Page 23 of Graveyard Dog

“Thank you, Officer.”

A picture. Of course. Izzy’s cell was still in Emma’s room. “I need to get my phone.”

“I’ll go. You sit down.” Michael led her to a cushioned bench and eased her onto it. “Will you be okay here?”

This wasn’t happening. This was simply not happening. How? How did Ross find her? Izzy had moved them over a thousand miles away. Changed her name. Dyed her hair, thoughshe eventually went back to her natural color. How had he found her? How did he know about Emma?

“Izzy?” Michael asked.

They wheeled the nurse past her, and the guilt brewing inside her gurgled and bubbled until she thought she might throw up. First Emma, and now the nurse. “Was she stabbed?”

“The nurse?” Michael watched them turn a corner. “Head wound, from the looks of it.”

Izzy watched through blurred vision. “I did that to her,” she whispered.

“If her life was in danger, she could have run.”

“No,” Izzy said, shaking her head. “She couldn’t have. She would have fought with every cell in her body to stay by Emma’s side like I ordered. My ability brings about a kind of blind devotion. Uncontrollable. Irreversible until the target has followed my orders and fulfilled my request completely. Ross, or whoever he sent, would’ve had no choice but to stop her any way he could.”

“Maybe we need to implement that skill once more.” He nodded toward the cop.

She turned to him. Michael was right. She had to get into the right state of mind. She filled her lungs slowly, lowered her head, and resigned herself to what she was about to do. “Can you get him over here alone?”

Michael glanced at him and then back at her. “Are you okay to do your thing?”

“I’m always okay to do my thing. It’s actually more powerful in times of stress.”

“Then I’ll get him over here.” He stood and walked toward the officer.

He was taking a statement from one of the nurses. “You didn’t see anything?”

“No, sir,” the woman said. She was short and round and reminded Izzy of an apple in her red scrubs.

“Officer, my fiancée has a question, if you don’t mind.”

His fiancée.Ourdaughter. Why did every word out of his mouth fit so perfectly? Why did they sound so heavenly? So accurate?

“I’ll be right back,” the officer said to the nurse. He walked over and knelt in front of Izzy, concern lining his young face as his partner helped the others search for Emma. “How are you holding up?”

She feigned a weak smile. She had to word this carefully. One slip could drive him insane over the next few days. It was a risk she rarely took anymore. In fact, it had been months since she’d last used her ability. Until she got a knock at two in the morning and fell back into old habits.

She checked his name tag, cleared her throat, and gazed into his rich brown irises. “Officer Olivera, you will forget me asking this and what we’re about to do as soon as the task is complete.”

He didn’t question her. He couldn’t. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t blink. Not until she finished her orders. “You will show us the surveillance footage immediately. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you. That will be all.”

The man blinked and shook his head in confusion, then stood and led them to a small security room with several screens. Michael had taken her arm. It comforted her more than she liked.

“Will he remember any of this?” he asked.

“No.”

“How is that possible? He’ll know he didn’t walk to the security room of his own accord, right?”

“The mind is an amazing thing. It will fill in the blanks with the most logical explanations. How often do you think about why you walked from one room to another?”

---