Second Sight

by Debbie Mumford

Overview

When Zach Douglass' best friend dies in his arms from a psychic trauma, he finds himself devastated and beyond his abilities. He must enlist help to solve the murder.

 

Jenny Murdoch repressed her potent psychic talent for years, believing the tiger that stalks her mind killed her parents. Unwilling to trust that tiger, she must face her own ability and accept her past.

 

Somehow, Zach, a psychic with minimal ability, must work with powerful but untrained Jenny to gain control of her vast powers and discover who murdered his friend. And maybe along the way Zach and Jenny can find each other.

 

A riveting paranormal romance. Impossible to put down.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940165322655
Publisher:	WDM Publishing
Publication date:	09/28/2021
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
File size:	415 KB

About the Author

Debbie Mumford specializes in speculative fiction—fantasy, paranormal romance, and science fiction. Author of the popular Sorcha’s Children series, Debbie loves the unknown, whether it’s the lure of space or earthbound mythology. Her work has been published in multiple volumes of Fiction River, as well as in Heart’s Kiss Magazine, Spinetingler Magazine, and other popular markets. She writes about dragon-shifters, time-traveling lovers, and ghostly detectives for adults as Debbie Mumford and contemporary fantasy for tweens and young adults as Deb Logan.

Read an Excerpt

Death has a unique stench, unpleasant and distinctive. The moment the elevator doors slid open, a whiff of the sickly-sweet, slightly rusty tang alerted Zach Douglass he'd arrived at the correct floor of the posh downtown Portland hotel. He strode down the thickly carpeted hall, followed closely by his partner. They rounded the corner into the hotel's east wing and the heavier reek of feces assaulted his nostrils. He grimaced, erected a mental barrier against the offensive odor and paced off the final steps to the open door of the room.

The uniform stationed in the hall stood with legs braced and thumbs hooked under his gun belt. His stance bespoke authority, but the green cast to his skin and beads of perspiration on his upper lip screamed unease. He glanced warily at Zach, dilated pupils darkening his eyes. Zach tightened his mental shield, nodded to the man, flashed his security clearance and slipped under the bright yellow crime scene tape.

The spacious room hid its secrets behind a swarm of investigators performing their meticulous duties. A quiet buzz of voices whispered into individual recording devices, providing a white-noise barrier to the outside world. Zach elbowed his way in, clearing a path for his petite partner. Moving with hive-like choreography, the crowd shifted to reveal a man's naked body in all its grim degradation.

The victim had been handsome, a young Viking with the firm flesh of vigorous health. He lay spread-eagled on the floor, his face frozen in panicked disbelief. A thin line of some granular substance encircled the body and crossed the victim's flesh at wrists, neck and ankles. The wound--a raw, gaping tear slitting the man's torso fromcollarbone to pelvic ridge--seized Zach's gaze. Body parts that should never have seen the light of day littered the plush carpeting.

Stomach acid surged into Zach's throat and threatened to erupt. He wrenched his gaze from the blood-bright scene, turned and all but bowled his partner, Angie Sutcliffe, over. Grabbing her arm, he pushed her out into the hall, sank to the floor and dropped his head between his knees. After a moment's focused breathing, he said, "Sorry, Angie, but I've never seen anything like that."

"I still haven't," she said. Her voice held a grim edge. "Tell me what you saw. It'll prepare me and steady you--help put things in perspective."

He nodded, took several deep breaths and described the eviscerated corpse. His voice calmed as he spoke, proving her right, as usual. A giant intellect housed itself in Angie's trim body. Five-foot-two--if she stretched--boyish figure, slim hips and small breasts. Short, curly blonde hair tumbled around a pixie face and framed the brightest blue eyes Zach had ever lost himself in.

Mischief often danced in Angie's eyes, accompanied by an infectious delight in life, but her unsophisticated appearance disguised a razor-sharp mind and an unparalleled psychic talent. Whenever the Institute for Paranormal Research needed a crack investigator on site, they sent Angie. Zach understood his role. He kept the skeptics at bay so Angie could accomplish her task. They made a good team, professionally and personally.

"Right," he said. "I'm better now. I can see a pattern emerging. The dead guy's been laid out in a pentacle. The salt--or whatever that stuff is--it's a warding circle." He looked up into Angie's blue eyes, which had darkened with concern. "Some serious shit happened in there--more than just murder, maybe ritual sacrifice."

She nodded and said, "Okay. I'm forewarned. I can handle it. If you're all right, let's get back in there and see what the room has to tell me."

Zach stood and his six-foot-two frame towered above her. "I'm fine," he said. "I won't lose it again." He pushed his way back into the room and broke a trail through investigators straight to the corpse. The color drained from Angie's delicate features, but her eyes narrowed and hardened with determination. She knelt to study the scene.

"I take it you two are the paranormal investigators?"

