Winters Family Psi Chronicles 2: Project Onyx (24 page)

Chapter 1

Josephine hid the rush of anticipation with a practiced air of stoicism as she clutched her half finished mug of coffee and watched her friend relinquish an ace of spades.  Helen and Alice had already accumulated a higher score than her at this particular hand of rummy but she intended on somehow acquiring all four aces.  She currently held two and one was now waiting for her in the discard pile.  She wondered if either Helen or Alice were hogging the last ace but didn’t want to let them know she possessed two of her own.  She took a sip of her coffee then carefully set it down on the dining room table.  For now, she chose to ignore the ace even though it drew her attention like a blazing beacon when she took her turn.  The three elderly women spent every morning playing rummy or Parcheesi.  Their condominiums were on the same floor and they usually woke up at an ungodly hour like most wizards and humans their age.

“This is the worst hand I’ve ever had in my life,” Josephine said.

Unlike her two peers, Josephine had smooth, youthful skin and long black hair.  Even though she was 84, she could easily pass for a thirty-year-old thanks to the side effect of slow aging that all category six wizards possessed.  Her two friends were merely category three with average abilities so their age showed.

“I seriously doubt that,” Helen said.

“I need more coffee,” Alice announced.

“I’ll have to make some more.  I took the last of it when I refilled my cup,” Josephine said.

She slapped down a card then walked into the kitchen to grind some more coffee beans.  She quickly poured the grounds then set the maker to brew.  Josephine returned to the living room where her two friends were waiting for her.

“Is it my turn?” Josephine asked.

“Yes,” Alice said.

Josephine frowned at the discard pile.  “Is someone hogging the aces or what?”

“Aha!  You’ve got two of the aces!” Alice crowed.  “I knew it!”

“I do not!” Josephine said indignantly.

“Then you won’t mind if I take the entire pile in my next turn,” Alice said smugly.

Josephine regarded her coolly then decided she’d better not press her luck.  She grabbed the discards so she could play the aces.

“I rest my case,” Alice said.

Josephine played the three aces and tried to decide which card she should let go.  The phone rang and she briefly debated whether or not to answer it.  More than likely, an obnoxious telephone solicitor was trying to reach her.  She’d like to jinx every telemarketer in the world with severe flatulence or uncontrollable sneezing.  The answering machine came online as Josephine continued to debate whether she should pick up the phone.

“This is Detective Riley.  I need to talk to you about a new case.  Call me back as soon as possible,” Alex’s familiar voice carried to the three elderly wizards’ ears.

“Damn!  I’m retired and I still have to drop everything at that stupid man’s beck and call,” Josephine grumbled.  “I’ve worked hard for my entire life and I would like to at least be able to enjoy my retirement.”

Unfortunately, one of the many drawbacks to being a category six wizard was the government consulting work required.  Category six wizards could tune into subtle energies that other wizards couldn’t which made them valuable in a wide range of investigative specialties.  These wizards were so powerful that they couldn’t control their magic so only very low-key spells were allowed for them.  To ensure they weren’t a danger to other wizards or humans, they were required to wear an aequitas enchantment.  Josephine currently wore a topaz ring containing an aequitas enchantment which turned green if she was starting to work with magic that the Council deemed too potent for safety among category six wizards.  The ring gave the user several seconds to decrease their flow of energy before a knock out spell would activate.  It made Josephine feel like she was wearing a shock collar.  She didn’t think it was fair that she wasn’t allowed to use her magic to its full potential but she didn’t want to risk going to jail either.  She had tried taking it off before but this had triggered a signal to the local enforcers who immediately paid her a visit and warned her to keep the ring on at all times.

The phone rang again and Josephine snorted with disgust.  It was probably that obnoxious detective again.  He called her far too often.

“I’m getting too old for this,” Josephine said.

“Oh, please!” Helen said.  “Look at you!  You’ve got enough energy that you could have waited another sixty years before you retired!”

“At least you get paid for your consulting work,” Alice said.

