Page 16 of No Room to Breathe
Chapter 5
“Who knew?”Devyn murmuredas she walked along the pathway through the park.
Beside her, Marlene stopped to look at her.“Knew what, love?”
“That was the detective.”
Marlene’s mouth curled into a soft smile.“Laurier?Mm-hm.”
Of course, Marlene knew.If not through the strength of her gifts, but because even one side of the conversation must’ve been obvious.
“He surprised me,” Devyn admitted.“I didn’t think he was capable of gratitude.”
“Of all the surprises people give us, I’d count that one as the best.”
Devyn agreed.They were walking the park near the police station, probing for any sign of Samantha.To passersby they probably looked like two friends out for a walk on a summer day and that’s how it needed to appear.
Instead, they were working from an overdose of caution.Neither of them dared to assume anything about their psychic gifts.
For Devyn, whose gifts emerged when she was young, her abyss and informants occasionally felt unreliable.Even now, after years of learning how to interpret the messages and visions, her talent could still obscure or distort reality so effectively that she got lost.
Trusting herself had been a hard-won victory.Definitely worth every effort and hour invested—past and present.
“I don’t get a sense of anyone here but us,” Marlene said as they meandered along the paths.“No one who is new to the afterlife, anyway.”
Devyn grinned.“You sound like a late-night psychic hotline commercial.”
“We all follow our strengths.”Marlene had spent a few years using her talent for fortune telling on those hotlines.Until she gained such a following of dedicated fans that the company booted her out.“From what you told me, it’s unlikely the spirit would linger here.She was attached to the detective.”
“True.My hope is that she’s been able to move on now that Cade is recovering from his grief.”
“That’s a lifelong process,” Marlene reminded her.
Devyn agreed.“He isn’t stuck.He can recover,” Devyn insisted.“That’s what matters.”His health and happiness were important to Samantha.
And when the doubts had slithered across her mind that she’d rushed him through a necessary struggle, she defeated them with Marlene’s training:
Being psychic is not mind control.
Psychic gifts cannot change a person.
Psychic advice is never a guarantee.
She’d helped a man who happened to be open to help at that moment.And apparently, she’d given the spirit of the woman who’d loved him some closure too.
“I guess we can go when you’re ready.”Devyn fished her car key fob from her purse, dropped them back in when Marlene sat down on the nearest bench.
“It’s a lovely day.”She patted the seat.“Join me.Let’s wallow in sunshine for a bit.”
Devyn sat down.“It is a good day to just be.”
For several minutes they wallowed in a glorious, calm day.Random thoughts floated up, tempting Devyn to break the peaceful silence.
She didn’t.
