Page 12 of Snow River

The police car pulled up alongside the bar and came to a stop.Lila was about to run out of time if she wanted to tell him anything before Cromwell showed up.

She drew in a deep breath, then spoke quickly, the words spilling out in a rapid-fire flow.“I have enhanced intuitive abilities.I sense things.Sometimes I get very strong feelings that something’s going to happen, and then it does.Sometimes images come to me, very vivid and real.But I can’t say if they’re true, if it’s something that actually happened, or if it’s something my mind conjured up.It’s notevidenceof anything.I should never have let that slip out because it means nothing.Except that I know in my heart that’s what happened.That’s it.So now you know.”

She folded her arms across her chest and lifted her chin.

Between his years as a police officer and his time as a bartender, Bear had become an expert at reading body language.And right now, as she silently waited, he knew Lila Romanoff was braced for—and expecting—his rejection.

7

As was often the case,Lila couldn’t read Bear’s expression.If anything, impassive would be the word for it.Her heart was doing all kinds of flips and plunges, like a trapeze artist at a circus.When he finally spoke, he could have been talking about the latest liquor delivery.

“So you saw a knife being thrown?Did you see who threw it?”

“No.I just saw her.Her back.The knife flying through the air towards her.I tried to see who threw it, but that part wasn’t available.”

“Available?”

“I only see what I see.I have no control over it.It’s not like a video camera.Like I said, I don’t even know if it’s real.”

His dark eyes stayed locked on her.“Have you ever been wrong?”

“Well…I can’t say.I see or sense all sorts of things, and I have no idea if they’re all true or not.Some have been true.But there’s no way to know if all of them are.”

It unsettled her that he was taking her so seriously.She wasn’t used to that.Her close friends did, but the few other times she’d tried to warn someone about something she’d seen, that had been the end of the relationship.

“But you said you get premonitions,” said Bear.“Have those been wrong?”

“No.”She swallowed hard.“Those haven’t been wrong.”She braced herself for follow-up questions.Like when?How about an example?But he stayed focused on the situation before them.

“Then quite likely there’s some truth to everything else you see, too.”

“Maybe.But there’s something else.”She realized that her hands had balled into tight fists and her nails were digging into her own skin.With a conscious effort, she forced them to relax.“One of the reasons I like being here in Firelight Ridge is that I pick up a lot less of that kind of thing.It hardly happens at all here, just a few blips here and there.”She could practically list them on the fingers of one hand, that was how rare it was.“It’s a huge relief.”

“So the knife-throwing vision?—”

She recoiled, horrified.“It’s not a vision.I wouldn’t call it that.”

“What word would you use?”

“I don’t know.Blip.That’s all it is.A little blip of an image.”

“Okay, let’s go with blip, then.”His tone was as dry as a gin martini, but she detected no mockery in it.“Was it weaker than what you usually see?How is it different since it happened here in Firelight Ridge?”

“It wasn’t weaker,” she admitted.“It was strong.Like other blips I’ve experienced.But since I am here, and in general, my intuition isn’t as strong, I just thought I would tell you that, too.So you can take it into account.”

He gave a brief nod.“I’m not the one who matters.We have to decide what to tell Officer Cromwell.He just got out of his vehicle.”

There was something in his voice when he said that name…she knew he didn’t like the guy.“Why do we have to tell him anything?He won’t believe me.Whatever I saw, it won’t factor into his investigation.Why would it?I want to help find the murderer, but if he won’t take me seriously anyway, what’s the point?”

He appeared to think it over, then came to a conclusion.“I’ll offer to be his local eyes and ears.I’ll find a way to bring up the knife.Maybe an anonymous tip or something.”

“You can do that?”

“I can do what I can.”He eyed her for a moment, then his gaze went past her, to the bar building at her back.“Here he comes now.I suggest we go inside where we can control the conversation better.”

With a flick of his wrist, he flung the axe at the chopping block.The blade lodged in the wood, the axe handle at a jaunty angle.

Just like the blip.

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