the reassurance that someone who didn’t love me believed me. I shouldn’t need that validation, but I desperately did.

“I’m a practical woman, Mr. Copeland. I’ve also lived in Lowery’s Crossing my entire life, as did my mother and her mother. There have always been rumors and whispers that there was more to this town than met the eye. Your story simply proves a lot of theories I’ve always held. This doesn’t grant you any special privileges, though. If you insist on helping, it will be done correctly.” Her attention shifted to Donovan, leaving me floundering in shock. “Detective Parker.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Donovan stood up straighter. He looked calm and unruffled, but his grip on my hand tightened, betraying his nerves.

“I’m not going to say I’m pleased with how things have been handled thus far. While I’m aware that you likely just wanted to keep Alex safe, you broke more law enforcement procedures than I can count in the process. Under most circumstances, you’d be placed on administrative leave at best, but more than likely, a competent chief would fire you.”

My heart dropped into my stomach and beside me, Donovan went very still, his worst fear becoming reality.

“Chief Cornell, please. He was only trying to help me. You know he’s a good detective,” I protested, trying not to shrink in on myself when she turned that penetrating gaze on me.

“While your support is noted, it is not needed. I am a competent chief, but as I said before, I’m also practical. Given the oddities of this town, I would be a fool not to see the possibilities of having an officer who has knowledge and connections to the more arcane side of our community.”

“May I ask what you’re suggesting?” An edge of cautious hope lightened Donovan, chasing away some of the darkness that had lingered over him for days now.

“You will continue to perform your duties as a detective with the LCPD. However, I will be placing you in charge of any incidents that come through here that are unusual . This will be an unofficial duty, of course, strictly off the record.”

“I accept.” Donovan didn’t hesitate, though I got the feeling this hadn’t exactly been a request from the chief, but an order.

“And Mr. Copeland, I’ll have to insist on at least one thing. If you are going to help, I expect to be notified of all incidents, not just the ones you want to share.”

Unlike Donovan, I did hesitate for a moment. Ori had trusted me with the secrets of the paranormal half of Lowery’s Crossing. Could I walk this line between the two? How could I truly help if I insisted on remaining apart from them? On the other hand, how could I keep pretending I was just a regular, normal person if I delved deeper into not only that community, but also the limits of my ability? Did I even want to pretend anymore? Could I handle the consequences of letting go of a lifetime of lies and hiding?

“Mr. Copeland?” Cornell prompted when I didn’t respond.

“I can notify you of as many incidents as I can,” I finally said. Her eyes narrowed slightly, but I pressed on. “There are some people who don’t want to reveal themselves, most out of fear. I made a promise to keep them safe, just like you made a promise to the town. I can give you my word that I’ll report the incidents I can to you, but I can’t promise that I can give you every single detail. It’s not my place to out them to the world.”

I couldn’t back down on this and I forced myself to maintain eye contact even as my grip on Donovan’s hand threatened to crack his knuckles. Ori was already going to be pissed off at me for just this much, even more than they already were right now. If I bent anymore, I knew I’d lose their friendship for good.

“I don’t like it,” Cornell said, and it was all I could do not to flinch. “I can respect it, though. I suggest a compromise. I will agree to you not sharing personal details, so long as it doesn’t present a danger to the rest of the town. Creatures such as this chimera you mentioned pose an active threat and I need to know how to keep people safe. Anyone, human or otherwise, who hurts others or is dangerous enough to do so, loses their right to privacy and anonymity. Do you agree?”

The line I walked narrowed to a razor’s edge, but her words left me just enough space to keep my balance. “I agree.”

“Then I believe we’re done here.”

“One more thing,” Donovan cut in hurriedly as she started to rise.

“What else, Parker?”

“My partner, Will…”

That eyebrow rose again. “I’m aware of who your partner is, yes.” She studied Donovan, then sighed. “Let me guess. You’d like to read him in on the situation.”

“I know it’s asking a lot, but I trust him.”

Cornell glanced over at me, then back to Donovan. “I assume he already knows about Mr. Copeland? That would explain his willingness to lie for you.” She said the last part almost to herself. “Very well. It goes no further, though. Am I clear?”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you.”

I stayed quiet about that. She didn’t need to know that Raina and Camille were aware of everything, too, and I had no desire to put them on Chief Cornell’s radar.

“Get out of my office,” she ordered. Was that a hint of amusement I heard in her voice? “Go home and recover. I expect you back to work tomorrow morning, barring any side effects. You’ll be on desk duty until that wound heals, though.”

Donovan wisely didn’t protest, and we hurried out of her office together before she could change her mind. Will had either left or didn’t want to see us, because their shared office was empty as we passed by.

“I’ll talk to him in the morning,” Donovan said when he caught me peeking inside. I’d text Camille tonight and check in on Will just in case, but I hoped that Donovan pulling him in on this would go a long way toward repairing their friendship.

“That went a lot better than I expected.” Despite the snow on the ground and the icy bite in the air, I paused and took a deep breath of fresh air, letting the sun warm my face. Spring was near and with it, the promise of a new beginning.

“It really was the best-case scenario. She believed you, I kept my job, and now you don’t have to hide anymore.” Donovan wrapped his arm around me, hugging me tight.

We still had a long way to go to learn how all of this was going to work. Donovan and Will still needed to talk, and I had a long road ahead of me to repairing my friendship with both Will and with Ori. The threat of the chimera still loomed and I had only just begun to scratch the surface of controlling my ability, but right now, none of that mattered.

Right now, standing in the sunlight in the arms of the man I loved, I had hope. For the first time in a lifetime, I could fully accept every aspect of who I was without flinching. The days ahead would be hard and dangerous as I delved into the arcane secrets of Lowery’s Crossing, but I didn’t have to face it alone anymore.

“Donovan? Let’s go home.”