Energized (14 page)

“Tell them about what you saw when you touched this.” Karma pulled the gold-handled knife from her apron. At some point between the police station last night and today, she'd placed it in a plastic baggie. The bag crinkled when she set it on the table in front of Hannah.

Hannah sucked in a breath, eyeing it warily. “Have you been carrying that around all day?”

Karma shook her head. “No, it was in my purse until a few minutes ago. I can't get readings from it but knowing what you saw gave me the creeps. I didn't want to touch it any more than I had to.”

Hannah wasn't going to touch the knife either. The very sight of it made her stomach pitch. The memory of the vision had kept her awake most of the night. When she had managed to doze off, she'd see the knife, the real one, dripping in blood plunged into the man's neck.

Karma covered Hannah's hand with one of her own. “It's okay. They'll listen and believe you. You're doing the right thing.”

Hannah forced her lips to curl into a smile, but given the worry on Karma's face, it must have appeared as forced as it felt. “Okay, here's what I saw.”

To their credit, Ryan and Ian sat and listened to her entire tale. They each wrote notes, but neither interrupted. She went over what she had seen in the vision, what had happened at the police station, and even how she'd cut herself during the vision. “That's the strangest part. Usually, I just go into a trance-like state. I sometimes have trouble breaking a psychic link but I've never hurt myself before.”

She showed them her right hand. There had been no need to bandage her hand today. The cut on her palm wasn't deep, but the sight of it disturbed her. Because she'd done it during a vision.

“Do you think you were moving during the vision?” Ian
asked, examining her injury. He ran a finger impersonally but gently over the wound. “Or were you seizing or something?”

“She was just standing there in the kitchen,” Karma said. “She was so still, I didn't think she was breathing for a moment. But her knuckles were white. That's when I noticed the knife in her hand and the blood. I tried to take it from her but she had a choke hold on it. Her eyes were open and her pupils where huge. I would have tried to shake her awake, but I was afraid she might hurt herself more on the knife, so I started yelling her name.”

Hannah didn't miss her friend's accent thickening with each word.

“Guess I'm lucky it was you who found me. Someone else might have called the cops. That would have been really tough to explain to my folks. ‘Hi, Mom and Daddy. I'm in jail for stabbing myself with a knife.' Yeah, really tough.” Hannah tried to lighten the mood, but her joke failed to evoke more than a quick smile from Karma.

“Not that the cops were any help.” Karma turned her gaze to Ryan. “Zig believed her but the homicide detectives treated her like she was a lunatic.”

“Reynolds and O'Dell?” Ryan asked. Karma nodded and he shrugged in response.

Ian picked up the baggie-covered knife, briefly examined it, and put it back down. “You were right, Cuz. Those guys are never going to leave. They never could grasp the concept that there's more to solving a case than what the five senses could prove. It's a good thing for Hannah here that we're in business. When others can't, we will.”

She'd read that before. On their business card. “You believe me?”

“Sure.” They replied with such casual confidence, it sapped the tension from her shoulders.

She sighed with relief until it occurred to her that believing her story was only part of the issue. “But how are you going to find this guy? I only came to Tidewater two days ago, I don't know my way around the city yet. So I can't even begin to guess where his body might be.”

“Leave that part to us,” Ryan said, running one of his huge hands over his gleaming head.

“We'll find the body and get the cops on the case. But be ready, Reynolds and O'Dell are probably going to want to talk to you when we find the body.” Ian's tone was more serious than it had been since she had sat down. “Make sure you have an airtight alibi for the murder. They will grill you hard. They like to close cases, they're not as big into getting the real bad guy.”

Ryan growled low in his throat. “Don't scare her.”

“You know it's true, Cuz. It's better she knows the facts now.” Ian gave his partner a silent stare, then turned back to Hannah. “You said the victim was in an unfinished house and you could hear the ocean, right? I have a pretty good idea where to start looking. Don't worry about it. We'll get on this. While we're working on that, you need to call your sister Jules at this number.”

Ian wrote the number on a piece of paper in his notebook, then tore it out and handed it to her. “She's getting married on Saturday.”

“Why are you so quick to believe me? Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled to know you guys don't think I'm lying or crazy or even the killer. But why do you believe me so easily?”

