Touching the Past Read Online Free PDF Page A

back in the seat.
    She’d been so busy covertly watching him and trying not to get caught, that she barely remembered what they’d talked about during the short drive. Nothing about the missing people. Just commonplaces about the weather and how Midland had changed in the past years, punctuated by voices coming from the car’s police radio. Nothings to fill the silence until they reached their destination.
    They were on Balfour Street, off Helen. It was a beautiful residential neighborhood with well-cared-for houses and lawns. A high-end district. Trees, their leaves yellow, red, and orange, shaded the street. At this time of day, there didn’t seem to be much activity.
    Zac stood a few feet away, close to the curb. His open navy-blue windbreaker caught the brisk breeze and billowed away from him. He half-turned toward her. “This is where we found Kim’s car. We’re not sure why she was here. This road isn’t one she’d normally take home. Someone might have lured her here with the offer of a house.” It was as much a question as a statement. A question Mallory couldn’t answer.
    She walked across the wet, fallen leaves and grass and stepped onto the street, careful not to get too near to Zac. He was too…disturbing.
    Not, she admitted to herself, that he was trying to disturb her. No, Detective Herrera was treating her with a cool, professional detachment that she wished she could match. Instead, she felt as if every one of her nerves were exposed. She was hypersensitive to his every movement.
    Mallory knew when he tried to shake the hair back out of his eyes. Knew when he gave up and pushed it out of the way with an impatient movement. Knew when he turned his back to her to study the nearby houses. He’d be thinking about where Kim might have been taken. Not thinking about Mallory.
    She tried to block him from her thoughts and at the same time open herself to the impressions from the spot. She willed herself to feel something. Anything.
    It was no use. Whatever had happened here had left no impression. No terrible fear or anger.
    In a way that was a positive sign. No one had died by deliberate violence in this spot or the two they’d been to earlier. Mallory knew what death by violence felt like. Aside from Evie’s swing, there had been other places. There was something malevolent that lingered at a murder scene long after the blood and police tape had been cleared away. Something that Mallory felt even when she wasn’t trying to. She didn’t sense that malevolence here.
    After several minutes of intense concentration that did nothing but add to the headache she’d had since she woke up, she opened her eyes. Zac was watching her. Mallory shook her head. “I’m sorry. There’s noth—”
    She broke off, cocking her head.
    There was something. Almost like a slight echo.
    Someone had called to Kim. Someone she knew and connected with good things, though Mallory didn’t get the feeling it was a relative or friend.
    She tried to focus in. Catch a glimpse. Closing her eyes, she swiveled her head in different directions.
    It was gone. She’d lost it.
    “What is it? What did you see?”
    Zac’s voice, rough with impatience and something Mallory couldn’t identify, came from nearer than she’d expected.
    She opened her eyes. Zac’s face was next to hers. Startled, she stepped back.
    A horn blared.
    Mallory only had time to see the car bearing down on her before Zac pulled her out of the street and into his arms. He turned, putting himself between her and the car, but she still felt the breeze it kicked up as it passed.
    “Idiot,” Zac muttered under his breath, along with a string of less complimentary terms in Spanish. The arms holding her were shaking even as they tightly held her.
    She lifted her head. “Me or the driver?” Her voice trembled when she wanted to keep it light. Between the psychic echo and the near-miss, her knees were shaking beneath her.
    “Both of you. Don’t you know better