Lethal Outlook: A Psychic Eye Mystery by Victoria Laurie Page A

know in a minute.”
    Gaston subtly laid a hand on my shoulder. “Abigail, I wonder if we might talk for a bit in private with Special Agent Harrison.”
    “Sure,” I said. I felt my heartbeat tick up. My radar was buzzing with a forboding feeling.
    “Wonderful,” he said, motioning for me to enter Brice’s office first. “Agent Rivers, would you also join us?”
    I hustled into Brice’s office and took a seat, bracing myself because the more I tried to pick up on what was at hand, the more unsettled I became. Whatever they wanted to talk about was bad. Really,
really
bad.
    Brice took the chair behind his desk, Gaston sat next to me, and Dutch stood by the door, leaning against the wall. Iavoided looking at him, certain I’d still catch a hint of anger in his midnight blues.
    Gaston folded his hands in his lap and began. “This morning a very disturbing incident occurred in the city of College Station. Are you familiar with it?”
    “The city or the incident?” I asked.
    “The city.”
    “Yes, sir.” College Station was northeast of Austin, about two hours away. “Did something happen there?”
    Gaston motioned to Brice, who swiveled his computer monitor around so that it faced me. “This is a little tough to watch, Abby,” he warned.
    Coming from a seasoned FBI agent, that meant the image had to be awful. “Okay,” I told him. “I’m braced. What is it?”
    “It’s a video,” Gaston said, his hand again on my arm. “It was taken from a security camera inside a mall near downtown at about eleven this morning.”
    Gaston motioned again for Brice to play the footage.
    Now, what I saw on that computer screen is the subject of an entirely different story—one that I’ll go into next time—but suffice it to say the video was one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever had the great misfortune to witness. And trust me when I tell you that I’ve seen some disturbing things.
    When it was over I shakily got to my feet. I felt light-headed, nauseated, traumatized, and like I was ready to hurl all at the same time. “Excuse me,” I said, hobbling out of the room as fast as my limp would allow. Dutch said my name as I passed him, but I shook my head hard and didn’t evenbother to look back. My breathing was coming in quick pants, and all I wanted to do was make it out of there before I lost my composure.
    I limped by Candice too, and caught her concerned eye. I motioned for her to follow and felt her immediately at my side.
    Behind me I heard Dutch call my name again, but I couldn’t even acknowledge him; I just kept my focus on getting to the door.
    Once we came into the open air of the outdoors, I bent at the waist and took several deep breaths and noticed that I was trembling from the shock of what I’d seen. Candice wrapped an arm around me for support, which was the only thing that prevented me from blacking out. Finally I stood up tall again, and through the glass window I could see Dutch looking at me with a face full of concern. I shook my head at him, turned away, and then I burst into tears. Candice looped my arm around her shoulders and helped me to her car without a word.
    She got me settled, then hurried around to her side and got in. We peeled out of the parking garage and I stared out the window, unable to stop the flood of emotion pouring out of me. After a bit I said, “Thank you.”
    Candice laid a gentle hand on my head. “You okay?”
    “They showed me some footage of a bomb going off at a mall, Candice,” I said, the tears coming back in earnest again. “It wasn’t in black-and-white. It was in color. I saw…everything. They all died…they all just…died.”
    “Jesus Christ!” she hissed. “Why the hell would Brice show you that?!”
    I shook my head. It hadn’t been his fault, but I couldn’t really form any more words because I was too overcome.
    Candice continued to cast worried glances at me, and finally she picked up her cell and punched in a number. The second