Too Far Under Read Online Free Page B

loss. As a grief therapist I know the agonizing
pain that follows the loss of a child.
    “Poor Mirabel,” I said. “Losing a child is
always tragic, and even worse when you feel like you could have
prevented it. There’s so much guilt along with the grief. It must
have been horrible for her.”
    “It was. Mirabel was never the same after
that.”
    “What do you mean, ‘never the same’?”
    “Well she crashed, like you’d expect after
losing a child. I don’t need to tell you, you’re the grief
therapist. I don’t know what I’d do in her situation. What Mirabel
did was join the Church of Scientology. Apparently thought they
could help her cope with her grief. She got very involved with
them, dropped a lot of her old friends who I guess weren’t big fans
of Scientology. Why are you asking about her?”
    I scraped the last crumbs from our appetizer
plate, then launched into my explanation. “Mirabel’s oldest
daughter Lacey is in my class and apparently knows about my Contact
Project. She stopped me after class today to say that her little
sister Angelica—who she says is an Indigo child who sees beneath
the surface—says that Mirabel didn’t drown by accident. Lacey says
that Angelica insists someone pushed Mirabel under and drowned her,
and they want me to help them contact Mirabel to find out what
happened.”
    Elisa gave me a quizzical look. “Why don’t
they get the police to look into it? If someone drowned Mirabel, I
think the police would want to know. I mean Mirabel was a big-time
Boulder activist—on boards, supported all the liberal causes like
open space, prairie dog preservation, affordable housing, homeless
shelters, anything progressive.” Elisa was getting so wound up her
voice was rising.
    I didn’t want anyone listening in to our
conversation, so I put my hand lightly on her arm to calm her. She
got the message instantly and stopped for a sip of her drink. Then
she went on in a softer voice. “Look, Mirabel Townes was rich.
Inherited tons of money from her mother’s family’s cattle ranching
fortune. I know the Boulder police don’t have the best reputation
for murder investigation, with the whole JonBenet thing and all,
but it’s hard to believe someone could drown Mirabel and the police
would just overlook it.”
    I frowned at her. “Come on, Elisa, that’s a
low crack about the Boulder police. The thing is—the police can’t
do anything if there’s no evidence of a crime. I’m guessing the
coroner ruled Mirabel’s death an accident and that was that,” I
said, a little defensively.
    Even though my boyfriend Pablo works for the
Longmont police, not Boulder, and he does drug enforcement, not
homicide, I get a little touchy when people rag on the Boulder
police. Most of the cops I’ve met are like Pablo—hard workers who
are passionately committed to their work. Pablo, for instance,
became a cop after his younger brother Miguel got involved in a
street gang selling drugs and ended up in prison. Pablo works in
drug enforcement trying to keep young kids like Miguel from ending
up like him.
    Elisa put her hand on my arm. “Down, girl!
I’m not insulting your boyfriend and his buddies,” she said. “Just
trying to figure out why Lacey Townes needs you instead of the
police.”
    “Lacey said she and Angelica can’t get anyone
to believe them and open an investigation,” I said, squirming a
little in my seat.
    “Yeah the police probably wouldn’t put much
stock in what a kid thinks, even if she is an Indigo child,” Elisa
said. “How old did you say the little sister is?”
    “Lacey said Angelica is ten. Do you know much
about Indigo children?”
    Elisa leaned back and looked up at the
ceiling as if she expected to find the answer written up there.
Then she looked back at me. “Some people say they’re a new kind of
children—a unique generation of highly sensitive and psychic kids,
independent, bright, creative, but easily bored and resistant to
traditional