Chapter Nineteen
“Ssshhh. Try not to wake her,” Grace said to Nick. “Poor thing was absolutely manic until Mel got hold of her.”
Nick carefully lifted Jamie up out of the armchair and smiled at Beth Campbell. “You should be able to wake her up just enough to get her into bed.”
“Whatever it was you gave her, sell some of it to me, please,” Beth said. She had shown up in her scrubs after rushing home from the hospital on the other side of the mountains.
Beth was younger than Mel had imagined. She looked more like Jamie’s older sister, with the same cornflower-blue eyes, although Beth’s hair was more gold frizz than curls at the moment.
She was a single mom full of single mom worries, a stressful job, and aching loneliness, but Mel didn’t have anything left to offer in terms of emotional support.
For the moment, from her nest on the couch in the keeping room, Mel was tapped out, unable even to shield.
“She’ll be fine,” said Grace. “She’s a tough little thing, but we need to keep an eye on her in case she has any issues about what happened today.” She looked over at Mel. “It was all rather intense.”
“Thank you again for keeping her safe,” Beth said. “And thank Daniel for me. It was good to meet you, Mel.” She hurried off to hold the front door open for Nick, then followed him out to her car.
“Where is Daniel?” Grace asked when he returned.
“I let him off to check on the bees that swarmed and find Mel’s camera. He said he’d walk home,” Nick said. “I made sure he had a flashlight and his cell. I think he needed to unwind some.” Nick lowered his voice. “He had a vision while we were down at the sheriff’s office. Touched that guy.”
“Oh,” Grace said.
Mel sighed, remembering Daniel’s emotional state when he first reached her. Being Daniel, his emotions had been overflowing with guilt and regret and anger. He blamed himself for what had happened. But then, as he’d carried her down the hill, she had only sensed love and relief. Love.
It didn’t help. Mel had been unable to shield and was dealing with a headache that was edging into nausea.
She had been broadcasting her pain and stress to everyone around her, but Daniel had stoically cradled her in his arms, leaning against her car until Grace and Nick pulled up.
Then he had left her to Grace’s ministrations and disappeared back up the hill.
Mel poked at the hole in her slacks. “I’m not going to buy any more black slacks. The universe clearly does not want me wearing them,” she announced. The skin beneath was fine, thanks to Grace.
Grace sat down next to her. “Sadly, I can’t fix fabric or emotional wounds. I think you pushed yourself a bit too far helping Jamie.”
“She needed it more than I did,” Mel said. “But I desperately need another me to make me feel better.” She laid her head on the back of the couch, fingering her pendant and doing her breathing exercises. It wasn’t helping.
Grace took her hand. “You know, it is possible to overtax your gift.”
“Yeah. I think this was a first, today,” Mel said. “Although Florence was pretty close.”
“I imagine it was,” Grace said, her fingers soft in Mel’s.
Mel felt a soothing warmth flow through her. It was Grace, looking for damage, trying to help. But the damage wasn’t physical. Some other part of her—her spirit perhaps—felt scalded and raw.
“You should’ve seen him, standing there with that thug sprawled out in front of him and all his bees buzzing above him,” Mel said in a quiet voice. “It was amazing.”
“Yes,” Grace said. “He is.”
“And Pooka kept Jamie calm and safe”—Mel said, looking over to where the hound was stretched out next to the fireplace—“while I was trying to help Daniel with…” She shivered, not wanting to think about it.
Grace went over to stroke the hound, leaning to whisper something in his ear. Pooka roused a bit, opening one eye to glare at her for disturbing his sleep.
“I’d like to know exactly what you did to Jamie, Mel,” Nick said as he walked in. “We may need it for Lily.”
“I call it my Reverse Sleeping Beauty,” Mel said, gazing at Grace’s stomach. “Puts you to sleep instead of waking you with a kiss.”
“Wish you could bottle it. It’s much better than my brew,” Grace said. “And about that, I really am sorry—”
“Don’t apologize,” Mel said. “As I told Daniel, you can’t really gaslight an empath. I knew you were not happy dosing me with that stuff and I knew that he was lying, I just didn’t know why. I do now.”
Grace sighed. “Well, lesson learned. It won’t happen again.”
“And no, you can’t bottle anything I do, but I’ll be glad to provide the service whenever needed.”
Grace smiled and rubbed her baby bump. Her black shirt had a cartoon of a redheaded princess that said Redheads Rule. Mel had a strong feeling that the shirts were Nick’s idea.
“Have you seen the sonogram?” Nick asked, pulling it out of his pocket. “She’s smiling right at the camera!”
