Sizzle and Burn

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  “Yeah? Where the hell is he, then?”

  “Disappeared. Based on what I’ve been able to piece together, I strongly suspect that he’s dead. I think he came here to interview Raine’s aunt, Vella Tallentyre. After he got the information he wanted from her, he vanished.”

  Bradley was starting to look interested. “You think he was murdered by someone who wanted whatever it was he got from Vella Tallentyre?”

  “Yes.”

  Bradley held up a hand, palm out. “Let’s go back to Vella Tallentyre. Got any proof that she was murdered?”

  “She left a note for Raine. We found it last night among her things. It was written on the night of her death. In it she said she’d had a visitor that day who gave her an injection. She knew she was dying and wanted to warn Raine. The description of the visitor that we got from the hospital fits Lawrence Quinn.”

  “What did Quinn want from her?”

  “We don’t know but we suspect it had something to do with the formula for the drug that Judson Tallentyre stole all those years ago.”

  Bradley looked thoughtful. “You think Quinn intended to re-create the formula and set himself up in the illegal drug business?”

  “Yes. But it looks like he didn’t get what he wanted from Vella Tallentyre. In her note to Raine, Vella said she didn’t trust him and lied to him. Presumably she gave him some kind of false data about the drug.”

  “But Quinn figured he had the answer he wanted so he got rid of her. Then he tried to make a deal with some bad guys. It did not go well. That’s it?”

  “That’s it. Except that I’m sure Cassidy Cutler is one of the bad guys. Niki Plumer, too.”

  “Any others?”

  “I think she had some muscle with her when she first came to town,” Zack said. “The guy tried to take me out in the alley behind a local jazz club, but he managed to get hit in an intersection. Never made it to the hospital.”

  “Heard about the hit-and-run when I got back from Shelbyville. Meant to talk to you about it. They’re still trying to ID the victim. You’re telling me you think Cassidy killed him, too?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Probably because he failed to get rid of me.”

  Bradley eyed the little bottle of clear fluid sitting in the ice bucket on the table. “You really believe she left that stuff here to implicate me, don’t you?”

  “She knows I’m in town. She needs to point me in another direction. You were convenient. She was already using you to get close to Raine. Guess she figured you for a dual-purpose tool.”

  Bradley’s mouth curved in a sour grimace. “Why use me? Why not approach Raine directly?”

  “Think about it,” Zack said. “Raine’s a very private person. Her inner circle of friends is small and tightly knit. It’s not easy breaking into it.”

  Bradley hesitated, then nodded once. “I see what you mean. But Raine’s no research chemist. Neither was her aunt. Besides, according to you, Cassidy and her crowd already have this drug you’re talking about. What the hell did they expect to get from Vella Tallentyre? What do they want from Raine?”

  “I’m still working on that angle. What I know is that there are some serious problems with the current version of the drug. Someone may have been convinced that Vella Tallentyre knew something important about her brother’s version that would be useful. Now that she’s dead, those same people may think that Raine has the information.”

  Bradley shot back to his feet and resumed pacing. “You’re making me look stupid here, Jones.”

  “No,” Zack said. “Stupid would be refusing to believe the facts when they’re put in front of you.”

  Bradley looked at him. “If you want me to arrest Cassidy Cutler and Niki Plumer, you’re going to have to give me some hard proof.”

  “I don’t have a lot of that,” Zack admitted. “But you could start with her SUV.”

  “What about it? She’s driving a rental.”

  Zack raised a brow. “The same one she had a couple days ago?”

  “No. She said the heater wasn’t working on that one. She had to exchange it.”

  “Got a hunch it never made it back to the rental agency. It’s probably been abandoned in one of the big mall parking garages. She didn’t have a lot of time to get creative.”

  “You think she used it to run down that guy who attacked you?”

  “Yes. Probably wiped it clean but she may have missed something. You never know.”

