Bernard inhaled sharply and with a jilted motion of his head indicated for Samantha to follow him out back. Once through the door he closed it firmly and leaned against it with his frame making it hard for anyone to come in.
Samantha wasn’t intimidated. Bernard was a hulk of a man but she had never crossed him and had no idea of his darker side.
His voice dropped an octave and sounded like rolling gravel “We had a deal!” He put an arm over her shoulder leaning into her. “I helped you and you said you would never… never come round here in relation to that … ” he spat towards her hand, “ … thing!”
The feeling of her chin being lifted by Bernard’s coarse hands startled her. He lifted her head to ensure she was looking into his eyes, the grey now piercingly cold. “You shouldn’t have come, we have too much history, too much blood running under our bridge.
“You know the last time I saw that medallion was the case that broke me. Since leaving the force I have rebuilt my life, I am content here tending this bar, maybe not happy but content.
“Why can’t you leave well enough alone Sam? Let our sleeping dogs lie.”
He dropped his hand, awkwardly running it through his hair.
“Do you think you were the only one that case affected? If it broke you, Bernard, it destroyed me. At least you get a break… with my curse or gift, however you want to look at it, I don’t get to walk away.
“I didn’t get to leave, you did that, you left me and now a woman is dead… again. And this medallion was found at the crime scene. I wouldn’t ask, Bernard, but you are the only one who can help me channel my gift and use it to find Linda.”
A groan emitted from Bernard, and he knocked his head backwards on the door frame as if trying to block out her presence.
She grabbed his hand and before he could say no, the mist descended and he saw what Samantha had seen.
The woman was aware she was being followed, her breathing was becoming raspy with fear, and she tried to pick up her walking speed, which proved difficult in her cheap vinyl stilettos.
To Bernard it felt like he was in the alley, unlike when Samantha looked alone, when they touched, they could move the scene, almost rotate it to see angles that were hidden. They could also move time, like rewinding film.
Quickly they ran the scene backwards looking for the other victim. The feeling of fear hit first, quickly followed by anguish.
Linda could feel footsteps behind her and she looked backward just as the blow hit her head splattering her blood against the alley wall. It slowed her, but she lurched ahead trying to escape the alley.
Bernard saw the medallion flash silver around Linda’s neck and he knew then he would help.
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