Page 65 of In Her Eyes

My throat aches. “Is it her?”

He nods.

I need confirmation. “Are you sure? It’s been four months . . .”

“It’s her.”

“What did you see? I don’t know much about this, but a body in a forest after four months . . .”

“The body is mostly intact. She was not here long.”

I blink at him. “What?”

“Come on, let’s go back to my cruiser. Get Lynn to come and pick you up. Once you leave, I’ll call dispatch and report the body.”

My first reaction is to say no. But Jake and I shouldn’t be here when the rest of the police shows up. “What are you going to say?”

“That I got an anonymous tip. Someone was hiking and saw the body but was too scared to identify themselves.”

“Then what will happen?”

“The OCME will come and check for themselves. Talk to me. Check the area.”

I sniffle and rub the wetness away from my face. “What’s the OCME?”

“It stands for Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. They’ll send a medical examiner, and then the body will be transported to the OCME autopsy facility at Concord Hospital.”

“You think they’ll believe it was a tip?”

He tugs at my hand, walking faster now. “I don’t see why not. Hikers and hunters walk the forest often enough and they’re usually the first ones to find bodies in the woods.”

My gaze darts around as if I’m about to find more bodies. “What about my tracks? Won’t they see our tracks?”

“They might. But that can be justified as the tracks of whoever made the anonymous call.” He looks at my feet. “You should probably get rid of those sneakers, just in case.”

I look down at my own feet and nearly trip. “I’ll get rid of them when Lynn picks me up.”

The way back seems a lot shorter. He lets go of my hand when we reach his cruiser. “Call, don’t text because text messages can be subpoenaed.”

I call Lynn, and we wait inside his cruiser. The low hum of the air conditioner is the only sound. He’s closed off again and thinks I was following my intuition, and I debate telling him what I saw and then go for it. “I saw her . . . behind that tree.”

His eyes widen. “How? Her body wasn’t visible from where you were.”

“Not her body. Her spirit. She told me where her body was and then thanked us for finding her. She was happy her family can have closure now.”

He runs a hand through his hair and then holds the steering wheel. “Okay. This is something else. This is way above reading energy in an object. Now you have a ghost telling you where to find her body.”

“I know.”

His knuckles go white around the steering wheel. “Help me understand. How does this work?”

“I've always been able to see spirits—and hear them. They can hear us, too. But it’s not something that happens at will like the psychometry.”

“And the ghosts just show up?”

I shrug and try to hold it together, not show Jake how shaken I am on the inside. If I let go of my ironclad hold on myself, I’ll crack wide-open. I can’t let this happen. I can’t allow myself to give in to the urge to cry and run away. I won’t be like my mother. I breathe in, close my eyes for a moment, release the air in my lungs, and then face him. “Not exactly. When I held the lipstick, I asked Victoria to help me find her. I guess she listened because I felt the pull to come here.”

His hand drops to his lap, and the back of his head hits the headrest. Once. Twice. Three times. “I can’t believe I’m going to say this—” He shakes his head and looks up at the ceiling of his cruiser. Shakes his head some more. Drags in a big breath and releases it. “Can you ask the others where they are as well?”

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