Kay Hooper - Sense Of Evil

“I know that too.”

You have to do her. The first chance you get, you have to do her.

He tried to ignore the voice, because it wasn’t telling him anything he didn’t already know. All it was doing was making his head hurt even more.

She knows. Or she will soon. And he’s helping her know. Look at them. You understand what’s happening, don’t you?

“No,” he whispered, because he didn’t, he really didn’t. All he knew was that his head hurt and his gut, and it had been so long since he’d slept that he’d forgotten what it felt like.

They’re changing.

An icy jolt went through him. “No. I’m changing. You said. You promised. If I did it. If I killed them before they told. You promised.”

Then you’d better do her. Kill her. Before they finish changing. Or it’ll be too late. Too late for you. Too late for both of you.

IT WAS NEARLY NOON by the time T.J. and Dustin had done their work and the ME’s people had removed Emily’s body from the scene. The search of the area had produced nothing, not a scrap of anything that looked even remotely like evidence. There were still officers at the highway keeping the media and the curious away from the scene, but most of the other cops had returned to regular duties.

Isabel had spent the morning prowling the area, restless, watchful, making what she knew was a futile effort to reach through the barrier Rafe had created. To protect her.

She didn’t think the irony was lost on either one of them.

“Anything?” Hollis asked as they studied the now empty crime scene.

“Nada. You?”

“No. And I am trying.” Hollis shrugged. “But from what you’ve said about her, I doubt Emily’s is the sort of spirit we could expect to gather enough energy to come back. As for Jamie… I didn’t hear her when it mattered.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it. I’m not exactly firing on all cylinders myself.”

“Is that why the watchdogs?” Hollis asked with a slight sideways movement of her head toward an area between them and the highway.

Isabel sighed. “The taller one is Pablo. The other one is Bobby.”

“Pablo? In Hastings?”

“Struck me too. But, hey, melting pot.”

“I guess.” Hollis studied her partner. “So when Rafe went to break the news to Emily’s parents, he left two of his uniforms watching you.”

“They’re not to let me out of their sight. I heard Rafe tell them so. He made damned sure I heard him tell them so.”

“Well… you could be next, Isabel.”

“I can’t work hobbled,” she said irritably.

“Then take the hobbles off,” Hollis suggested mildly. “And I don’t mean the watchdogs.”

“Don’t start spouting Bishop stuff at me, all right? I’m not in the mood. It’s hot, it’s humid, there’s a storm building, and all I can smell is blood.”

Hollis grimaced. “Yeah, I was going to ask-how do we turn the spider senses off ?”

“We don’t. Once you learn to enhance, the increased sensitivity is pretty much always with you. There are a few team members who have to focus and concentrate, but for most of us it’s just there. Like raw nerves.”

“That might have been mentioned before I was taught how to enhance.”

“Talk to the boss, not me.”

“You really are in a rotten mood, aren’t you?”

Isabel pointed to the blood-soaked ground several yards away. “This should not have happened,” she said. “I should have seen it coming.”

“You did. You warned us Emily was a possible victim, and Rafe did everything he could to protect her. It’s not your fault or his that a drunk caused a fatal traffic accident.”

“That’s not what I mean. I should have been… tuned in. I should have been listening. Instead, I did just what you said I did-I let Rafe take control. I let him build this shield around my abilities. I went from needing to have absolute control over everything in my life to just… handing it over to him. Why in God’s name did I do that?”

“You didn’t hand over all control. You just let him shut off your abilities.”

“Why?”

“Maybe to find out if he could.”

Isabel stared at her, baffled. “Okay, if that’s Bishop stuff, it doesn’t make sense. I mean even more than his stuff sometimes doesn’t make sense.”

“You’re a strong woman, Isabel. You don’t want to be dominated, but you do want to be matched, if only subconsciously. I think you felt Rafe reaching through this link you guys have, and I think you needed to know, before you decided whether to commit yourself, before you could take that leap of faith, just how strong he was.”

“And now that I do know, O wise one?”

Hollis smiled faintly at what was only a token stab at mockery. “Now you know he matches you. He has as much strength of will as you, possibly as much psychic ability as you, and is certainly as stubborn as you.”

“So?”

“So stop fighting him. You haven’t said, but I’m willing to bet Paige told you that the two of you would have to work together to control his shield.”

“Rookies,” Isabel muttered.

“I’m right.”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’d say there’s one last little bit of control you’ll have to give up. You’ll have to stop trying to control the relationship. To guide, or aim, or shape it-whatever it is you’ve been trying to do since the moment you met Rafe. If you’ll forgive the cliché, we don’t master love, it masters us. The more you struggle against it, the tighter those hobbles are going to be.”

“This should not be about my relationship with him,” Isabel said in a last-ditch effort. “Four women are dead in Hastings, five if you count Hope Tessneer, and more are missing. It can’t all hinge on my love life, it just can’t .”

“Human relationships are at the heart of everything, you know that. You said yourself they were at the heart of this case. It’s about relationships, you said.”

“Maybe I didn’t know what I was talking about.”

“You knew. You know. Relationships matter, Isabel. History’s been changed by them, armies toppled, societies rebuilt.”

Isabel was silent, frowning toward the bloody ground.

“They have power. Human relationships have power. Family. Friends. Lovers. The closer and more intimate the relationship, the more power it can and does generate. Use that energy. And use it wisely.”

“To break through Rafe’s shield?”

“No. To make it your own.”

“Got it?” Rafe asked, meeting up with Mallory in the bullpen at the station.

“Yeah, not that it’s helpful. The call Emily received was from a pay phone in town. One of the few remaining pay phones in use.”

“Doesn’t miss a trick, our guy.”

“No. I’ve got T.J. checking out the phone, but I’m betting she’ll either find a million prints or none at all.”

“I’ll cover that bet. Come on, let’s get back out to the scene.”

“Isabel and Hollis still out there?”

He nodded, leading the way from the station. “Pablo and Bobby are keeping an eye on them.”

“I’ll bet Isabel loves that.”

“Frankly, I don’t give a shit how she feels about it at this point. She’s a target, and I have a strong hunch she’s next on his hit list.”

Mallory looked at him curiously as they got into his Jeep. “Why?”

“Word’s getting out. I’ve had at least two calls from media and one from the town council today asking if it’s true we’ve got a psychic investigator working the case.”

“Lovely.”

“And the reporter who replaced Cheryl Bayne was one of those calls; he’s looking to make a reputation for himself, and it’s obvious. His predecessor missing and a psychic working the case? Sounds like a dandy story to him.”