“I don’t like working for the police,” Josephine said.  “Detective Whiney likes to call me practically every day.”

Helen chose to ignore her friend’s nickname for Detective Riley.  “He hasn’t called for five days if I remember correctly.”

“It seems like he pesters me every day,” Josephine said snidely.

“Maybe you should just answer the phone,” Helen suggested.

Josephine frowned at the phone and the answering machine once again picked up.

“I know you’re home.  Pick up the phone,” Riley said tersely.  “You never leave your condo until after ten.”

“One of these days, I’m going to kick his ass,” Josephine grumbled as she crossed the room and picked up the phone.  “Hello, detective.  How are you?”

“I’ve got a serial killer on the loose.  He’s using magic to kill his victims and I need you to I.D. him.”

Wizards who committed crimes used an ignotus enchantment to eliminate virtually all traces of psychic energy at the crime scene which made psychometry impossible unless you were a category six wizard.

“I’ll be there in several hours,” Josephine said.

“I need you here in thirty minutes,” he said tersely.

“How about an hour and a half?”

“I need you here now.”

“I haven’t even taken my shower,” Josephine fibbed.  “I’m a retired woman who has an active social life.”

“Just get over here,” Alex said with annoyance.  “Are you ready for the address?”

“Just a second.” Josephine opened the desk drawer and pulled out a pen.  There was already a notepad waiting for her on top of the desk.  “Okay.  I’m ready.”  She jotted down the address then promised to head over to the crime scene as soon as humanly possible before hanging up the phone.

“I think I have enough time to finish a hand,” Josephine said.

“I’m not comfortable with this,” Helen said.  “You’re going to provoke him.”

“He thinks I’m taking a shower.  He won’t be mad,” Josephine said.  “Whose turn is it?”

“Mine,” Helen said.

“Then hurry up and go before I get in trouble with the police.” Josephine gestured impatiently.

Helen and Alice exchanged looks before continuing with the game.  Unfortunately, Helen won this hand and had enough points accumulated to win the entire game. 

“Maybe we can meet in the afternoon,” Josephine suggested.

“Sure,” Alice said.

Josephine’s two friends left the condo and Josephine turned the coffee pot off.  She turned the sink on and splashed water on her hair to make it seem like she’d been in the shower.  After that, she grabbed her purse and made her way to her silver sedan.  One of the things she hated about her consulting work is that she got lost easily.  She hoped she could find this place.  Josephine ended up making several wrong turns but arrived at the crime scene in a relatively short period of time.  Luckily, it was Sarasota and she knew her way around the city fairly well.  There were two police cars parked in front of the blue house.  It had a small, overgrown and untended lawn and lacked a driveway.  Josephine walked swiftly into the house to get out of the humid, tropical heat of the outdoors. 

Forensics was already gathering evidence and Josephine’s 28 year-old grandson was speaking with his colleague, Alex, at the far end of the room.  Alex was a heavyset man with brown hair, a mustache, and green eyes.  He had dark circles under his eyes and hadn’t noticed her entrance.  Josephine’s grandson, Jake, was rapidly taking down notes as his colleague continued to discuss the case.  Jake turned and smiled at his grandmother who waved back cheerfully.

“Hi, Grandma,” he said.

“Hi, Jake.  How’s it going?” she said.

Alex frowned at her.  “It took you almost an hour to get here.”

“Don’t exaggerate, detective, it took about forty-five minutes.  You forget that I hadn’t yet taken my shower and I get lost pretty easy,” Josephine said dismissively.

The victim was lying beside a coffee table face-down on the floor.  She was a young woman with long blond hair wearing a blue tee shirt and jeans.  Josephine couldn’t see any marks on her so she wondered how she’d died. 

“Are you sure she’s dead?” Josephine asked.

“She’s dead all right,” Alex said gravely.  “A surge of power was forced through her hand chakras.  It may be some sort of enchantment but we can’t pick anything up with our tracers.”

“So the enchantment used to kill this poor woman was obliterated along with the rest of the psychometric energy in the room,” Josephine said.

