16

The problem with being oh-so-powerful me was that there was always this point in a case where I couldn’t help. In fact, me trying to help would actually cause problems, hence people would very nicely boot me out. At this stage, I was used to it, but it did make for a boring workday now and again.

Today was an exception to the general rule because today I had an apprentice to entertain me!

This apprentice thing was really working out in my favor.

Donovan wanted to get some paperwork done, which meant computer, and I shouldn’t be in the office. That left me and Abby to do our own thing, and for Donovan’s sake, I promised not to follow serial killers. We had something of a food mall-slash-park near the office, about a block over. It wasn’t a huge stretch of space, but it was large enough people would sometimes sit and eat lunch. I took Abby there, bought us some snow cones, and we did some “training.”

Training sounds so much better than killing time on the company dime, doesn’t it?

Abby ate her wedding cake snow cone, eyes zeroed in on a young mother with a baby on her hip. “Huh.”

There was a lot to huh about with her, so I prodded. “What?”

“The kid on her hip isn’t related to her directly. Looks like…a relative’s child?”

She was close. “Husband’s child.”

“Ohhh. Makes sense, yeah. There’s red lines all twisted up with the husband line. She’s really mad with him about something.”

So far she was doing great. “What does that red line connect to?”

“Uhh…” Abby squinted and took a bite of her snow cone before answering. “Is she planning on leaving him? There’s the sage green…of apprehension? Hot pink of disgust, that’s pulsing. Pumpkin orange of anticipation.”

“It’s a pretty good guess. Usually the combination of those three indicate a break in the relationship and she’s got an escape route planned. Just hasn’t put it in action yet.”

“Is the child an affair baby of the husband’s?”

“Hard to know without seeing the husband. Likely so, though. See how the hot pink line is connected to the child?”

“Ohhhh. Yeah, you’re right. She’s not mad at the kid, though.”

“She’s smart enough to realize the baby’s innocent in all this, but she can’t help but feel disgusted with the situation.”

“My money’s on affair baby.”

“I’d bet right alongside you. But this is one of those things where you need to confirm it first somehow.”

“So say I see this in an interrogation, what would I do?”

“Normally, I tell the person running the interrogation to ask a question. Those questions will either light up new lines hiding in the background, or the person themself will reveal information. Now, if you’re running the interrogation, you can just ask directly.”

“Got it. Wait, you run interrogations sometimes?”

“I do. Depends on the circumstances. Borrowman likes to run his own and have me lurk, which is why you’ve only seen me in the observation room.”

“Oh.” Abby sat on my words for a second and absorbed them.

I pointed to a man talking on the phone who walked past, his attention clearly on the phone call and little else. “What about him?”

Abby switched focus and stared at him for a long second. “He’s really upset about whatever he’s talking about. He’s all purple and red, so it’s making him sad, too. Both lines are tied into…”

I didn’t blame her for taking another second. It had even taken me a second. Kind of a complicated case.

“Family? And work, somehow. Oh!” Abby sat up abruptly. “Family-run business.”

“Bingo.”

“Something’s gone wrong, and he’s arguing with a family member.”

“Bing bing. I’d give you a cookie if you didn’t already have a snow cone.”

“Ha! I’m getting good at this. The more you practice, I guess.”

“You are. In another two years or so, with more experience under your belt, you’ll read people as good as I do.”

For some reason she didn’t look satisfied by my praise. “But I can’t do a level three reading like you can.”

“Trust me, kiddo, you don’t want to, either. It’s absolute hell on the body.” I shuddered at just the memory.

“But didn’t it help crack open several cases when you did it?”

“Yeah. I’m not arguing the results, but the method is extremely hard on me physically. Not to mention Donovan loses his shit every single time.”

“Yeah, I can see that.” She gave a sage nod. “His protective instincts probably go haywire.”

“That’s a nice way of putting it.”

“But he still lets you do it?”

“He’s my partner, after all. Serious negotiations go into it every time someone even brings up the possibility. I also try not to do it for my own sake. Being in pain for two days straight isn’t anyone’s definition of a good time.”

“Fair.”

I spied a good candidate walking along the sidewalk. He looked like an average guy on the surface, but below that…oof. Yeah, no. “Abby, snap a quick picture of that guy, then try to read him.”

She promptly did so because she was a good little apprentice. “Why am I taking a pic…oh. Wow. His lines are awful .”

“Yup. Now, read him first.”

“He’s guilty of a lot. His lines are all black and grey, twisted up with red and…is that a dark pink?”

It was hard to read lines when a person was so pitch black. It was part of the reason why I’d pointed him out to her, to get practice in. The colors were all muted and you had to really look to figure it out. “It is.”

“So, he’s absolutely disgusted by something but it’s tied in to…anticipation? The hell?”

“Normally I see lines like those in someone who’s either stalking or about to attack someone else. They hate their target but are looking forward to doing damage to them.”

“So I should send this to Sho.”