The gruff voice sounded at Zach's shoulder. The emphasis on the last two words held an all too familiar derision. Zach turned to face the speaker, instinctively side-stepping to place himself between the tall, rumpled man and Angie, who knelt beside the body, already deeply immersed in observation.

"I'm Zach Douglass," he said and offered his hand to the detective. "My partner, Angie Sutcliffe, is already working. I'd appreciate it if you waited to speak to her. Perhaps we could move over there, give her a little space?"

The gray-haired detective eyed Angie skeptically, but allowed Zach to maneuver him across the room.

"I'm sorry," Zach said. "I didn't catch your name."

"Lieutenant Anderson. I'm in charge of this investigation. Mind telling me how you two got here so fast?"

"Of course not, Lieutenant. I see you have our authorization." He gestured to the piece of paper clutched in Anderson's large hand. "We're from the Institute for Paranormal Research."

"Yeah, but according to this, your institute is in Seattle." Anderson waved the form in Zach's face. "How did you get here before the coroner even arranged transport for the stiff? Who tipped you off?"

Zach smiled, a tight-lipped little grimace. "Like I said, it's an institute for paranormal research. Certain of our members are attuned to crimes involving, shall we say, unusual circumstances. My employer sent Ms. Sutcliffe and myself down to Portland in his private helicopter when news of this occurrence crossed his desk. He arranged for our clearance while we were in flight. The final member of our team will arrive later in the day. She's driving down. We'll want our own transportation while we're here."

"So, you're telling me some freak in Seattle felt, what--a disturbance in the force--and your boss whisked you two down here on a whim?"

"I wouldn't call it a whim, Lieutenant." Zach bristled, but held his temper. He glanced meaningfully at the body. "You can see our information was accurate."

"Too accurate to my way of thinking," the older man said. "How do I know your informant wasn't involved?"

An inappropriate bubble of laughter rose in Zach's throat and he coughed to cover it, raising his fist to hide the attendant smile. "You're welcome to check her out, but our informant is an eighty-five-year-old great-grandmother. Mary Ellen hasn't left Seattle in, oh, I'd guess about twenty-five years, and I seriously doubt she has the physical strength to subdue a man in his prime." He coughed again and forced his face into a stern mask. "But by all means, Lieutenant Anderson, question her yourself."

"Don't think I won't."

"Speaking of questioning people, did anyone hear anything?" Zach nodded toward the gutted corpse. "He had to have screamed like a banshee."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you? But if anyone heard him, they're not talking. None of the people in the surrounding rooms reported so much as a loud snore last night." Anderson shrugged and turned his attention to Angie. "Here! What's she doing?"

The detective stepped forward, but Zach laid a restraining hand on his arm. "Relax, Lieutenant," he said. "Angie has investigated a number of murders. She won't contaminate your evidence." His gaze flickered to the corpse. Angie knelt just outside the glittering circle, eyes closed, face tranquil. Her outstretched hands skimmed millimeters from the victim's open-eyed face.

Anderson scowled fiercely and brushed Zach's hand away. "You didn't answer my question. What's she doing?"

"I can't be sure," he said, his hand dropping back to his side, "but I'd guess she's checking for lingering impressions."

Puzzlement settled on Anderson's lined face. Zach sighed and explained. "A really talented psychic can sometimes read a dead man's final thoughts, and Angie's the best I've ever known. She says it's kind of like a picture burned into the victim's brain. If she gets there quick enough, sometimes she can filter it out." A tingle crept across his spine and he shuddered. "It's nasty work, reading a dead man's mind. Most psychics won't touch it."

Anderson's shoulders hunched forward. "I'm not saying I believe this mumbo-jumbo," he said, "but I'm with the ones who wouldn't try. Sounds disgusting."

Zach shrugged. "I'm guessing the average Joe feels the same way about the medical examiner's job. But it's got to be done."

"Good point." The detective scratched his chin and glanced thoughtfully at Angie. "So, you think she might be able to tell me who killed this guy?"

"I doubt she'll be able to give you a name," Zach said, "but if we're lucky, she might be able to give your sketch artist a detailed description. Heck, if the artist is at all sensitive, she might be able to transfer the face directly to his mind--let him draw it from memory, so to speak."

"No shit?" Skepticism mingled with amusement in the older man's voice. "If this crap is on the up-and-up, someone like her could be a real asset to the force." He narrowed his eyes and studied Zach's face. "Are you one of the head-jobs?"

Zach laughed, a quick bark of sound. "If you're asking if I'm psychic, the answer is yes, but only marginally. I have some psychic ability, though not as much or as well developed as Angie's or other psychics' at the Institute. I'm learning to open my talent, to maximize what I've got.

"Head job, though? Depends on your definition, now doesn't it? I'm a researcher with a degree in paranormal psychology. I work with psychics, but I study them while they study other stuff. I suppose that might qualify me for the title."

