Page 6 of No Time for Doubt
Chapter 3
Devyn didn’t need anyof her psychic talent to know when she wasn’t wanted.This wasn’t the first time she would be chased out of a crime scene or an area where she had a vital interest.Wouldn’t be the last either.Unless she chose to stop helping people, to stop responding to the cues from her extra senses.What had Laurier called it?
Oh, yeah.Her “special sources”.
She’d heard far worse through the years and somehow his phrasing nettled her in fresh new ways.
Ways she’d be better off forgetting.
Thanks to his obnoxious orders she was standing on the front porch.No way to avoid it, she was shut out.Making a scene would get her nowhere, but she wasn’t ready to leave.The energy she’d picked up in the bedroom wasn’t violent, but it wasn’t pleasant either.The emotion was raw and unhappy.The violence was concentrated downstairs in the front room.That’s where Nell and Daniel had argued.And then it was as if Nell had been silenced.Abruptly, yet not with any finality—Devyn was sure her client was alive—but she’d been removed from her home.
The why, how, and who were yet to be determined.
She wasn’t leaving until she got the lead she was looking for.Nell needed her.The certainty of that singular fact pressed gently against Devyn from all sides.As if the universe itself was guiding her toward the right answer.Toward Nell.And she wasn’t going to ignore those nudges.
Being mad or stubborn, ignoring her gifts, only created challenges and heartache that hindsight always proved were avoidable.Devyn’s talents didn’t stem from fight or flight.It was more like fighting caused immediate negative fallout and giving into any fear led her astray from any helpful insight.
It hadn’t been easy to learn how to stay calm in the storm or hold her ground when the answers were ugly.
From the start of her formal training, Devyn worked to conquer her fear, to seek answers that didn’t merely satisfy her curiosity but actually helped others.It had taken time to understand the cycle of helping others helped her as well.
These days, she didn’t need anyone else to understand her talent, her process, or her reasoning.Having accepted herself, being fully committed to her training and understanding her specific talent, she no longer needed outside approval.
Of course, she wanted to help her clients.She felt the obligation and importance of each person who reached out, of each situation that called her.She saw it as an honor to use her talents as often as possible.
And she’d always have a little bit of that need to make Marlene proud.
She didn’t see that as a failing, just one more facet of her interesting life.
As she walked along the front of the house, she heard others in her wake.The house was a hive of activity right now.She had to be careful or the grouchy detective would bluster at her again.Oddly enough, a pop song lyric sounded the ringtone fluttering across the cool morning air.
Devyn turned and saw Detective Laurier scowling at his phone.She couldn’t quite reconcile the bright melody to the grumpy man.As she watched, he moved away from the chaos, and thankfully her, toward the driveway.She figured that meant the call was personal.It was too soon to have any definitive results from the folks gathering evidence.
She brushed aside the small flash of annoyance ready to take root and derail her search.Not her place to judge Laurier or the situation, even if he’d judged her on sight.Bitterness only hampered her gifts, clouding her ability to interpret the information that flowed to her.
Detective Laurier wouldn’t be the last cop to doubt her or question the validity of her assistance.
She returned her attention to the home itself, determined to gather whatever information she could even from this distance.Her primary goal was to find Nell.
Alive.
A persistent pressure between her shoulder blades warned her time was limited.
The detective could do whatever he wanted with the husband or any criminal who’d taken her client.She believed in justice and the legal system, but her strengths led her to act according to her own code.
It wasn’t easy to concentrate with all the action around the home.Law enforcement folks buzzed back and forth, gathering photos, sealing evidence bags.Needing space, she walked across the thick green turf of the front yard.Her car was across the street and there, she wouldn’t have privacy, but she’d have some space to quiet her thoughts and listen to her guides.
Between one stride and the next the summer sky overhead dimmed.As if someone had drawn a curtain across the sun.She tripped and fell to her hands and knees, panic stealing her breath.As she gulped for air, a rush of tears blurred her vision.The grass under her hands was cool and damp with dew.She looked more closely at her palms when something struck the side of her head, making her ears ring.
