Gone and Done It Read Free Page B

more a witch than you are. I’m unlucky enough to have been told to dig this hole in front of that wall. I didn’t set out to find any dead body. It found me.”
    My outburst seemed to surprise him. He rubbed his chin. “Well, dang. The sheriff is right. You are one feisty woman.”
    I jabbed a finger in his chest. “What is it with you men? Am I a threat to you? All I’m doing is trying to earn a living. I don’t understand why men see that as aggression. Should I sit home and wait for the welfare fairy to find me? Should I hope a big strong man sweeps in to take care of me?”
    “Sorry, ma’am.” Virg backpedaled toward his cruiser. Ronnie, too.
    It was my turn to curse. “Ya can’t leave.”
    Virg and Ronnie crabbed away from me. “No, ma’am. We’re going to update dispatch and summon the investigator and the coroner. Then we’ll secure the scene.”
    God help us. If this was the state of our crime-solving force, Sinclair County was in big trouble. Two grown men running from one puny woman. They each had me by a hundred pounds, maybe more. Plus they were both armed with guns and pepper spray, and if I wasn’t mistaken, Virg had a Taser on his belt, too.
    The deputies holed up in Virg’s cruiser. Anger and disgust rolled through me in waves. I kicked the ground with my boots, sending a spray of loose sand toward the skull. The men were acting like idiots, but fear made people stupid.
    So did anger.
    Anger made me react first and think later. Not a good plan for someone with something to hide. Only who was I hiding from? The world? Or myself?
    I let out a string of cuss words.
    The unexpected sound of my voice startled me. I had to pull myself together or my career as a psychic consultant to the sheriff would be over before it started. Trying to find out who this person was from the bare bones would be a first for me. For years I’d denied having anything other than intuition. I’d recently found out how my
intuition
worked, or at least one aspect of it.
    The whole of it had not been explored. One thing at a time. That was all anyone could do. One thing at a time.
    I touched the green pendant at my neck, the moldavite necklace that had been a gift from my late husband. I didn’t believe Roland was dead, despite what the Army said, and this touchstone reminded me of his love. A sense of calm washed over me. I didn’t understand how the stone soothed me, but I was grateful for order coming to my thoughts.
    I scrubbed my face with my hands and stepped closer to the skull I’d unearthed. How would I do this? I’d already tried reading above the hole, and hadn’t learned anything. Way I saw it, I had two choices. I could lower my shields and touch the skull. Or I could meditate and seek out the soul of the deceased. I hadn’t tried dreamwalking in some time, but going into a trance out here in the woods was dangerous. My physical body would be unprotected, which is why dreamwalkers worked their craft in their home environment.
    With Virg and Ronnie sitting on guns and Tasers, and God only knew what else, the vulnerability of a dreamwalk was too great a risk.
    That meant I had to touch the skull.
    I shuddered and edged closer to the hole.
    Fast. Just do it and get it over with.
    Doubt edged into my thoughts. What the hell had I gotten myself into? I’d sold myself and my abilities like a carnival sideshow freak. But then, people like Virg and Ronnie thought I was a freak anyway, so what did it matter? Especially if using my perceptions garnered me the income I needed to pay my bills and take care of Larissa.
    The sun clouded over as I dropped to my knees beside the hole. Behind me I heard car doors open.
    “Ma’am,” Virg hollered. “Walk away from the hole.”
    I waved him off. “It’s okay. The sheriff asked me to examine the bones.”
    Virg crept closer, his hand on his weapon. “Step away from the deceased.”
    “I’m doing my job. Call the sheriff.” Taking a deep breath, I turned my back