“You're family,” Ian, Ryan, and Karma all said at once.

“Come again?”

“Your sister Shelley is married to our cousin Dev,” Karma explained. “I didn't know you were the same Hannah when we met. I probably should have put the pieces together but really. What were the odds that the sister-in-law Dev has been searching for would walk into my restaurant and ask for a job?”

“Why didn't you figure that out?” Ian turned a suspicious glare to Karma.

“Because unlike the two of you, I'm not a private detective.”

“Security specialists,” Ian and Ryan said in unison.

“So all of you know both of my sisters?” Hannah couldn't
explain it but she couldn't stop herself from grinning either. Even as her eyes filled with tears. “And I have this enormous family?”

“Yep.” Ian pulled an embroidered blue handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Karma laughed and gestured to the hanky. “He thinks he's Cary Grant.”

“Shut up.” Ian frowned at Karma, then smiled and nodded to Hannah. “Go on. My granddad says gentlemen should always carry them in case of emergencies.”

“Like weeping women?” Karma snickered.

“Thank you, Ian.” Hannah dabbed her eyes and wiped her cheeks with the soft material. “Sorry. I'm not sad. I'm happy. I knew I'd find them, but this is just, well . . .”

“Overwhelming?”

“Exciting?”

“Perfect.” Hannah smiled. “Absolutely perfect. I'm going to call them right now.”

“Good, you call your sisters. We'll locate the body.”

“H
AVE
YOU
CALLED
them yet?” Karma whispered under her breath.

“No time.” Hannah shook her head, then loaded up the tray with six hot dinners. “Is it always this busy on a Thursday night?”

Karma picked up a steaming pizza that smelled so good it made Hannah's stomach rumble. “No. There was a benefit at the art museum down the street. I heard the guests talking. The benefit was supposed to go to a local celiac's group but all the food at the benefit had gluten. Bad for that caterer but really good for us—Ross is loving this. He's manning the hostess's station and passing out business cards. Bet we get catering jobs out of it.”

“The universe is talking and telling everyone how awesome the Boxing Cat is!” Hannah smiled at her friend, then using her back, pushed open the door to the Master dining room.

There wasn't an available seat in the place. People dressed in cocktail dresses and sharp suits chatted and ate
in an almost electrified atmosphere. A line of people waited to get inside the restaurant. Ross carried glasses of tea, and Dawn, of the always sick kid, was finally back. She wasn't much taller than Hannah, but with her hair piled high on her head and her four-inch heels, she towered over her.

“I'm running low on appetizers,” she said to Hannah in a thick New York accent. “Tell Paulie to plate up some more while I run these to the guests outside.”

Hannah held the door for the woman, then did as she was asked.

The action in the restaurant never slowed. Even Niall worked the floor. He helped Michael clear tables and set them for waiting guests. Niall moved quickly but always took the time to smile and check on guests at neighboring tables. There was a bounce to his step that made Hannah wish she could see him like that more often. He looked nothing like the lost, lonely man he'd been in Fincastle.

As if he could feel her eyes on him, Niall turned and met her gaze. His wicked green eyes sparkled but he nodded his head to her right. Hannah followed his gaze to the table full of gray- and white-haired people waiting anxiously for the tray of food propped on her shoulder.

“Oh, good. Is that for us?” a woman in a dress as white as her short hair asked in a voice that was both elegant and southern. “We are famished.”

“That's perfect because you're about to have the best gluten-free meal you've ever tasted.” Hannah set the tray on a nearby stand and quickly served the plates of chicken marsala, linguini with red clam sauce, and stuffed peppers. “Enjoy! Do you need anything else?”

They waved her away and Hannah hustled back to the kitchen to pick up the next table's order. It had been like that since seven o'clock. By ten thirty, the crowd had started to thin. By eleven thirty, they were cleaning up and Ross was practically dancing in the office.

“Tell me again, Bro! I know you're dying to say it. I was right. My change was right. Making all the menu items gluten-free options was the smartest thing we could have
done. I told you it was worth the investment to have two separate spaces for cooking and preparing food, one for gluten free and one for regular. Tonight proved it! We have three different requests to cater after the wedding. And not just weddings. We've been asked to do an office party, a bar mitzvah, and someone's fiftieth anniversary.” Ross pumped his fist in the air. “Am I good or what?”

