No way she could know this. Details of the photos Adeline had received had not been released to the public. But then, that information could have been leaked the same as the details about the letters had been.
Damn it all to hell.
“Ms. Nichols, do you or any of your family have any friends here at the sheriff’s department? Or with the Moss Point police?”
Womack glared at Adeline. He understood where she was going with this question.
Nichols shook her head. “No. We don’t get into town much. About once a month for supplies. And them Moss Point police ain’t no friend to nobody.”
“So no one shared this information with you,” Adeline ventured. “You didn’t hear about the makeup and crowns from someone who perhaps had heard this from someone in the department?”
Nichols’s brow scrunched as her head wagged side to side. “No, ma’am. I told you, I dreamed this.” She shrugged. “Saw it in a vision. Nobody didn’t tell me nothing.”
Adeline told her muscles to relax, focused on drawing in a decent breath. “Do you recall any details about where the women are being held?” This was a waste of time. The woman had to have been told these details. No way she’d dreamed all this. The whole idea was ridiculous.
“It’s dark.”
How original.
“A house, I think. Not a cave or nothing like that. They are walls around them.”
“How long,” Adeline decided to ask, “have you had these visions, Ms. Nichols?”
Her expression relaxed a little. “Since I was a child. My momma warned me not to ever tell nobody or they’d think I was crazy as a loon. So I never have until now.”
How convenient.
“I never dreamed about no police case before,” the woman added, her eyes widening again. “It upset me so I had to take some of my daddy’s old remedy to sleep.”
“Remedy?” Womack inquired.
The old lady leaned forward. “Moonshine. They still a few quart jars in the cellar. I don’t touch it except for times like when I can’t sleep no other way.”
Adeline turned to Womack. “Maybe we need a BAT.”
Womack nodded. “Yeah.”
Checking the woman’s blood alcohol level might not be a bad idea.
“Well.” Adeline stood. “If you think of anything else, Ms. Nichols, please give Deputy Womack a call.”
Nichols stared at Adeline a long moment, her eyes seemingly unseeing. If possible, the atmosphere in the room got even weirder.
Adeline glanced at Womack and shrugged. “Moonshine.”
“Ma’am,” Womack offered, “is there anything else—”
Nichols jumped out of her chair and reached across the table, grabbing Adeline by the upper arms before she could turn and walk out the door. Adeline tried to peel her fingers loose, but the lady wasn’t letting go.
Nichols shook Adeline hard. “You’re next!” she warned, her expression wild with something resembling hysteria.
Adeline froze. Fear rammed into her sternum.
“You have to hurry,” Nichols urged, leaning across the table toward Adeline. “They don’t want to go into the water! Help them!” She peered deep into Adeline’s eyes, panic in her voice. “You the only one who can. You’re daddy’s little angel.”
Womack pulled the woman off.
Adeline stood there, shaking like a leaf.