Page 66 of The Last Straw

She shrugged. “I’m not sure. Maybe because back there felt heavier, and now the energy is different. Like he went on alone?” She glanced at Floyd. “Does that make sense?”

Floyd just shook his head. “Something has to be understandable to make sense, and so far I don’t understand one iota of what makes you work...but I am in awe, if that counts for something?”

Wyrick nodded, then waved Charlie on.

Another twenty feet down she paused again, then turned to face the inner wall. “I think there’s another door here.”

Charlie stopped. “How can you tell?”

“He’s standing at this wall and jacking off.”

Floyd and Mills moved her aside, and within a couple of minutes found a trigger that released a door into a whole other apartment, and as they did, found a peephole in the door concealed within a decorative plaque.

“Jesus. We should have figured this,” Floyd said. “A Peeping Tom can go from being a voyeur to actual physical attacks.”

Wyrick put her hand on the wall, then looked at Charlie.

“He thinks they love him.”

They backed out, closed the door and kept moving.

Wyrick kept rubbing the scarf she’d picked up, trying to see Rachel here, but all she felt was an energy different from the assailant.

They were almost at the end of the passage when Wyrick stopped.

“There’s another door here. Same vibe. Same visions of what he was doing.”

This time the detectives knew what to look for, and quickly found the trigger.

There was a couple inside the apartment, and when they heard talking inside their bedroom, they came running in disbelief.

Detective Floyd immediately flashed his badge.

“Sorry for the scare. Wyrick is helping us find the hidden doors giving access into apartments. We’re making note of them for the owner.”

The woman turned to her husband and started weeping.

“This is horrible, just horrible, Johnny. We have to get out of this place. I’ll never feel safe here again!”

And then Wyrick came out of the passage and into the room, and when they saw her, a hush came over the both of them, and then the woman moved toward her a few steps.

“We saw them carry you out on a stretcher just hours ago. You were unconscious.”

“And now I’m not,” Wyrick said. “When a secret is revealed, it is no longer a secret, or a danger. Rest assured, all of this will soon be going away, along with the man who’s been causing all the trouble, and everyone will be safe here again.”

Charlie yelled at them from the passage.

“Hey! Come look at this!”

They disappeared, pulling the door shut behind them.

Wyrick ran to where Charlie was kneeling. He had a flashlight aimed toward the wall and his pocketknife out, digging at something caught in a crack.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Something shiny. Looks like it might be...” All of a sudden it popped out, and Charlie picked it up. “It’s an earring.”

He dropped it in Wyrick’s hand.

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