13

I had a flash of inspiration overnight, so on our way to the prison, I had Donovan call Gonzalez. My inspiration might be screwy because asleep me could not be trusted, but it didn’t hurt to ask. Frankly, any clue we could find to unravel this mess was a point for our side.

Donovan held the phone up on speaker so I could talk and drive. It wasn’t like we were going anywhere fast in this bumper- to-bumper Nashville traffic. Just easing along. Abby sat in the back seat—we were in the Humvee today—and listened in closely.

The FBI agent answered promptly. “ Havili. Tell me something good .”

“Actually, it’s me calling.” I was used to saying this because duh, I couldn’t call people directly unless I was home. “Hey, man. You got a minute?”

“ For you, always. Just tell me it’s not an emergency .”

“Not something where I need you on a plane immediately, at least.”

“ Praise Jesus. All right, hit me .”

“First, good news. I have with me my apprentice. Say hi, Abby.”

“Hi!” She sounded quite chipper. “I’m Abby, a Reader like Jon, and he’s teaching me.”

I swear to you, even though I couldn’t see him, I think Gonzalez just about pissed himself in joy. “ Abby, I am so incredibly glad to know about you. Don’t you want to be a federal agent ?”

And that was why he was pissing himself in joy, right there. “Gonzalez, first of all, I already gave you Luka. Must you be so greedy?”

“ I must, yes. ”

“Secondly, she’s still in high school. How about you do a recruitment pitch after she graduates?”

Abby wasn’t done. “If you can find me a Havili as an anchor, I’ll say yes.”

Donovan started laughing.

“ Kid, we all want a Havili. Trust me on this. Unfortunately, there’s not enough of them to go around. But you and I are definitely going to talk more about this later. Including just how close your ability is to Jon’s. ”

“Oh, she can do everything I can do except a level three reading.” Fortunately for her. Damn, I hated doing that. Donovan hated it even more than I did, which said a lot. “She doesn’t run quite as hot, either. She can handle electronics somewhat, which is beyond lucky. By the time she hits eighteen, I’m fully confident she’ll be able to handle anything thrown at her.”

Abby leaned her head against my shoulder in a side-backward hug. “Awww. Thanks, Sensei.”

Brat. I snorted. “Anyway, on to the second reason I’m calling. There’s something weird going on over here.”

Gonzalez gave the sigh of all sighs, like he was already regretting answering the call. “ Seems to be the week for them. Hit me .”

“Got something of a cold case here. A man’s in prison who’s completely innocent of the crime. Did you hear anything about the psychic who killed his anchor?”

“ Oh, yeah, that made headlines for a while. Wait, the guy’s innocent ?”

“Completely. Turns out all the evidence used to lock him up is fabricated, too.”

Donovan leaned in to add, “He means that literally. The blood, the murder weapon, the GPS history—all of it was psychically made. None of it is real.”

A low, long whistle from Gonzalez. “ Now that’s an interesting plot twist. Also not great for the guy behind bars. You sure about the fabrication ?”

“Dead sure. Psychometric Special Agent Archer Lewis confirmed it for me.”

“ Damn. Yeah, can’t argue there. He’d know. ”

“Gets weirder,” Donovan deadpanned. “We don’t know if the victim in the case is actually dead or not. Carol tried to find her body but couldn’t. Grant Walker tried to track her, and he said he could almost connect but couldn’t trace her. Which isn’t possible if she’s dead.”

“ The hell ? You’re shitting me !”

“Gospel truth. Gets weirder. Dwayne, the psychic, swears their bond is broken. Which, as far as I know, can only happen if someone broke it or someone died. So she might be dead, she might be alive, and we have no idea which is true.”

“ Okay, I’m now very invested. I take it you want Marc to try tracing the maker ?”

“Please? We have very, very little to work off right now and any clue would be helpful.”

“ I gotcha. We’re a little tied up over here, but tell you what. Send the evidence to me via courier. He’ll do his best with it when he gets a chance to try .”

Donovan started texting Tyson to gather the evidence.

“All I can ask. Thanks, man.”

Abby piped up over my shoulder. “Do you know of a psychic who can make things like this?”

“ I do not. I’m now intrigued, though. I’m definitely going to ask around and see if anyone does. ”

“We talked to Alan—Grant’s anchor—who has been doing some research on psychic types, and he’s put together a short list of psychics who can. I can have someone send it over to you. We’re just curious if you know of anything else aside from what he’s dug up.”

“ Wait, he’s putting together a full psychic list ?”

“With anecdotes.”

“ I will get Alan federal funding if he gives us a copy. I’m not kidding. ”

“I’m sure he’ll take it.”

Donovan gave me a nod like he was already planning on passing the offer along. He was good on the uptake like that.

“ Havili, shoot me Alan’s phone number. I want to talk to him myself. ”

“That I can do.”

“ Thanks. I’m now super intrigued. Get me that weapon pronto .”

“Sure thing. Tyson said he’d run it over to you, so expect it tomorrow.”

“ Will do. Hang on a sec. ” The sound through the phone became a bit muffled for a few seconds. “ Gotta run. Keep me posted .”

