Chapter 7
Ezra put Reese in charge of tracking down Abby Salinger. After, he cleared the area around the van of police officers. Brady hadn’t been exaggerating the intensity of the scent. This many Starflight lilies together in an enclosed space was pungently overwhelming.
“You okay?” Ezra asked.
“As okay as I can be,” I replied, sitting on the floor amongst the bouquets.
“Take your time.”
I quirked a smile. “But not too much.”
“Exactly,” he said.
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.
I’m back in the white room amongst the flowers. The figure in white takes a phone from his hoodie’s pocket and runs a finger over the screen. In Morgan Freeman’s voice, he says a word that was more at home in Samuel Jackson’s mouth. He shoves his hand under his shirt, and I can’t see what he’s up to until the glove lands on his lap.
My pulse jumps as I realize he can’t open the phone screen with the glove on. I see a bit of skin on the back of a hand before he gets it tucked all the way under the hoodie again. Our culprit is white. That’s information I didn’t have before.
In the voice of Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Gray, he says, “Gather quickly where secrets are told, and past sins run hot and cold. Where friends gather, strong but few, find the bomb before it strikes true. Twelve rules to rule them all. Seek them out before they fall. Tolkiens of victory in their palm won’t protect them against my bomb.”
The white-masked creep starts laughing, and I hate that I’ll never see “Lord of the Rings” in the same way again.
When I came out of the memory, my stomach roiled as the taco I’d eaten earlier threatened to reappear in my lap. I scrambled from the van, gulping for fresh air.
Ezra had his hand on my back as I retched and dry heaved.
“How bad is it?” he asked when the heaving stopped.
My throat was sore and scratchy as I rasped. “I think Gilly might be right. Is there anyone at the library tonight?”
He snapped his fingers, and Officer Treece jogged over. “Call the library,” he said to her. “See if they have any events on tonight.”
“On it,” she replied. She took out her phone and did a quick Google search. “Yep,” she confirmed. “They are having a Goosebumps Family Night.” She held up the screen to show the details. “It starts at six.”
He nodded at Jeanna. “Call the librarian and tell them to cancel the event and evacuate the building.” Ezra’s gaze turned to me as the officer stepped away to make her call. “What did you see this time?” he asked.
I took a deep breath, still tasting the acrid memory of bile in my mouth. “It’s... it was all so strange.”
Ezra’s eyes stayed locked on mine. His expression was encouraging but also patient. I appreciated that he didn’t waste time with unnecessary questions.
“I was in the white room again, the one filled with flowers. The figure in white, our suspect, pulled out a phone. He had to remove his glove to use it, and I saw his skin. He’s white. I didn’t know that before.” I paused, watching Ezra’s face as he absorbed this new piece of information.
“He started speaking, but it wasn’t his voice. It was like he was channeling different voices, famous ones. First, he sounded like Morgan Freeman, then Gandalf from ‘Lord of the Rings.’ I’m sure that’s why he had to access his phone. Ari brought up earlier that he’s probably using a voice-changing app. They have them for celebrity voices.”
“That makes a lot of sense,” Ezra said. “More than impersonators.”
I nodded my agreement. “It was unsettling. He put on Ian McKellen’s voice and recited a strange poem.”
His brow furrowed. “Can you remember it?”
I tried to recall the words exactly. “He said, ‘Gather quickly where secrets are told, and past sins run hot and cold. Where friends gather, strong and few, find the bomb before it strikes true. Twelve rules to rule them all. Seek them out before they fall. Tolkiens of victory in their palm won’t protect them against my bomb.’”
Ezra’s eyes widened slightly. “It sounds like he’s referencing ‘Lord of the Rings.’ I can see why you thought of the library.”
“That was Gilly’s thought earlier, with the EZ Reader taunt. So, when he started talking about Tolkien, it felt like she might have the right of it.”
“Seems likely,” he agreed. “But weird.”
“Right?” I shivered, and Ezra rubbed his hands along the sides of my arms. “It’s a guess.”
“At this point, we have to follow the clues where they lead,” he said. “Anything else?”
“He started laughing. The kind of laugh that makes your skin crawl.”
Ezra’s hand tightened on my arm. “The library is having an event tonight. It could be considered a gathering of friends.”
“But it’s Goosebumps, not The Hobbit,” I said.
“Maybe the voice changer didn’t have a setting for Jack Black.” He gave me a half-smile before his expression went grim. “Anything else you remember?”
I closed my eyes, trying to pull any last detail from the vision. “No, just the sense of urgency. We need to find this clown, Ezra. And fast.”
