Deadly Touch - Heather Graham Page 0,113

it. It felt terribly grown-up to her, and she beamed.

She hugged him tightly; she knew he was leaving. She hoped she’d see him again.

But it wouldn’t be soon.

Her mother insisted they move away from Georgetown and Washington, DC.

Their new home was situated on a beautiful hill in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. It was still easy access to the country’s capital, but distant enough so Stacey’s mom felt they had a quiet and normal life.

Her mother left her job to teach. Her father retired.

Life was pretty good. Despite her mom not being particularly fond of anything that had to do with guns or law enforcement, Stacey joined a young citizens watch group in high school. And through local police programs she learned a great deal about averting and investigating crimes and learned how officers and forensic investigators often solved crimes together. Leg work...the art of interrogation...and science.

She also spent many an hour watching the ID channel—learning all about crimes, both past and present, and the way they were solved.

Sometimes—just now and then—she’d have strange little dreams. A dream about a broken zipper on her parka seemed almost silly. Yet putting on her parka the next day, she found that the zipper was broken. Then she dreamed that the underdog—Charlie Waters, worst player on the school’s team—scored the winning touchdown for the school’s football team.

The following Friday night, remarkably, Charlie did just that.

But it wasn’t until she was almost eighteen when she had a dream that was frightening again—one that really mattered; a piece of life and death she had to hope she could change.

And that time it had to do with a friend, Kevin Waverly.

Kevin was a running back for the high school football team. He was well-liked, did decently in all his classes, and planned on either professional ball, or if he didn’t quite cut it as pro, going into coaching or therapy for sports injuries.

Then he fell in love with Elaine Gregory, who was sweet, and beautiful. But easily manipulated.

Elaine met an older boy who introduced her to cocaine. Soon, Elaine and Kevin were missing classes, and coach was threatening to kick Kevin off the team. It wasn’t a large school, and Stacey had heard the gossip.

Stacey’s dream started with her walking through the night. She was walking in a cemetery. She knew, somehow, it wasn’t the historic Harper Cemetery with the fantastic view that was a must for any tourist—no. It was the almost forgotten Miller Cemetery just a bit to the south toward Port Royal. It offered no view except by night, when the fog rolled in and the trees seemed to drip eerie fingers of moss, and the greatest danger was tripping over a broken headstone or footstone.

Only one angel stood guard over the place, and her wings were both sadly chipped; her face appeared eternally muddied. There were a few above-ground tombs and obelisks scattered between the overgrown grasses, shrubs, and trees.

It was a perfect place for teenagers to come.

To drink, or to sell drugs, and to do drugs.

The first time the dream came, Stacey just saw herself walking through the cemetery.

The next time, she saw Kevin and Elaine and a shadowy figure were by the broken angel, and the three were arguing.

The third time she heard a gunshot.

She told her father about her dream. He didn’t want to listen at first; then Stacey reminded him about Adam Harrison’s faith in her, and he did. He told the local police he believed drug deals were going down in the cemetery. The police ignored him. The officer on the phone told him that yes, they watched the cemetery. They didn’t have the manpower to watch it day and night. But they thanked him; they were forewarned.

The dream came again, night after night. But this time as she walked through the broken stones in the eerie darkness punctuated by the light of the moon, someone touched her shoulder. She turned and trembled and tried to scream but could not.

It was Chastity Miller; she knew that from pictures. Chastity Miller had been one of Washington’s spies during the Revolutionary War. She had been beautiful and charming, and part of an elite group that became known as the Culper Spy Ring, set up by Major Benjamin Tallmadge under Washington’s orders. It was said he kept the identities of those in the ring so secret that not even Washington knew all their names. In 1778, Chastity worked in British-occupied New York, bringing valuable information to the table. She could charm