“I thought you did that anyway,” Galen said.
Refusing to take the bait except with a brief narrowing of her eyes, Hollis merely said, “The medical examiner is someone we’ve worked with before, Jill Easton. She’s clairvoyant, one of those Bishop wanted but didn’t get—except occasionally as part of the state networks of docs trained to serve as MEs. She’s still at the scene of the multiple. We only had a minute to warn her to shore up her shields, but she seemed calm enough before the warning, so maybe she won’t be adversely affected. Hopefully, anyway.”
Galen nodded.
“We’re supposed to meet with Sheriff Archer and his chief deputy inside. Unless the plan’s changed or something happens along the way to change it, Bishop’s sending Victoria and Logan in tonight, and the rest tomorrow.”
“I know Victoria’s supposed to have a strong shield,” Galen said. “But Logan?”
“We think it’s a good idea to find out how a medium reacts to the energy in this valley.”
It was Galen’s turn to eye Hollis. He had a couple of questions but asked only one. “You don’t already know?”
“Afraid not. My primary ability, but not my only one, so I can’t really be sure. I’m trying to keep my shield up, but my skin’s crawling a bit. My guess is that what I’m feeling isn’t spiritual energy, but Logan’s the only one who may be able to tell us that for certain, because that’s definitely his whole focus. And it’s something we need to rule out—or rule in. To help define this energy.”
“Have you seen any spirits?”
“No.” She frowned suddenly. “Though, to be honest, I haven’t been looking for them. Maybe my shield is stronger than we thought. Or maybe this energy is interfering.”
DeMarco said, “Probably both. You said the spirit who told you we had to come here was . . . different somehow.”
“Yeah. Sort of . . . wavery. Sort of like heat off pavement. But since she was crying I was too busy trying not to cry to figure out what else might be going on.”
Galen said, “The downside of multiple abilities.”
“One of them,” she agreed ruefully. “And the empath thing is newest and was triggered in a different way, so it’s giving me more trouble. This whole valley is filled with freaked-out people. And not just spooked, but scared and tense and irritable as hell. A state of affairs I expect to get worse before it gets better.” She drew a breath and added calmly, “So if I start snapping at you guys, don’t take it personally.”
Galen glanced at DeMarco and noted that Hollis’s partner was a bit tense himself, something he rarely showed. “Both shields?” he asked.
“Yeah. And holding. A sense of pressure, apparently what you’re sensing, but it’s not bad.”
“Then she’s the one you’re tense about?”
“She is standing right here,” Hollis snapped. Then she closed her eyes briefly, lifting both hands unconsciously palm-out in a “hold it” gesture. Then she shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, settled her shoulders, and stared at Galen. “Sorry. Since we don’t know just how this energy is going to affect us, especially over time, we thought at least one of us should be as protected as possible. That means Reese keeps both shields up. But he’s still aware of how I’m feeling. Which, yes, is very tense.”
“Got it,” Galen murmured.
“So, right now, you and Reese are as protected as any of us are likely to be from this energy. And from whatever it’s doing to people. We hope. We also hope Victoria’s shield will be solid here, and will protect her.”
“And Logan?”
It was DeMarco who said, “Risky as hell, but we need to know if this is spiritual energy. If it is, he should know quickly enough. And even though he hasn’t been able to shut out spiritual energy, Bishop believes he does have a kind of shield.”
“A kind of shield?”
“His words, not mine.”
“And,” Hollis said, “Logan was summoned. They all were.”
“By some . . . force . . . we know nothing about,” Galen reminded them. “I don’t like it when I get invited to a party by somebody I don’t know. It stinks. I still say it could be a trap.”
“Of course it could,” Hollis said. “But considering that only eight psychics were summoned, it seems like an odd way to go about setting a trap for only a handful of us. There are a hell of a lot more than eight just here in our country, quite a few arguably quite powerful. And why invite us here at all?”
“That’s true of this whole damned thing. Why are we here?”
“What we’re here to try and find out,” she reminded him. She began to turn toward the walkway to the front doors of the sheriff’s department and stopped as though she’d run into a wall, her slender body racked with a sudden, visible shudder. Even in the deepening twilight, it was obvious she went pale.
“Hollis?”
She looked at her partner, for a moment almost blindly, then said in a very steady voice, “We need to hurry.”
Neither of the two men asked questions.
* * *
? ? ?
ARCHER MET THEM just inside the sheriff’s department, in the lobby, which was fairly spacious and contained a couple of benches for anybody who needed to wait and a high desk, behind which sat a very alert deputy. Glass doors opened on either side of the lobby, both, as typical of most law enforcement buildings given the current troubled times, guarded by coded locks, the number pad beside each mute evidence of security measures.
Hollis introduced Galen, aware by the fact that the sheriff looked no worse than he had at the Gardner home that news of another event had not yet reached the station. But she knew it was coming, and soon.
She had felt it, two sharp bursts of pain tangled with shock and confusion. And then nothing. Whatever she’d felt wasn’t close, she thought. At a guess, whatever had happened had been on the outskirts of Prosperity. At another guess, they were beyond help.
She knew Reese was aware of what she had felt, but they had decided on the way from the multiple homicide scene that the mind talk that was so much a part of their connection now should be used only when they were alone or needed to communicate something privately. Otherwise, things were apt to get confusing.
It was confusing enough for the two of them; though thoughts were clear and easy, Hollis’s uncertain control over her newest ability meant that DeMarco was sometimes slammed by an emotion that wasn’t his or hers.
Which tended to disconcert even DeMarco.
Archer indicated the door on their right, saying briefly, “That leads to stairs and the second floor. Administrative, the main communications center, and other technical areas my deputies don’t need to access regularly are all up there. This other door is the one we’ll use most often. Bullpen, offices, conference room, break room, locker rooms, restrooms. Plus interview rooms and a dozen cells in the back.”
“We don’t have to swipe a card, do we?” Hollis asked a bit distractedly as she looked at the number pad.
“No, and it’s a simple code. Nine-one-one-oh-one. Easy to remember. To be honest, I’ve always thought the security for this building was tighter than necessary, at least here in Prosperity, but we followed the recommended security setup for law enforcement buildings in this state.” Then he frowned. “A card would have been a problem?”
She smiled quickly. “I’m one of those people who affects things like magnetic cards, especially those for hotels and other door locks. I’ve been known to screw up ATMs too.”
“Katie’s the same,” he said, nodding, then added, “Chief Deputy Katie Cole. She’s getting things set up in the conference room. If you’ll all come this way?”