  Bradley reached for his phone. “I’ll have someone contact the car rental agency.”

  Zack smiled slightly.

  “What?” Bradley asked, brows bunching.

  “Raine told me you were a good cop,” Zack said.

  An electrifying sensation shivered across his parasenses. Adrenaline splashed through him.

  He was on his feet before he had made a conscious decision to move, heading for the door.

  “What the hell?” Bradley yelled after him. “Where are you going?”

  “Raine. She’s in trouble. Get someone to her shop. Now.”

  His phone rang. He yanked it out of his pocket as he opened the door and ran toward his car.

  One ring. Calvin’s code appeared on the small screen. Then silence.

  Fifty-one

  The poisoned smoke was dissipating but the masks still taunted her and the costumes still swayed to music only the ghostly dancers could hear. The room whirled around Raine. Her stomach roiled. She could not be sick. Not now. She had to get out of there before Cassidy and Niki decided it was safe to enter the room. The alley exit was her only chance.

  She inched forward, trying not to make any sound on the carpeted surface. The gleaming knob that spelled escape was almost within reach. A draft of fresh air was coming in under the bottom of the door. All she had to do was jump to her feet, yank the door open and run for her life.

  Another peculiar sound intruded on the silently screaming voices. Someone was pounding on the front door of the shop, demanding admittance.

  “It’s the clerk,” Cassidy snapped from the far side of the red curtain.

  “She sees us,” Niki said, her voice rising. “Probably thinks the door got locked by accident. If we don’t open it, she’ll know something’s wrong.”

  “Let her in. We’ll have to get rid of her. The other two didn’t see us but she’ll be able to give a description to Jones and the cops.”

  “You said no guns.”

  “I said no guns. I didn’t say no weapons. I’ve got a company product with me. A double dose will be more than enough to stop her heart.”

  They were going to murder Pandora simply because she was an innocent bystander who had seen them. Rage crashed through Raine.

  She heard the outer door open.

  “Hey, thanks,” Pandora said. “Who locked the door? Where’s my boss? And the big man who was sitting in that chair?”

  “Back room,” Cassidy said coolly. “They’ll be right out.”

  Raine took one last gulp of the relatively untainted air seeping in under the door, surged to her feet and, holding her breath, half-stumbled, half-ran through the wispy vapor toward the crimson curtain.

  Adrenaline drowned most of the pain that shot through her injured ankle. Not all.

  She thrust the velvet curtain aside. Pandora was in the act of crossing the threshold into the shop. She held the pizza boxes in both hands. Cassidy and Niki were on either side of the front door waiting to jump on her as soon as they could get the door closed.

  “Run, Pandora!” Raine burst out of the opening, heading toward the front door as fast as she could on her bad ankle. “They’re going to kill you. Get the cops. Run, damn it!”

  Pandora hesitated, mouth open in surprise and confusion. Cassidy reached for her.

  “Run,” Raine shouted again, putting every ounce of authority she could muster into the single word.

  Pandora dropped the pizza boxes, whirled and fled straight out into the middle of the st
reet. Horns honked. Tires shrieked. Drivers shouted. Somewhere in the distance a siren wailed.

  “Forget her,” Cassidy said to Niki. “We’ve got to get out of here. The back door. Help me with the bitch.”

  “Guess that would be me,” Raine said. She gave Cassidy a really super version of her special, patented screw you smile.

  She did not stop. Fueled by desperation and fury, she continued her unsteady headlong rush. Cassidy and Niki were directly in her path. The plan, such as it was, consisted of ramming through them with enough force and momentum to carry her outside onto the sidewalk.

  But her injured ankle gave out just as she reached the pair. She lost her balance and staggered wildly to one side, colliding with Niki.

  The impact sent them both down in a tangle of arms and legs. Raine lashed out, frantically trying to free herself.

  “Hold her still, damn it,” Cassidy ordered.

  Raine caught a glimpse of a silver, pen-like object aimed at her neck.

