Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

you?”
    Stefan shook his head again. “I just saw the gun and don’t remember too much after that.” He touched his chest. “He got off the one shot. I remember feeling like I got hit by a truck. To be honest, I don’t even remember hearing it. I just felt something slam into my chest very hard.”
    “We’ll need your clothes and the vest.” Jonas waited a moment, his eyes never leaving Stefan’s face. “The knife is yours?”
    Stefan frowned and looked closer at Ivanov, as if for the first time noticing that a knife had gone deep into the chest of the deceased. He shook his head. “No. When I grabbed his gun hand, the knife came at me fast from the other side. I never touched it. Just his wrist. All I did was hang on. All I really remember was hanging on and thinking he was damn strong for such an old man. He must have fallen on it when you shot him. I can’t even tell you where that hand was, I was more worried about his gun.”
    Officers showed up, taking over, removing Jonas immediately, taking his gun, and separating him from Stefan. Stefan had to repeat his story to another officer, reiterating that the sheriff had saved his life. Someone taped off the area while another led him into the gallery to change from his clothes to a paper zip-up jumpsuit. His clothes and vest disappeared into evidence bags. He could see officers talking to Judith and others to Frank and Inez, all separately.
    Where is the bag?
    Judith’s head went up and she looked at him across the crowd of officers. In the gallery. I put it behind the counter. I can just see the corner of it sticking out a little. She was still inside the large enclosed porch and looking through the windows inside the art gallery. I put it inside when I saw Jonas searching you.
    Keep looking at it.
    Like the lock, he just needed the picture in his mind, but still, utilizing his greatest gift while police officers surrounded him required tremendous focus. Stefan took a breath and “pushed” the large tote back far back behind the counter out of sight.
    Judith’s eyes widened. When you stopped the kaleidoscope in midair when I threw it at you I knew you were capable of telekinesis. I have to say, that’s a rather sexy talent.
    He flashed her a wan smile. Keep that in mind when you try to run out the door on me.
    I don’t plan on doing that any time soon, she assured.
    Stefan wasn’t so certain of that. He was going to have to talk to her about Jean-Claude La Roux. She’d thought he’d made a full disclosure to her admitting he was Lev’s brother. She’d agreed to keep his real identity a secret and live with him as Thomas Vincent, but he couldn’t imagine she would be so accepting of his part in her past.
    He shook his head when an EMT insisted on examining him, but allowed an officer to photograph the huge purple bruise blossoming across his chest over his heart. The man raised an eyebrow at the myriad of scars, but nodded his head when Stefan murmured something about serving in the military.
    The body of Ivanov was put in a special body bag and tagged with a blue coroner’s seal before it was taken away. All the while, he kept his eye on everyone inside the art gallery. Even with the bag safe behind the counter, he still felt vulnerable. So far no one had gone near it, no one really paying attention to the gallery with the dead body outside.
    A crowd had gathered around outside the gallery, walking around the crime tape and talking all at once. He was grateful for the heavy fog that seemed to have worsened instead of lifted. Inez waved Blythe through the crowd and indicated to the guard at the door that she could come in now that the police were finished questioning the witnesses.
    Stefan could see that Inez and Frank looked exhausted. He motioned to Judith and indicated the couple as Blythe hugged them both.
    Judith responded immediately. “We’ve all given are statements. Can you clear out the gallery and let us recoup a little?” she asked the officer at the door.
    He nodded and waved everyone else out, stepped out onto the enclosed porch and closed the door, effectively sealing out the chaos and noise in the street.
    “Mr. Vincent,” Inez said, turning to him. “Thank you. If it wasn’t for you, we’d probably all be dead. I still can’t believe you reacted so quickly.”
    He shrugged it off and caught her arm gently. “You’re hurt, Inez. You should have the EMTs look at this.”
    “I’m old,” she said, with a wan