Callie's Secret Revelations Read online

  "The wanderer returns. I was beginning to think Jenny had you tied up in the basement. Doesn't that girl ever work?"

  "She had yesterday off, we just kind of hung out on the couch all day. Her Mom went to Saint Cloud for a few days because her sister is sick or something."

  "So, you two are doing well. It was great having her and her mother here for Christmas dinner. Is Claire all right with the fact that you two are dating?"

  "She just laughed when we told her. She said she thought that was what all those sleepovers were about."

  "You're obviously happy, Callie. Your eyes actually get a darker blue when you're in a good mood. I don't know how that can be, but they sure look a lot bluer to me." Callie snickered.

  "Probably bloodshot from lack of sleep."

  "Morning Princess." Her father said, walking into the room. He smiled at his wife. "Morning Bess. So why aren't you sleeping Callie?" Callie laughed, blushing, and her father caught on. "Okay, forget I asked that stupid question. Have you talked to the school about your room yet? I'm sure they'll let you out of that lease, they have to understand how hard it would be living there."

  "I'll get ahold of somebody after New Year's. I'm going to look for a place off campus, and I can just say I'm living with Uncle Jess. I'll pay the rent out of my savings. I'm not sure I'm even going back."

  "You know I'd love to see you here, but if you do move back down there, I'll just give you the money I would have given the school. College is one thing, but I wish you'd stay away from that stupid Hive, or whatever you call that bunch. I've never met that Teresa woman, but anyone your mother dislikes that much can't be good. I have to get to work, bye girls." He kissed them both, then walked out the back door. Callie sat finishing her breakfast, then filled a cup of coffee for herself and topped off her mother's cup. She sat down at the table, facing her.

  "So, you really don't like Teresa at all? I know you don't agree with what they're doing, but is it mostly because of her?"

  "I don't hate her, Callie, but zealots are dangerous. She has always been so convinced that she knows what's best. And she uses the Sisters in ways I don't agree with. There are times when I think it's okay to tweak Destiny a little bit, times when a small fix can save a life, but even that can be dangerous. And Teresa uses the information she gets from the Sisters, and her own premonitions, to her advantage. She's gotten incredibly wealthy in the last twenty years, so have a couple of the other Elders. Maybe it's just smart investing, but buying the right stock is a lot easier when you have a team of psychics helping you."

  "She looked like she has a lot of dough, she had a huge ring on."

  "I think the Elders turn a blind eye to that kind of stuff. She, and a couple of the others use their money to support some of the more valuable members. Danielle may go to college, but that's just a cover. She gets a salary. Members with special abilities do."

  "I can get paid? Caching!" Callie laughed when her mother glared at her.

  "I'm not sure, but I think Teresa has actually taken lives. Not to save others, just to serve her own agenda. It's one thing to twist fate to save a life, it's another thing when you do it to take one."

  "Danielle seems to really be a big fan of Teresa's. Can she be controlling her somehow? Is that even possible? I told a couple guys to go away one night, and they turned and walked away, as if I made it happen. And I chased Richie out of the store that time, but he probably thought I was just a psycho bitch, so I don't know if that counts."

  "I haven't had reason to influence someone that way for a very long time." Bess frowned, and looked down at her newspaper. "I pulled you away that night at the school, but you're my daughter, we have a lifetime of connection. I don't know if anyone knows the limits of these abilities, and there's no handbook, that's for sure. But I've never thought Teresa was exceptional, other than her resolve." Callie sat quietly, thinking for a bit.

  "I feel like I've gotten a lot better lately. I haven't been dreaming about things, but I still feel stronger, as a psychic, I mean. Is that because of our connection? I feel like these abilities are growing inside me, like there's no end to what I might see." Her mother smiled.

  "Your life has changed a lot lately, with Jenny and all. Being happy and comfortable with who you are is bound to make everything better, even your gifts."

  "Mom, how did we get like this? Out of all the world, are the Sisters the only ones?"

