Sense of Evil - Kay Hooper [104]
Isabel started to reply, then looked at Rafe. “What do you think?”
“I'm not the profiler.”
“Off the top of your head. What do you think?”
“No,” he heard himself reply, and frowned as he went on slowly. “Jamie wouldn't have trusted that box with anyone else—unless it was the partner who saw her unmasked.”
“Very good,” Isabel said. “And my feeling as well. That box is either stored somewhere Jamie considered safe, or kept by someone she really, really trusted. And we know by now that she didn't trust many people.”
Hollis produced the Eyes Only file and opened it to study the photographs. It didn't take long for her to reach a conclusion and close the folder. “This isn't Tricia Kane. For one thing, she had a couple of moles on one arm that would have shown up in the photos. For another, unless the photos were taken months ago, there wouldn't have been time for her hair to grow out.”
“But you can't see her hair in the photos because of that hood,” Ginny objected. Then she blinked. And blushed. “Oh. That hair.”
Isabel smiled at her. “Why don't you go make a few copies of Tricia's note so we can bag the original. And then I really do think we all need to call it a day. Start fresh in the morning.”
As soon as Ginny was out of the room, Isabel said to Rafe, “I'm going to go talk to her. Be right back.”
“Okay.”
“Did I miss something?” Mallory wondered when Isabel had gone.
“We'll be arresting Hank McBrayer,” Rafe told her. “Assault charges filed by his daughter.”
Mallory looked blank for a moment, then scowled. “Son of a bitch. I'd heard talk, but Ginny never said anything.”
“Most victims of abuse don't,” Hollis said. To Rafe, she asked, “Is Isabel going to try to convince her to stay in a hotel tonight?”
“She's going to try to convince her to let you two and a couple of officers go back to her house with a warrant for her father's arrest and get him out of there tonight.”
“Can we do that?” Mallory asked.
“Yes. I called the judge from the car. The paperwork's almost ready.”
Mallory was still frowning. “Why Isabel and Hollis? I mean, why not just send a couple of our officers? I'll volunteer. Since I hate bullies just on principle, I'd love to accidentally break McBrayer's arm while he's resisting arrest.”
“So would I,” Rafe said. “But it was Isabel and Hollis who realized what was going on and talked to Ginny about it, and Isabel and I both feel Ginny will be more comfortable if they're along for the arrest.” He hesitated, then said, “Plus, I think Isabel has something else in mind.”
Hollis looked at him. “Do you, now? Like what?”
“Assuming he's sober enough to listen, I think she intends to take him down a peg or two. Without laying a finger on him.”
“If anybody can,” Hollis said, “it's Isabel. Guys look at that beautiful face and centerfold body, all that blond hair, big green eyes all wide and innocent, and think they know exactly what she is. Boy, do they get a surprise.”
“I certainly did,” Rafe murmured.
“Speaking of which,” Hollis said. “Are you?”
He didn't have to ask what she meant. “Apparently.”
Hollis whistled. “Dunno whether to say congratulations or sorry about that.”
“I'll let you know when I figure out how I feel about it.”
Mallory said, “Hello? What's going on? Are you what?”
“Psychic.”
She blinked. “You're psychic?”
“So I'm told.”
“How could you be and not know?”
“The short answer,” Hollis said, “is that he always was, but it was an inactive ability, so he wasn't aware of it. I think we talked about latents when we first got here. Rafe, as it turns out, was a latent. Something happened to activate his abilities.”
“What?”
Hollis lifted her brows at Rafe.
“Damned if I know. She—I was told it could have been some kind of subconscious shock, which I suppose it had to be since I don't recall any consciously shocking or traumatic events in my life recently. Other than this killer.”
“No bump on the head?” Hollis asked. “Concussion?”
“No,” he said. “Never, in fact.”
Mallory eyed him somewhat warily. “So what can you do?”
“Not a whole hell of a