Sizzle and Burn

private journal. Wilder Jones knew about all three and destroyed them. But before he arrived at the lab, my aunt photocopied the pages of my father’s journal that contain his antidote. She took the copies with her that night.”
    Zack’s eyes narrowed. “According to his report, Wilder searched your aunt before he put the two of you into the car.”
    “I don’t know if he concluded that I had been traumatized enough for one day or if he was just distracted by Vella in a hysterical rage. Whatever the case, he didn’t search me. Aunt Vella hid the pages in my horse book. I’m the one who carried the formula for my father’s antidote out of the lab.”
    They all switched their attention to the leather-bound volume lying on the coffee table.
    “She took the pages from me as soon as we got home,” Raine said. “I never saw them again until I opened that journal. They were tucked into the back.”
    Zack contemplated the flames with an enigmatic expression. “Well, one Jones family mystery has been solved.”
    “What’s that?” Raine asked.
    “It’s now obvious why Uncle Wilder went over the edge during the last three months of his life. Everyone said it seemed as though he had developed a death wish. But Dad was right. There was a woman involved.”
    Raine looked at him. “Are you saying that you believe he fell in love with Aunt Vella?”
    “I think Uncle Wilder found the love of his life but he screwed things up so badly he probably figured there was no hope. So he took that last suicide mission.”
    Raine thought about that for a long time.
    “He shouldn’t have lied to her,” she said at last.
    “She lied to him about the formula,” Zack said.
    “They lied to each other,” Gordon declared grimly. “In my experience, that approach to interpersonal communication never leads to good outcomes.”

    Bradley Mitchell called later that night. Zack picked up the phone. Raine came out of the bathroom in her robe, just as he finished speaking. He ended the call and looked at her.
    “Mitchell says that Cassidy Cutler managed to find an open window at the hospital. She jumped. Broke her neck.”
    Raine sank down on the edge of the bed, her hands in her lap. “Suicide.”
    “Yes.”
    “What about Niki Plumer?”
    “Still alive but the doctor says she’s sliding deeper and deeper into a psychotic state. She no longer speaks or communicates in any way. No one expects her to snap out of it.” Zack sat down beside her and took her hand. “Same old pattern.”
    “Did Bradley say anything more about Cassidy Cutler being a serial killer?”
    “He said the case is looking very solid.”
    Raine looked pleased. “This is going to make his career. And the best part is that he won’t have to share the credit with a psychic side-kick.”
    Zack eased her back onto the bed, flattened his hands on the quilt on either side of her shoulders and loomed over her. “I sure as hell hope you’re not about to tell me that you’ll miss working with him. Because I’d have a real problem with that.”
    She put her arms around his neck. “How do you do that?”
    “Do what?”
    “Look ominous and dangerous and incredibly sexy all at the same time.”
    He appeared to give that a moment’s serious contemplation. “Damned if I know. Guess it’s a—”
    “Gift.” She laughed and pulled him closer. “It’s not Bradley I’ll miss. It’s the work.”
    He kissed her lightly and raised his head. “I know. I understand how it is with our kind of talent, remember? But don’t worry, as the wife of the Master of the Arcane Society and part-time consultant for J&J, you’ll get your psychic fix.”
    She blinked. “I’m going to become a J&J agent?”
    “Why not? You were born for the work.”
    “Uh, have you discussed this plan with Fallon Jones?”
    “There’s nothing to discuss. I’m the boss.”
    He silenced her laughter with a kiss that made the atmosphere around the bed crackle with invisible energy.

Fifty-nine
    WASHINGTON: WINTER COVE PSYCHIATRIC
HOSPITAL, LATER THAT NIGHT…
    T he orderly paused outside room 705 and peered through the small glass window. The patient was still asleep. In the glow of the night-light he could see her on the bed. She was in the exact same position she had been in an hour before, lying on her side, her back to the door. The sheet was pulled up over her head. She had not moved.
    Now that he thought about it, it seemed to him that there was something unnatural about her