"I did not mean to do that," she said tightly.

"Oh, sure you did, Dani. No matter what you believe, you were testing your abilities even back then. And me, I thought it was a sign of trust. But that wasn't it, at least not the kind of trust I wanted. Limits, Dani. Even then you were testing them. You just wanted to find out if there was a connection between lovers even identical twins couldn't know, a bond so strong it would open doors you'd never been able to open before."

Dani stared down at the file open before her, the words-describing a vital life cut short in Boston -blurring. Her chest ached, and she wasn't entirely sure she was breathing.

Softly, Marc added, "You wanted to find out. But when you did, when that connection opened the door, threw it wide, it scared the hell out of you. So much so you wanted to run the first time. But even then you were courageous enough to try again, I know that now. I was… awed… by the experience, and I asked you to do it again. So you did.

"I didn't know what I was asking, what it was costing you in sheer energy. And you never said a word. Until that last night, when the dream you took me into was one of your visions."

Dani looked up finally, staring across the table at him. "I saw your face when we woke up. I saw the horror."

He shook his head, never breaking eye contact. "The horror was for the dream-not for you. Nobody wants to see their mother die of a terrible disease, and that's what you showed me."

"It's always someone's doom, what I see. Don't you get that?"

"I get it. So what? You're supposed to be to blame for that? Dani, I never blamed you for showing me something that was going to happen, even if it was terrible."

"I don't believe you."

"I know. But you will. When you're brave enough to try again."

She drew a breath. "I am not taking you into that dream. Not that one. You're already in it, part of the vision. God knows what would happen if-if-"

"Let's find out."

Dani rose to her feet so abruptly that her chair nearly tipped over behind her. "No. We won't. Not tonight. Not ever."

In her panicked rush to get out of the room, she nearly ran over her sister in the doorway.

"Whew." Paris came in and sat down at the conference table. "Been waiting awhile for that cork to blow. Thank you."

Marc sighed. "You say that like it's a good thing."

"It is. Trust me. Dani needed to let go of some stuff, and she's been so busy giving me my space so I can deal with stuff of my own that I haven't been able to help her. I think maybe you just did."

"Really? Because it looked to me like she was still suppressing and avoiding like crazy."

"I saw her face. She's in the ladies' room having a good cry."

Marc leaned back abruptly in his chair. "Well, that makes me feel like shit. I didn't want to hurt her."

"You didn't hurt her, you just shook her up. Which she needed."

"How the hell do you know that? The clairvoyance?"

"That, and"- Paris made a vague gesture with the fingers of one hand-"the twin thing. Don't worry, she's fine. She was standing paralyzed at a crossroads, and you gave her a shove."

"I don't think I care much for the metaphor." Paris smiled. "That's okay. I've got a million of 'em. Can you pass me that file, please?"

Hollis waited until she was back in her motel room that evening to report in-and there was a lot to report, even if much of it was unhelpful at best and speculation at worst.

Par for the course when it came to the SCU, Hollis thought.

"If Dani has established a connection," she said to her boss, using the cell's speaker capability to talk to Bishop while she dug through her suitcase to find something decent to wear for pizza and brainstorming at Paris's house, "it could help us-or be dangerous as hell for her. Or both."

"It could be worse if he's the one who established the connection between them."

"No kidding. Any way for us to determine that? I mean, before it blows up in our faces?"

"We're in unknown territory here, Hollis."

"Are we ever in anything else?" She sighed. "Just tell me. What can I try?"

"If Dani's willing, you can try a dream walk. Between you, you and Paris might be able to sense another connection."

"What if we wind up in her vision dream?"

"Be very careful."

Hollis sighed again. "Anybody ever tell you that you can be frustrating as hell, boss? Never mind-rhetorical question."

"We need to know if Dani does have a psychic connection with the killer, Hollis."

"Yes, of course we do. And it would be nice to know who my blond ghost was. It was so late by the time Jordan and I got back to the station that I didn't have a chance to talk about that with the others. Though Jordan checked, and there've been no more missing women reported. So there's not much to talk about."

"She said to look for her in the water?"

"Yeah. Her. Referring to somebody else, or at least that's how it sounded. But she came out of the pool. Which has a clogged drain, I'm sorry to say."

"I doubt that was literal, Hollis. That the remains of whoever she meant will be found in the pool."

"Well, Jordan was spooked enough that I'll bet he's there at dawn with the pool people-and the forensics unit. So we'll know soon enough what's in that drain."

" Considering what was at the crime scene, I'd expect more of the same."

"Yeah. Dammit." Hollis brooded, then said, "All these obvious changes in his M.O. Either he's getting sloppy or… or what?"

"Or something's happened, either to him or in his life. It could be the move from Boston. It could be something else. But whatever it is, it's having a profound effect on him and could influence both whom he kills and how he kills from this point on."

"Hmm. What do you know that you aren't telling me?"

Bishop didn't bother to deny it. "Nothing that could help you in the investigation."

"Uh-huh. You do realize that secrecy of yours is going to come back and bite you on the ass one of these days?"

"Maybe. But not today."

Hollis was tempted to say that today was almost over and what about tomorrow, but she didn't push it-even while she was wryly amused by her own trust in him.

She didn't trust easily these days.

"You'll have the new profile ASAP," Bishop was saying. "In the meantime, be careful. You might not fit the victim profile so far, but neither does Dani, and he's made it clear he wants her. Everything we think we know about him could be changing-or be just plain wrong."

"Gotcha." It was, Hollis decided as she ended the call and closed her phone, not the most reassuring of reminders.

Especially given Dani's vision dream.