"No offense," said Anderson, flushing slightly. "I just wondered why you were standing here chewing the fat with me, if you were supposed to be examining the scene."

"None taken." Zach took perverse satisfaction in jabbing the detective with his next words. "Actually, you are my job. I'm preventing you from interrupting my psychic investigator's work."

Anderson stared at Zach with incredulity. The color drained from the detective's lined face, to be replaced by heightening degrees of angry red. Zach observed the play of emotions and judged his timing carefully. He spoke just before he thought Anderson would pop.

"Like I said, Lieutenant, relax. Angie knows what she's doing--and so do I."

* * * *

Zach respected Angie's need for solitude during the short walk to the downtown hotel where their employer, James Towne, had arranged for lodgings. She'd been pale and distracted since she finished her initial reading of the young man's body. Zach longed to take her in his arms and erase the horror from her eyes, but knew better. Angie would turn to him when she was ready. Any comfort he offered in advance would not be appreciated.

They stopped at the front desk of the well-appointed lobby, signed in and picked up their key cards. Separate rooms. He and Angie might be an engaged couple in their personal life, but on the job, James insisted they maintain a professional demeanor. Zach doubted even a marriage certificate would change that particular nugget of company policy.

Sighing, he pocketed his card and escorted his silent fiancée to the elevator. "We're on the twelfth floor," he said. "Should have a great view of the river."

Small talk. He'd been reduced to small talk with his intended wife.

"What?" Angie's eyes cleared and she looked around the elevator in surprise. "Oh, right. This hotel has excellent views." She clamped her lips shut and stared at the floor indicator lights above the door.

"Sweetheart," he said, "remember what you told me? Talking about it helps put it in perspective."

She shook her head, refused to meet his eyes. "I can't share this. Not yet. I need confirmation before I say anything." She edged away from him, hunching in on herself.

Weird, this skittishness, like she thought he might try to wrest her conclusions directly from her mind. Right. Even when Kate joined them, Angie would still be the only member of their team with strong psychic ability. Her thoughts were inviolate and she knew it.

Of course she knew it. How could she not know it?

Zach shrugged and leaned against the opposite wall of the elevator car. The floors crawled by. His heart urged him to grab her and kiss the fear away, but his mind overruled his emotions. He'd worked with psychics long enough to know what comforted the everyday man or woman often threatened a person born with the sight. The Celts had named it second sight and recognized its dual nature--gift and curse. It all depended on circumstances, how the bearer had been treated, what the sight had caused them to see.

Today, Angie's sight leaned toward curse.

The indicator light blinked twelve. The car slowed to a stop and the door slid open. Angie bolted from the confined space and darted toward her assigned room. Zach pushed away from the wall and followed at a relaxed pace. He glanced at the directional signs, but knew Angie had located their destinations in her mind while still on the elevator. He rounded a corner in the hall in time to see Angie disappear into her room. He stopped in front of her closed door and frowned.

Well, fuck! She damned well better process quickly. He didn't intend to be shut out of her confidence very long. Grinding his teeth, he pulled his key card from his pocket and let himself into the room next to Angie's.

* * * *

An hour later, Kate Blackman, the third member of their team, arrived with the car, checked in and wheedled her disgruntled teammates into going out for pizza.

Zach strode from the elevator into the large, high-ceilinged lobby and joined the two women he'd worked with on dozens of field cases. Instead of their usual camaraderie, an air of unease filled the atmosphere between his co-workers. Angie's golden brows pulled together above tormented blue eyes and she hugged herself tightly. She glanced up at Zach with a wan smile, but her gaze slid back to Kate before settling on the floor.

Kate stood a few feet away, chewing on her lower lip and darting puzzled glances at Angie. A tall, stately woman with flowing black hair, Kate embodied Angie's physical opposite.

A knot tightened in Zach's gut, but he ignored it. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together in a show of good cheer. "All right, ladies!" he said, forcing a bright, happy tone. "Who's up for pizza and beer?"

Kate cast a worried glance at Angie, but beamed at him. "I'm starved," she said. "Let's find food."

"Right," said Angie. She shot an unhappy glance at Kate, strode past the concierge and out the revolving glass doors, into the soft spring evening.

Kate's gaze followed Angie for a moment. "What's up with her?" she asked, turning her attention to Zach.

He grimaced and moved toward the door. "Long day. Particularly nasty crime scene." He pushed through the door, looked both directions, spotted Angie and turned to his right to follow the bobbing blonde head. "Stay off the topic. She's not ready to discuss it yet."

"Right," said Kate, moving into place beside him and matching his stride. Nearly of a height with Zach, keeping pace with him never troubled Kate. Not like Angie, who required two steps to each one of his.

"So she hasn't confided in you?"

"Not yet. This one seems to have her more off-balance than usual. Maybe food will even out her mood."

