Suspense 08 The Presence by Heather Graham

Author:Heather Graham [Graham, Heather]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-21T10:11:05.724000+00:00

Toni had just set the hair dryer down when she heard the knock at her door and David's voice. "Toni?"

She opened the door. "Hey, I'm sorry. I've taken too long, huh?"

"Kid, you can take all night if you want. I came up to make sure that you were all right. The concern about a hot meal doesn't really compare to the discovery of bones in the forest," he assured her sympathetically.

"I keep saying this, though no one seems to believe me, but I'm all right," she said. "It's just..."

"Just what?" he asked gently.

She walked on into the room and sat on the side of the bed. He joined her, slipping an arm around her shoulders.

"Are you still envisioning a longhead Scotsman with a bloody sword?" he asked.

She shook her head quickly, but then flashed him a glance.

"David," she murmured.

"Talk to me," he said. "That's why I'm here. Look, you're a good actress. You have everyone else convinced that you're relieved because it wasn't that missing girl, turned up dead. But I know you, and I know you're upset about those bones."

"She's dead," Toni murmured.

"What?"

She looked at his handsome, caring face and shook her head. "Nothing."

"Toni! Please, you know I never repeat a word you say to me."

"But do I know that you won't have me committed to an asylum?" she asked.

"Never," he assured her.

She inhaled deeply. "David, I could have sworn that I saw Bruce go into the forest."

David frowned. "Toni, he did leave the castle very early."

She nodded. "So I've been told. And I know travel here can take some time, but still..."

"Did you ask Bruce?"

"He was in Edinburgh. With his friend."

"And you trust in that, of course."

"There's something about him that.. .yes, I trust him."

"Then...?"

"David, I think I'm seeing things again." Her words suddenly started to pour from her. "This afternoon.. .if it wasn't Bruce, then it was the man that I invented, that Bruce from centuries ago. Or else, someone who dresses up like him and has access to a big black horse. Or else, I'm going crazy."

"Toni," he said slowly, "you're not going crazy. Well rule that out right off the bat. When you came in tonight, you said something about it being a trick of the light. Isn't that possible?"

"I suppose," she murmured.

"But you don't believe it."

She shook her head. "There's more."

"Go on."

She shook her head. "When I was taking a bath.. .David, it was suddenly as if I was her."

"Toni, you're losing me. Her--who?" He shook his head. "The long gone Annalise?"

"No. And that's what one would have thought. I mean, after everything else I made up that turned out to be true, I should have been imagining what it had been like for Annalise. But no, it was suddenly as if I were.. .the missing girl."

"Annie O'Hara?" he said with surprise.

She nodded gravely.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it was as if I was where she had been, as if I could follow her thoughts the night she was taken. And killed, I could see outside a pub where she was drinking.

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