  "Your grandmother wasn't like us, Callie. I don't know why you and I are this way. But I think there are others. That's part of why I read the papers so closely, and it's something we do to trigger premonitions. I look for anomalies, things that don't fit, clues that there may be others out there."

  "Wow, this is some weird shit, Mom. Sorry for the French. But what do I do? If Danielle is being controlled, or just lied to, shouldn't I help her? Shouldn't someone stop Teresa? It seems like the Sisters could do a lot of good, if things were run right. I'd like to go back for a while, just to be sure that Ozzy Marsh goes straight to hell."

  "And there it is Callie. Can you see how it would be easy to abuse your gift? You tell yourself at first that you're doing something good, that Ozzy deserves it, then pretty soon you're doing something really bad, because you think it's for a good cause."

  "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean by that, unfortunately." Callie sat drinking her coffee for a couple of minutes, thinking back to Davis Cooper and her intentions. "But I can't just do nothing. What good is being able to see things, bad things that could be prevented, if I don't dare try to change them? I have to try, don't I?"

  "I thought like you did. Luckily, when you came along, I came back here. It's not an easy thing, deciding someone's fate. Bottom line, I couldn't live with it. I just try and do what I can to help people in small ways. It's something you have to work out yourself, Callie. Now you have Jenny too, and Teresa will try to use your relationship with her to control you. She would have preferred you weren't together, but luckily, Jenny was too stubborn for that."

  "I think I'll go back. Teresa will probably try to drag me in anyway. Maybe I can keep an eye on her, keep her from controlling Danielle. I can stop her from running around in my brain, maybe I can keep her out of Dani's too."

  "Being close helps. I mean, close emotionally as well as physically." Callie rolled her eyes.

  "I can't get too close to Danielle, or a certain redhead will kick my butt." Her mother laughed, then slid the newspaper she had in front of her over to Callie.

  "Ozzy Marsh is back in the paper. His wound is healing and he's on the campaign trail."

  "I really want to make him suffer for what he did to Natalie, Mom. If I knew someone was going to take another shot at him, I probably wouldn't say anything."

  "That's what's so hard for me, Callie. I wish you didn't have to make those choices, you're too young to have to deal with that."

  "I have to go back. I'm going to call Danielle and set up a meeting. What about the other Elders? How many are there; are they all on Teresa's side?"

  "Six, not counting me. Two of them are with her, or at least go along with what she says, two not so much. Madeline Rice is a different story. I've always hoped she'd step in and put Teresa in her place. She's the only one with the mind and the will to do it, but she's always followed her own path. She says practicing Law is how she tweaks fate."

  "What about you? I still don't understand how all this works, but you took over my brain like it was nothing. Teresa couldn't do that. I can tell, she isn't as gifted as she thinks."

  "Like I said, Teresa is a zealot, that's what makes her so dangerous. Zealots won't even entertain the idea that they could ever be wrong. To be involved you almost have to be down there, in contact with the group on a daily basis. Things happened, I just couldn't do it. All I wanted was to stay here and take care of my family."

  "And I'm glad you did. What about Jenny. Will I lose her because of this?"

  "Even if I knew that, I wouldn't tell you. From what I've seen of Jenny, she
's not an easy person to lose. Just be sure you love her as much as she loves you."

  "Thanks Mom. Sorry it's taken me so long to appreciate you." Bess Fisher laughed.

  "I'm sure every mother in the world has heard that at least once." Callie got up and Bess watched her run up the stairs to her room. She sat thinking about the Sisters, wishing she could have stayed to keep Teresa in check, but things had happened. It was one of her secrets.

