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  “Nothing’s broken,” I said. “Gail twisted her arm the wrong way and popped the shoulder out of joint. They put it back in, and she’s good to go.”

  “Are you doped up?” Twilla Sue asked Gail. “Do you need a ride back to your rental cabin? I sent Deputy Noble out on patrol, but he could be back here in five minutes.”

  “I can drive,” Gail said, favoring the arm in a sling. “I can get myself back to the lake house, if need be, but I’d rather come with you in case Baxley thinks of anything else from that dreamwalk she did for me.”

  “Whoa, there,” Sheriff Blair said. “You already had your time with our dreamwalker this morning. Ms. Powell is mine for the rest of the day.”

  “My shoulder is the least of my worries,” Gail insisted. “Thanks to Baxley, I now have a new direction to investigate. We might have a murderer in the Georgia legislature. I have to keep this momentum going.”

  “Stand in line. You’ve got a very cold case, at best. My corpse is fresh, and I’ve got the hottest psychic in the country at my disposal. I’ve got dibs. I aim to solve my homicide today.”

  “You don’t have a means of death yet. The autopsy findings were inconclusive as to cause of death. His heart, lungs, and other tissues were fine. We ordered an extensive tox panel and that will take time. Based on my professional experience, Haney Haynesworth just up and died.”

  “Dr. B, I respect your expertise, but I don’t believe that BS for one minute. People don’t just chose to quit living without wasting away or harming themselves.” Sheriff Blair motioned me toward her vehicle. “Powell. You and Mayes are with me.”

  Mayes and I trotted obediently after Twilla Sue Blair and climbed into her SUV, me in the backseat. I touched my moldavite pendant, and it sang under my fingertips. I had enough juice to carry me through another dreamwalk. Good to know.

  I didn’t miss the quick look the sheriff shot Mayes. “What’s the latest on Burl Sayer?” the sheriff asked her second in command.

  Mayes shook his head. “He’s gone to ground, but we’ll get him. I’ve got ‘ins’ with the shopkeepers and restaurants up here. If he shows his face, I’ll know about it.”

  We careened down the mountain. “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “The vic lived in a group home over on Bear Claw Lane. I heard you can do a reading off inanimate objects. Good thing we called the placement service. They were about to box Haney’s possessions and clear out his room, what with the end of the month coming up fast. Nothing’s been moved yet. We’ll have complete access to his stuff.”

  Point and click. That’s how she saw me. My eyes drowsed shut. Though it was only eleven, it had already been a busy day for me. “Any luck finding his associates?”

  “Working on it. Should have one or two of them rounded up by mid-afternoon. You planning on sleeping on the job?”

  My eyelids flickered open. “I’m resting. Dreamwalking is active and exhausting.”

  “Recharge, because I’m expecting useful answers this time.”

  “What about his parents’ place at the lake?” I asked. “What did you find there?”

  “Deputy Pruitt is scouting the lake house this afternoon after he finishes a presentation at the elementary school. If it looks like someone has been there recently, especially if it’s Haney, we’ll go there immediately.”

  I raised my hand. “Let’s wait and see how long Haney keeps me on the Other Side this morning. There’s a limit to how much I can safely do in a day, and I already did a dreamwalk for Gail earlier.”

  The sheriff snorted. “Gail’s case is a loser. Everyone knows the kid’s mom slept around and the dad ignored her disloyal and dangerous behavior. Her name may be Tawny Sandelman but everyone calls her Tawdry behind her back. And Knox—his aides called him Fort Knox because no matter what she did, he held it together and soldiered on. It’s a wonder those two haven’t killed each other in their secret hideaway.”

  “Does Gail know this?” I asked.

  “Unless she’s been living under a rock. I knew the details, and I don’t live anywhere near Atlanta.”

  If Tawny had been sleeping with Pug, maybe he was sneaking in or out of the house and Regina saw him. I hoped Gail found that red car. I didn’t want to deal with politicos, much less mourning parents.

  On one side of the road, the mountain jutted out almost to the asphalt. On my side, the shoulder gave way to a sheer drop. I kept a tight grip on the armrest. “Anything else I should know about your victim?”