“We will. Bye.”

Donovan disconnected the call and then started texting over information.

“Gonzalez seems cool?” Abby asked.

“Javier’s very cool. We love working with him. Which doesn’t happen a lot, but when it does, it’s usually because shit has hit the fan.”

Donovan snorted in wry agreement. “Like when crazy people go around attacking women for no reason.”

“Hush. I’m trying to purge that one from my memory. Anyway. His husband, Marc, is a very powerful Tracer. I’m really hoping he can get us a lead.”

“Me too. Dwayne needs it,” Abby said.

She wasn’t wrong there. We had to find the real perp, and Dwayne’s sister, if we were to ever fully exonerate Dwayne.

We finally, finally got to the right exit for the prison. Freedom from I-24! God, I hated that freeway.

It took a few minutes to reach the prison itself, then we unloaded and did the song and dance of signing in to visit. I wanted to see for myself that Dwayne was doing better, but we also had several things to run by him.

Donovan had called ahead, so they knew we were coming to visit him. This time, we went into a different wing of the prison and to a much more open visiting room. Nothing high security—instead it had a more comfortable setting of table and chairs without handcuffs being involved. Dwayne was already in the room waiting on us when we arrived.

Abby slipped by Donovan and went in for a hug. “Hi, Dwayne!”

Dwayne gave her the most genuine smile I’d seen him give, hugging her back, lines sparking chartreuse with happiness. “Hi, Abby. Thanks for coming.”

She tilted her head back to look up at him, not letting go of the hug. Something of a feat, as he was a good six inches taller. “You’re doing better.”

“I am. Lots better. My parents came by yesterday and visited me. Your dad did, too. We signed an agreement so he’d represent me.”

I was delighted to hear the news. I knew he was in good hands there.

Abby bounced a little on her toes. “He told me so last night. My dad’s the best. I’m glad you agreed.”

“Trust me, I was glad for the offer.” Letting go of her, he held out a hand. “Jon, Donovan, great to see you.”

I shook his hand, making my own evaluation. He did look better. Like he’d been sleeping better, his lines calmer. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why. “We’re hoping to run a few things by you, get your take.”

“Sure, anything I can do to help.”

We all settled around the table and I pulled out the list from my messenger bag. “First, I don’t know if anyone’s said this to you or not, but all the evidence they found was fake.”

His brows compressed. “Fake?”

“Psychically made,” Donovan clarified, relaxing next to me. “As in, a psychic made it on the spot. The GPS history, the weapon, even the blood. None of it’s real.”

“I’ve had three different psychics confirm this.”

Dwayne looked like someone had just smacked him on the back of his head and his brain needed a second to reposition itself. “Damn. I knew something had to be off, as I didn’t do any of what they accused me of, but still…just, damn. I didn’t expect it to be made up like that.”

“Trust me, none of us did. We’ve done some research on what kind of psychic types are even capable of doing it, as well as who’s in the area who fits the bill. There’s apparently a few who can manage this, although I’m not sure if it’s a complete list.” I slid the list of names over to him so he could peruse it. “Anyone leap out to you?”

Dwayne pulled the sheet closer and examined it for a long minute before slowly shaking his head. “No. No, I don’t recognize any of these people.”

Dammit. I’d been hoping for something.

“Did your sister have anyone interested in her? A stalker or anything?” Abby asked.

“No, not that I know of. And we had no secrets between us. Tylesia would have told me if someone was bothering her.”

Had a feeling that would be his answer, but I was glad Abby asked.

Dwayne’s frown indicated he was thinking hard. “There were people who showed interest in her, but she always kindly turned them down. No one got any traction with her. It’s why I’m still so confused on why this all happened. Tylesia just didn’t do anything to warrant an attack. She didn’t have enemies who hated her enough to wish her dead.”

Most of the time, murders were open and shut because whoever did the killing was obvious about their motivations. This was one of those rare times when it wasn’t the case. I didn’t actually want this case to be the outlier—made it harder for us to solve.

Dwayne’s eyes came back up to mine. “What now?”

“We’re still digging for clues,” I assured him. “I’m sending the weapon to a friend of mine, an FBI agent who is a Tracer. I’m hoping he can get a lock on the person who made it. In the meantime, we’re turning over every rock that looks even remotely suspicious.”

“We’re close to having enough of a case to overturn your verdict.” Donovan gave him a reassuring nod. “We can prove at least half of the evidence used against you isn’t real, after all. The rest is so circumstantial it shouldn’t have held up in court to begin with.”

Preach. “Even if we never figure out exactly what happened to your sister, I’m confident we can get you exonerated and out of here.”

“I’ll take the win, but…” Dwayne looked between the three of us, smile sad. “I’d really appreciate it if you can figure it out. I’m not sure if I’ll ever sleep well until I know what happened to Tye.”

Fair. In his shoes, I’d be just as obsessed with finding out what happened to my sister. “Trust me, we’re all very motivated to figure this out. We’ll do our best, man.”

“That’s all I can ask.”