  ***

  Bess had watched Rainey and Professor James grow closer as the semester went on. There were no more visions of murder, and Bess hoped that she was just being overprotective. Rainey didn't seem worldly by any measure, even to of a young woman from a small town in Minnesota, who had only slept with the man she planned to marry. But the flower child seemed especially naïve, dubious at times, and Bess tried to look out for her. She struck Bess as a girl who would always be trying to please someone, an easy target for an aging Professor. As November approached, Bess started seeing trouble in the relationship. Rainey became uncharacteristically quiet, and there were arguments after class. Despite repeated attempts, Bess couldn't get through to her. The girl was convinced that she and Professor James were destined to be together, flawed though their relationship was. She became increasingly unhappy, yet neither she, nor the Professor seemed willing to break off the affair.

  Bess found excuses to touch her, hoping the physical contact might trigger another vision and give her some insight, but there was nothing. She couldn't bring herself to touch Henry James, and in hindsight wished she had. Perhaps she would have known. She kept it from the group. Teresa was always pushing for the Sisters to do more. Madeline was busy at school, and Teresa had an ally in Jane Macdonald, another girl who entered the group early. It was a constant battle between them, and Bess grew stubborn, refusing to share what she had seen. She decided to bide her time and hope to convince Rainey to end the tryst.

  When they returned to school after Thanksgiving, Rainey didn't, and Bess knew. Her psychic senses and her intuition both told her something was very wrong. Unfortunately, she had no idea what Rainey's parents' names were, and no way to contact them. She waited a couple days, then went to the school administration. She told a story about borrowing Rainey her notes over the break, explaining that she desperately needed them back, but didn't have the girl's phone number. No one could, or would tell her anything, but Bess was sure they were hiding something. She persisted, and finally voiced her concerns about the relationship Rainey was having with a Professor who worked at the college. That got results. Late that afternoon, a Police Detective knocked on her door.

  "Do you know Miss Wheeler well, Miss Fisher?" The Detective was a woman. She had a notepad, but had asked Bess for permission to record the conversation.

  "Call me Bess, please. I only know her from class, but I've heard her whole life story, she loves to talk." The detective smiled at that. Bess came right out with it. "Is she dead?"

  "Why would you ask that? We have no reason to believe anything like that, but her parents did report her missing the day after Thanksgiving, when she didn't come home. She was supposed to be home Wednesday evening, and of course they expected her for dinner on Thursday. Any idea where she might have gone? Friends she might be staying with? Her parents said everything was normal at home, that she occasionally stayed out late, but always came home every night, without fail. They said there were no arguments."

  "Sounds right. From what she's told me, her parents are great. She talks about her Mom like she's her best friend. Rainey is like a little kid in some ways, she just always struck me as being naïve, too trusting. That's why I'm afraid Professor James did something to her."

  "I understand you think the Professor was having a relationship with her?"

  "Absolutely, I know he was."

  "So, you saw them together?"

  "I saw them arguing a couple times just lately, Rainey has been upset the last couple of weeks, and I waited for her one day after class. I could kind of hear them yelling at each other, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I've never seen them actually kissing or anything like that, but she told me about them sleeping together several times. I tried to get her to stop, mostly because he's married. She said his wife is still back East, and that they were getting divorced. Typical bullshit you tell your mistress, right?"

  "So, you don't care for Professor James?" Bess answered carefully.

  "No. I don't think a middle-aged, married man, should sleep with a girl half his age. But just so we're clear, I know Rainey is, or was sleeping with him. She told me about it several times, and they were fighting a lot lately. If something happened to her, he's the one you want to look at." She knew that her vision, the leering image of Professor James bludgeoning Rainbow Wheeler had become a reality, but sharing that information would only discredit her as a crackpot. An idea came to her suddenly, psychic or not, she wasn't sure. "You know, Rainey hasn't looked like herself lately, and she left class a couple times, ran to the bathroom. Morning sickness? Maybe that's what they were fighting about."

  "Wouldn't that be something she would share with you, or her parents?"

  "She knew how I felt about her and that asshole, and who wants to tell their parents they're sleeping with a married guy?"