  “Randolph ‘Haney’ Haynesworth was no choir boy, but he wasn’t a hardened criminal either. He fell in between on the crime continuum. Those B and Es, loitering, and trespassing charges could be as far as he was willing to go, or his record could be an indication he was ready to move to the next level of crime. I’ve seen teens go both ways.”

  In the dreamwalk, Haney had seemed childlike to me. Whether that meant a young heart, arrested mental development, or a denial of what happened that he’d expressed by hiding in a familiar memory, I didn’t know.

  “Will his parents join us at the group home?” I asked.

  “His mom up and disappeared about ten years ago. Just didn’t come home one evening. No note, no nothing. There was no sign of foul play. The cop who worked the case said he figured she just walked off and started over somewhere else. His Dad worked construction until he couldn’t anymore. Then he drank himself into an early grave last year.”

  “Haney was an only child?” I asked.

  “Yep.”

  I’d known kids from single-child families. Some, like Charlotte, turned out okay. Others didn’t fare well in social situations. Everything was about them. The next question begged to be asked. “What kind of group home is this? Is it for reintegration of felons or more like a way station for the mentally challenged?”

  Twilla Sue stared me down. “You know more about Haney than you’re letting on?”

  “You know what I know.”

  “He … had problems. Some mental issues. Didn’t finish high school. Hung out with the wrong crowd. Got in trouble with them, that sort of thing. This group home is a fresh start for young men who got off on the wrong foot.”

  “You think those wrong-crowd people took advantage of him?”

  “Right up until they killed him.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  The modest house at 300 Bear Claw Lane looked like every other cube in this narrow slice of suburbia, only this one was cookie-cutter gray with a black roof. The lawn was scruffy and brown, the front porch littered with an assortment of rickety chairs. A rusty bike rack stood on the edge of the lawn near the gravel driveway.

  I followed the sheriff and Mayes up the creaky stairs. A teen answered the sheriff’s knock. Said he was Jonas Canyon. He wore dark-framed glasses over his nearly black eyes, a wrinkled, untucked Oxford cloth shirt, and khakis that had been hacked into shorts by an unsteady hand.

  Though I kept my senses fully guarded, my palms itched at the sight of the unhappy young man. He gazed at the badges and waved us inside.

  The living room was messy and smelled like garbage. Flies buzzed over the dirty dishes left on every solid surface. A few plates littered the floor. There were no lamps, no decorative items, no pictures on the wall.

  This was the oddest group home I’d ever seen, and it certainly would fail every minimum public health criterion.

  “We weren’t expecting anyone today,” Jonas said, grabbing up a few of the plates and dropping them in the sink. “We usually have at least twenty-four-hour’s notice before inspections.”

  Sheriff Blair blocked his exit from the kitchen. “Who’s in charge here?”

  Jonas’ smooth façade slipped for a minute, and I saw something that made me wary as he lifted his glasses to rub his eyes. Then he met the sheriff’s level gaze. “My mom, but she’s resting. We had a difficult night, to tell the truth. Everyone is still in bed.”

  It was going on eleven o’clock. How odd. The vibe here was weird. I had the se
nsation of standing in front of a powerful vacuum, and I fought the invisible tug to pitch forward.

  “What’s your mother’s name?” Twilla Sue asked.

  “Lizella Tice.”

  “Tice. And your last name is Canyon.”

  “She remarried a few years back.”

  “I need to speak to Lizella and to see Randolph Haynesworth’s room,” the sheriff said.

  Jonas twitched and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He took off his glasses. “Not a good idea. My mom will be angry with me. No one’s allowed upstairs.”

  “All right,” the sheriff said in a quiet voice. “We can come back later.”

  “No, we can’t,” Mayes said loudly from over my shoulder. “We have a warrant. We’re working a case. Time is of the essence.”

  Jonas flicked his gaze to Mayes. “No need to rush off. Sit down. Let me fix you something to drink. Coffee. Would you like a cup of coffee?”

  “I like coffee,” Mayes said agreeably.

