The Departed

He didn’t know how long it would take, and although impatience ate at him, he said nothing, did nothing. He couldn’t rush this.
    As much as he wanted to.
    He’d been awake for more than an hour.
    When she’d first started to stir in her sleep, it had awoken him. He’d never slept peacefully and even though he’d given in sometime last night and taken one of the damn pain pills, her restlessness had pulled him straight out of his sleep.
    She’d been talking, muttering to herself.
    A walk—?
    Trick-or-treating…
    Anna had disappeared on Halloween. And their mother had never allowed either of them to go trick-or-treating. It was a crass and common thing, Elsa had insisted. Taylor wasn’t going to try to fool himself into thinking this wasn’t about Anna.
    In his gut, he knew it was.
    But he couldn’t rush this. It was about his sister, and he could do nothing but wait.
    Another twenty minutes passed before Dez stopped shaking. Another ten minutes before she spoke. Her voice was hoarse as she said, “Where is Anna’s grave?”
    * * *
     
    “HER flowers are missing.”
    The sound of his voice was startling in the early morning silence. Dez jumped and shot him a puzzled look. “What?”
    That emotionless mask was firmly in place as he slid his gaze her way, but she saw that screaming, dark anguish in his pale eyes as he said quietly, “Her flowers. Every year, when I visit her grave, I bring her daisies. I just left them the other day…the day she disappeared. They should still be here. They aren’t.”
    A cold shiver, one that had nothing to do with the twenty-degree wind chill, ran down Dez’s spine. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she looked up at the marble angel. It was the same one she’d seen before, and now that she was focused, she could feel those whispers more acutely. Although it went against her training, she lowered her shields completely, and when she did, a blast of whispers assaulted her.
    Find me…please find me…I don’t want to stay lost —
    She shuddered and covered her face with her hands. God, did she know ?
    Help me, please…
    “Where are you, baby?”
    The screaming, roaring chaos in her mind all but deafened and blinded her. She couldn’t think, couldn’t focus—
    With a groan, she clamped her hands over her ears, but it did nothing to ease that chaos. Focus, focus—
    She could do this, damn it. She could. Channeling the calm she’d always gotten from Taylor, but refusing to let his presence block everything the way it often did, she blocked out everything but the information she needed.
    Where. Are. You .
    The answer didn’t come in words. Dez couldn’t even be sure the answer came from Anna. It was just there . And it was so ridiculously simple, she knew she should have realized it before now. Swallowing, she turned and looked at Taylor.
    “We need to go to the field out behind Beau’s place again.”
    For the briefest second, there was horror in his eyes. And then gold-tipped lashes swept over his eyes, shielding them. And he nodded.
    * * *
     
    ONE hand lay over the fragile stem of a daisy.
    The other held a pen.
    Such lovely daisies. Did you like them? I imagine you must have or he wouldn’t give them to you, I suppose. If he wasn’t your brother, it would bother me that a boy was giving you such flowers. But a brother is different from a boy.
    The slender fingers gripping the pen tightened.
    Some boys, though, some of them…
    A memory rose up to taunt— My pretty angel, did you think I wouldn’t hear? Little slut—
    HIS knuckles were bloodless. Dez wished she could reach over and stroke the tension away, wished she could make this better. But she couldn’t. There was no easing this pain for him. Closing her eyes, she rested her head against the headrest and made herself find some level of inner calm.
    It had never been more important, she realized. And it would never be harder to find. She tried to dredge up some shields that would let her find what she needed to find without leaving her totally exposed. Whether or not it would work, she didn’t know.
    But just in case…
    “So.” She shot him a halfhearted smile and asked, “Do you have a Taser on you by chance?”
    A spasm twisted his mouth. His eyes closed for the briefest second as he slowed at a stop sign. He glanced her way. The shuttered look in his eyes spoke volumes. “Yes. I hadn’t planned on needing it but I’ve always kept one in my briefcase. After the last