“Yup. Immediately.”

“On it.” Abby’s fingers were lightning fast as she texted the picture to him. “Do I need to say anything?”

“Location of where we spotted him helps some. If we can get a name, that’s even better, but honestly, Sho doesn’t really need it. He can find anyone with a picture.”

“He’s good like that. Oh, I got a thumbs-up.”

“Then he’s already researching the guy or will in a second. He’s got a whole system down for when I report people like this, so we don’t have to do anything else.”

“Cool. I’ll remember that if I see someone.”

“Do. Don’t try to follow them, either. Just snap a picture and let Sho handle it.”

She looked at me like I’d just said something odd. “Did you use to stalk these guys until you could get a name?”

“Why are you so quick on the uptake?”

“Ooooh, I bet Donovan was pissed when he realized you did that.”

“‘Pissed’ is one word for it, yeah.”

She cackled, amused at my misery. Such a bad apprentice.

Still, I was pleased she was getting the hang of this. Abby had already developed a sense for reading before she’d apprenticed with me, but the more I worked with her, the more insight she gained into what she saw. Honestly, I felt like I just needed to give her more practice and correct any wrong assumptions she made. Girl had it mostly figured out already.

Now, wait until we got into animal training. That was a whole different ballgame.

“All right, next,” I said, encouraging her.

For some reason she stared at me hard. “Hmm, male in his late twenties, local to the area, is stunningly in love with his fiancé, has two cats—”

“Hardy har har, you’re not funny.”

Abby giggled, eyes dancing with laughter. “You’re an easy target.”

“Listen, young grasshopper, you’re not supposed to tease your master.”

“But you’re fun to tease!”

What a cheeky apprentice. What was I supposed to do with this girl, seriously?

The phone rang in her hand, but it wasn’t Sho calling. In fact, her phone didn’t recognize the number. I tilted my head so I could read the screen better.

“That’s Marc’s number,” I said with surprise.

Abby gave me the strangest look. “You have phone numbers memorized?”

I just looked at her, expression dry.

“Oh. Right. Uh, I’ll accept.” She did so and then put it on speaker before holding the phone a little farther away from me.

She had learned. A dead phone would do that.

“ Hey, Abby, this is Agent Marc Gonzalez. Donovan said you and Jon were out training ?”

“Yeah, we’re at a park nearby. Jon’s sitting next to me.”

“ Excellent, is this call on speaker ?”

“It is.”

“ Even better. Jon. What the hell are you guys into now ?”

The way he asked this question made me think he’d found a good lead. “Did you find something?”

“ Oh, I found something. You all were right on the money when you said the murder weapon was made. That was obvious in a second flat. You were dead right to send it to me. I can trace it. ”

A thrill shot through me, like lightning in a bottle. I was so excited I could barely sit still. “You can find who made it? Please tell me you’re not pulling my leg.”

“ I not only can trace it, I did trace it. Now, it was just for a split second. I don’t know how, but the psychic who made this has some kind of barrier or shield up, so I couldn’t get a firm lock on him. Energy feels male, at least. I think I understand now what Grant Walker meant. But I did get a lock, and it wasn’t in Tennessee. ”

Thoughts ricocheted around in my head. The fact Marc confirmed a shield up around the psychic made me both happy and frustrated because dammit, they’d be really hard to find if they were under protective cover most of the time. But also, not in Tennessee? The fuck? “Then where the hell are they?”

“ Georgia. ”

“Uh. Um?” Damn. If he’d changed states, maybe that was why Tylesia didn’t register as “dead” until hours after Dwayne’s arrest. Took a while to drive down to Georgia, after all.

“ Somewhere middle of the state. Best I got before it was locked down. But you know what this means, right ?”

The realization hit me like a ton of bricks. “They crossed state lines. This just became a federal case.”

“ Yup. I’m on my way. Expect me no later than tomorrow and get someone to send me a more thorough up-to-date report on this case. We’ve got a psychic perp to catch .”

I got Marc to help me hunt this bastard down? So much joy right now. So much. Federal agents after our perp meant we’d get his ass locked up sooner rather than later, and I was all for that.

“I’m looking forward to it,” I purred. “See you soon.”

“ Yup. Thanks for taking the call, Abby. Please save this number. ”

“You bet.” Abby hung up and then looked me over from head to foot. “You just got really happy.”

“Marc is an amazing man and agent. He’s a pleasure to work with, and we’ve never failed to find the perp when he and his husband work with us.”

“Ohhh.” Abby lit up, lines sparking with anticipation. “Does that mean we can maybe find out what happened to Dwayne’s sister soon?”

“That’s my hope.”

“Can I email this to Dwayne? As an update?”

“Sure. I think he’ll be happy to hear it. We’ll call his parents, too, and let them know this case just became federal. I’m sure Marc will want to talk to them about all of this. For now, though, let’s get back to the office. We’ve got colleagues to update and hotels to book for Marc’s team when they come in.”