I nodded quietly.
“I’m glad you are settling in well.” She opened one of the folders up, revealing a picture of a sweet little girl with dark curls, about one or two years old. “I’ve decided to include you on our first investigative assignment of the year. As I mentioned before, we work in collaboration with police departments across the country, most often at the request of the victim’s family.”
I nodded again, curious. I desperately wanted to know more.
“RAMS has been offering consulting services for the last fourteen years or so, assisting in locating missing persons, and solving opened criminal cases.”
I nodded again, speechless.
“Would this be something you’d like to be a part of?” she asked sweetly.
Hell, yeah.
“I… I think… what would I have to do?”
“We leave tomorrow morning, and we will travel west for approximately two days. Or hotel accommodations are reserved at the Hilton DoubleTree. You’ll assist in conducting interviews with family members and friends of the missing child. In this case, we’re talking about an eighteen month old toddler… a little girl. You’ll also most likely participate in an investigation of the victim’s home, since you are a psychometrist.”
I had no words. I was on the spot. Don’t get me wrong… I wanted to do this. I’d never wanted anything more. Yet, I had this overwhelming fear that I would disappoint her, that my powers would fail me. It was too much pressure.
Almost as if she could read my thoughts, she quickly added, “I’ve been excited to see what you can do, Annabelle. I have great confidence in you. I know you can do this.”
I nodded and swallowed hard. “Yes… I’m in.” I thought about the little girl. I had to save her. What was she going through at the moment?
Her parents must be going insane.
I couldn’t even imagine. “I’d be happy to help.”
Simone smiled wide as she stood, and reached out to shake my hand. “So glad to welcome you on the team.”
I rose and shook her hand confidently. I would do her proud.
“Now let’s hurry and find this little girl.”
She walked swiftly to the door and invited the others in. “Why, so nice of you to come, Mr. Rogers,” she said to Ace, her words drenched in playful sarcasm. He smirked as he shuffled in, hands in pockets. Even his silly smirk was charming. Brianna nipped at his heels like an eager little puppy, and Kendra was right behind her, followed by Leo. Dressed in our uniforms, we all looked so different than we had on Friday. Leo took a seat next to me, and I noticed that he still wore his silver cross over his cardigan.
Simone got right to it. “I’m sure you all know what this is about,” she began. Her words had taken a business-like tone. “We have another case to solve, my sweet little wizards.”
I smiled, and everyone else did, too. I think we all found our pet names very amusing.
She handed out the red folders one by one – we all got our own shiny copy. “It’s my pleasure to welcome Annabelle Jenkins to the team.”
I blushed immediately as they all turned to me and offered tight, somewhat friendly grins.
Simone went on. “She’s a psychometrist like Leo.” She turned her gaze to Leo. “I thought you two could work together. I’m curious to see what kind of magic you two can whip up. Two minds are always better than one.”
Leo turned to me, apprehension flooding his gorgeous chocolate brown eyes. He was so close that I could read him a little. He felt vulnerable in my presence. Most people are scared of Readers because Readers know the truth. Readers know all your secrets – if they care enough to pay attention. He was afraid that I could read him, and so was I. He was a Reader, too, after all. For that reason, I tried hard to focus on the situation at hand, and not on his beautiful lips and what it would be like to kiss them. I wondered about that, even though I’d never actually kissed anyone.
He smiled a little; a mischievous whisper of a grin. I was sure he knew what I was thinking already.
Simone carried on. “Now if you’ll all open your folders, you will see all the information you need. We are looking for an eighteen month old girl—”
“Aww… she’s so sweet,” Kendra broke in, clearly not able to contain herself. She was on the verge of tears. So was I, but I didn’t want to be the girl who cried every time we were assigned a new case.
“Haley Henderson is the daughter of Jenna and Mason Henderson. She’s officially been missing for forty-eight hours, as we speak. She was taken from her home, from her crib, in the middle of the night. As you can imagine, time is of the essence. This is the reason we’ll be leaving at six am sharp, tomorrow morning. We are heading to Novi, in Michigan, where we will be interviewing Haley’s family, as well as the family babysitter.”
“You will all be excused from your classes tomorrow and Wednesday, but I do want you to resume your classes today, and I want you to go over this information carefully, pack for a two days stay, and meet me at the administration desk at five forty-five am sharp.” She turned to Ace. “If you’re not there by six, you will not be participating in this investigation.”
The woman meant business.
