Sizzle and Burn (The Arcane Society #3)(53)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“Twitchy?” Zack repeated with cold interest.

“That was the word the orderly used. I gather Parker was the nervous type.”

“Did the orderly remember how Parker was dressed?” Zack asked.

“There was nothing memorable about his attire, apparently. The orderly recalled that he wore glasses, but that was all.” Ogilvey exhaled heavily. He looked at Raine. “In hindsight, the visit appears to have been somewhat out of the ordinary. I can assure you that Parker was monitored, however, and that it was your aunt’s decision to allow him to remain as long as he did.”

“Thank you,” Raine said quietly.

“I can tell you something else, as well,” Ogilvey said, quietly serious. “Something that may ease your mind. The orderly assured me that after Parker left, Vella seemed tired but very calm. She dozed for most of the rest of the afternoon and evening. Took her normal medication at ten and went to sleep almost immediately.”

“An hour and forty-five minutes later she was dead of a heart attack,” Raine said.

Zack folded his arms on top of the steering wheel and studied the building and the grounds through the gray, misty rain. He could feel the case coming together rapidly now, like pieces of a puzzle snapping into place. There were still some missing bits but they would show up soon. He knew it.

“The description of Parker wasn’t very exact but what there was definitely fits Lawrence Quinn, especially the twitchy part,” he said.

Raine turned her head very sharply to look at him. “Are you certain?”

“There was a note about the twitchiness in his file.”

She wrapped her arms beneath her br**sts and contemplated the hospital. “Why would Lawrence Quinn go to see her?”

“There was only one connection between them, and we both know what it was.”

She gave a sad little sigh. “My father’s version of the founder’s formula.”

“Yes.” No point trying to soften the hard truth. She could handle it. “Did you ever go back into room three-fifteen after your aunt’s death?”

“No. Her body was moved immediately to a morgue. Gordon and Andrew packed up her things that night. By the time I returned from Vegas and dealt with the funeral arrangements, there was no reason to go back into the room. To be honest, I didn’t want to go there.”

“I understand.”

She glanced at him. “What are you thinking?”

“That you were right to be suspicious about Vella Tallentyre’s death.”

“You heard Ogilvey. He said she was fine after Parker or whoever he was left. She was very calm. Drowsy, even.”

“Maybe unnaturally so.”

Raine went very still. “You think he drugged her?”

“Quinn was a brilliant research chemist. If there was one thing he knew, it was drugs. He knew something else, too.”

“What?”

“He was an expert on how psychotropic drugs of all kinds affect people with strong parapsych senses. It was his area of expertise.”

“But why would he drug Aunt Vella, let alone kill her, after all these years?” Raine asked. “She was in no position to be a threat to anyone.”

“I can’t answer that yet. All I know is that Fallon was right. There’s a connection.”

They both looked at the hospital for a few more minutes.

“How did she stand it?” he asked after a while.

“Being confined in a psychiatric hospital?”

“Must have been hell,” he said. “We were in there for only about thirty minutes and I was ready to climb the walls.”

“She could tolerate it because toward the end, her psychic senses became very faint. She said it was like going deaf or losing her eyesight. For all practical purposes, during the last year of her life, she was no longer clairaudient. But instead of giving her peace, the loss of her talent flung her into a deep and enduring depression. Ogilvey managed to deal with the depression but she never recovered her parasenses.”

He started the engine. “One more thing.”

“What?”

“St. Damian’s is an exclusive private facility. Must have cost a fortune to keep your aunt there for a year.”

“Mmm.”

“Vegas?”

“Turns out I’m good with cards.”

Forty

Her phone rang just as she unlocked the front door to the condo. She took it out of her purse and glanced at the familiar incoming number. Bradley.

Zack followed her into the hall and closed the door. He watched her take the call.

“Hello?” she said warily. She was not in the mood for another argument about the Cassidy Cutler book.

“It’s Bradley. I’m still in Shelbyville. Got some good news for you. Thought you should be the first to know.”

“What’s going on?”

“Langdon just arrested the Bonfire Killer. Press conference will be on the six o’clock news.”

Relief poured through her. She held the phone away from her mouth to speak to Zack. “It’s Bradley. He says they’ve got the witch hunter.”

Zack whistled softly. “That was fast.”

“This time he didn’t have a chance to destroy the evidence with fire.” She pulled the phone closer to her mouth to talk to Bradley. “Is the killer a Shelbyville resident?”

“Yes. New in town. Burton Rosser. Maybe you remember him. Worked the front desk of the B and B where you stayed.”

“Oh, my God. When I think of all the times I walked past him in the lobby—” She broke off. “How did Langdon nail him?”

“Found the souvenir photos of the victims on Rosser’s laptop. In addition there was a belt in Rosser’s bedroom that was identical to the one that was with the girl in the storage locker in your aunt’s basement. They’re running a DNA analysis on some hair they found in your aunt’s house now. Should have the results soon.”

“What made Chief Langdon look at Burton Rosser as a suspect in the first place?”

“Rosser came up on the radar screen right away. Langdon had been keeping an eye on him because he knew that Rosser had done time for rape and burglary. When Langdon started to question him, Rosser tried to run.”

Forty-one

Pandora’s lips moved but Raine couldn’t hear what she was saying. She leaned across the small table and eased the earplug out of her right ear.

“What did you say?” she yelled above the thundering music coming from the band on the stage.