Copper Beach dl-1 Read online

  “What do you think?”

  “I think you’re right,” Sam said. “Power of any kind is always interesting, but people tend to react to it in one of two ways. Some folks are compelled and attracted or even obsessed by power. Others get very, very nervous.”

  “Exactly. I’m glad you understand what I’m facing here. When it comes to my underground clients, I walk a fine line. Like them, I try to keep a very low profile, and not only because I value my reputation. I do not want to become the subject of someone’s research experiment or, worse yet, attract the sort of freaks who want to fire up a cult.”

  For the first time, surprise narrowed Sam’s brilliant green eyes. “You’ve had trouble with one or both of those types?”

  “When I was in my teens, and again in college, I attracted the attention of some people who wanted to study me. It was not a pleasant experience. And even though I try to vet every client carefully, once in a while one becomes obsessed with me because of my talent. Fortunately, no one has tried to get me to channel some ancient spirit, thank heavens, but my friend Gwen had some trouble in that department a while back. It was scary.”

  “Sounds like your talent-obsessed clients and the would–be cult founders have the potential to turn into stalkers.”

  “Yes.” Abby paused. “I don’t suppose you Coppersmiths have ever been bothered with problems like that.”

  “No, can’t say that we have.”

  She gave a small sigh. “Must be nice to be part of a family that can insulate you from that sort of thing.”

  “Moving right along, whoever sent you the threatening notes mentioned something about keeping your old secrets as well as the new ones. What did he mean?”

  “To tell you the truth, that was what made me contact Thaddeus.” She cleared her throat. “When I was in my early teens and just coming into my talent, my family concluded that I had some major mental-health issues.”

  “I can see where that might happen if you grow up in a family that doesn’t acknowledge the existence of the paranormal.”

  “In my case, there were some unfortunate incidents that confirmed their worst fears.”

  “Incidents?”

  “Yes. As a result of those incidents, I was sent to a school for troubled teens. It was either that or a juvenile-detention facility. My father made sure my legal file was sealed, but obviously the bastard who sent those blackmail notes is aware of at least some of my history.”

  “What kind of incidents?”

  “Nothing serious, really.” She unfolded her arms and waved one hand in a vague way. “I accidentally set a couple of fires, one of which partially destroyed a bookstore.”

  “No kidding?”

  “But the owner was only mildly injured, I swear it,” she said quickly. “And there was the time I did some damage to my family’s house. Very minor damage, really. It was the water damage that occurred when the fire department put out what was a very tiny fire that was the biggest problem afterward. Well, that and the smoke damage.”

  Sam watched her with a fascinated expression. “You can do that? Set fires with your talent?”

  She raised her chin. “I told you, the fires were accidents.”

  “Right. Any other incidents I should know about?”

  “Nothing of significance. Look, this conversation is not going in a good direction. Let’s get back on track. The problem here is that I’ve got a complicated past, and whoever is trying to blackmail me knows about it. He’s threatening to spread gossip about me. That would be bad enough if the gossip was confined to the collectors’ market, but I’m afraid that he’ll go to the media.”

  “Why would the media care about your troubled childhood?”

  She spread her hands apart. “My father is Dr. Brandon C. Radwell.”

  “A psychologist who specializes in family counseling. Wrote a book on marriage. Does some talk shows. I know. That much came up when I checked you out online.”

  “Clearly you haven’t been paying attention to those talk shows.”

  “Guilty as charged,” Sam said.

  “My father has become one of those TV guest experts on families, child-rearing and marriage. His new book, Families by Choice, is being released this week. He is in serious talks with a television producer about a reality TV series. It would be similar to those shows that feature the dog experts who go into people’s homes and deal with bad dogs, I think, except that he would go into people’s homes and tell them how to fix their family problems.”

  “Okay, I see the picture here,” Sam said. “If it gets out that the hot celebrity expert in family psychology has a daughter with a troubled past who thinks she has paranormal powers, it could kill book sales and the TV deal.”

  “And it would be all my fault. On top of that, the whole family would be horribly embarrassed. I’m the crazy daughter they would have preferred to keep stashed in the attic. That sort of thing isn’t done much these days, though, so everyone, including me, goes out of their way to pretend that I’m normal. As far as the media is concerned, the Radwells are just one big happy family. Specifically, we are the perfect example of the modern blended family.”

  “You sound like you’re quoting someone.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. Dad.”

  “Your father and the rest of the family don’t realize that you actually do have some true talent?”

  “No, of course not. How do you prove a paranormal talent like mine to someone who isn’t sensitive to that kind of energy?”

  Amusement gleamed in Sam’s eyes. “Setting fires wasn’t proof ?”

  “That is not funny. My family concluded that I was not only delusional but seriously deranged. Hence my time in the Summerlight Academy, where I learned how to pass for normal. They like to think the intensive counseling and therapy were effective. I prefer to let them believe that. It works better for all of us.”

  “What do they think you do for a living?”

  “As far as they’re concerned, I’m a small-time online bookseller. I’m the official underachiever in the family, but that’s better than having everyone think I’m still delusional.” Abby glanced at her watch again. “I don’t have any more time to waste, Mr. Coppersmith. Will you take the job?”

