“See you soon."

He turned and headed for the door. Stopping in the doorway, he turned to look at her.

“You really are beautiful mom. You should let someone take care of you."

"So should you."

He shrugged, “Who knows, maybe we'll just keep taking care of each other."

He closed the door behind him and Emma rubbed her temple. What was going on here? Eric had seemed like there was a stranger meaning behind his words than there should be. He had been looking at her breasts, no doubt about it and had been staring at her body when she was laying down.

An unwanted thought came to her; how long was he there before he woke her up? But it wasn't just him. The memory Emma had last night was one she had forced herself to forget. She'd done something she should have never done that day, watching Eric.

Immediately afterwards she had felt enough guilt and shame to make her feel she had moved on to the feelings a proper mother would have.

Why had it come back last night and so vividly? And she couldn't lie to herself and pretend the image she had come to was of Eric doing the unthinkable, fucking her.

But she'd had two dreams of the unthinkable between other people. One before her vision, one right after. She'd blamed Robin's odd conversation about son's being the man of the house and taboo movies, but no way would it have put that much in her head.

But it did explain having her shameful memory surface. She nodded to herself; that was an explanation for that at least. But her and Eric both dreaming of the same people, at least the sons. Or was there more? She'd lied to Eric, had he been holding back on her when she'd said she hadn't had dreams?

Ben and Mary, the last tenants. Paul and...? Emma forced herself to relax and count backwards from twenty to one. It was something she'd started in college and for some reason it always helped reset her thoughts when working on a case.

She replayed Robin's account of the various events of the house. Paul was the son who had vanished with his mother, Kathy. The blond must have been Kathy. In the dream Paul had worried about being caught by his father. Kathy and Paul had vanished, only to turn up months later in California.

She'd been convinced the only reason a mother would take her son and run was because of an abusive father, but when she had said that,

Robin had smirked and asked "Is it?" she'd also said she kept in touch with Kathy.

Was her dream true? Had Kathy had some type of incestuous relationship with her son and they ran away to be together? And Robin knew it?

"No," she said aloud.

"This is crazy." Emma was not superstitious, but did believe that places where negative or sad events had taken place could hold a charge of sorts. Maybe in her exhausted and inebriated state she'd picked up something.

"Now, that's crazier than a son banging his mother." She spoke aloud again, another habit when she debated the findings of a case.

Emma tossed the sheet away and turned on the bed. She swung her feet to the floor and took in her reflection. Her eyes landed on the pendent. There was something strange about it. The wine had affected her, but she'd gone into a frenzy of lust once she'd put it on and it had definitely changed color and temperature.

When Eric had held it, he'd gotten strange. Way too affectionate.

“Now, what Emma? A talisman? A curse that makes you horny?"

She tried to laugh, but couldn't. Well this would be easy enough to prove. Emma reached behind her neck and fumbled with the clasp trying to open it.

"Oh, come on," she muttered when the clasp wouldn't budge. Emma spun the chain around her neck so she could see what she was doing in the mirror. She was able to get a firm grip on the clasp with her fingernail, but again it wouldn't move.

Fighting off a growing unease, she turned it back around and pulled the pendent forward. The chain had some length to it and Emma lifted it by the pendent, pulling it over her chin. The emerald rubbed her lips and it was warm against them.