Arriving at the school, I quickly found Paige in the Nurse’s office.  She looked pale, not at all well and I silently hoped that her only problem was her period.  I’d picked up a bottle of Midol on the way and gave her two before asking the nurse for a few minutes of her time.           

We moved outside of her little office and treatment room to the hallway, empty now as all the students were in classes.  “Nurse White, did Paige call me from your office?”                                                                                                                     Nurse White had been the school nurse for as long as Paige had been going there.  She was confident and capable; and, she was curious in the extreme.  “Of course.  Why?”           

 I decided to ignore her question and asked another of my own.  “I was curious because of some of the background noises I heard.  Was Paige alone?”           

 The nurse gave me a look that clearly telegraphed her growing suspicion that something wasn’t “kosher” but, she simply nodded and asked again, “Why are you asking these kinds of questions?  What background noises did you hear?”          

  I decided the best method was honesty and replied, “Actually, it wasn’t background noise at all.  It was – well, almost immediately after Paige hung up I received a second call from the school.  A man said something very cryptic and then hung up the phone.  I won’t repeat what he said, except to say that it was a little disturbing.”           

Nurse White thought for a second, her penetrating stare made me uneasy. “Well, the only man that has been anywhere near my office all morning was Dr. Johansson and he only stopped in for a couple of aspirin.”

“Dr. Johansson, the dean?” I asked.   Nurse White nodded and before she could say anything I continued, “Was he there while Paige was on the phone with me, do you think?”           

“I don’t know what difference that would make, but yes, I believe he was, now that you mention it. But what of it, a call from the school doesn’t mean it came from my office, does it?”    

I recognized that she was only going to get more defensive and decided that this line of questioning was not going to get me any further.  I had no reason to assume that Dr. Johansson had made that mysterious call.  It really didn’t make any difference whether he or any other man had been in the treatment room when Paige called, did it?  Whoever it was could have called from anyplace within the school and Paige did not necessarily have to have had any connection.  My mind was spinning but, I had to concede for the moment that I’d reached a dead end.  “No, no, of course not.  Well, it wasn’t really all that important anyway.  Thanks for taking care of Paige.”           

I collected my daughter and we arrived home thirty minutes later.  Paige had slept, or at least pretended to sleep, all the way home and as soon as we were inside the house, she headed to her room.  I noticed the red message light on our answering machine and pushed the play button.”           

His voice was soft, not the scream from this morning, but it was the same voice.  “I saw you.  Just before she died I saw the change in her eyes and I recognized you.  You’ve seen a lot of my work, haven’t you, dear?  Yes.  Many times I’ve felt your presence.  Your abilities are similar to my own.  Not as strong.  Not as well tuned, but –“            

He paused and I heard his even, but deep breathing.  I was shaking and a million thoughts ran through my head in an instant.  It was him, Nona’s killer. Of that, I had no doubt.

“Well….perhaps we’ll meet again.  Paige is a lovely girl, isn’t she?  Oh, but she is not pure.  Though she has committed a grievous sin, I’ve decided to spare her – this time.  There are others more demanding of my divine justice.  Perhaps, we’ll meet again.  Somewhere dark.”  He laughed and the last I heard was the click of the phone disconnecting.           

I fell into a nearby chair.  I realized I was crying only when the tears dripped off my chin.  I realized that I could no longer remain a bystander.  I couldn’t simply agonize over my dreams, dreams that always came too late.  I had to take action.  I had to figure a way to get ahead of my dreams.  I had to ---.  My thoughts in that direction ended abruptly.  I called for Paige to come down to the den, immediately.           

“Mom?  What’s the matter?  You look like you’ve been crying.  What’s going on?”           

“Sit down, honey,” I moved to the sofa and patted a place next to me.  “I’m going to ask you some questions, Paige and, I need complete and absolutely truthful answers, okay?”           

It took awhile but, I finally got the information I needed.  Paige had called me a bitch as she hung up the phone.  Certainly, Dr. Johansson had heard because, according to Paige, he’d given her a “strange” look before walking out the door.  To her knowledge this was the one and only time that she’d said something like that.  I decided that since she’d been truthful, there would be no punishment.  She felt badly enough, I suppose, but I had other things on my mind, too.  I felt relatively as far as Paige was concerned.  I needed to take positive action and I needed to be in my office.                                                *******************************          

Methra called over my intercom, “Detective Silverwolf to see you, Doctor.”I told her to send him in and got up to greet him at my office door.  Detective Silverwolf was a big man, six foot – six, at least.  His name matched his appearance.  He looked Indian, likely of the Shoshone tribe that had lived in this area for hundreds of years.  His hair was shiny black and hung half way down his back in a thick braid.           

