Laura nodded, trying to pretend that she was impressed by this information while she processed it internally. She wasn't getting anywhere from just trying to guess things on her own. She needed to just get over it and ask him questions, find out what his power actually entailed. That was the only way she was going to figure out if they had anything in common or not.
“So, how does it work for you?” She asked. Her voice was tentative, her words hesitant. She'd never spoken to anyone quite so openly about this before. Not since she was a child, when, as she suggested a moment ago, she had realized that she was different. That was the last time she had been open with anyone about this kind of conversation topic – when they had laughed at her, and when the laughter had turned to looks of horror and distrust. “How do you your visions come? Or do they manifest as visions at all?”
Nolan shrugged casually. “It can be different from time to time,” he said. “Sometimes I get these dreams that end up coming true. Of course, it's a bit of work to interpret them. You never quite know what they mean until it happens. Anyway, sometimes it's just a feeling. How about you? Do you get the same thing?”
Laura took another swallow of her drink. That didn't sound right to her at all. Actually, it sounded like what people who didn't have psychic abilities at all, but were just superstitious and gullible, would think. She didn't say that, though. Maybe he was telling the truth. Maybe he really did get a sense of things. Maybe it was like the sense of death or foreboding that she got sometimes when the vision wasn't strong enough, and it was just that Nolan had never learned how to make the visions come on stronger.
Not that she knew exactly how to do it, either. It just happened. It wasn't something that she was in control of.
“It's a bit different for me,” she said, at last. Again, she wondered how much she should give away. “I suppose it's a bit like the dreams, but I'm usually awake.”
“Oh, like a premonition?” Nolan said, nodding as if this made total sense to him. “Yes, I've heard of that. forgive me for asking something so personal, but you're divorced, aren't you?”
Laura again felt startled. She definitely hadn't mentioned anything about Lacey or Marcus. How had he managed to work that one out?
“Yes, I am,” she said. “It was a few years ago now. We're still trying to get things back to an amicable level.”
“Because you have a child together?” Nolan asked.
Laura could barely hold herself back from gaping at him. That was something she definitely hadn't given away, not in her forum profile, not in their messages to meet, not anywhere. He was the real thing. He had to be. How else would he have figured it out?
Laura's phone rang in her pocket, distracting her momentarily.
“Sorry,” she said. “Just give me a minute, I need to answer this…”
She looked down at the screen and felt her heart hit the back of her throat. It was Chief Rondelle calling.
There had to be something wrong with Amy.
Laura got up and fled the bar, needing to get to a quiet spot where she could hear what he had to say.
CHAPTER NINE
“Laura Frost,” Laura said, gasping out her own name by way of answering the phone. She gripped onto a windowsill in the wall outside the bar to steady herself. She didn’t want to hear the news if it was bad – but she needed to know.
“Agent Frost,” Rondelle said, his voice calm and measured. How could he be calm and measured when calling her about something like this?
“What is it? What’s happened to her?” Laura asked, feeling her breath seize in her throat.
“Who?” Rondelle asked, seeming puzzled. “Oh – no, no, Agent Frost, I’m calling you about a new assignment.”
Laura breathed again finally, leaning on the wall for support. “Oh, thank God.”
But a moment later, it hit her: a new assignment? They’d only just come back from the last case. Normally they would be allowed more time, the chance to catch up on paperwork and debriefs.
“We’ve got a couple of murders in Seattle that I’d like you and Agent Lavoie to look into,” Rondelle said. “I won’t tell you too much now – it’s late. You’ll get the full briefing on the plane – I’m putting you on the earliest possible flight tomorrow morning, so you’ll want to get some rest now.”
“Understood,” Laura said, then hesitated. “But… why so soon?”
Rondelle made a noise in his throat. “Because I need to know that you’re somewhere working on a case, not here harassing Governor Fallow – no matter how much he may deserve it,” he admitted. “Laura, go do your job. Get stuck into this case, let it clear your mind. Things aren’t going to move fast with getting Amy to a new foster family, and I can’t let you go and visit her. I know you’re going to be good on the ground in Seattle, so don’t see this as a punishment. I want my best agents on this one. Local PD have hit a dead end, and with two similar killings happening in two days, we have reason to believe there is a serious danger of a third.”
“Alright,” Laura sighed. Privately, she didn’t believe a word of it. She knew he just wanted her out of the way so that she wouldn’t cause a scandal – or get herself arrested for real. Nate was going to suffer for it, too. But there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. If Rondelle wanted them on the case, they were on the case.
Laura hesitated before heading back inside. She looked through the window that she had leaned against, spotting Nolan sitting at their table. He was talking to the waitress now, and she seemed to be enjoying it a lot. She was smiling and laughing, her hand going to her hip to accentuate how small her waist was. Nolan said something to her, and the waitress giggled and put a hand to her mouth, her eyes wide in surprise.
Almost as if he had predicted something about her that she had not told him. Laura narrowed her eyes, watching closely.
She saw Nolan's eyes flick up and down the waitress’s body, before he made another statement that seemed to surprise her all the more.