The Long Way Home
When young boys go missing, psychic Kevin Quinn is called in to help the police department. Quinn’s partner is Connor Dougal, a newer detective on the force, and a skeptic when it comes to psychic abilities. That is until strange things happen to Kevin when he touches objects belonging to the missing kids. Even more disturbing is the way Kevin can participate in Conner’s dreams. Conner’s past is more tied to the current case than anyone realizes and it’s only by lancing the pain of the past there is a hope for the future.
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They arrived back at Connor’s apartment at almost noon, going into separate rooms to put on more casual clothes. Connor was afraid Kevin would puke on one of his good suits, but since he couldn’t say for sure he wouldn’t puke if the situation were reversed he didn’t hold it against him.
They both returned to the coffee table, on which Connor was laying out another handful of pictures of a boy, this one slightly older. This time, the boy’s picture was taken in a soccer uniform, and Connor had an immediate pang of despair. Ryan Anders was so young, and he looked like a thousand, no, a million other boys his age in his uniform, including Connor himself when he was that age. How does the guy pick them, he wondered again, why these boys? There was almost never an answer.
Connor watched Kevin as he steeled himself for the grim task at hand, holding his hand out for the first item, a battered hooded sweatshirt with the green and gold Edison High School Chargers shield and lightning bolts on it. Connor watched closely as Kevin held it. He’d actually brought him a trashcan, just in case.
“Stop looking at me as though you’re waiting for old faithful to blow,” said Kevin finally.
“I’m sorry,” Connor looked at the floor. “Yesterday was damned awful. I guess I’m not used to it yet.”
“You’re not used to it? Who gets used to it?”
“Anything?”
“Nothing yet,” said Kevin. Connor handed him a hairbrush, which he held for a while, shaking his head again.
Looking at Kevin, Connor felt worried. Based on what he saw yesterday, the items that belonged directly to the person in question, or that they cherished, were the most troublesome. He held a bag in his hand with a Teddy bear inside, and wondered if he should tell Kevin that it had one of Ryan’s baby teeth sewn into a special pocket. He debated the wisdom of that, yet was still skeptical enough to want Kevin himself to prove he could sense it. He unwrapped the bag and handed the stuffed animal to Kevin.
Later, Connor would recall the look of trust on Kevin’s face as he reached out for the bear, the rueful smile in place indicating he was willing to give anything a try, and then the sudden distress on his face as he gasped in a deep, rattling breath. Connor tried, but was unable to catch Kevin as his knees locked, and he dropped to the floor like a stone, hitting his head with a thud that practically stopped Connor’s heart.
“Damn, Kevin,” he called, racing for the fallen man, “Kevin! Crap, Kevin!” he shouted, loud enough to wake the dead.
Connor dialed 911 on his cell phone and checked Kevin for the ABC’s: airway, breathing, and circulatory, finding Kevin’s pulse, but watching his lips turn blue. He tried to open Kevin’s mouth to check his airway but the man’s jaw was clenched firmly shut. He told the emergency operator that he was alone and put his phone on speaker, talking to him while trying anything he could to help Kevin, who wasn’t breathing and whose face was turning a grim shade of grey. Connor knew what to do; it just wasn’t working. He shouted helplessly at Kevin, who was still holding the bear, and yanked it from his white knuckled hands.
Kevin gasped in a great lungful of air, like a man drowning, and then panted so noisily the operator asked Connor what was happening. Connor was practically sobbing with relief when the paramedics arrived. Taking no chances, they transported Kevin to the hospital, with Connor following behind. He turned in to the Hoag Hospital parking lot almost as soon as they did, and ran straight to Emergency, where a stable Kevin was sheepishly explaining that he didn’t have seizures, but may have eaten something funny.