We exchanged pleasantries and once he was seated in front of my desk, he came to the point.  “You called the department and said you had information about the Nona Flores killing.  What information is that, Doctor Davis?”  

I had already worked out what I would say.  I’d decided to tell my whole story.  “Detective, since I was a child, I’ve had dreams…..”  

Twenty minutes later I’d concluded with my dream about Nona that included every detail that I could remember about her murder and almost as an after thought it seems, now; the story of Paige and the mysterious and very disturbing message on my answering machine.  Silverwolf listened patiently.  He never interrupted and he never broke eye contact.             

Finally, when I thought I couldn’t stand his silence another second, he spoke.  

“Doctor Davis, you’re lucky that it’s me you told that story to.  Any other detective would have taken you into custody for questioning.  There is no way possible that he would overlook the fact that you know too much detail of the Nona Flores case not to be connected in some way.”  He smiled and continued, “I, on the other hand, am very familiar with and believe strongly in psychic phenomena and I believe your story.  All of it.  Every detail.”           

I was speechless.  It never occurred to me that I could be considered a suspect.  This detective, however, not only believed my story, he was also empathetic to my circumstances.           

“Is this the first time you’ve had an out of body experience?”           

“Out of body experience?  I don’t understand.  They’ve always been dreams.  Just dreams, nothing more.”           

“No, ma’am, that’s not true.  If you experienced, first hand, from Nona Flores’ viewpoint; you were out of body.  Your spirit left your body and visited this gruesome murder.  The medicine men in my tribe are quite adept at “spirit flying” as we call it.  I come from a long line of medicine men.”           

Out of body, spirit flying.  I was aware of those things, of course.  I’d read plenty about it as a teenager and throughout my search for answers to my dreams, but I’d never, not once, considered those dreams to be an out of body experience.           

“I know about out of body episodes.  I mean, I’ve read about them, but me – I never – well, I never thought that I – do you “spirit fly”, detective?”           

He had a lovely laugh.  Deep and rich; it was a rumble that sent soft, pleasurable waves through the room.  “No, ma’am, I come from a lineage of medicine men, but I’ve never had the patience to learn those things.  Spirit flying, for most medicine men, requires years of training, meditation and prayer.  I could never sit still long enough. There are those, of course, who can do it without special training and you seem to be one of those.”            

“You’re saying that I could let my spirit fly whenever I wanted to?”           

“Oh, yes.  Not only could you do that, you could learn to…get ahead of the dreams, I suspect.  It seems, based upon your most recent scare this morning, that the killer is also something of a psychic.  Psychics emit an electromagnetic wave pattern that is not traceable, normally; but, for another psychic these EM wave patterns are like a scream, long and loud.  That’s how the killer knew of your presence.  How he recognized you, I can’t explain.  But, I know someone who does know; someone that can also teach you how to control your power and use it for good things.”           

“You know someone who can teach me to control my psychic power?”  I had to laugh.  For years I’ve been trying to understand whatever it was that haunted me and not once, in all those years, did it occur to me to find someone that could teach me to improve those skills. 

“Yes, ma’am, my grandfather is a master at spirit flying.  He is one of those that never needed the extensive training.  He’s been able to do it since he was a child.  If you really want to help me on this case and if you really want to learn to manage your power, rather than wander around half the time scared out of your mind, terrified of dreams.  Well, my grandfather can help you and all of us, as well.”           

I needed only a second to make my decision.  In fact, I’d made it as soon as he mentioned his grandfather.  “When can we see him, do you think?”           

Detective Silverwolf smiled that big, beautiful smile of his and said, “Tomorrow morning.  I’ll pick you up at 8 am.  Is that alright for you?”           

I nodded and handed him my business card in which I’d written my home address on the back.  “Yes, Detective, that would be perfect.”           

“Great.  Couple of other things.  I’m going to run a check on Dr. Johansson, maybe even a tail and I’m going to put protective surveillance on you starting this afternoon.  Don’t argue.  They’ll be waiting when you leave your office this evening.  I’ll call you in an hour and give you their names.  I can have them work from their vehicle through the night, if you’d prefer; but, I’d rather have them in the house.”

“Believe me, you’ll get no argument and yes, they are certainly welcome to stay in my house.  Thank you, detective.”           

“I think it is me that will be thanking you before long, Doctor Davis.  I’ll see you in the morning.”