  Whoa. Something seriously creepy was happening. I didn’t do this often, but I drew deep and extended my psychic barriers to include Mayes and Twilla Sue. I linked my arms in theirs. “We’re going upstairs to look into the unexplained death of a young man,” I said. “We aren’t sitting down, and we aren’t drinking or eating anything in this house.”

  The sheriff blinked in confusion. “Of course not. We’re here to investigate Haney’s death.”

  Mayes muttered something under his breath that sounded like “ptomaine palace,” so I knew he was back to his senses. Good.

  Keeping the shielding barrier intact, I faced Jonas Canyon. He shot his best gaze at me, and I reflected it back at him. “Don’t mess with me. I’ve got your number. Anything you send at us will be reflected back three-fold on you.”

  His face contorted and darkened. “What are you?”

  “Doesn’t matter, but I know what you are. An energy vampire. You steal people’s energy. Stop it right now, you hear me? Quit draining them.”

  He shook his head. “You’re not the boss of me.”

  “It’s wrong to steal energy from people. Is that what’s happening in this place? Is that how you killed Haney?”

  Jonas raised his hands and stepped back. “Haney’s dead? Dude, that’s messed up.”

  He turned away from us, as if he were trying to control his emotions, and the spiritual assault lessened. I hadn’t felt any draining power when we first encountered Jonas. Inspiration struck. “Put your glasses back on.”

  “No.”

  “Yes.”

  After I put Jonas’ glasses on, I turned to Sheriff Blair. “We need someone to watch him while we check this place out. I’ll stay with him if you like. The people upstairs might need medical attention if he’s siphoned off too much of their energy. I suggest calling for backup before anyone goes upstairs.”

  Blair ordered Jonas to sit in a chair while she called for reinforcements and sent Mayes upstairs. After the call was placed, she pulled me aside and nailed me with two questions. “How did Jonas get me to change my mind before? And how come I feel so tired right now?”

  I hoped Mayes would be safe upstairs because I couldn’t shield him from here. As long as I stayed close to Sheriff Blair, she was safe from attack. “This guy is an energy vampire. He steals energy from others.”

  The sheriff’s head bobbed as if I’d struck her. “Vampire? The garlic-and-wooden-stakes kind of vampire?”

  “There’s no bloodletting involved, but energy vampires can be malicious. You need to be strong and to shield yourself, like I’m doing for you.”

  “I don’t believe what I’m hearing, but seeing is believing. That kid hypnotized me a moment ago.”

  I nodded. “He mesmerized you all right. If I hadn’t been here, you and Mayes would’ve been his next victims. Don’t look into his eyes. He didn’t try to hack your energy until his glasses were off earlier. I don’t know this for certain, but perhaps his glasses shield him in some way.”

  “If he can bend people to his will, how will I keep him in custody? Won’t he compromise anyone who is nearby?”

  “I don’t know a lot about energy vampires, but my dad and his friend back home might have answers. You have a handy resource in your Native American deputy. He might know how to cancel out the effect Jonas has on people.”

  Mayes came back downstairs. “Four bedrooms upstairs, all double-occupied. None of the people stirred when I entered each room. I found a forty-something female and seven males in their early twenties. Given what Jonas nearly did to us, I didn’t check for pulses, but I watched long enough to make sure everyone was breathing.”

  “Unbelievable.” Sheriff Blair called for ambulances. She also tapped two additional deputies to come to our location. Then she turned to me. “You’re the only one he can’t fool. Put my cuffs on him, then secure the glasses to his head. We need more mobility than having us all moving in lockstep. I need you upstairs ASAP so we know what we’re dealing with here.”

  I took her cuffs and leaned down to put them on his hands.

  “Not that way,” the sheriff said. “Put his arms behind him. He could knock the glasses off if his hands are in front.”

  “Stand up, Jonas,” I said.

  He lumbered to his feet. “You people don’t get it. Energy is a valuable resource, and I require a lot of it. You’re making a big mistake. This is the natural order of things.”

  I snapped the cuffs on and tightened them. Good thing I’d been training in police techniques during my down time between cases. “Save it for someone who cares.”

