44: Book Six Read Online Free PDF Page B

took this section of the Deschutes hostage all summer with their inner tubes and rafts and plastic blowup lounge chairs. It made me sad thinking about it, those lazy warm days that feel like they’re going to last forever.
    Kate came back. I took a deep breath.
    “I’ve been having a few visions again,” I said.
    She looked at me sharply at first, but then her expression softened. I had scared her.
    “When?”
    I told her about the one in Portland and the one last night. How I saw colors in them and how that was something new.
    Kate took a gulp of her Pinot Grigio. I was going easy after Clyde. He had taken my liver for a ride when he took possession of my body, downing whiskey like it was water. I was still recovering and found it hard to take anything more than a few sips of beer or wine. But I could use a drink right about now.
    “So what do you think it means?” she said. “What’s your feeling about it?”
    I could tell in her voice that she was upset. I hadn’t been looking forward to telling her. We all needed a break. But keeping it from her wasn’t right either.
    I spoke softly, trying to lessen the blow.
    “I don’t know. But I suppose it could have something to do with the ghost I saw when we were driving back into town the other night,” I said.
    Kate stared at me for a full minute without saying anything. She finished her glass and shook her head slowly.
    “Aw, shit, Abby.”
     

 
    CHAPTER 12
     
    As my eyes adjusted to the whiteness enveloping me, I began to slowly make out a brick wall on my right. And another to my left. I was in some sort of hallway or alley.
    The blood, bright and terrifying, was up ahead. It began to snow.
    I heard a bell in the distance. The echo faded from my ears until all was quiet again.
    Like a fog, the whiteness started to fade away. I looked around and saw new details. A sign for a wine shop. There was a row of old auditorium chairs up against one wall. Another sign, this one for coffee.
    There was something vaguely familiar about this place. I felt as if I knew it. I had been here before, and not in a dream.
    Another bell rang through the dark, still night.
    The ghost had been murdered here in this alley. I could see her body up ahead.
    I stumbled toward it, the snow falling harder now.
    The cold shot through me like a hail of bullets. My teeth chattered uncontrollably as I stood over the body.
    One of her arms was pinned under her in an unnatural pose. Her legs were spread out awkwardly in the snow. And the blood was still leaking out of her in streams.
    And then I saw it. The slightest movement in her chest. It was more subtle than a spasm. A breath. Weak and shallow. She was still alive.
    I dropped beside her on the ground and took her hand.
    “You’ll be okay,” I stuttered. “Hang on.”
    I fumbled with my phone, my fingers numb and fat.
    More blood gurgled up and spilled over her lips and face, down onto the light-colored hair spread out around her head. Down into the fresh snow.
    Another bell echoing in the background.
    And then I felt them.
    Eyes watching me.Behind me. Dark eyes, drilling through me.
    The eyes of evil.The eyes of a killer.

CHAPTER 13
     
    I reached the ball just before smashing hard into the wall.
    “You’re getting too good for me, Abby,” Dr. Krowe said, bending over and breathing hard.
    He ripped off his glasses, sending large drops of sweat raining down on the floor around his shoes.
    “I just got lucky,” I said, trying to make him feel better. I wasn’t very good, but the truth was he had certain disadvantages. He was terribly out of shape and didn’t seem to have an athletic bone in his body. Dr. Krowe and coordination were not on speaking terms.
    “Lucky my ass,” he wheezed.
    I volleyed the racquetball off the wall while he tried to recover.
    Dr. Krowe made up for his lack of physical prowess with his mind. During our court sessions he mixed in professional questions with ones that a friend would ask. And I guess