Kay Hooper - Sense Of Evil

“The doc says she didn’t bleed to death,” Rafe said to Isabel without preamble.

She nodded. “Yeah, I missed that one. I’m guessing the lab work from Jamie’s playhouse will come back showing several people bled in that spot over a long period of time. Some of her clients, probably, but others as well. There might even have been a murder there a long time ago.”

“That blood trail to the door,” he noted.

“Possibly. Or one or more of Jamie’s clients.” Isabel shrugged. “In any case, I missed.”

Mallory said dryly, “All will be forgiven if you just help us get this bastard.”

“Was this his trigger?” Rafe asked.

“I don’t know,” Isabel replied.

“An educated guess?”

“If you want that… then maybe. Maybe he saw this woman die accidentally at Jamie’s hands, and maybe it pissed him off. Or maybe he got his hands on a cold body and wondered what a warm one would feel like. Or maybe she was just a toy he played with because she happened to be handy.”

“You’re not picking up anything?” He kept his voice low.

She grimaced slightly. “Lot of old, old stories; this building has been here a while. Arguments, mostly, but …”

Whispers.

Jesus, George, we have to do it in the backseat?

I told you I can’t afford a motel room.

Yeah, but…

Hide the stuff inside the hubcap. I’m tellin’ you, the cops’ll never find it here…

That Jones bitch wants her car done by tomorrow or she won’t pay…

You’re fired, Carl! I’m fucking sick and tired of…

Bones bend before they break.

She’s all colors inside.

Isabel.

Isss … a… bellll…

“Isabel?”

She blinked and looked at Rafe. “What? Oh. Just old stuff, mostly. But he was here. A day or two ago.”

“How do you know that?”

There was no way Isabel was going to tell Rafe that their killer had been looking at this poor woman and thinking about what he wanted to do to Isabel.

No way.

So all she said was, “He… looked at her. Thought about how she had deserved to die because she was bad.”

Rafe frowned. “Bad?”

“I get the sense he saw her with Jamie. Watched them. And what they did together bothered him on a very deep level. Sickened him, believe it or not.”

Something in the dark, crouching, waiting.

Watching.

Isabel shivered. “It feels cold here. Really cold.”

He was a little surprised. “Cold?”

“Yeah.” Her arms were crossed beneath her breasts, the gooseflesh on her skin actually visible. “Chilled, cold. Like a gust of icy air blowing through me. Yet another fun new experience.”

“You said you weren’t an empath.”

“I’m not. I have no idea why I’m beginning to feel things rather than simply know them. Until now, feelings, sensations, only came with visions. Now…” She shivered. “No visions. But, man, I’m cold. I’m thinking that’s not normal for June, never mind it not being normal for me.”

“Maybe you’re coming down with something,” Rafe suggested prosaically.

“I sort of doubt it.”

“It’s just in here?” Hollis asked.

“Seems to be. Outside, I was fine.”

“Then you should be outside.”

“We both should,” Isabel said. “You feel the cold too.” She gestured slightly, and they all saw the goose bumps on Hollis’s bare arms.

Rafe looked at both agents, then said to his detective, “Mal, would you mind staying to supervise until T.J. and Dustin are finished and the body is removed?”

“No problem.”

“Thanks. I’ll be right back.” Rafe gestured slightly, and the two other women walked with him toward the front of the building. “It’s after hours for most of the businesses around here, so there’s not too much traffic in the area, but I’ve posted a few of my people on the block to stop the curious from gathering. Or, at least, from gathering close by.”

When they stood out on the sidewalk, Isabel could indeed see both uniformed cops and passersby at a perimeter about half a block away.

“Great,” she muttered. “Well, at least the icy breeze stopped blowing.” She rubbed her upper arms briefly with both hands, relaxing visibly.

To Hollis, Rafe said, “I gather you didn’t pick up anything helpful in there either?”

“No.”

He couldn’t tell whether it was because there’d been nothing for her to pick up or because she hadn’t tried. He decided not to ask.

“I was about to suggest we call it a day before Hollis and Mallory found the body. It still sounds like a good idea. First thing tomorrow we’ll have a preliminary forensics report, and if I know Doc we’ll have the postmortem as well. We’ll have a decent shot at making an I.D. of the body, and we can start trying to piece together what happened to this lady. Between now and then there isn’t much we can do. Except get some rest for tomorrow.”

“I will if you will,” Isabel said.

He eyed her, but before he could say anything, Hollis was speaking calmly.

“I, for one, would just as soon start fresh tomorrow. I want to shower about six times, watch something funny on television, and maybe call my mother. If I ever feel like eating again, I’ll order a pizza. You two want to be gluttons for punishment, have at it. I’m going back to the inn.”

Isabel grimaced slightly. “A shower definitely sounds like a good idea; nobody wants to smell like death. But I’m way too restless to call it a day.” She looked at Rafe, brows lifting inquiringly. “Buy you dinner?”

He checked his watch but didn’t hesitate. “I’ll pick you up at eight.”

“See you then.” Isabel walked with Hollis back to their rental and got in the driver’s seat. Hollis got in beside her and didn’t say anything for about half a mile.

Then she spoke slowly. “He’s blocking you, isn’t he? No-he’s shielding you.”

Isabel gave her partner a surprised glance, then fixed her gaze on the road again. “Bishop said you picked up on things quickly. Once again, he wasn’t wrong.”

Absently, Hollis said, “You relax a bit whenever Rafe is nearby, as if some of the strain is lifted. Maybe I see it because I used to be an artist. It started in Jamie’s playroom, didn’t it? When he put his hands on your wrists.”

“Yeah.”

“You felt something?”

“The shock first. And then a muffling quality. Didn’t shut out the voices, just… quieted them a bit, as though I were suddenly insulated. Just enough for me to notice. Out in the Jeep, when he was putting disinfectant on my neck and sitting so close, the voices were barely whispers. When he left to go back inside, they got louder again.”

“And just now, back there?”

“If he was within five feet of me, all I heard were whispers. Creepy whispers, but whispers. And felt that goddamned icy breeze; he doesn’t seem to have had any effect at all on that.”

“So what does it mean?”

“I don’t know. I seem to have been saying that a lot today. I don’t like saying it, for the record.”

Hollis looked at her. “What do you hear now?”

“Usual background hum. Like listening to a party in the next room. That’s normal.”

“Headache?”

“Dull throb. Also normal.”

“Rafe shielding you-is it getting stronger as time goes on?”

Isabel shrugged. “Hard to say, since it just started hours ago. I’ll have to wait and see. It could get stronger. Or it could go away entirely. God knows.” She smiled suddenly, wryly. “But if it turns out he can silence the voices, if only for a while, I may just have to move in with the man. Or at least take vacations with him.”