The Scargill Cove Case Files: An Arcane Society Story Page 5

  “It is, but I’m good.”

  “I can still feel a lot of hot energy coming off that book.”

  “Strong encryption energy leaves a residue just like any other kind of energy,” Abby said.

  “So I can read the real text now?”

  “Yes. Take a look.”

  She held the book out. Grady’s hand closed around it. The physical contact was all she needed. She channeled the darkly oscillating currents of the encryption energy into Grady’s aura.

  The atmosphere was suddenly charged. Grady reacted as if he had touched a live electrical wire. His mouth opened on a silent, agonized scream. The gun dropped from his hand. His eyes rolled back in his head. He stiffened for a timeless moment. Then he shuddered violently. He tried to stagger back toward the spiral staircase but he collapsed to the floor of the balcony. He twitched several times and went still.

  There was a moment of stunned silence.

  “Are you all right, Abby?” Hannah asked.

  “No. Yes.” Abby took a deep breath and silently repeated her old mantra, Show no weakness. She gripped the balcony railing and looked down at Hannah. “I’m fine. Just a little shaken up, that’s all.”

  “You’re sure, dear?” Hannah’s face was etched with concern.

  “Yes. Really. Breaking a code is one thing. Using the energy in it to do what I just did is . . . something else altogether.”

  “I knew you were strong,” Hannah said. “But I hadn’t realized that you were that powerful. What you just did was extremely dangerous. If that sort of energy got out of control—”

  “I know, I know,” Abby said. “I couldn’t think of anything else to do.” She glanced at the housekeeper, who was crumpled on the floor. “What happened to Mrs. Jensen?”

  “She fainted. There was an awful lot of energy flying around in here a moment ago. Even a nonsensitive could feel it. What about that dreadful man? Is he alive?”

  Dear heaven, had she actually killed someone? Horrified at the possibility, Abby went to her knees beside Grady. Gingerly she probed for a pulse. Relief swept through her when she found one.

  “Yes,” she said. “He’s unconscious but he’s definitely alive.”

  “I’ll call nine-one-one now.”

  “Good idea.” Abby drew a deep breath. She was already starting to feel the edgy, adrenaline-overload buzz that accompanied the use of so much psychic energy. In a couple of hours she would be exhausted. She focused on the immediate problem. It was major. “How on earth am I going to explain what happened here?”

  “There’s nothing for you to explain, dear.” Hannah rolled her chair to the desk and picked up her phone. “A mentally disturbed intruder broke into my home and demanded one of the rare books in my collection. He appeared to be on drugs and whatever he took evidently caused him to collapse.”

  Abby thought about it. “All true in a way.”

  “Well, it’s not as if you can explain that you used psychic energy to take down an armed intruder, dear. Who would believe such a thing? The authorities would think that you were as crazy as that man who broke in here today.”

  “Yes,” Abby said. A shuddery chill swept through her, bringing with it images from her old nightmares, the ones filled with an endless maze of pale-walled corridors, sterile rooms and locked doors and windows. She wasn’t going to risk being called crazy, not ever again. “That is exactly what they would think.”

  “I have always found that when dealing with the authorities it’s best to stick with the bare facts and not offer too much in the way of explanations.”

  Abby gripped the railing and saw the understanding in Hannah’s eyes. “I came to the same conclusion myself, a few years ago, Mrs. Vaughn. Those are definitely words to live by.”

  Hannah made the call and put down the phone. She glanced up at Abby.

  “What is it, dear?” she said gently. “If you’re concerned that word of what you did with that encryption energy might get out into the underground market, you needn’t worry. I won’t ever tell anyone what really happened here, and Mrs. Jensen passed out before she witnessed a thing. Your secret is safe with me.”

  “I know, Hannah. I trust you. Thank you. But there’s something about this Grady Hastings guy that is bothering me.”

  “He is obviously mentally unbalanced, dear.”

  “I know. But that isn’t what I meant. He was sweating so hard. He seemed on the edge of exhaustion. It was as if he was struggling against some unseen force.”

  “Perhaps he was, dear. We all have our inner demons. I suspect that Grady Hastings has more than most people.”

  The new nightmare started that same night.

  She walked through the strange, glowing fog. She did not know who or what she was searching for, only that she desperately needed to find someone before it was too late. Time was running out. The sense of urgency was growing stronger, making it hard to breathe.

  Grady Hastings materialized in the mist. He stared at her with haunted, pleading eyes and held out a hand.

  “Help me,” he said. “You have to help me. The voices in the crystal told me that you are the only one who can save me.”

  She awoke, pulse racing. Newton whined anxiously and pressed his furry weight against her leg. It took her a few seconds to orient herself. When she did she was horrified to realize that she was no longer in bed. She was in the living room of her small condo, looking out the sliding glass doors that opened onto the balcony. The lights of the Seattle cityscape glittered in the night.

  “Dear heaven, I’ve started sleepwalking, Newton.” She sank to her knees beside the dog and hugged him close.

  The first blackmail note was waiting for her when she checked her email the next morning.

  I know what you did in the library. Silence will be maintained for a price. You will be contacted soon.

  Titles by Jayne Ann Krentz

  Copper Beach

  In Too Deep

  Fired Up

  Running Hot

  Sizzle and Burn

  White Lies

  All Night Long

  Falling Awake

  Truth or Dare

  Light in Shadow

  Summer in Eclipse Bay

  Together in Eclipse Bay

  Smoke in Mirrors

  Lost & Found

  Dawn in Eclipse Bay

  Soft Focus

  Eclipse Bay

  Eye of the Beholder

  Flash

  Sharp Edges

  Deep Waters

  Absolutely, Positively

  Trust Me

  Grand Passion

  Hidden Talents

  Wildest Hearts

  Family Man

  Perfect Partners

  Sweet Fortune

  Silver Linings

  The Golden Chance

  Titles by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Amanda Quick

  Quicksilver

  Burning Lamp

  The Perfect Poison

  The Third Circle

  The River Knows

  Second Sight

  Lie By Moonlight

  The Paid Companion

  Wait Until Midnight

  Late for the Wedding

  Don’t Look Back

  Slightly Shady

  Wicked Widow

  I Thee Wed

  With This Ring

  Affair

  Mischief

  Mystique

  Mistress

  Deception

  Desire

  Dangerous

  Reckless

  Ravished

  Rendezvous

  Scandal

  Surrender

  Seduction

  Titles by Jayne Ann Krentz writing as Jayne Castle

  Canyons of Night

  Midnight Crystal

  Obsidian Prey

  Dark Light

  Silver Master

  Ghost Hunter

  After Glow

  Harmony

  After Dark

  Ama
ryllis

  Zinnia

  Orchid

  eSpecials

  The Scargill Cove Case Files

  Anthologies

  Charmed

  (with Julie Beard, Lori Foster, and Eileen Wilks)

  Titles written by Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle

  No Going Back

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Case # 1 - Death in a Bookstore

  Epilogue

  Teaser for In Too Deep

  Teaser for Copper Beach