“She saw it, honey,” Grace said, exasperated. “You showed it to her a few minutes ago.”
Nick looked at his daughter’s picture and smiled. “She’s gonna be something.”
“I bet she is,” Mel replied. “Did you find out any more from that man? The virus or anything?”
Nick shook his head. “He lost all ability to understand or speak English or any other language. Clammed up. My contacts are sending someone to deal with him, since he is the only connection we have to whatever was going on.”
“But there were two of them in Italy,” she said.
Nick sat on the ottoman. “Yeah. That’s how we know this guy’s name. His first name, at least. Nino.”
“Probably a nickname,” Mel said.
“The guy they caught stalking Ricci in Italy had been recruited by this Nino. He never had contact with whoever hired Nino, so no help there.” Nick said. “At some point, we think he was told to stand down, but for his own reasons, Nino kept pursuing you.”
“Why did the other man keep stalking Dr. Ricci?” Mel asked.
“Apparently, Nino asked him to keep tabs on Ricci, promising a big payout when Nino returned to Italy,” Nick said.
“I wish I could help question him. They really need to find whoever has that virus.” She shook her head. “But I doubt I could manage it.”
“Not in the condition you’re in,” Grace said.
“It’s probably pointless now.” Nick said. “The lab that Ricci was taken to was apparently just a front, probably created just for him to review the data and slides they wanted him to see. It was completely deserted and sanitized—”
“Grace told me,” Mel said.
“But later, there was an explosion and fire way back in the hills near that location,” Nick finished. “A big one. Big enough to have the locals stirred up, thinking it was an earthquake.”
Mel sat up and winced, rubbing her temples. “The real lab?”
“Probably. Nothing left up there but a big hole, a lot of slag, and ashes,” Nick said. “The locals are not happy, and the Italian government even less so.”
“And Dr. Ricci didn’t see anyone or have anything on these people?”
“The contact info he had led nowhere. And his description of the person he dealt with was vague at best,” Nick said.
“Whoever was behind this was damn good at covering up. They didn’t leave many tracks.
Our friend down there in Jake’s jail might be the only remaining witness.
And if whoever they are figure out where he is… ”
“Is that what Daniel saw?” Grace asked, her eyes wide.
Nick grimaced. “He didn’t share the vision, but he thinks Nino figured out what he was doing because he started avoiding him.”
“And that it was Daniel’s gift of foresight, that kept me safe.”
Grace frowned. “Do you think Jake or—”
“No,” Nick waved his hand. “Don’t worry. They didn’t pick up on anything, other than that Nino was not quite stable. He was avoiding Daniel, but he kept touching anyone he could reach. He got more and more agitated as he did.”
“You think he saw something happening to him?” Mel said.
“Daniel thinks so. When Daniel touched him, I think he saw something else that bothered him, though.” Nick shook his head. “But yeah, Nino is not happy about his current situation. I don’t think he wants the folks who contracted his services to find him.”
“Poor Daniel,” Grace said.
“But Nino’s gift explains a lot. It didn’t matter what you two did.
He would have seen it eventually. Every time Daniel would make a move to protect you, he would see it and make a countermove,” Nick said.
“Daniel said he almost waylaid Nino at your fair and there was no way for him to know Daniel had seen where he was going to be, but Nino avoided the ambush.”
Mel remembered the Two of Swords falling from her mother’s deck. “Stalemate. Things are changing as we speak.”
Daniel looked at Mel. “Whatever Nino saw up there, he didn’t see your gift or those bees in his future.”
Grace looked at Nick. “It makes me wonder how the mountain decides who should get lost and who should get through.” She then looked at Mel and added. “The mountain confuses some people. Pops always said if the mountain didn’t want you up here, you’d get lost trying to find it.”
“Daniel mentioned that,” said Mel.
Nick mulled it over. “I had assumed that it worked against people with ill intentions, but I realize now that was just me anthropomorphizing. It would make sense that anyone with a gift would be unaffected by its defenses. That would explain how Nino was able to drive right up to the old home place the way he did.”
Grace said, “I’m not sure it’s that simple. You’re still trying to see logic in something we can’t comprehend.”
“True,” Nick said.
“We, my parents and I, never really thought there might be others like us out there. I mean, it makes sense, of course, but…” Mel looked at Grace. “It’s unsettling to realize there are also people like Nino with these abilities. Probably na?ve to think otherwise.”
Nick looked at Grace. Concern.
“At least you’re safe now, Mel,” Grace said.
“And no one was hurt. Physically, anyway.” Mel rubbed her eyes. “How do you think Daniel is coping?”