Niall, who'd been in the tiny office, rose from his seat and moved to stand in the doorway between the office and the kitchen. He patted his brother on the back. “You did good tonight. But you have to admit it was just luck that we got that celiac group tonight. They didn't even know the Cat existed.”

“Not luck. Divine intervention.” Ross shook his head, the smile in his eyes dimming. “Call it what you want, we're on the map now. Just like I said we would be.”

“You said it would be the wedding this weekend that did that.”

Ross's smile vanished. “You can't say anything positive to me, can you?” He stormed outside, the screen door bouncing against the frame twice before it slammed shut.

The electric atmosphere was gone. Hannah finished loading the plates into the dishwasher, then came around the half wall to hear Virgil say in a low tone to Niall, “You need to go easier on him. He did a good job tonight.”

Niall's lips thinned but he nodded. “
Everyone
did a good job tonight. He wasn't alone out there.”

Niall met her gaze and Hannah's heart skipped a beat. It was insane. That visceral reaction. When he turned those vivid green eyes on her, she was as malleable as Play-Doh. And yes, that did make her think of having his hands on her body.

Her cheeks burned and she averted her gaze before he could read the lust in her eyes.

He was her boss.

And he had called her a dog.

Why do I have to be attracted to jerks?

The kitchen door swung open. Sadie and Dawn came through, followed closely by Detectives O'Dell and Reynolds. One look at their faces and Hannah's stomach dropped.

“Miss Halloran,” said Detective O'Dell, “we're going to need you to come with us.”

*   *   *

B
Y FOUR IN
the morning, Niall had had enough. He'd seen the way those cops had looked at Hannah last night. They hadn't handcuffed her in the Boxing Cat. They had waited until she was in the parking lot, like that concession lessened her humiliation.

Fucking assholes. She had cooperated with them and still they had insisted on the full monty arrest, the entire time saying she wasn't under arrest. Right, like they handcuff witnesses. Sitting in the back of the cruiser, Hannah had hung her head in defeat. And that had seriously pissed him off.

Without so much as a search or arrest warrant, those cops barged into his restaurant and carted her downtown.

Only Karma's promise to call him when Hannah came home kept Niall from following them to the station. And risk getting arrested for kicking some major ass. So he waited. And waited. And fucking waited more.

Four and a half hours later and Karma still hadn't called. The sun would be up in less than two hours and Niall had spent half the night in a restless sleep, waking every hour to check his cell phone.

He couldn't take it anymore and picked up the phone to dial Karma.

His phone rang in his hand. It was Karma calling him.

“Niall, have you heard from Hannah?”

“Crap. That answers my question. She still hasn't come home?” Niall sat on the edge of his bed and pulled on his socks and shoes. He'd slept in his jeans and shirt.

“No. Zig hasn't come home yet either. Wait, there goes my call waiting.” An eternity passed in the sixty seconds he sat on hold. Finally she came back, her accent thick. “Damn. Zig says they can hold her all day if they want. Something about waiting for the medical examiner to determine the time of death. They need to rule her out as a suspect since she reported the murder in the first place. God, Niall. I was only trying to
help. I didn't think they'd accuse her. But you did, didn't you? It's why you tried to stop us, because you think she's guilty too? She's not. I swear—”

“No, I don't think she's guilty.” Niall cut her off. “She's special and unusual and pretty damned scary with her psychic shit, but no, I don't think she killed anyone. But I have seen what happens when cops get their hands on someone who knows things they shouldn't.”

“You're talking about when I went to the cops. It wasn't like this when I reported the missing kid to them. They just laughed and ignored me.” Karma sniffed into the phone.

“You aren't the only person I know with, um . . . gifts.” He could have explained, but honestly, the whole conversation weirded him out and continuing it wouldn't help Hannah. “I worried last night that the cops might accuse her. It's why I drove y'all to the station on Wednesday.”

And why he'd picked them up after, to make sure Hannah didn't need an attorney. Now she sat in the station being grilled.

Not on his watch.

“I'll go get her.”

