Sense of Evil - Kay Hooper [105]
“Like Isabel? Just knowing stuff?”
“More or less.”
“And that doesn't scare the shit out of you?”
“Did you hear me say it didn't?”
“No.”
“Well, then.”
Mallory leaned back in her chair, tipped her head back, and addressed the ceiling—and whatever lay beyond. “A few weeks ago, I led a perfectly ordinary existence. No killers. No spooky psychic abilities. Nothing on my mind more weighty than which kind of takeout I wanted for my supper. Those were the days. I'm sorry now I didn't appreciate them.” She sighed and looked at the others. “I must be paying off karma for a really, really bad decision in a former life.”
“You must be?” Rafe shook his head.
Isabel returned to the room before the discussion could continue, saying, “We have a slight change of plan. Hollis, we're going to swing by Ginny's on the way back to the inn and pick up her mother; both of them will be staying there tonight.”
“Hank's out on the town?” Rafe guessed.
“Yeah. Seems he often spends Sunday afternoons and evenings drinking in an undisclosed location with others of . . . like temperament.”
Rafe sighed. “Yeah, we have a few basement bars in the county. Unlicensed, unregulated, and highly mobile. They tend to change location more often than they wash the glasses.”
“Well, apparently Mr. McBrayer has a semiregular habit of drinking all evening and passing out somewhere between the bar and home. Or at the bar, sometimes. In any case, he seldom makes it home on Sunday nights. But on the off chance that tonight would be one of those nights, I've persuaded Ginny to get her mother and come stay at the inn.”
“I'll have all the patrols keep an eye out for him tonight,” Rafe said. “If they don't spot him, we'll catch up with him tomorrow.”
“Good, thanks.” Isabel frowned slightly.
“I've also arranged to have all single female officers escorted home and their places checked out before they lock up for the night,” Rafe said. “And each is under orders to wait for two male officers to meet them tomorrow morning, if they're on duty, to be escorted back here.”
“You're reaching through again,” Isabel said.
“I am?”
“I was just thinking about Mallory's report that some of the female officers feel they've been watched or followed and wondering what we should do to help protect those most likely to be at risk if it's our killer—the single ones in the right age range. Don't tell me you read that on my face. I may not be subtle, but I'm not a damned billboard.”
Mallory looked at Hollis, who shrugged.
“They've got me, too, this time.”
Rafe hesitated, then shrugged. “You looked worried; I wondered why; I knew.”
Isabel frowned again. “Okay. Now I'm worried about something else.”
Peculiarly enough, Rafe found this answer coming as easily as the one before had, just knowledge in his mind. “Sorry. Since neither one of us knows who the killer is, I don't have a solution for your worry.”
“It was,” Isabel said, “more fun being the clairvoyant one.”
“Yeah, I can see how it would have been.”
“You're enjoying this.”
“Not all of it. Just . . . some of it.”
“I know gloating when I see it. I don't need extra senses for that.”
“Good thing too. Since yours are all boxed up, I mean.”
Straightening her shoulders, Isabel said, “I'm leaving now. We're going to borrow a patrol to go with us just in case Hank McBrayer shows up unexpectedly while Ginny and her mother are packing overnight bags. If that's okay with you, of course.”
“Fine,” Rafe said, his tone as polite as hers.
“Great. We'll see you guys bright and early in the morning. Hollis?”
Her partner rose obediently and followed her from the room. As she passed Rafe, Hollis murmured, “You're a lot smarter than you look.”
“Christ, I hope so,” he responded, equally low.
When the two agents had gone, Mallory looked at Rafe. “Do you know what I'm worried about?”
He frowned at her. “No. Not a clue.”
“So it only works with Isabel?”
“Apparently. So far, anyway.”
“Um, then I'm worried about two things.”
“What's the other thing?”
“We've now got