Page 79 of Chasing Dreams
Maybe she was simply being foolish or proud. He’d admitted his lack of friends and family to shower with gifts.
That admission made her wonder about something he’d never told her, and a change of subject suited her. “How did your mother die, Austin?”
He hesitated. “A car wreck,” he said finally.
“How old were you?”
“Eighteen.”
“That’s tough.”
“Yeah. She and a friend were both killed.”
She turned back to the room. “There’s something you’re not saying, isn’t there? I can hear it.”
His subdued voice was unfamiliar. “I knew the exact hour she would be pronounced dead. I knew the description of her injuries.”
Shaine walked back and leaned against the old desk. “That must have been terrible for you.”
He clicked the mouse a couple of times and turned off the power. “What I couldn’t see was the day. It could have been far into the future or the next day—I didn’t know.”
“How did you get the vision?”
He met her eyes. “In a dream.”
Her heart caught in her throat. He’d hinted at precognitive dreams like hers, but he’d never shared any of them with her. She understood the terror of that particular vision.
“At first I wouldn’t let her go anywhere. I was terrified of what I knew was going to happen. But that’s illogical, of course. Everyone is destined to die eventually. I had no date or exact place. If I’d known it would happen in a certain city, I’d have kept her from there, but it wasn’t like that.”
“Where did it happen?”
“Pittsburgh. We had a townhouse there. She’d gotten tired of the isolation, and swore she’d be careful. And she was. It wasn’t her fault. A truck ran a red light.”
“And then you only had Tom.”
“Yes. I stayed with him and his wife for a while, and then I went to college. By then I was all the more determined that I didn’t want to see the past or the future. It was all out of my control, and I hated the powerlessness.”
“You’ve done good for so many people, Austin.”
“But at what expense? Sometimes it’s important to take care of yourself. That’s what I learned the hard way.”
She placed her hand over his on the arm of the chair. “I do understand.”
A pulsing low ring sounded nearby.
Pulling his hand from beneath hers, he leaned forward and moved aside a pile of instruction booklets and software cases to pick up his phone. “Allen here.”
Shaine leaned back and listened to his side of the conversation.
“Where at? Yeah. Did you tell ’em you had the car?... What about Rossi?... She’s okay. We’re both a little impatient... Yeah.” He hung up.
“What’s happening?”
“They have the Holbrooks in custody. Ken told them this Rossi person was ready to testify that they had pulled the jobs on their own.”
“They found Rossi?”
“Not yet. That’s just a tactic. It worked. The Holbrooks got a lawyer, and they’re about to spill their guts.”
