Sizzle and Burn

cases and a recent kidnapping.”
    She tensed. “You know about my work with Bradley?”
    “By all accounts, Detective Mitchell has become a rock star in the department, thanks to you. There is speculation that he will take over the department when the current chief steps down.”
    “Your file is very complete.” She was clearly unhappy. “My name is never mentioned in any of Bradley’s reports.”
    “I’m aware that you’ve taken great care to keep a low profile. Mitchell handles the media.”
    She rallied, brisk and certain of herself again. “That’s the way I wanted it.”
    “Because you didn’t care to be treated like some scam artist or a fraud or have people think that you were crazy like your aunt?”
    For a couple of seconds she looked as if she might throw him out but then she gave him a brief, dazzling smile that did not touch her beautiful eyes.
    “Those seemed like good reasons at the time,” she said.
    “They were excellent reasons,” he agreed.
    “You really do know a lot about me, don’t you?” She stopped smiling abruptly and glanced at the envelope on the table. “Has the Arcane Society been spying on me and my aunt all these years?”
    “No. To tell you the truth, you both fell off the Society’s radar screen after your father was killed.”
    “Then how come you know so much about my current history?”
    “What I know was put together over the past twenty-four hours. The agency I represent is very good at gathering information in a hurry. But I didn’t have to read your file to guess how you would feel about being paraded around in front of the media as a police department psychic.”
    “No?” Her chin came up a little. “Why is that?”
    “Because I would feel the same way.”
    She did not look impressed. “Is that so?”
    “Given what you’ve been doing for the Oriana PD for the past eighteen months, I’m assuming you’ve got your aunt’s talent or something close to it. You hear voices in your head, right?”
    She went very still.
    “Relax,” he said. “I know where you’re coming from. I see visions.”

Seven
    S he was so stunned by his admission that it took her a few heartbeats to find her voice.
    “Is that your idea of a joke?” she asked finally.
    “No joke.” He watched her with his striking, enigmatic eyes. “The ability kicked in full force when I was in my late teens. Everyone expected me to be another para-hunter like most of the other males in my family.”
    “What’s a para-hunter?”
    “It’s a kind of psychic talent that jacks up an individual’s natural ability to hunt. Hunters have preternaturally fast reflexes and the ability to detect the psychic spore left by violence. In addition, they can also see well in the dark.”
    She wrinkled her nose in disgust. “What do they like to hunt? Elephants? Moose? Snipe?”
    He smiled. “Maybe, in ancient times, when the ability to hunt big game animals had a strong survival value. These days they tend to prefer to hunt their own kind. More of a challenge, I guess.”
    Shock reverberated through her. “They hunt people ?”
    “Calm down. Most of the hunters I know work in law enforcement.” He paused a beat. “Although I have to admit that some go bad. None that I am aware of in the Jones family, however.”
    “I see.” She glanced at the door, wondering if she should make a run for it.
    “Take it easy,” he said. “I just told you, I’m not a para-hunter.”
    She hesitated, annoyed. “Do you read minds, too?”
    “No. The experts say that’s impossible.”
    “What, exactly, are you?”
    “Technically, I’m what’s known within the Society as a level-ten mirror talent.”
    “What in the world is that?” she demanded.
    “The best the experts can determine is that it’s a rare type of psychometry.”
    “The ability to sense things by touch.”
    “Right. Your clairaudience is another form.”
    “Why do they call you a mirror talent?”
    He rested his elbows on the arms of the chair and steepled his fingers. He had the air of an academic settling into a fireside lecture. “Ever heard of mirror intuition?”
    She reflected briefly. “It’s what provides people with social cues, isn’t it? If we see someone frown or smile we understand intuitively what’s going on. We don’t have to stop and analyze the expression.”
    “Right. And if we see someone pick up a knife we can tell pretty fast whether the person intends to cut his steak with it or try to slit