“That might not be as easy as you think. Hannah's stuck in an interrogation room with those two jerk detectives from the night before. Zig said he tried to talk to them, but they wouldn't listen and had him sent out on patrol. He's just a kid to them. Never mind that he earned the Silver Star earlier this year. Assholes.” She sounded close to tears. “Dev is out of town until this afternoon and I don't know how to reach Seth. He and Jules are supposed to be picking up relatives from the airport today. I know Hannah said she wanted to reach out to them herself, but I couldn't just leave her at the station like that, all alone. God, Niall, this sucks.”

“Karma, I need you to get some rest. I'm going to need you to run the Cat for me this morning. Get to the restaurant by eight. After last night we're probably low on stock. Get it checked. Get with Virgil to do the shopping. Make sure Miss Renee is on schedule for the wedding cake for tomorrow. And help Ross prepare for the wedding. I'll go to the station to be with Hannah.”

“Sorry, Boss, but what can you do that Zig couldn't?”

“I've got friends in high places. Old Marines buddies.” He wouldn't pull those strings unless he had to. “Just do what I said. The next time you see me, I'll have Hannah with me.”

“You called her special and unusual but not crazy. Does this mean you believe in her visions?”

“I never said I didn't.”

*   *   *

N
IALL PULLED HIS
truck into a parallel spot on the street in front of the station and cut the engine. Two hours. He'd promised Karma that he'd get Hannah out of the station and he'd damned well do it. He just hadn't dreamed he'd really need to call in a favor from Tommy Parker. Nor had he expected the man to show up at five minutes to six in the morning.

Tommy pulled his silver 1959 Ferrari GT Spider into the spot behind Niall's truck. Dressed in an expensive black suit and red tie, the man looked like what he was, powerful. He was also one of the sharpest Marines Niall had ever known.

On the sidewalk, he extended his hand and Tommy shook it. “Thank you for meeting me.”

“No problem. You sure this girl's innocent, Sarge?” Tommy stepped back and stood at parade rest.

“It's just Niall here, Marine. And yes, as soon as you meet her you'll know she couldn't kill anything. Hell, she shares her sandwiches with stray dogs. She's a little unique and was trying to do the right thing. All she did was report a murder. Now she's in over her head.”

“Tell me again how she witnessed this murder?”

Niall hesitated then decided to risk the truth. “She had a vision. She touched a knife and saw the murder happen. Sounds nuts, I know, but it's true. I was there right after her vision. You should have seen her. She was pale and shaking. She didn't look like a killer. She looked ready to throw up. Trust me, Lucky Charm,” Niall said, using Tommy's nickname from the Marines. “She was telling the truth.”

A muscle worked in Tommy's cheek but otherwise he
remained motionless for a moment. Then he blinked his eyes and sighed. “Okay, a vision. Great. How long has she been in town?”

“Less than three days. She arrived by bus on Tuesday. Since then, she's been with Karma or me the whole time.”

“Been with you?” Tommy let the words hang in the air.

“At the Cat, dirt brain. She works for me. Nothing else.”

“You sure about that?”

Niall didn't glance away from his fellow Marine. He maintained eye contact, trying to ignore the itch at the base of his neck that he got whenever he lied. Not that he was lying now, per se. Hannah was his employee. And there wasn't anything else between them. Anymore.

“Let's say I believe you. You're just a great boss looking out for his pretty server.”

“I never said she was pretty,” Niall replied defensively, then immediately snapped his mouth shut when Tommy grinned.

“Yeah, that's what I thought . . . Leave the talking to me. We'll get her out of this mess. At least for now.”

*   *   *

T
HE INSIDE OF
the police station made Niall's throat close. The faux dark-wood-paneled walls lined a narrow walkway between desks, shoved against one another. Pictures of presidents, sailboats, and the raising of the flag at Ground Zero added what was supposed to be character to the room.

The effect was cramped. Too many desks, chairs, pictures, computers, lamps, and personal crap in the room.

Niall rolled his shoulders to loosen the knots in his neck, scanning for both Hannah and the exit doors.

No way could he stay in this building for long. Right now, it was mostly empty of people. In an hour, the place would be overflowing with cops coming on and getting off shift. There would be discussion of cases, fresh coffee, and if the plates and coffeepot on the folding table in the far corner were any indication, food.