“The entire house is clean of trace energies,” Alex said.

“You mean nearly clean, Detective Whiney,” Josephine said smugly.  “All traces of energy can never be completely eliminated.”

Alex frowned at her with annoyance.  “We’ve waited an entire hour for you to get your sorry ass over here.  Maybe you should do something.”

“You young people need to learn some patience, Detective Whiney,” Josephine said flippantly. 

Alex continued frowning but refrained from responding to her taunt.  She opened her senses to the energies of the room.  She gasped in surprise because it was almost completely bereft of anything at all.  This would be especially difficult.  The wizard who’d done this had employed an excellent ignotus enchantment which meant the individual had purchased it or was a category four or five.  This troubled Josephine just a bit because it was extremely rare for such powerful wizards to be serial killers.  She noticed Alex shifting impatiently but he didn’t interrupt her work.  Josephine trailed the fragments of energy and reached out to one of them.  Vague impressions wafted across the back of her mind but nothing substantial.  She remained focused and after a moment, she saw the victim lying unconscious in her chair.  Unfortunately, Josephine saw the vision through the mind of the killer so she didn’t see any images of him or her.

Josephine continued to work with the energy traces without much success which began to frustrate her.  She was currently tapped into the victim who was chopping carrots in the kitchen.  The vision only lasted a second and was replaced by vague and meaningless impressions.  Josephine concentrated harder and saw the silhouette of a man approaching.  The image abruptly vanished but she knew she’d caught a glimpse of the killer.  She had to get that vision back.  Josephine’s hands clenched into fists and power flowed through her.  She tapped the trace and heard her grandson gasp with alarm.  A gust of hot air whipped into the room.

“Grandma!  Your ring!” Jake exclaimed.

She glanced down at her topaz ring and saw that it had turned green.  Damn!  She had to stop the flow of power she was currently channeling.  Josephine relaxed and began blocking the magic that coursed through her.  The hot wind abruptly died down and the ring turned blue.  Alex stood stiff as a board and his green eyes widened with apprehension.  The two forensics officers had also backed away from her so they now took up positions at the far side of the room.  Josephine couldn’t blame them for their fear but the Disaster that had killed so many had happened almost fifty years ago.  There were safeguards in place from preventing anything like that from occurring again.  If Josephine had lost control for another couple of seconds, the aequitas enchantment in her ring would have knocked her out.

“You can relax now, Whiney,” Josephine said in a condescending tone.  “You’re safe.”

Alex’s tension eased visibly and his frown returned as his face flushed with embarrassment.

“Were you able to come up with anything useful?” he asked.

“No but I’m not done yet,” she said.

“Yes, you are.”

“I still need more time to tap more of the traces,” Josephine said.

“Are you sure you’re not going to blow anything up?” Alex fretted.

“I’ll be fine,” she said reassuringly.

Josephine tapped the few traces she hadn’t yet reached.  More impressions danced across her mind but few substantial pieces of information were discovered.  She sighed with disappointment.

“The killer is a male.  His mind feels very cold and calculating.  He’s very disciplined,” Josephine said.

Alex and Jake scribbled down notes on their pads.

“What else do you’ve got?” Alex asked.

“Nothing.  That’s all I picked up,” Josephine said regretfully.

“Are you sure about that?  Nothing at all?” Alex asked expectantly as if she would fail to mention something.

“I’m sure.  Except I did pick up a couple of other things,” Josephine said.

“Yes?” Alex said impatiently.

Josephine pointed at one of the forensics officers.  “Your wife is going to tell you this afternoon that the test was wrong and she’s not really pregnant.  She’s pretty upset and doesn’t know how you’re going to take it.”  The officer blanched at this news and glanced at his colleague.  She turned to pin Alex with an intense look and intentionally let the silence drag out before speaking.  “I saw you accidentally dropping the sausages you made for breakfast on the kitchen floor but you were running late so you ate them anyway.  I’ll bet you pick food out of the trash too.”