Lash peered at Raphael suspiciously. He was acting strange. Lash glanced down at the photo again. There was something familiar about her that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He traced a finger over her full red lips. He couldn’t have been assigned to her in the past; he would’ve remembered someone who looked like her. “The photo is fine. So, all I have to do is keep her safe. From what?”
Raphael glanced out the dirty window and then tilted his head as if listening for something. “Let’s make this quick,” he said and marched up to Lash. He placed his hands against Lash’s temples, and a vision of Naomi appeared in his mind.
“What the … is she trying to get herself killed?” Lash yelled.
Raphael withdrew his hand
“You can’t just show me that and run,” Lash said.
“I shouldn’t have shown you that at all.” Raphael’s face lined with worry as he walked out.
Lash ran into the hallway. “Wait! Will Michael at least let me have all my powers back?”
Raphael continued to walk, his image fading with each step he took. “No. You must do this on your own.” With those final words, he vanished.
Chapter 5
Jane wiped her sweaty hands on the hem of her black skirt. She looked out of the tinted window of the Mercedes at the small cluster of people gathered around the closed casket. “This is wrong, Luke. I shouldn’t be here.”
Luke clicked off his phone and patted Jane’s hand. “We’ve discussed this. It would be worse if you didn’t give the family your condolences for their loss,” he said. “You’re perfectly safe. Sal will be right behind you.”
“That’s not what I meant,” she said. The last thing she needed was to intimidate the family with Sal’s presence. “Because of me, the poor man is dead. The last person they want to see is me.”
“It was ruled an accident,” he pointed out.
“The man is dead.” She closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her forehead. Now was not the time to get another migraine. “I wasn’t paying attention to the road and because of that a man lost his life.”
Luke took her hand and gave her an aspirin. “You were not at fault.” He handed her a bottle of water. “One of my sources on the investigation told me that there was alcohol in his system.”
“I’m sure they would’ve found that in mine too if they had bothered to check.” Jane popped the pill in her mouth and turned her attention back to the funeral. A small, elderly woman, probably the man’s mother, leaned against a young man and cried into his chest.
“You have Sal’s quick thinking to thank for that.” Luke turned to the sound of crunching rocks as a news van pulled up next to the car. “Good. They’re here.”
“You called the media?” Jane gasped. “Unbelievable.”
“Look, Jane. We can’t take any chances with this incident tarnishing your impeccable reputation.” Luke tapped the back of the driver’s seat. “She’s ready,” he said to Sal.
“I’d rather do this in private.” She loathed the thought of having her apologies broadcasted on the evening news.
“Your run for political office affects more than you,” Luke said adamantly. “Think of all the manpower and money that went into making you who you are today. You owe it to the party.”
As much as Jane hated to admit it, he was right; too many people relied on her and in the game of politics, image was everything.
Luke looked down at his watch. “It’ll only be a few minutes. You have the Houston Children’s Hospital fundraiser downtown in an hour.”
Jane’s stomach fluttered. She couldn’t think about leaving this poor family and then heading straight to a fundraiser where she would be giving her speech on the importance of a community supporting each other in times of need. She felt like such a fraud.
The door opened, and Sal extended his hand, waiting. She sighed as she placed her hand into his and stepped out. As they walked toward the gathering, she could feel their eyes looking at her curiously. She kept her distance and waited for the appropriate time to approach the Durans. She couldn’t help but think back to the little boy, Javier, who’d sat behind her on that fateful day when her flight from Los Angeles had gone down, killing everyone except for the two of them.
When she’d discovered that the man she crashed into was named Javier Duran, she’d had Luke check his background. The chances of him being the same Javier she‘d met many years ago were slim, but she couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that he was the same person. She’d been relieved when Luke had told her he wasn’t but saddened to learn that the Javier from the plane had died years ago from cancer.
“Senator.” Sal touched her elbow and led her closer to the gathering.
Jane looked at the news crew and pressed her lips to a thin line. The money shot, she thought. Make sure you get the poster child for the American Federation Party in the photo consoling the family.
As the ceremony drew to a close, Jane waited for the others to leave before she approached. Taking a deep breath, she wiped her hands against her skirt one final time and walked toward the grieving family.
***