  “Let’s see what we’ve got here,” Sam said. “You had a difficult childhood, you set a few fires, spent some time in a special school for troubled teens, and you currently live a double life that has a secret side involving the underground hot-books market. You have zapped at least one individual with your talent, and I’m betting there have been others.”

  Alarm flashed through her. “What makes you say that?”

  Sam gave her a wicked smile. “Because you admitted you knew you could take down the intruder before you confronted him. That implies some prior experience, or at least a little practice.”

  She swallowed hard. “Okay, there may have been a couple of other similar incidents, but I can explain all of them, really. One involved the owner of the bookstore that I accidentally burned down, and there was this creepy assistant professor in college who wanted to run experiments on me and tried to rape me when I refused. And a couple of years ago, a client became obsessed with me, but…”

  Sam held up one hand, palm out. “No need to explain, Abby Radwell. You are my kind of client. I’ll take the job.”

  5

  NOT JUST MY KIND OF CLIENT SAM THOUGHT. MY KIND OF woman

  He watched from the dock until Dixon piloted the water taxi with Abby on board out of the harbor and out of sight beyond a cluster of small islets.

  He was still feeling the rush when he climbed back into the SUV and started along the narrow winding road to the Copper Beach house. He flexed his hands and took a tighter grip on the steering wheel. Stirred by the energy that was still splashing through him, the Phoenix stone in his ring burned with a low, deep fire. He could not remember the last time he had responded to a woman this way. Never, he concluded.

  Abby Radwell had hit
his senses like sizzling, sparking, flashing heat lightning produced by some exotic, unknown crystal, one with incredible properties that he could not wait to investigate, that he was compelled to investigate. It was not curiosity or even just physical desire that energized him now, although desire was definitely a big factor in the mix. There was something else going on. Whatever it was, he had a hunch the prowling, hungry awareness was going to keep him awake tonight. Fine by him. It beat the hell out of the recurring dream that had plagued him for the past six months.

  When he walked back into the big house, he discovered that a strange silence, a sense of emptiness, had settled on the old place. It was not the kind of silence that was associated with the lack of sound. The stone walls echoed, as they always did, with his footsteps. The thick oak floors creaked in places. The refrigerator hummed faintly in the kitchen.

  But there was something different about the atmosphere now. It was as if an invisible hand had hit the paranormal mute button after Abby departed.

  He went downstairs into the lab, cranked back in the chair and stacked his heels on the corner of the desk. He steepled his fingers and thought about his new client.

  He summoned a mental image first, concentrating on what it was about her that had fascinated him. It was not any single aspect of her appearance, he decided. Warm copper and gold glowed in the depths of her auburn hair, which formed a vibrant cloud of curls around an animated, fascinating, intelligent but not classically beautiful face. Eyes the color of dark amber tilted slightly upward at the outer corners. There was a firmly etched nose and a soft, sensitive mouth to go with the eyes.

  She was not tall, no more than five-foot-four at most, but what there was of her was curvy and feminine and healthy-looking in all the right places. She carried herself with the self-confidence of a woman who was accustomed to dealing with her own problems, a woman who was capable of handling a lot of talent. An aura of energy and power brightened the atmosphere around her.

  After a while he took out his phone and hit a familiar code. His father picked up halfway through the first ring.

  “Did she show up?” Elias demanded.

  “She was here,” Sam said. “Just left. She’s on her way back to Seattle.”

  “Well? Were you right? Is she involved in this thing?”

  “I think so, but I’m not sure how, yet.”

  “Webber sent her to you. He wouldn’t have done that if there wasn’t some connection to the lab notebook.”

  “I agree, but all I’ve got for certain at the moment is that an anonymous person has sent Abby two notes that qualify as blackmail threats. The sender is trying to coerce her cooperation. He wants her to do something for him, but he hasn’t made any specific demands, just issued a few threats.”

  “What kind of threats?” Elias asked.

  “Nothing physical, at least not yet. Abby has some stuff in her private life that she would prefer to keep secret for the sake of the family image. Also, she definitely does not want the news of what happened in Vaughn’s library to become widespread gossip in the underground book market.”

  “So you were right? That intruder did not go down because of a drug overdose?”

  “Abby broke the psi-code on one of the books in Vaughn’s collection, and then she channeled the energy into the intruder’s aura. The currents knocked the guy unconscious.”

  Elias whistled softly. “Takes a lot of power to channel energy that hot.”

  “It does.”

  “And the blackmailer knows she did that?”

  “It’s not clear if he knows that she took down the intruder. The blackmail notes are a little vague. But I think we can assume he is aware that Abby can unlock psi-codes. My gut tells me that is what is important to him.”

  “Lander Knox,” Elias said urgently. “Got to be him. He needs someone like Abby to acquire the lab book and break the code.”

  “I’d say there’s a definite possibility that the guy who sent the notes is Lander Knox, but we’re still in the theory-and-speculation stage. The rumors that the lab book has surfaced have been circulating for months now, according to Webber. There are a few other folks who would like to get their hands on that book.”