"I wonder," Kate said, so softly Zach almost missed it.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said. "I'm sure she'll feel better in the morning."

"God, I hope so."

Kate laughed, took his arm and the two of them dodged pedestrians to catch up with his unusually quick-footed pixie.

The restaurant they selected was compact, dimly lit and crowded, but the ambience vibrated with good cheer. The concierge had praised its reputation for excellent pizza and local micro-brews. Zach hoped the carbohydrate-laden comfort food would ease Angie's melancholy.

"By the way, Kate," he said in an attempt to divert Angie with conversation, "how did your trip to Ireland go?"

Kate's dark eyes turned dreamy and a slight flush colored her cheeks. "It was amazing," she said. "I met distant relatives on my mother's side, visited the village our branch of the family called home and discovered some fascinating family legends."

Angie stopped picking bits of green pepper off her slice of pizza and stared at Kate. "Legends?" she asked. "What kind of legends?"

The knot in Zach's stomach loosened and he took a healthy swig of beer.

"Oh, you know," Kate said with a wave of her perfectly manicured hand, "the usual superstitious nonsense. My too-many-times-to-count great-grandmother was a notorious witch. She made a pact with the devil and held the power of life and death over the entire village."

Kate's laugh refreshed the stale atmosphere and Zach's knot relaxed another notch. "What happened?" he asked, sliding his beer glass and plate toward the center of the table and folding his arms in front of him.

"Well, the story I heard said the village priest called in reinforcements and they burned her at the stake." She leaned forward with a dramatic shiver. "But Gran had the last laugh," she continued in a stage whisper, "she wrote down all her secrets, secured them with her most powerful enchantment and entrusted them to her eldest daughter."

Angie sucked in an audible breath. "What happened to that document?"

Kate shrugged. "Who knows? I told you. It's a family legend. You know, the kind of thing to scare kids into behaving. 'Be good or Granny Mab will send her demon after you.'" Rich laughter accompanied these words and her dark eyes sparkled. "The document probably never existed in the first place."

Angie frowned, picked another pepper from her pizza and tossed her napkin on the table. "I'm sorry to be such a kill-joy," she said, "but it's been a long day and I'm exhausted. I'm heading back to hit the hay."

Zach pushed his chair back, but Angie stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Zach," she said, "but I don't want company right now." Her eyes pleaded with him for understanding. "Stay here. Take Kate out for a movie. Have a nice evening."

"Are you sure, sweetheart?" he asked. "Don't you want me to walk you back?"

She kissed his forehead and laughed, a wan, thin sound after Kate's hearty gaiety. "I'll be fine. I just need some rest." Glancing at Kate, Angie's expression flickered from puzzled to concerned. "Have fun, you two. I'll see you in the morning."

Zach watched her walk toward the door, stood and turned to Kate. "Excuse me a moment. I'll be right back."

He followed Angie out into the twilit street, caught up with her and pulled her to a stop. "Angie," he said in a calm voice. "You need to talk about what's bothering you, if not to me, then to Detective Anderson or James. Whatever it is, you can't keep it bottled up like this."

She avoided his eyes, glanced instead at passers-by, parked cars, the potted plants that lined the street with vivid color. "I can't, Zach," she whispered. "I'm not ready."

He grabbed her shoulders and shook gently. "This isn't reasonable, Angie. Whatever you saw, you have to tell someone."

"I know." At last, she raised her eyes and looked directly into his. "What I saw, well, it concerns me. I don't want to make unfounded accusations. I can't be responsible for staining innocent lives. I ... I just need a little time. I'm going to check something out before I go to bed. I'll sleep on it and tell you what I know in the morning."

Zach searched her face, saw nothing but honest confusion and concern, and pulled her into a bear hug. "I love you and I trust you. Go. Do what you need to do. We'll talk in the morning."

She relaxed into his embrace and whispered, "Thank you."

With a solemn kiss to the top of her sun-bright curls, he released her.

Angie smiled at him, squeezed his hand and continued to hold it as she stepped away. Their fingers barely touching, she turned with a worried expression. "One last thing," she said. "Shield your mind."

His pulse spiked and the knot in his stomach clenched. "What? Why?"

"For me. I can't explain, not yet, but I'll feel better if I know you're guarded. Just put your shields up."

The expression in her eyes made his gut ache. He sighed. He hated the initial fogginess shields induced, but his short-lived discomfort would be a small price to pay to ease Angie's anxiety. Besides, once erected the blasted thing would stay in place until he dismantled it. He'd only have to endure the grogginess once. He pressed his hands against his temples and visualized stone walls rising behind his fingers. A dull ache pushed outward from the center of his skull, dissipated and left behind a hangover of muffled haze.

"Done," he said. "I'll see you in the morning."

She nodded, blew him a kiss and walked away.