“Maybe you shouldn’t be.”
He met her eyes, shook his head firmly. “Don’t. Don’t do that. Don’t ruin this by making it about my job. It’s not what I do. It’s who I am.”
She nodded gently. Getting him to give up his career was not the right approach, she decided. Especially not if it broke the spell between them. “I won’t suggest it again,” she promised.
“Good.” He smiled, letting it go, set her on her feet, and reached past her to turn on the shower.
By midmorning, Megan was in Sam’s car again, munching on a cheese Danish and sipping coffee from a Styrofoam cup, actively resisting the urge to talk more about what was going on between them, and where it could be going. She knew he didn’t want to. She knew that her uncertainty about their future together, or lack thereof, was nothing compared to his uncertainty about his own future. He wasn’t even sure he would be around next week, much less whether he would still want her by then. Besides, she wasn’t naive enough to think that one night with her would alter his One-Night Sam persona. Though she liked to think it had. He’d silenced her with a kiss when she had brought it up before, and while she loved his methods, she wondered about his motives.
He stopped at a traffic light and looked at her. “What are you thinking about?”
“About Linda Keller,” she lied. “I’m not sure what to say to someone who’s been through what she has. Why, what were you thinking about?”
“I was thinking about whether you were going to come home with me again tonight.”
She smiled at him, just a little. “Would that make me your first two-night stand?”
He looked at her steadily for a long moment, as if considering his reply. Finally, he said, “You’re more than that to me, Megan. Whatever happens, I want to make sure you know that.”
His words set her heart racing, both in delight that he seemed to be telling her she meant something to him, and in fear that he was expecting the worst. “Nothing’s going to happen to you, Sam.”
A horn blew. The light had turned green. He didn’t reply, just put the car back into motion.
When they arrived at the hospital, Megan’s earlier lie became true. She honestly didn’t know what to say to the young woman. But as it turned out, she didn’t have to know.
When Megan walked into the hospital room, she was stunned by the bruises on Linda’s pretty face. They hadn’t been so colorful last night. Now they were vivid, deep purple, dark blue, nearly black in places. Her shock quickly turned to relief, though, when Linda smiled at her. She was sitting up, the bed in an upright position, one eye still swollen shut, but the other clear and brighter than before. She held out a hand to Megan.
“I’m so glad you came,” she said.
Megan’s tension faded instantly, and she went to Linda, took her hand, felt only genuine warmth. “I wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“I’m going to be fine.” She looked down at her hands. “I’ve only just begun to realize how lucky I am. If this is the same man who killed all those others–” Then she shook herself and snapped her head up again. “But what about you? Are you all right?”
“Of course I am. I’m not the one who was attacked.” Megan sat down in the chair beside the bed.
“No. But... something happened to you out there. When I took your hand, I felt it. Like a jolt zapping from my hand to yours. I know you felt it, too. It knocked you flat on your back.”
Megan glanced at Sam, who stood near the door. He gave her a nod, silently encouraging her to go on, to tell the girl the truth if she felt she wanted to. She took strength from his presence, and the look in his eyes, a look that could almost have been described as loving, though she told herself to stop thinking things like that. Then she told herself it was too late.
Megan said, “Linda, sometimes I get...visions.”
“You’re psychic?”
She nodded. “Yeah.”
“So...when I took your hand in the park, you had a vision?” Meg nodded, and Linda went on. “Wow. That’s what knocked you flat? What did you see?”
“I saw what happened to you. Felt it, all of it, as if it was happening to me. Even down to you worrying about your cat.”
The girl frowned at her, studying her seriously.
“The vision was so fast and so unexpected...I didn’t see anything that could help us identify the man.”
“If you were only seeing what I saw, then that makes sense,” Linda said. “I didn’t either.”
“But it was the same for you, sudden, unexpected. And you were terrified.”
Linda nodded, averting her face, failing to suppress a shiver. “We don’t have to talk about this now if you don’t want to,” Megan said.
The girl lifted her eyes again. “It sounds as if you think there’s something more you can do.”
“There might be. I was thinking if I could hold your hand, and you could try to remember what happened, this time seeing it from a safe place, where you know he can’t touch you, between the two of us, maybe there's something we can learn. Something that can help the police catch him.”
“Before he does this to someone else. Someone who might not be lucky enough to have you two close by to save her.”
Megan nodded. “Yes. Yes, exactly that. I know it won’t be easy, and that you’d probably rather not think about it at all, but–”
“I can’t stop thinking about it. At least this way I can put those thoughts to good use, huh?”
“Maybe.”
She nodded again. “What do I have to do?”
Megan got up onto the edge of the girl’s bed, clasped both her hands between both of hers. “We need to go back there, together. In your mind. You talk me through it, everything that happened, and remember it as you do. I’ll do the rest.”
The younger woman closed her eyes as if searching inwardly for strength. “All right. All right.” She took a breath and began, her voice shaky, but determined. “I was running....”
And then Megan was there. Side by side, she and Linda Keller were running along one of the winding paths through the town park. Megan felt the night breeze on her face, the cool air in her lungs, the heat of her body, her own steady footfalls and the other girl’s hand in hers.
“Remember, we’re safe. This is over, in the past. Nothing can happen to us.”
“I know. It’s still so scary.” The girl’s steps slowed, and she came to a stop. “It’s up there, right around that bend. He must be hiding behind that tree, there.”
Megan strained her eyes, but couldn’t see any sign of anyone. The girl squeezed her hand. “Okay, here we go.” And she began running again. They approached the bend, and her grip grew tighter. They started around it, and then Megan felt the powerful arm snap around her neck, jerk her backward to the ground.
“It’s not real,” she said, though her voice was strained. She was on her back now, and the man was straddling her. His weight on her made it almost impossible to breathe. Beyond the hulking form she saw Linda standing there, a petrified onlooker, still clutching Megan’s hand. When the rain of blows fell, Megan’s head snapped with every one and pain shot through her, and she heard the girl begin to cry.