He nodded, his jaw set in determination. “We’ll find him. We have to.”
“I just hope we’re not too late.” I felt the immense weight of the countdown. Three hours was a long time for a root canal, but with the stakes this high, the time would breeze by quickly.
Ezra waved Broyles over. “Take a team to the library, make sure the building has been evacuated, then do a quick grid search and watch for traps.”
Broyles looked doubtful. “Are we even sure there’s an explosive device? Where’s the evidence?”
Ezra scowled. “You’re an asset to our department, Broyles, but that doesn’t mean I won’t bench you. You don’t have to trust Ms. Black’s ability, but the chief and I trust her. If that’s not good enough for you to follow orders, then maybe special operations isn’t the right team for you.”
“Broyles, quit being a jackass,” Reese McKay chided as she charged over to us. “You know how to follow orders, right?”
The man bristled with irritation. “I know how to follow orders.”
“Good.” Ezra lifted his chin to the man as if daring him to take a punch. “Then get to it. Call me immediately if you find anything.”
I didn’t want to defend the obnoxious man, but he was right about the fact that there wasn’t any real evidence of a bomb. “Look,” I said. “I can only go by what I see in my visions. Most of the time, the memories are genuine moments in someone’s life, but this person, whoever they are, has found a way to attach emotional memories to scents in a manufactured scenario. Was he holding a bomb in his hand with a timer attached? I don’t know. That’s what it looked like, though. And I think the bullets in the popcorn kettle were dangerous enough to take this monster seriously.” I pointed to the van. “Those flowers were sent to me with a card that claimed to be from EZ. This person wanted me to think it was Ezra so I’d take a big whiff. Even if you don’t believe I have the ability to see what I see, you have to believe someone is pulling the strings on this game of psychic chicken.”
Broyles squinted at me. “Maybe it’s you. Maybe you’re the game master.”
“That’s enough,” Ezra barked.
Reese put her hand on Broyles’ chest and pushed him backward. “Go,” she ordered, like a good second in command. “Go do your job unless this is your way of putting in your notice.”
He scoffed. “I’ll report back when I have the library squared away.” He dipped his head with grudging respect at Reese before rotating on his heel and marching over to a gathered group of four officers. After a short conversation, they got in their vehicles and drove off like a caravan of travelers.
“He’s a dick,” I said once they were gone.
“Understatement,” Ezra replied.
Reese, who wore plain clothes like Ezra, adjusted her stance. She had a hip holster on, and she looked badass. “He’s all right.” She tugged at the end of a strand of her copper-red hair. “He’s got a bit of a chip on his shoulder from blindly following orders in the military, even when it went against his own moral compass.”
“You’ve gotten to know him pretty well,” Ezra commented.
Her cheeks reddened. “I’ve been on a couple of cases with him. We talked. He’s a good cop.”
Ezra’s expression remained bland. “Maybe you should go oversee his progress at the library since you work so well with him. Make sure the place is completely evacuated. Better to be safe.”
Reese gave him a two-finger salute. “You got it, boss.” She frowned, then said, “We were able to contact Abby Salinger. She’s still at her shop. She said she would be there for another hour. I’ll text you the address if you want to go interview her.” She winked at me. “Maybe take a consultant along.”
Ezra shook his head, a slight grin on his lips as she walked off.
“You want to take a field trip to Garden Cove Floral?”
“I do,” I told him.
Ezra’s smile was so genuine as he gazed down at me with his lovely green eyes. He caressed my cheek. “That’s my girl.” He glanced at Gilly, who was waiting on the porch for me. “You better let your girl know what’s up, and then we’ll get going.”
“What about the van?” Brady was sitting on one of my porch chairs, his head down, and elbows on his knees. “The kid is worried about losing his job.”
“Once we get the Starfighter lilies out, he’s free to finish his deliveries.”
“You old softie,” I said with great affection. I linked my arm in his. “Give me a minute to talk to Gilly, and I’ll meet you at the...” I frowned. “Reese was your ride.”
Ezra chuckled. “I guess you’re my ride now.”
“Is that a euphemism?”
He laughed again. “Only if you want it to be.”
I gave him a friendly elbow to the ribs as we walked toward the house. I was eager to talk with Abby Salinger at her store. Maybe there would be a scent at the shop that would lead me to a genuine memory. It was a long shot, but with little else to go on, I had to take it. I could be wrong about the library. I could be wrong about the bomb. The staged memories could be complete tricks meant to send me and the police on a wild goose chase. Even so, I had to keep trying until we found the explosive device or the deadline ran out. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t.