  But nervous Niki was in a full-blown panic now.

  “This is crazy,” she screamed. “The cops are on the way. Do whatever you want, I’m getting out of here.”

  She freed herself from Raine, lurched to her feet and streaked out through the front door.

  Raine rolled away from Cassidy and grabbed the feet of the nearest mannequin, the one used to display the ballerina costume. She yanked hard and managed to topple the figure. It fell between her and Cassidy, who was forced to jump back out of the way.

  “Damn you.” Cassidy’s face was a snarling mask of rage and frustration.

  Raine rolled again. This time she grabbed Marie Antoinette’s elegantly shod feet and pushed with all her might.

  “Eat cake and die,” she yelled at Cassidy.

  Cassidy barely avoided tripping over the elaborate skirts. She suddenly seemed to become aware of the commotion going on outside the shop. She hesitated a fraction of a second, then evidently arrived at the sensible conclusion that the situation was not going well.

  Whirling, she ran toward the red velvet curtain, whipped it aside and vanished into the back room.

  Raine lay on the floor, trying to catch her breath. She heard the back door of the shop open, followed by frantic, scuffling sounds.

  “No,” Cassidy shrieked. “Let me go, you fucking bastard.”

  “If you hurt her, you’re a dead woman,” Zack said. His tone was lethally cold.

  “Watch out for her pen,” Raine shouted.

  There was a dull thud.

  Zack appeared in the opening, an elegant black and gold fountain pen in one hand.

  “Got one of my own,” he said, slipping it back into the pocket of his leather jacket.

  Bradley slammed through the front door of the shop, gun in hand. Two uniformed officers followed him. One of them had Niki in handcuffs.

  Bradley looked at Raine. “You okay?”

  “Yes,” she said, sitting up cautiously. “I’m okay.” She decided to ignore the pain in her ankle for the moment.

  “Cutler’s in the back room.” Zack jerked a thumb in that direction.

  Bradley ran toward the other doorway, one of the officers on his heels.

  Zack’s hands closed around Raine’s shoulders, his face hard. “Did she inject you with anything?”

  “No.” Raine shook her head. “She used the smoke again, a lot of it, but she didn’t get a chance to shoot me up with anything.”

  He pulled her close and hugged her so tightly she had to struggle to breathe again.

  “There’s something very dangerous in that silver pen of hers,” she mumbled into his shirt. “She said two doses would kill Pandora.”

  “I’ve got her pen. Bradley will search her for other weapons.”

  “What about the smoke in the other room?”

  “You can still smell it but there wasn’t enough left to affect me when I came through.”

  “Calvin and the mayor?”

  “Unconscious but alive,” Bradley announced from the doorway. “So is Cassidy. What the hell did you do to her, Jones?”

  “Nothing permanent,” Zack said. He eased Raine slightly away from his chest, no more than an inch. “It’ll wear off in a few hours.”

  “Guess I won’t ask any more questions on that subject.” Bradley moved farther out into the front portion of the shop. “Which one of them tossed that damned smoke bomb?”

  “Probably Cassidy,” Zack said.

  Raine blinked, startled, and opened her mouth to correct him. His arm tightened a little around her. She closed her mouth.

  “How did you know we were in trouble here at the shop?” she said instead.

  “Don’t ask me.” Bradley smiled wryly. “It was Jones who realized something was going down. Must be psychic.” He paused and then added quietly, “Like you.”

  Fifty-two

  Much later Raine sat on the sofa, one leg curled under her, and sipped the tisane that Zack had brewed for her. She had showered and washed her hair as soon as they returned and now she was wrapped in her white spa robe. Robin was a warm, comfortable weight in her lap, Batman snuggled against her thigh. A medic had taped her ankle. Another package of frozen vegetables was wrapped around the badly abused joint.

  Zack and Calvin sat in the twin chairs, drinking coffee.

