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“Hey,” Laura said, throwing the door open wide and leaning out to glance up and down the hall. She couldn’t see or hear any movement from her neighbors, which was good. If any of them had been woken up by Nate knocking on her door at half past three in the morning, they wouldn’t be happy with her.
“Hi,” Nate said in a hushed voice. He was tall and well-built enough to almost fill the frame of her door. She stepped aside and he moved into the apartment past her, quickly glancing around at her home. It was not often that either of them visited one another’s living spaces.
“Thanks for coming over,” Laura said. She felt a rush of something unfamiliar – like gratitude and relief and something even lighter all rolled up together. She’d never been able to do this before. A few short months ago, no one else in the world had known about her ability. Now that she had told Nate, and he had accepted and embraced her visions, she had someone she could call on when she saw something important. It was an incredible feeling.
“Of course,” Nate replied easily. He found his way to the sofa – not difficult, given that the kitchen and living room were open plan and the entrance opened right in to them – and sank onto it. “You said there’s a life to save, so let’s save it.”
Laura grinned, dropping down next to him. “Okay. I saw a vision of a woman being stalked and then attacked in the middle of the woods, late at night.”
Nate frowned. “Not a lot to go on there.”
“No, not a lot,” Laura said. “But I did have some clues. The weather was cold, and I had a huge headache when I woke up, so I figure it’s happening soon.”
“Makes sense,” Nate said. “Unless she’s in a place where February is hot.”
“Then why would I have a vision about her?” Laura asked.
“I don’t know,” Nate shrugged. “It’s probably happening soon. Go on.”
“The location she was going to looked like a small cabin of some kind, like a one-room kind of place, in the middle of a clearing past the woods, but it wasn’t far from the main road,” Laura continued. “She ran a good distance, far enough to not hear cars anymore, but it was still a distance she could run on foot – in bare feet, actually.”
“Okay.” Nate frowned. “But… even if we were to limit the search radius to this state alone, surely we’d probably find a lot of places like that.”
“Correct,” Laura said, then held up a finger. “That’s where it gets interesting.”
“You’re enjoying this,” Nate said, with a light smile.
“Of course, I am,” Laura chuckled. Even though the situation was obviously serious, this was what she enjoyed most in life: getting a clue and figuring out what it meant so that she could save a life. When successfully solving a puzzle not only made you feel smart, but also stopped a killer, it was the ultimate dopamine rush. “Okay. I saw a row of stores in the vision. It was dark, all the lights were switched off because they were closed, but I was able to get the name of the nearest one. Mickey’s.”
Nate looked at her hard. “Mickey’s.”
“Yes,” Laura nodded.
“And how many places in the United States, let alone the world, do you think are called Mickey’s?”
“Oh, hundreds,” Laura said. She tilted her head, considering it. “If not thousands, probably.”
Nate sighed. “I take it from your unworried tone that you’ve figured out a way to get around that problem.”
“Sort of,” Laura said. “I haven’t acted on it yet, but I was thinking about it as I was waiting for you, and I think the only way we can get a good lead on it is to speak to Dean.”
“Dean?” Nate frowned, then his expression cleared a little – but only to look slightly disappointed. “Dean Marsters?”
“Yeah.” Laura frowned at his look. “What’s wrong with that?”
Nate shook his head. “Nothing.”
“What?” Laura pushed.
“Well, you could ask any other person from the tech department, you know,” Nate said.
“No, I can’t,” Laura replied. “It’s too dangerous. No one else will do it for me and keep it quiet.”
“Why does it need to be quiet?”
“Because…” Laura looked at him wide-eyed. “Well, we can’t tell anyone else about this case. We can’t admit how I know about it.”
“Wait, you don’t want to tell Rondelle we’re investigating this?” Nate asked, shaking his head.