  “Helicon Stone.” Elias’s voice hardened. “Yeah, we have to assume that if that SOB Hank Barrett has gotten wind of the lab book, he’ll be looking for it. Probably send his son out to do his dirty work.”

  Sam almost smiled. The feud between Elias and Hank Barrett, the owner of Coppersmith’s biggest competitor, was legendary. No one knew the origins of the quarrel, but over time the hostility between the two men had helped fuel two empires.

  There was a great fallacy taught in business schools. It held that successful multimillion-dollar companies were run by smart executives who based their decisions on hard data and logical marketing strategies.

  The truth, Sam thought, was that, as with all the other endeavors that human beings engaged in, business was conducted by people who let emotions, egos and personal agendas rule the decision-making process. Sometimes it worked.

  “I know how you feel about Hank Barrett, Dad,” he said. “But blackmail isn’t his style, and it’s not Gideon’s, either.”

  “Huh.” Elias was silent for a beat. “Wonder why the blackmailer didn’t just try to hire Abby Radwell outright?”

  “She only works by referral, and she vets all potential clients through Thaddeus Webber.”

  “Must make for a small client list,” Elias said.

  “But a relatively safe list. You know as well as I do that there are some dangerous people in the underground market. Abby described it as a very deep pool. She told me that she prefers to swim in the shallows.”

  “Looks like somebody just tossed her into the deep end. Too bad Judson isn’t available. You’re on your own with this.”

  A week ago, Judson had taken what had looked like a routine consulting assignment for a regular client. He had sent one brief message indicating that the situation had become complicated and that he would not be in touch for a while. There had been no further word from him. That was not unusual with consulting jobs for this particular client, a no–name government agency that paid well for talent and discretion.

  “Keep an eye on Radwell,” Elias ordered. “We need to locate that lab book. For now, she’s our best lead.”

  “Keeping an eye on Abby won’t be a problem,” Sam said. “She hired me to find the blackmailer.”

  “Hired you?” Sam was flabbergasted. “What the hell do you mean by that?”

  “I thought you’d be pleased that I have a new consulting job. I know you and Mom have been worrying about me lately.”

  “Now, just one damn minute. Your job is to find that old lab book before Lander Knox does.”

  “Got to go, Dad. I’m on my way to Seattle. I’ll update you later.”

  Sam ended the connection and went upstairs to pack an overnight bag. Anticipation crackled through him. He would be seeing Abby again soon.

  6

  ELIAS TOSSED THE PHONE ONTO HIS DESK AND WENT DOWN the glass-walled corridor that overlooked the patio, the pool and the great red rocks beyond.

  He paused at the door of his wife’s study. Willow was at her computer. He knew she was working on foundation business. It had been her idea to set up the Coppersmith Foundation twenty years ago. Although she staunchly denied having any psychic talent, her intuition combined with her financial expertise ensured that the foundation was managed brilliantly. No one in the Coppersmith Inc. accounting department could follow the money the way Willow could. As a result, no one got far trying to scam the foundation.

  When he went through the doorway he felt the familiar sense of rightness that always thrilled him when he was in Willow’s presence. He’d experienced that same thrill the first time they met. Nothing had changed over the decades.

  He had fallen hard for Willow all those years ago, but he was pretty sure that he loved her more now than he had at the start, assuming such a thing
was even possible. He had not had a dime to his name back in those days, just the land and mineral rights to a chunk of desert that everyone else thought was fit only for rattlesnakes and growing cactus. But Willow had believed in him. She had made a home for him in a secondhand trailer out there in the desert, never complaining about the lack of money, the blistering heat or the fact that the nearest mall was several hundred miles away. And Willow had kept his secrets. He counted himself the luckiest of men.

  Life was very different now. It had taken several years and a lot of sweat before the mining venture proved successful. But in the end, the rare earths that his small company had pulled out of the ground had formed the foundation of the family empire.

  He and Willow could afford anything they wanted these days. They enjoyed the money and lived well. But every time he looked at Willow, he knew an unshakable truth that warmed his soul. If he lost the company tomorrow and had to start over again, she would be by his side the whole way, even if it meant going back to that damned trailer.

  “He called her Abby,” Elias said.

  Willow looked up from the computer. She took off her reading glasses with a slow, thoughtful motion and contemplated him with her knowing eyes.

  “You’re talking about the young woman in Seattle who freelances in the book market? The one Thaddeus Webber sent to Sam?”

  “Abigail Radwell. Sam met with her today. Looks like someone is trying to blackmail her. I’m betting it’s Lander Knox. Somehow he found out she can break psi-codes. He thinks he can force her to help him find the lab book.”

  “There are other people who are after that book,” Willow said.

  “Yeah, Sam reminded me of that, too. But Quinn warned me that his son was sick in the head. Evil sick. Blackmail is the kind of shit an evil man would try.”

  “Maybe. How does the situation stand now? Did this Abby Radwell agree to help Sam find that notebook?”

  “Not exactly. As far as I can tell she hired him to find out who is blackmailing her.”