  "Okay, thank you for your cooperation. Chances are, pregnant or not, Miss Wheeler will turn up. We'll be in touch if we need more information from you. Call me if you can think of anything else that might be useful." Bess took the card the officer handed her.

  "I wish I had done more to stop her from seeing him. I just know he did something to her." The officer smiled and thanked her again.

  "At this point we can't say if any crime has been committed, although I'm sure the school has had a conversation with Professor James. Hopefully she is just staying with friends."

  ***

  A hunter found the body of the young girl, partially submerged and tangled in the brush growing along the edge of the Minnesota River. Her skull had been crushed by blunt force trauma. Professor Henry James was arrested two days later.

  She had been pregnant, but she wasn't at the time of her death. Bess was able to get that out of the Detective she had talked to previously; there was evidence of a recent abortion. Bess became a witness for the prosecution, but she was told her knowledge of the affair was second hand, and while allowed, might not mean much to a jury. There was evidence of Rainey's presence in the Professor's car, but no blood, no weapon. Murder was a difficult thing to prove, and the Professor took his chances with a jury, rather than except a plea deal for his confession. Like any murder case, it drew considerable attention from the press. The fact that a college Professor had been charged in the murder of a student, and the subsequent information about the affair, made for salacious reading, and caught the attention of all the Sisters, as well as Teresa. She had plenty to say. Hindsight, but it haunted Bess that she might be right.

  She skipped classes to be in the courtroom. What good was what she knew if Henry James could kill a girl like Rainey and walk away unscathed? She talked to Madeline about the case. Madeline was prelaw and no expert, but she feared without any physical evidence, the Professor might get away with it. Bess was increasingly more distraught. She should have done more, maybe Teresa was right, maybe the Sisters could have foreseen things more clearly. Maybe Rainbow Wheeler could have been saved if she had let them help her.

  The prosecution did its best. Professor James admitted to an affair, but insisted that he had broken it off before the holiday, planning to reconcile with his wife. Bess sat through what seemed like endless testimony, but it all pointed to the same conclusion. While the Professor had motive and opportunity, there was no physical evidence that he had actually killed Rainbow Wheeler. There was plenty of reasonable doubt. Bess sensed the impending verdict, but went back to the courtroom that last day.

  She sat in the second row, on the end, close enough to read the words 'King James' on the Bible sitting on the small table next t
o where the bailiff stood. The Wheelers sat in front of her, just to her left. Mr. Wheeler had his arm around his wife, trying to console her, as she wept softly. Bess watched her for a minute, fighting her own tears, and thought how much mother and daughter looked alike. She silently cursed Henry James and Fate.

  The court room was half empty. The morbid curiosity of most of the viewers had been satisfied, the conclusion seemed foredrawn. Finally, Professor James was led into the courtroom, wearing his county issued jumpsuit. He glanced in the direction of the public seating, saw Bess and gave her a subtle wink, then smiled smugly. Bess fumed. The bastard knew he was going to get off; he was going to brutally murder a sweet young girl and walk away unscathed. The wink surprised her. She had thought it was probably a crime of passion, a lover's quarrel gone awry. But there was no remorse, no empathy for the family he had destroyed. She knew that she was looking at a coldblooded psychopath, and that he needed to be stopped.

  At this point in the trial everyone had relaxed, reasonably sure of an acquittal. The bailiff, a Sheriff's deputy, because of the seriousness of the crime, stood slouching casually against the table as he waited for the Judge's arrival. The other Deputy, Sargent Cummings his nametag stated, was leading Professor James to his seat. He was older, very professional looking. His temples were graying, but he was fit and his shirt was creased, freshly starched. Bess decided he looked totally competent. She glanced back at the Bailiff, and noticed that the strap on his holster, intended to keep his gun from falling out during day to day activities, was pulled loose, allowing for quick access should it become necessary. She surmised the other Deputy's gun was probably also readily available. It came to her in an instant, and she had just a moment to make her choice. She closed her eyes slowly, concentrating as hard as she could. It all happened just as she envisioned.