Page 53 of A Future To Remember

He tapped his index finger on the mug again. “You know, after our talk at the curb the other day, I’ve been back and forth with the idea of showing it to you. Maybe see if you could come up with something unseen and help point us in a new direction.”

“I think it’s the least I owe you, Cash. You and this town, for all your help and kindness. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d been forced to leave the hospital without any memory, money, or options.”

“We were never gonna let that happen, Maddy. And you don’t owe us for helping you. It’s the Christian thing to do.”

“Still, I’d feel better knowing I was doing something positive with this new superpower, whatever it may be.” For emphasis, I tapped my temple.

Cash chuckled. “Okay. You got yourself a deal. But keep this between us, okay? I don’t need the whole town knowing I’ve asked a psychic for help on my dad’s murder case. That might spook some of the more devout, if you’re pickin’ up what I’m droppin’.”

I offered him a two-finger salute. “Not a problem.” The last thing I needed was a bunch of villagers showing up at the diner with pitchforks and torches, ready to burn me at the stake. “But I do have one stipulation.”

“You do, huh?”

I nodded. “If I end up solving your dad’s case, I want you to do something for me.”

His brow furrowed. “And that is…?”

“Levi.”

“What about him?”

“He wants to leave this town behind and head west even more than you guys want him to disappear. If I solve your dad’s murder, then you agree to buy him a bus ticket to California and give him some seed money to get him started.”

Cash didn’t seem to like that. “Why you so wound up about Levi?”

“Because nobody but me seems to care about him, and he’s a sweet boy, Cash. He’s worth a second chance someplace far away from here.”

Cash seemed to mull that over for a minute before finally offering, “There’s a reward for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for murdering my dad. It’s sitting in an escrow account, and no one’s touched it in twenty-five years. If you solve my dad’s murder, the money’s yours, and you can spend it however you like.”

“How much is the reward?”

“Fifteen K.”

I smiled. “Perfect.” That’d be enough to give Levi a solid head start toward his dream to live in California.

But Cash didn’t seem to share my enthusiasm. Instead, he shook his head and scooted out of the booth. “That boy’s trouble, Maddy. Don’t let anybody know you’re planning on helping him. It’ll save you a lot of trouble.”

I got out of the booth too, grabbing the remainder of my lunch and my milkshake glass. “You know, Sheriff, there are times I think you’re a really good man, and then there are times, like when you say shidirt like that about a boy who—at worst—revealed he had a crush on the high school quarterback and has been paying the price ever since, and I wonder if my faith in you is misplaced.”

Cash stiffened in shock, totally taken aback by my comment, but the disgust in his viewpoint about Levi that’d been brewing every time we began talking about the young man had at last boiled to the surface, and I wasn’t able to hold it back one second longer.

Before turning away from him I added, “Would your dad allow the townsfolk to treat Levi like they do? Or would he have stood up for him because, like it or not, he’s part of this community and he’s owed some respect and the right to exist without fear of getting his ass kicked every time he turns his back.”

I could tell my words landed like a punch to the gut because Cash actually winced.

Turning away from him with angry eyes, I added, “Bring me the case file on your dad tonight, and I’ll see what my Spidey sense can pick up.”

As I stomped away from Cash, headed to the dishwashing room, I replayed the words “Spidey sense” in my mind. It was so familiar. Had I used the phrase before in my previous life? I felt like I had. Often, even. But where that might’ve been or who that might’ve been with still felt frustratingly out of reach.

And yet, these moments of familiarity were becoming more frequent, and that excited me. What if the key to discovering both who’d murdered Cash’s dad and who I’d been before waking up in the hospital were connected through this psychic ability. What if all I needed to remember who I was, was to work and solve this murder case?

Two birds, one stone, I thought, almost giddy with excitement.

Crucially, however, in that moment, what I hadn’t thought about was what danger that could put me in.

CHAPTER 12

Him