Page 11 of A Touch of Murder
"I didn't know at the time it was Roy, but I saw a man fall. Since I'd had another vision of Edith associated with the saddle, it was safe to assume that it was Roy. So sad. He was only seventy-two. I mean, that's older, but the man looked healthy. He was still working his ranch like he was thirty." Adam swiped his card before shoving his wallet back into his pocket. "I didn't know them well. Did you?"
"Well enough. Edith taught Sunday school when I was a child. As I got older and didn't attend church as often, we lost touch, but I always caught up with her at the annual barbecue they'd throw and at other community events around the area.Ray would drop by about once a month to get a few loaves of my breads." She grabbed herself a cup of coffee. "Mind if I join you for a bit? It's quiet this morning."
Adam knew Becky's main rush came between seven and eight in the morning, when people were rushing to work. She'd get another rush in the afternoon. "Happy for the company." He took his food to one of the tables.
"How's business for you?" She sat across from him.
"Slow, but it usually is this time of year. Once the summer tourists start coming through, it will pick up." Being just west of Yellowstone, the summer started later than some areas. "I've got a woman coming in soon who will be setting up an area in my shop. She does aura photography. I'm hoping that might draw people in."
"Oh, I'd love to do that. I've always been fascinated by that kind of stuff. Do you see auras?" Becky asked.
"Nope. I'm kind of curious to see what mine looks like. I've often wondered if because of my gift it might look different than others. I'll probably be her first customer unless Jacey gets to her first." Adam glanced up as the door opened. He forced a smile as Barret Whitestone walked in. He was in uniform, but alone, and Adam wondered where his partner was.
"Hey, Barret. Your usual?" Becky stood, pausing to hug her brother before going back behind the counter.
"Yeah, but up the size of the coffee. I need caffeine today." Barret eyed Adam, then nodded a hello.
"Morning." Adam smiled. "Care to join us?"
"For a minute. I need to get back to the station." Barret walked over and sat down next to Becky's chair. "We found the Wilson girl yesterday. You were right. The Utah Medical Examiner's Office had her. We let her family know yesterday afternoon. They're having her body transferred up here for burial."
Adam sighed. "I wish I'd been wrong."
Becky set an apple fritter and a large cup of coffee in front of Barret and took her seat. "That's horrible. I was praying she was alive, and she'd run off with some boy. But I guess the way you found her car, that wasn't probable."
"No, we were running on the assumption she was taken, but we'd hoped to find her alive." Barret turned to Adam. "I was just going to hang out here until you opened. I came to talk to you more about what you claimed to see."
"Barret, we talked about this yesterday. Adam's the real thing. He doesn't just claim to see things. Hedoessee things." Becky gripped her brother's forearm. "Some things in life we can't explain. What Adam does is one of those things."
Barret shook his head. "It's not possible."
Adam took a sip of his coffee then set it down. "What freaked you out the other night at my place? Something I said upset you." He'd thought about that incident several times over the last couple of days.
"What happened?" Becky's interest was clear as she stared back and forth at the two of them.
"Not my story." Adam held up a hand. "Even without it being an official reading, I still keep a person's confidentiality."
"You did a reading for Barret?" Becky's eyes went wide.
"I was trying to prove him a fake," Barret grumbled. "But he saw things."
"Explain." Becky narrowed her eyes on her brother.
"He offered to read something of mine to prove his skills were real. I thought I'd prove he was faking it by giving him my handcuffs to hold. I assumed he'd talk about some arrest or something I'd made. The thing was, those were brand new cuffs. I'd never used them," Barret told his sister.
"So you didn't see anything?" Becky looked over at Adam.
Adam shook his head. "I saw stuff. It made no sense to me, but I told him what I saw."
"Barret?" Becky stared at her brother.
"Do you remember what you saw?" Barret asked Adam.
He nodded.
"Tell her." Barret took a bite of his fritter.
Adam leaned back and tried to remember everything. "A purple teddy bear. An apron with stitched strawberries on it, the smell of lavender, and a short woman. She was really short."
