to calm himself as he knocked on his boss’s office door.
“Come in.”
Caleb opened the door and Gage stood.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Gage said without preamble. “We have a new client. One I’d like for you to handle.”
Caleb narrowed his eyes. “Why me?”
Gage’s eyes darkened. “You’ll know after you meet her and her five-year-old daughter, Sara. Sara insists she sees her twin in her nightmares, that her sister is in trouble.”
“I don’t understand,” Caleb said. “Sounds like a child having bad dreams, not a missing person case.”
“It gets even more interesting.” Gage flicked his gaze to the conference room across the hall. “The mother claims the twin died at birth, but Sara insists she’s alive.”
Damn. Gage requested him because of his so-called sixth sense. He wished to hell he’d never divulged that detail.
But Gage had caught him in a weak moment.
Gage motioned for him to follow. “Come on, they’re waiting.”
Caleb rolled his hands into fists, then forced himself to flex them again, struggling to control his emotions. Emotions had no place in business. And business was his life now.
The moment Caleb entered the conference room, he spotted the woman sitting in a wing chair cradling the little girl in her lap. Gage had purposely designed the room with cozy seating nooks to put clients at ease.
But nothing about this woman appeared to be at ease.
Her slender body radiated with tension, her eyes looked haunted, her expression wary.
Yet he was also struck by her startling beauty. Copper-colored hair draped her shoulders and flowed like silk around a heart-shaped face. Big, green eyes gazed at him as if she desperately needed a friend, and freckles dotted her fair skin, making her look young and vulnerable. Her outfit was simple, too, not meant to be enticing—long denim skirt, peasant blouse—yet the soft colors made her look utterly feminine.
And downright earthy.
Earthy in his book meant sexy. Lethal combinations to a man who had been celibate for the past three years.
Dammit. He hadn’t been attracted to another woman since Mara. He sure as hell didn’t want to be attracted to a client. Not one with a kid who claimed to see her dead sister.
Then his gaze fell to the little blonde munchkin, and his lungs tightened. She looked tiny and frail and terrified and so lost that his protective instincts kicked in.
“Ms. Andrews,” Gage began. “This is Caleb Walker. He’s one of our agents at GAI. I’d like for him to hear your story.”
The woman squared her shoulders as if anticipating a confrontation. She expected skepticism.
“You can call me Madelyn,” she said in a husky voice that sounded as if it was laced with whiskey.
Gage claimed the love seat, leaving the other wing chair nearest Madelyn for him. Caleb lowered himself into it, aware his size might intimidate the little girl.
“What’s your name?” he asked in a gentle tone.
Eyes that mirrored her mother’s stared up at him as if she was trying to decide if he was friend or foe. Smart kid. She should be wary of strangers.
He smiled slowly, trying to ease her discomfort. But his senses prickled, suggesting she was special in some way. That she possessed a sixth sense herself.
Not that he would wish that on anyone, especially a kid.
“Let’s see,” he said, a smile quirking his mouth. “Are you Little Miss Sunshine?”
A tiny smile lit her eyes, and she relaxed slightly and loosened her grip on her blanket. “No, silly. I’m Sara.”
“Hi, Sara,” he said gruffly. “That’s a pretty name.”
“Thank you,” she said, her tone sounding grown up for such a little bitty thing. “It’s my Gran’s middle name.”
“Okay, Sara. Tell me what’s going on so I can help you.”
Madelyn stroked her daughter’s hair. “Sara’s been having nightmares for the past two months, ever since we moved back to town.”
“Where are you from?” Caleb asked, probing for background information.
Madelyn hugged Sara closer. “We moved to Charlotte four years ago to be near my mom, but Sara was born in Sanctuary. Recently my mother suffered a stroke, and I found a nursing facility here that she liked, so I bought the craft shop in town, and we packed up and moved back.”
“I see,” Caleb said. Had the move triggered these nightmares? “Sara, did you have dreams of your sister when you lived in Charlotte?”
Sara nodded and twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “We talked and sang songs and told secrets.”
Caleb narrowed his eyes. “What kinds of secrets?”
Sara pursed her mouth. “They’re not secrets if I tell.”
Hmm. She was loyal to her sister. But those secrets might be important.
“She has dreamed about her twin all her life,” Madelyn confirmed. “But lately those dreams have been disturbing.”
Sara piped up. “Her name is Cissy, and she looks just like me.”
Caleb nodded, aware that she used the present tense. “Sara and Cissy. How old are you?”
“Five,” Sara said and held up five fingers. “Cissy’s five, too.”
He smiled again. “You’re identical twins?”
She swung her feet. “Yep, ’cept I gots a birthmark on my right arm and hers is on the other side.” She pointed to a small, pale, crescent-moon shape on her forearm.
Caleb folded his hands. He needed to keep Sara talking. “Tell me what happens in your dreams, Sara.”
Terror darkened the little girl’s face. “Cissy is scared and she’s screamin’ and she runned into the woods.”
Damn. He understood about nightmares, how real and haunting they could seem. “Who is she running from?” Caleb asked.
“From a big, mean man. He screamed at her mommy,” Sara said with conviction. “Cissy says he’s gonna kill them.”
Caleb intentionally lowered his voice. “Can you see his face? Does she call him by name?”
Sara chewed on her thumb for a moment as if trying to picture the man in her mind. “No, I can’t see him.” Her voice rose with anxiety. “But I saw Cissy running and crying.”
Caleb
