Winters Family Psi Chronicles 2: Project Onyx (25 page)

“She’s lying.  That never happened.” Alex’s face was flushed with embarrassment as he spoke to his colleague.

“I believe you,” Jake said in a distracted tone as he jotted down what his grandmother had said.

“What in the hell are you writing that down for?” Alex said with exasperation.

“Just in case it proves useful in the future,” Jake said flippantly.

Alex narrowed his eyes at Josephine.  “Do you have any more information regarding this case I should know about?”

“Nothing at all, detective,” she said innocently.  “I’ve told you everything I’ve seen.”

“You should walk around the room and see if you’ve missed any traces,” Alex said.

Josephine snorted with exasperation but did as he requested.  She opened her senses to the trace energies once again and slowly traversed the room.  Alex eyed her intently and Jake was biting his lower lip to keep from laughing at her antics with his colleague.  Josephine knew that it wasn’t good that she hadn’t come up with anything more useful and it was the first time this had happened to her.  She abruptly stopped walking and shrugged.

“I’m not getting anything,” she said.

“Are you absolutely sure?” Alex asked.

“I’m sure.  I’d like to talk to my grandson for a moment.”

“He’s working.  He doesn’t have time to socialize,” Alex said curtly.

“I didn’t share everything I’ve picked up about you, Detective Whiney,” she said in a suggestive, whispery voice.  “There’s something more I could share with the room.”

“There’s nothing more you can reveal about me that everyone doesn’t already know,” Alex said moodily.

“Are you sure of that?” she said teasingly.  “Do you remember what and who you dreamed about this morning?”

Alex’s face reddened.  “Go ahead and talk to your grandson.”

He strode across the room to speak to the forensics officers which gave Josephine some privacy with her grandson.

“Tell me what you saw about him?” Jake asked curiously.

“I didn’t see anything about his dreams; I was just yanking his chain,” Josephine said.

“Oh.” Jake looked disappointed.  He enjoyed seeing his colleague squirm as Alex was difficult to work with.

“Is this the second or third victim of this particular serial killer?”

“The third.”

“Do you have any idea what kind of enchantment is used to kill the victims?” Josephine asked.

“No, it could be anything.”

“Normally there are telltale signs even if the magic has dissipated.  Heart attack, stroke, blood aneurism, oxygen deprivation…”

“None of the typical spells.  There’s no sign of physical damage.  It’s as if the body just shut down for no particular reason,” Jake said.

Josephine’s eyes widened with surprise.  “Just like how everyone died in the Disaster.”

“We can’t jump to conclusions,” Jake said swiftly.

“You can’t tell me that Alex hasn’t thought of it already.”

“Yes, he’s considered that possibility but we don’t have enough evidence to be sure of anything.”

Alex stiffly walked over to them.  “Josephine, I think you’ve done everything you can do here.  Thank you for your help.  We’ll let you know when you can be of further assistance.”

“Thank you, detective,” she said.

She kissed her grandson on the cheek and left the house with a feeling of relief.  It disturbed her that the killer possessed such a good ignotus enchantment that she hadn’t been able to pick up any valuable clues.

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