Sizzle and Burn (The Arcane Society #3)(61)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

“Why the hell do you need a bodyguard for Raine?” Fallon demanded. “They arrested that Bonfire Killer freak. I even had one of the analysts check it out. Ninety-six point three percent probability they got the right guy. That’s as good as it gets. You know that. No such thing as a hundred percent with that kind of thing.”

“If I’m right, this has nothing to do with the freak. Doubt if a guy like that would have known how to use a drug to screw up Raine’s parasenses, anyway. This was someone connected to Nightshade.”

“Huh.”

He knew he now had Fallon’s full attention.

“There’s no way to be absolutely certain,” he added. “I’m going with gut-level intuition here.”

“There’s no logical reason for Nightshade to risk kidnapping Raine Tallentyre.” Fallon sounded very thoughtful now. “You told me she doesn’t know anything about her father’s work.”

“Until tonight we didn’t have any logical reason to think that someone murdered her aunt.”

“I’ll be damned. You’re sleeping with Raine, aren’t you?”

That was Fallon for you. Always connecting dots.

Zack looked at Raine. “Beside the point.”

“Not if your personal relationship with her is warping your judgment.”

“Get someone here tomorrow, Fallon. There are things I need to do and I can’t leave Raine alone while I do them.”

“You really think she’s in danger?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.”

“Stop right there, Fallon. I’m warning you right now, we’re not going down that road.”

“What road?” Fallon asked, doing a very poor imitation of an innocent man.

“You’re thinking that if someone from Nightshade is after Raine you can use her as bait. Not going to happen.”

“If I throw another J&J agent into the situation, there’s a risk the Nightshade operative will decide the game isn’t worth the candle and pull the plug on the whole operation. I may never get the answers I need.”

“I want a hunter standing here on Raine’s doorstep by eight o’clock tomorrow morning, Fallon.”

He ended the call before Fallon could come up with another argument.

Raine’s hand stilled on Robin’s furry head. “Do you really think someone tried to kidnap me tonight?”

“Yes.”

“For heaven’s sake, why?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know. But we’ve played the waiting game long enough. As soon as your bodyguard gets here, I’m going to start looking for answers.”

“Where?” she asked, bewildered.

He walked across the room and stopped in front of the coffee table. “In my experience, they are usually found very close to home.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know.” He circled the table and sat down beside her, his leg not quite touching hers. “And you won’t like it if I explain.”

“No secrets, Zack.”

“Right. No secrets.” He leaned back into the sofa cushions and thrust his legs out under the coffee table. He laced his hands behind his head. “I need to take a closer look at the people who are close to you.”

She stiffened, as he had known she would. “Not Gordon and Andrew. Surely you can’t believe that either of them would want to hurt me.”

He looked at her, saying nothing.

“Damn it, Zack, you can’t possibly suspect either of them. There’s just no way.”

“I doubt if Gordon or Andrew is involved in this,” he agreed neutrally.

“But you aren’t writing them off as possible Nightshade agents, are you?”

“The fact that both of them are supposedly at a conference in San Diego is definitely a vote in favor of their innocence.”

“Supposedly?”

“It will be easy enough to check to be certain they’re both in their hotel tonight.”

“This is ridiculous.” She started to pet Batman, somewhat forcefully. The cat twitched his tail. “I can’t believe you actually think they might be Nightshade operatives.”

He said nothing, waiting. He had known this was going to be bad.

“Who else are you going to check out?” she asked grimly.

“Bradley Mitchell and Pandora.”

She sighed. “You’re going to be busy.”

“Which is why I ordered up the bodyguard for you,” he said.

“Do you think Fallon will send one?”

“He knows that if I say I need a bodyguard, I have a good reason.”

He looked at the box on the coffee table.

She followed his gaze. “Guess it’s time to open it.”

He stomped hard on the guilt that was unfurling inside him. He did not want to put her through this but it had to be done.

“I think so,” he said.

Forty-five

She unsealed the box and looked at the meager contents. There were three volumes of poetry, paints, brushes, a framed photograph, toiletries and a few other small, personal items.

“So much for a secret message,” Raine said. “There’s no envelope. No piece of paper. Not even the hospital room notepad.”

She lifted the photograph out of the box and looked at it for a moment, tears burning her eyes. The picture showed the four of them—Gordon, Andrew, Vella and herself. They were gathered in Vella’s room at St. Damian’s. There was a brightly illuminated birthday cake in the background.

“We tried to get her to leave St. Damian’s for the day.” She set the photograph on the table. “But she refused. She felt safe there.”

Zack unlaced his hands from behind his head and sat forward to study the photograph. “She looks peaceful in that picture.”

“Thanks to Dr. Ogilvey and the fact that the voices had finally stopped.”

He removed the photograph from the frame, working carefully. When he had it out, he turned the picture over to examine the back. She looked at it, too. It was blank.

“If Aunt Vella wanted me to find a message,” she said, “I doubt she would have hidden it someplace I might never look.”

“It was just a thought.” He tucked the picture back into the frame.

She picked up one of the volumes of poetry and flipped through the pages. No notes fell out.

“This isn’t going to get us anywhere,” she said. “If there was a message, it must have been tossed out as trash.”