Lifting the Veil by Kate Allenton Page A

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    today and get some work done.”
    They settled in and were working away when Jack spoke out of the blue. “Hey, Soph.”
    “Yeah?” she responded without even looking up.
    “If you have another vision or hear more voices, be sure to ask who this bastard is so we can catch this asshole.”
    Sophie quit typing and glanced over at Jack. “You believe me?”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know what to believe.” He turned to face her. “I believe you think what
    you’re telling me is true. It’s just kind of hard to wrap my brain around.”
    “Tell me about it.” Sophie took a sip of her coffee; her mind was playing different scenarios in her head. What if the voices did give her a name, or she could see the killers face? What then? “Jack, what if I can help?”
    Jack reached for her hand and squeezed it. “Soph, from what you described, you can’t even control
    whatever is going on with you. You don’t know how to tap into whatever this is. Just let the guys do their job.”
    She nodded. She believed her brother was capable of finding this creep. She smashed her lips
    together. What could she do, really? “Jack, what about the parents?”
    “Whose parents?”
    “Valerie’s. They didn’t approve of her, but she was moving back home. That doesn’t make sense.”
    “I’m sure the investigators covered it in their interview, Soph.”
    Sophie shrugged, her mind racing, unable to forget about what the clerk had said. “What if they
    didn’t? They didn’t know that Valerie’s parents didn’t accept her gifts.”
    Jack let out a long sigh and flexed his fingers. “You heard your brother.”
    “Jack…”
    “No, Soph.” He rose and turned around at the door. “I’ll tell them what we know. I won’t mention
    how we came across the information, but I’ll make sure the investigators know. Okay?”
    She nodded.

    ****
Jack stepped out of the too-small room and scanned the room of detectives looking for the original
    officer who was on the case. He found Kingston at his desk typing up a report.
    “Kingston, you got a minute?”
    Kingston stopped typing and leaned back in his chair. “Sure, what have you got?”
    Jack pulled up a chair next to the desk. “You remember that murder you investigated months ago,
    the dead girl in the field?”
    “Yeah, what about it?”
    “The girl was a psychic or something. Sophie and I went to Mystic yesterday, and it just came out in conversation. Her parents never approved of her abilities, so you might want to talk to them again.”
    “Sophie and you were working my old case?” A vein in Kingston’s neck throbbed.
    Jack nodded and rose. “Yeah, we were inputting the file, and Sophie wanted to play detective. She’s not half bad.”
    “Are you saying that she did a better job than me?” Kingston accused while slowly rising from his
    chair, his face growing redder with each passing second.
    Jack held up his hands. “No, man, I’m not saying that at all. I’m just saying she has good instincts.
    Any clue is a good clue when the case is cold. It’s worth looking into.”
    Jack poured a cup of coffee before returning to stand in front of Kingston’s desk. “The cold case and your new case are connected. You might have a serial on your hands.”
    “What makes you think they’re connected?”
    “The dress. They’re wearing the same dress. Sophie noticed it yesterday.”
    Kingston crossed his arms over his chest. “Just how much does she know about my case?” he
    questioned, implicating Sophie might know more than what Jack was telling him.
    “Nothing, dude. We’ve told you everything we know.”
    Kingston nodded and sat back down.
    The day dragged on even with the questions and stimulating conversations with Sophie. She hadn’t
    had another experience that she shared. She didn’t fall and bump her head, and no other voices were talking to her. He was starting to respect her, not just for being a paper pusher but a good person. She wasn’t looking