Page 6 of In Her Dreams
Spelling pulled a small notebook from his pocket.“Ginger Lomax, twenty-eight.Server at the Blue Plate Diner in Kansas City.Reported missing three months ago when she didn’t show up for her shift.No family in the area, lived alone.Police initially treated it as a possible runaway case.But we were already that the Harvesters might have gotten her.”
“And Omar?”Jake prompted.“The man Ginger said they took away?”
“Likely Omar Shetland.Auto mechanic from Rock Port, Missouri.Missing six months.Left behind an apartment full of belongings and a half-eaten breakfast.His boss reported him missing when he didn’t show for three consecutive shifts.”
Spelling flipped his notebook closed, his expression grim.“If it’s him, and if Ginger’s timeline is accurate, they took him away a few months ago.Which means...”
“He’s probably already dead,” Jenna finished quietly.
He was certainly dead if he was the one who visited her dream.But he was still trying to help stop these living monsters.
“And his organs harvested and sold,” Spelling confirmed.“And their activity crosses many state lines.Which is why the FBI will be taking point on this investigation from here on out.”
As if summoned by his words, two black SUVs with government plates rolled up the gravel road, sending plumes of dust into the brightening sky.
“What about Jill?”Jenna asked, her mind circling back to the woman’s strange words.
Spelling’s brow furrowed.“That’s where we’re drawing a blank.No missing persons reports matching her description.My working theory is she’s a long-term transient, possibly with mental health issues.Makes her an ideal target for these bastards—no one looking for her.She’ll be hospitalized.Maybe she’ll be able to tell us something when she regains consciousness.”
The conversation paused as they watched FBI agents in windbreakers emerge from the vehicles, their movements brisk and purposeful.
“I’ll work with them,” Spelling said, “and keep my officers involved where I can.But for now, there’s not much more for you two to do here.”
He began to turn away, then stopped.His penetrating gaze fixed on Jenna, then shifted to Jake before returning to her.“One question before I let you go.How exactly did you discover these victims?”
The air between them suddenly felt charged.Jenna felt Jake tense beside her, his shoulder almost touching hers.They’d prepared a vague explanation about following up on homeless encampment reports, but in the moment, the lie tasted bitter on Jenna’s tongue.
Before she could speak, Spelling continued.“Anonymous tip, I’m guessing?Something that came through unusual channels?”
The question wasn’t really a question.It was an offered narrative, a plausible explanation that required no elaboration.
Jenna met his gaze steadily.“Yes, sir.Something like that.”
Spelling nodded once, his expression unreadable.“I thought so.That seems to happen around you with some regularity, Sheriff Graves.”
He didn’t wait for a response, just turned and walked toward the FBI agents, leaving Jenna and Jake in a pocket of silence that felt both relieved and uneasy.
They walked back to their patrol car in silence, the gravel crunching beneath their boots.The morning had warmed slightly, burning away some of the mist that hung between the trees.
“He knows,” Jake said finally as they reached the vehicle.“Not what, exactly, but he knows you have sources of information that aren’t...conventional.”
Jenna opened the driver’s side door, pausing before getting in.“I think he believes I have informants in the criminal world.People I protect by not naming them.”
“Which is a lot easier for him to accept than ‘I talk to dead people in my dreams,’“ Jake said with a humorless smile.
“He’s giving me space to operate,” Jenna said, sliding into her seat.“As long as we get results, he doesn’t have to know how.”
Jake settled into the passenger seat beside her, his familiar presence a comfort after the tension of the morning.“How long do you think that arrangement will last?”
“Until it doesn’t work for him anymore,” Jenna said simply, starting the engine.
As they pulled away from the scene, leaving behind the lights and the controlled chaos, Jenna’s mind circled back to Jill’s words: “It’s you.You’ve come back.”
The phrase nagged at her, like a splinter buried too deep to easily remove.
“Those words Jill said to me,” Jenna said, breaking the contemplative silence.“It wasn’t just recognition.It was like she was seeing someone else when she looked at me.”
Jake turned toward her, his brow furrowed in thought.“Piper, maybe?Could she have known your sister?”
