Sizzle and Burn

Female energy.”
    “Aunt Vella’s?”
    “I think so. Whoever it was sensed that she was dying. She was desperately trying to leave a message for someone she loved.”
    Stunned, she twisted around in the seat. “Are you sure?”
    “As sure as I can be.” He flexed one hand on the wheel in a small gesture of irritation. “You know how it works.”
    “Not as well as you do,” she reminded him. “I haven’t had the advantage of all that fancy Arcane Society research, remember?”
    “I told you, our brand of psychic talent is hardwired to our sense of intuition. On some unconscious level we interpret the energy we pick up and translate it into the images that I see and the voices you hear. But as is the case with any interpretation or translation, there’s room for nuance and outright error.”
    “Nuance,” she repeated evenly.
    His fingers tightened on the wheel but when he accelerated through the intersection, the car moved smoothly, under full control. “Always plenty of room for nuance and misinterpretation.”
    She knew then that he was thinking about how he had allowed himself to be deceived by his fiancée.
    “Do you think it’s likely that you didn’t translate the nuances correctly in this case?” she asked.
    “No. I think your aunt aroused briefly from the effects of the drug that Quinn gave her. Dr. Ogilvey told us that she received her evening meds around ten o’clock and that she died less than two hours later. Her regular drugs may have temporarily counteracted the effects of the injection. Or maybe the sense of impending death produced a burst of adrenaline. It happens that way sometimes. Whatever the cause, she managed to get up and find a pen.”
    “Did she actually write a note to me?”
    “That’s the part I can’t be sure of because what I picked up was her absolute determination to write some kind of message.” He hesitated, thinking. “But there was also a trace of overwhelming relief in the mix. She believed that she had succeeded. I can tell you that much.”
    “But there was no message. Gordon and Andrew would have noticed it when they collected her things that night.”
    “Would have been easy to overlook a small piece of notepaper lying on the table,” he said.
    She clasped her hands together in her lap. “Or the message might have been meaningless gibberish that made sense to her disordered mind but not to anyone else.”
    “In which case it would have wound up in the trash.”
    “Yes.”
    They both fell silent for a while.
    “What happened to the things that Gordon and Andrew took away from her room?” Zack asked eventually.
    “They kept the items that they knew would have sentimental significance to me. Everything else was thrown away.”
    “Where did they put the stuff they saved?”
    She tensed a little, thinking about the task she had put off for the past few weeks. “They’re in a box at Gordon and Andrew’s house. To tell you the truth, I haven’t been able to gear myself up to go through her things. It’s been hard enough just dealing with the paperwork and the legal side of death.”
    “I understand.” He shifted gears. “I assume you have a key to Gordon and Andrew’s place?”
    “Yes, of course.”
    “Know where the box is stored?”
    She braced herself for what she knew was coming. “You want to pick it up tonight, don’t you?”
    “We’re fighting time here, Raine.”
    “I know.” She rested her head against the back of the seat and closed her eyes. “I’ve got the key with me on my ring.”

    Zack cradled her in his arms while she used her key to open the front door to the house. Then he moved into the hall with her so she could punch in the code that deactivated the alarm system.
    “You don’t have to carry me around, you know,” she said, reaching out to switch on a light.
    “I like carrying you around.” He settled her into a chair. “Stay here while I get something to ice that ankle.”
    He disappeared into the kitchen and returned a short time later with a large packet of frozen spinach that he draped around her sore ankle. When he was satisfied with the makeshift ice pack he straightened and took his phone out of his pocket.
    “You’re going to call Fallon Jones right now?” she asked.
    “Couple of things I have to tell him.” He punched in a number.
    “It’s two-fifteen in the morning.”
    “So what?” He put the phone to his ear. “Figure if we’re awake, he might as well be awake, too. Besides,