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