  Mayes found some twine in a kitchen drawer. I tied the temples of the eyeglass frames without raising the lenses from his eyes. “Done.”

  The sheriff pointed to the man’s feet with her gun. “Secure his feet to the chair with the twine while you’re at it.”

  When I finished, Sheriff Blair nodded her approval. “Head upstairs with Mayes and do your thing. If this guy so much as twitches, I’ll pepper his sorry hide with bullets.”

  “No need for that, ma’am,” Jonas said with a contrite smile. “I am your humble servant.”

  “Don’t trust him,” I said. “We’ll be right back.” Mayes and I tromped up the stairs, my pulse thrumming in my ears. I’d only encountered two energy vampires in my lifetime, but none had been as focused or as scary as Jonas.

  “I thought I’d seen it all,” Mayes said. “That leech latched onto me, and I turned to goo in his hands. I feel like I’ve pulled an all-nighter. Hard to believe. Thanks for saving my hide back there.”

  “We nearly had ourselves a situation, but we’re a good team. I’m glad I could help.”

  The woman, Lizella Tice, and the young men upstairs were thin—too thin. Mayes was right. None of them responded to our presence. Reluctantly, I touched them all. They were caught in a deep, dreamless sleep. No telling how long they’d been in this condition.

  “Are they victims or the bad guys?” Mayes asked as I finished with the last young man.

  “I don’t know. They seem to be in comas, and their dreams aren’t troubled. I have no idea what that means.”

  “We’ll get them to the hospital. Let the professionals evaluate them.”

  A car cranked outside. Mayes and I hurried to the window in time to see the sheriff driving away. As if he knew we were watching, Jonas Canyon made a crude hand gesture out the passenger window.

  “Damn!” Mayes turned and raced down the steps. “He’s got Twilla Sue.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Calls to Twilla Sue’s mobile phone went unanswered. Mayes, her second in command, notified Dispatch of her abduction. “Tell Pruitt to track the GPS chip in Twilla Sue’s SUV and reroute Loggins and Wardell to intercept the vehicle,” he said. “Suspect is armed and dangerous. Repeat. Suspect Jonas Canyon is armed and dangerous. Keep me apprised of the situation.”

  He ended the call, and I cleared my throat. “We should go after her,” I said, following him onto the fro
nt porch. “The other cops won’t be able to stop Jonas.” Though the warm sunshine on my shoulders felt wonderful, I kept a protective barrier around myself and Mayes. I couldn’t take a chance another cop would fall victim to foul play with so much at stake.

  “We don’t have a car, unless there’s one around back with the keys in it,” Mayes pointed out. He glanced at the shabby house and shook his head. “What happened? How’d Jonas Canyon get to Twilla Sue?”

  “I don’t know. I’m keeping both of us shielded until we have backup, so stay close. Meanwhile, I’m calling my dad for answers. He has some knowledge of unusual powers. Perhaps he’s run across someone like Jonas before.”

  “Good idea. Put the phone on speaker so I can hear too, if you will.”

  My mom answered the phone. “Tab said you’d be calling. Hold on while I get him.”

  Mayes arched an eyebrow at me. I shrugged. “It’s a Nesbitt family thing.”

  “Doesn’t matter, as long as it gets us information,” Mayes said.

  “Baxley?” my father said. “What do you need?”

  I held the phone between us. “Hey, Dad. Deputy Mayes is here with me, and you’re on speaker phone. We’ve run across an energy vampire in the case we’re working. What can you tell us about them?”

  “Don’t look in their eyes, for starters,” Dad said.

  “Figured that one out right after this one attacked. I thought maybe his glasses were shielding his eyes initially, but that wasn’t the case.”

  “Never heard of glasses having a shielding effect. That was a trick it used to get you to lower your guard.”

  “Kind of figured that out too.”

  Mayes reached for the phone. “Mr. Nesbitt, how do we stop this thing? He kidnapped the sheriff.”

  “You’re not going to like the answers I have. They veer to the occult.”

  “I’ll try anything at this point.”