  Raine looked at Zack. “I’m very glad Bradley took your suggestion and agreed to let me give a full statement tomorrow. I really didn’t feel up to it this afternoon.”

  Calvin snorted, amused.

  She raised her brows. “What’s so funny about that?”

  “Hate to disillusion you,” Calvin said, “but I doubt that Zack was thinking of your comfort when he persuaded Mitchell to wait for the statement. Zack here is what you might call a real focused kind of guy when it comes to details.”

  Raine suddenly understood. She looked at Zack. “You wanted to make sure I got my story straight first.”

  “Hey, give me some credit for thoughtfulness,” Zack said, managing to appear offended. “You were exhausted.”

  “Hah. I’m not buying it. You felt I needed a little assistance with my facts. Admit it.”

  Calvin grinned and drank some more coffee.

  “Okay,” Zack said. “In my experience, I’ve found it’s usually best not to confuse the police with too much information.”

  “In other words, we aren’t going to tell them that they got caught in the middle of an ongoing turf war between two secret organizations devoted to psychic research, is that it?” she asked politely.

  “As a general policy, J&J prefers to let the bad guys give that version of events to the cops,” Calvin said.

  She raised her brows. “Because it makes the bad guys look like nut-cases while J&J preserves its image as a legitimate private investigation agency?”

  Calvin’s grin widened. “You got it.”

  “It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of legitimate charges to go around,” Zack said. “What’s more, Mitchell has a strong personal incentive to make them stick. He doesn’t like the fact that Cutler played him.”

  “Assault, attempted kidnapping and possibly attempted robbery will make a good start.” Calvin wrapped one big hand around his coffee mug. “Got a feeling Mitchell will dredge up some others.”

  “Not that he’ll need them,” Zack said, watching the fire. “At least, not for long.”

  Raine looked at him, startled. “What do you mean? Are you saying Cassidy and Niki will walk?”

  “Yes. Straight into an institution for the criminally insane, and that’s assuming they make it that far,” Zack said.

  She frowned. “I don’t understand.”

  “From what we’ve seen, Nightshade doesn’t tolerate failure.” Zack swallowed some coffee and lowered the mug. “I told you, one of the ways it keeps its operatives in line is by making them dependent on a version of the formula that is specifically tailored to them. If they’re deprived of it, they go insane and usually commit suicide within forty-eight ho
urs.”

  Horror shivered through Raine. “Like Jenna?”

  “Yes,” he said, watching the fire. “Like Jenna. One way or another, insanity has always been the big downside to every version of the formula ever created.”

  “What about the stuff you found in Bradley’s apartment?”

  “The vial was nearly empty. There was only a trace of the drug left in it. Not even enough for one dose. Cassidy left just enough to make sure I could identify the formula and leap to the conclusion that Bradley was the guy I was after.”

  Raine swallowed hard. “So Cassidy and Niki are probably going to go crazy soon. Do you think they know that?”

  Zack shrugged. “I doubt it. We don’t know how much the Nightshade leaders tell their operatives but the best guess is that they lie to them. No profit in telling them the truth. Might put off new recruits.”

  She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds and shivered. Then she remembered something.

  “What about the mayor? This afternoon when Bradley asked who threw the smoke bomb, I got the impression you didn’t want me to tell him about her role in this thing.”

  He gave her an approving smile. “You were right.”

  “But if she was involved—”

  “She wasn’t,” Zack assured her.

  “Explain,” Raine ordered.

  “When I came through the back room I got a quick look around. The mayor’s purse was unfastened. The contents were scattered across the carpet. I realized that she was probably the one who brought the smoke bomb into the shop but there were no hot spots around her or her purse. She didn’t know what she was doing.”

  “Then why in the world did she set off the smoke bomb?” Raine demanded.

  “The most likely explanation is that either Cassidy or Niki is a parahypnotist,” Zack said. “Probably formula-enhanced.”