Twilight: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 3

crossing his arms. “What?”
Cecile laughed. “I think I get it. I’ll explain later.”
“Go on, Sam,” Andre urged, shooting an amused look at David. “How would the electrical activity from a seizure open a portal?”
Sam pursed his lips, casting for the vocabulary to explain. “When we were in the area where we think the portal was, I could feel a lingering trace of its energy. You remember how the active portals felt, right?”
Cecile and Andre nodded, both clearly thinking of the overwhelming intensity of the portals in Oleander House and South Bay High.
“This felt similar,” Sam continued. “But very faint, not nearly as intense. It was like a faded Polaroid compared to a high definition movie on a big screen. The thing is, since it was so low-key, I could actually notice more details about it. One thing I noticed, and didn’t really realize I’d noticed until we left, was that the energy I felt had a flavor of electricity to it. Not an actual taste, but the feel of that taste in my mind, the same sort of feel as if you touch your tongue to a battery.” Sighing, Sam shook his head. “I don’t think I’m explaining very well. It’s hard to put into words.”
“No, I think I get what you mean. The residual energy from the closed portal felt electrical to you, which means the portal might actually run on electricity. Which means the uncontrolled electrical activity generated by a seizure would be a perfect power source.” Frowning, Andre tapped his pen against the table. “It makes sense in the context of you being a focus too. If I’m understanding Dean right, electrical impulses are what make things happen in the brain. Psychic abilities, obviously, are centered in the brain, which means they would be powered by electricity too. That would include psychokinetic abilities like yours, Sam.”
“So in the case of a human focus for the portal, it could be the electrical activity generated by psychokinesis which physically causes the portal to open.” Cecile’s brows drew together. “You believe Harry Norton was the focus in the case of this particular portal, right?”
“Yes.” Bo tugged on his braid, his other arm sliding off Sam’s shoulders. He rested his hand on Sam’s thigh. “You’re right, Sam, the facts do fit. Harry hadn’t had his Dilantin for a few days, which means the level of drug in his blood could’ve dropped low enough that he had a seizure, which could conceivably have caused the portal to open.”
“But then why did it close?” Dean asked, scratching his chin. “I mean yeah, it makes perfect sense that the portal could’ve opened that way. But how’d he close it again?”
“I doubt we’ll be able to figure that out for sure.” Sam picked at the fraying edge of medical tape holding the gauze bandage on his injured hand. “He must’ve been terrified when he fell. Maybe that rush of fear closed it. If the portals can be opened by those strong emotions from a focus, it stands to reason they could be closed that way as well.”
Bo glanced at Sam, brown eyes solemn. “I just got off the phone with Lex a few minutes ago. She told me what all the police told her about what they learned interrogating Anne.”
“Well, don’t keep us in suspense,” David burst out when Bo paused. “Tell.”
Bo gave him a smile, which swiftly faded into a serious expression. “I’m pretty sure the police wouldn’t like her telling us this, so y’all keep it to yourselves, but apparently Anne did see Harry the day he died.”
Dean shot a wide-eyed look at Sam. “I knew it.”
Bo nodded. “Harry had no family, and Lex held his power of attorney, so the police could legally talk to her about how Harry died.”
“Do they think Anne murdered him?” Cecile’s voice was hushed and her face pale. “Not that that would be a big surprise, considering how she attacked you, Sam.”
Bo shook his head. “They aren’t saying right now. Apparently she’s being evaluated by a psychiatrist.”
Sighing, Andre ran a hand over his close-cropped hair. “Okay, what exactly did Lex tell you?”
“The story the police got from Anne was that she saw Harry coming up one of the trails on the day he died. She followed him, with the idea of confronting him with what she believed was his homosexual affair. She planned to intimidate him, to try to make him leave the Lodge for good.” Bo’s thumb rubbed Sam’s thigh in slow circles. “Before she could confront him, she said he stumbled off