A Vision of Murder Read Online Free Page A

“For what?”
    “If it wasn’t for me, you
wouldn’t have been woken up so early.”
    “If it wasn’t for you, we
wouldn’t know there might be another victim.”
    Might be , I thought. The words stuck
out to me. I had thought that I had an ally with Dunn, but it was obvious now
that he was going to need proof. I knew that I could provide them with that
proof, but it wasn’t going to be pleasant. I thought, not for the first time,
how had I ever ended up doing this for a living. Why I ever started….I huddled down in my thin coat. Dejectedly, I stared
out the window at the passing houses as we neared the station.
    The morning air was cold. I
stretched my coat around myself tightly and hurried up the stairs after Dunn. I
had expected the weather to be warmer, like the day before, but a storm
appeared to be moving in, dropping the temperature.
    The station was only
slightly warmer than outside. Thunder growled ominously in the distance. We
found Simms at his desk leaning wearily over paperwork with his hands covering
his eyes. I stood apart from them, unsure of what to do.
    “So, I guess we have another
victim?” He cleared his throat and straightened up, shuffling the papers on his
desk.
    “Yes.”
    “Just what
we need.” To my surprise, he smiled wearily at Dunn. “It doesn’t rain, but it pours.”
    I found it unusual that Dunn
seemed to be more skeptical than Simms until Simms spoke again. “I’ve wondered
if this might be the case.”
    “You didn’t mention it,”
Dunn said, an angry expression stealing over his face for a moment.
    “I guess… I didn’t want it
to be so. I didn’t want there to be more victims. But… it just seems so odd. In
the back of my mind, I guess I’ve been waiting on another victim to pop up. I
just hope-”
    “What?”
    “I hope this is it. Or that
we can stop it somehow.”
    I nodded in agreement, but a
foreboding feeling was filling my chest, as dark and gloomy as the storm on the
horizon.
    The room was more depressing
than usual withthe sunlight blocked. It felt as
if the three of us were the only people left in the world, although I knew that
other people were just outside the door. Simms settled into his chair, pen in
hand.
    “What did you see?”
    “A girl… but it was… she was
skeletal sometimes and herself at others. It was dim. Fading. I can’t describe her very well.”
    “Try.”
    “Dark
hair, late teens, early twenties. She seemed to be happy, trusting.”  Her
laughing expression filled my mind, a wide smile stretching across her face.
She turned back, parting branches and lifting one leg to climb over a log. And
then….
    “ She was walking through
woods… and then she fell forward.”
    “Someone hit her from
behind.”
    I only nodded in reply,
biting my lip to fight back the emotions that threatened to overwhelm me.
    “Then… several more times
while she was on the ground.” Her green and black plaid shirt was partially
covered by her dark hair, one arm thrown up ahead of her, a bracelet sparkling
on her wrist.
    “She was wearing a green and
black plaid shirt. I think I saw a bracelet.”
    “Anything
else?”
    The vision faded away, leaving
her lying on the ground.
    I shook my head. “I don’t
see anything else.”
    “A body in woods, thatshouldn’t be too hard to find.” Simms said dryly. I
bit my lip again. The area surrounding the small town was covered in woods and
underbrush. A state park surrounded at least a third of the area.
    “Are you sure she’s even
around here?  Just because the first victim is here doesn’t mean the
second one is.”
    “Let me try again.”  I
paused and pictured her in the woods again, going in reverse. The ground was
wet. She struggled in the mud, slipping to the side and grabbed the bark of a
nearby tree to keep from falling. The sky behind her was dark and gloomy,
threatening to spill rain again. I stopped and took a deep breath before
closing my eyes and falling back into the image