Arcane Society Story 01 - The Scargill Cove Case Files

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    THE SCARGILL COVE CASE FILES

    A Jove eSpecial / published by arrangement with the author

    PUBLISHING HISTORY
Jove eSpecial / December 2011
    Copyright © 2011 by Jayne Ann Krentz.
    Excerpt from In Too Deep copyright © by Jayne Ann Krentz.
Excerpt from Copper Beach copyright © by Jayne Ann Krentz.

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MEMO
    FROM: Fallon Jones, Director of the West Coast office of Jones & Jones.

    SUBJECT: Scargill Cove Case Files

    CLASSIFICATION: Top Secret. Authorized Eyes Only.

    NOTE FROM FALLON JONES: These are my private notes, the confidential records of the cases handled by J&J here in Scargill Cove. The Cove is a small town and the local cases are small, too. Definitely not the sort that attract attention from the outside world or the media. Hell, the outside world and the media couldn’t even find the Cove on a map of Northern California. As far as GPS is concerned, the town doesn’t exist. That is exactly why I decided to establish the West Coast office of J&J here. I like my privacy.

    Most of the cases handled here won’t ever make it into the official files of the Arcane Society. But it turns out people get murdered in small towns just like they do in big cities. The Cove being a paranormal nexus, however, nothing is ever normal here—including murder. In this town there are no coincidences.

Case # 1
    Death in a Bookstore
    (Timeframe: Just before the incidents in In Too Deep )

July 6
    Got a walk-in client today. Named Fitch. Guess it’s what I get for being the only psychic detective agency in town.
    Fitch just bought the bookstore, which sells mostly books on vegan cooking and metaphysics. Don’t think he knows much about either.
    Fitch says he thinks something bad happened in the bookstore, like maybe someone got killed there. Wants me to investigate.
    I told Fitch I don’t do ghosts. I’m a real psychic, not one of those phonies who claims to speak to the dead. Can’t waste my time.
    Fitch said he’s not hiring me to get rid of a ghost. Just wants to know what happened.
    Something about Fitch. May be a low-grade sensitive who really is picking up on some bad energy.
    Still digging my way out from under the Hawaii case but told Fitch I’d take the job. Probably a mistake.
    This is a small town. If I refused the Fitch case, people would talk. Fitch might bring in an outside investigator. Not good.

July 15
    Up all