Page 9 of It Runs in the Family

I figured I could sugarcoat it or just blurt it out like I had after my vision. I went with the latter. “The guy murdered me.”

He shot out of his chair like a snake had bitten him in the ass. “Why didn’t you call me last night?”

“Because in the vision, he didn’t kill me in the Stop-n-Go. It happened somewhere else.” I paused. “I was with Selena.”

He groaned, then downed his beer and headed back to the fridge. “Selena.” He made her name sound like a curse word.

“In my vision, she was begging the guy not to kill me, but he did it anyway. He shot me in the forehead, then kicked me to make sure he’d finished the job. Selena was screaming the whole time.”

He gripped the new beer bottle so tightly I thought he was going to shatter it. “Had you seen this guy before?”

I shook my head. “No. Never. But I think Selena is with him now. He bought a six-pack of Corona and a bag of chips and handed me a twenty, telling me to keep the change because I reminded him of someone. You know Selena and I look a lot alike. People used to think we were sisters.”

“What did you blurt out?”

“You murdered me.”

His face paled. “And what did he do?”

“He was already out the door, so he didn’t hear me.”

“And you’re sure the vision was his? Was anyone else in the store?”

“Digger was out on the curb, just like always, but he wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less shoot me. Besides, he was too far away.”

He rubbed his chin. “Did Jimmy ever fix those surveillance cameras?”

I released a half laugh. “He thought someone on the day shift was stealing from him, so he got the one behind the register up and running.”

He started to pace. “So there’ll be an image of the guy who came in last night on the footage?”

“Yeah.” Then I added, “But Jimmy will never let you see it. He hates anything to do with the sheriff department, and he sure isn’t gonna let some random guy look at it.”

He considered that for a moment. “Do you have access to his office?”

“Yeah. I have to switch out the cash drawer in the morning after my shift.”

“Do you have access to the surveillance system?”

“I don't know. I’ve never tried to look, but if I had to guess, yeah.”

He nodded with a determined look. “Then I’ll be by later to check it out. In fact, I think after I check it out, you need to quit.”

“Quit?” I repeated, startled. “I can’t quit. I make more money there than I can make anywhere else.”

“You know I’ve always hated you working that late shift alone.”

“I’ve worked it for three years without any trouble.”

“That’s not true, and you know it. You’ve had incidents before.”

“Less than a handful, and they all worked out.”

Garrett held up his index finger. “All it takes is one time, Irie. One. Time. There ain’t no comin’ back from dead.”

“Look,” I said, feeling the need to bring this down a notch. “I’m not here about me. As long as I don’t go to wherever I was in the vision, I’ll be fine. I’m here because I’m worried about Selena.”

Garrett spat out a few choice curse words, then sat back down and guzzled half his beer. When he lowered the bottle, his dark brown eyes were hard with anger. “Selena gets herself into these situations. She’s not your responsibility, Irie.”