Energized

by Mary Behre

  She returned her milk crate to the stack by the back door, then paced back and forth in front of him, muttering under her breath. It was hard to hear but the words, “asshole” and “show him earth dog” were audible.

  “Hannah—” Niall’s words were cut off by Hannah spinning around on him.

  “I’m not a vegetarian. I might be funky but I’m an artist. I’m not afraid to be myself. I’m honest and I’m not going to be called a dog by anyone. Not even by my tight-assed boss, who ought to know better than to go around making assumptions about people. At least I’m not afraid to take risks. Can you say the same?” Color high in her cheeks, Hannah didn’t give him a chance to respond before she marched up and pointed a finger in his face. “Now I’m going to take my crunchy-granola-earth-dog self back to work. If you need anything else from me, Mr. Graham, you had better figure out a way to address me respectfully.”

  With that she marched inside, muttering under her breath, “Can’t believe he called me a dog.”

  Niall scratched his head and glanced around the empty parking lot. How in the hell had that happened? He’d been talking to her, then she went nuts on him. Okay, he had called her a dog but he hadn’t meant it the way she took it.

  And she had yelled at him. No one ever yelled at him. Hell, she didn’t just raise her voice, she ordered him to treat her with respect. Like he would do anything else? Okay, yes, he’d been a slight ass but what the fuck? Who in the hell did she think she was talking to him like that? Her boss.

  Well, he’d set her straight about putting her fairy finger in his face and ordering him about. He turned to follow her inside, but realized all the blood in his body had taken up residence in his cock.

  Just as soon as his raging hard-on cooled, he’d give her a good talking to. But God alive! She was fucking hot all take-charge like that.

  Maybe the rule about leaving Ohio in Ohio could be suspended. He’d have to think about that. Fuck thinking about it. One day in her presence and he was ready to climb into bed with her again. Right, like he hadn’t had that exact thought yesterday—which was why he’d declared the Ohio rule in the first place.

  His cock ached.

  Fuck the rule.

  She thought he didn’t take risks?

  Well, he’d just have to prove her wrong.

  * * *

  “BRAD PITT JUST walked through the front door,” Sadie whispered, then pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Hannah and Karma. “His table is mine.”

  Hannah watched as Sadie pushed through the kitchen door, her realistically fake smile in place as she greeted the man who did bear a remarkable resemblance to the movie star. Although, this man looked like a much younger version. She stared through the diamond-shaped window as Sadie shamelessly flirted with the guest.

  “You don’t think that’s really Brad Pitt, do you, Karma?”

  “No.” Karma laughed. “That’s my cousin, Ian. Keep watching Sadie. She’s about to be seriously ticked. He’s not going to let her wait on him.”

  “Should I go out there?” Hannah asked.

  “Nope, just wait.” Karma shook her head, her short crop of brown curls bouncing. “If you try to talk to him before Sadie finishes, she might cause a scene. She’s got a temper. It’ll be better for everyone if you let him tell her that he’s here to see you.”

  “Why is your cousin here to see Hannah?” Niall asked from behind Hannah.

  She jumped at Niall’s words and managed not to glare at him. She still couldn’t believe he’d called her a dog. A. Dog.

  Asshole.

  Before Karma could answer, the kitchen door swung open and Sadie strode in. Ooh, she looked angry enough to spit razor-sharp nails. She pointed one of her dagger-like fingernails at Hannah. “You are up. Be warned, he’s a jerk. Thinks he’s God’s gift.”

  “Sounds like Ian.” Karma winked. “He’s not that bad. Don’t worry, Hannah. I’ll introduce you. Boss, we’re taking fifteen minutes.”

  “Karma,” Niall said her name like a warning.

  “It’s important and the dinner rush hasn’t started yet. It won’t take long. Come on, Hannah.”

  Hannah could feel the heat of Niall’s body against the back of her neck. He stood so close, every breath she took was infiltrated by his spicy aftershave.

  “Fine. Fifteen minutes.” Niall didn’t move or turn his head when he spoke to her, so his breath puffed out against her ear. If she wasn’t so angry with him, she might have been turned on. But she was angry.

  Not turned on.

  Not in the least.

  “You coming, Hannah?”

  I wish.

  Shaking off the totally inappropriate thought, she followed Karma through the Master Room. Ian sat at the same bistro table where Hannah had sat when she had first seen Karma the day before. He had his chair slightly pushed back from the table, one foot tossed lazily over one jean-clad knee. His black T-shirt hugged his muscle-toned chest and accentuated his deep tan. His blond hair was combed back from his face.

  Whoa! Up close he looked even more like the movie star. It was startling.

  Then he gave her a lazy, knowing smile. The kind of smile a super-hot guy gives when he knows he’s being checked out. Not that she was checking him out like that, but Hannah couldn’t stop staring. The resemblance was just uncanny.

  Karma clapped him in the back of the head. “She’s a client. And my friend.”

  Just like that, the spell was broken. He rubbed his head with one hand and frowned at Karma. “You taking lessons from Ryan? Damn, girl, I think you rattled my teeth.”

  “Pshaw.” Karma waved away his complaint and sat in the chair next to him.

  Hannah claimed the chair opposite Ian. “Hi, I’m Hannah.”

  “Nice to meetcha.” Ian grinned again. “My partner is running late. He’ll be along shortly. Why don’t we get started?”

  “Okay.” Except she wasn’t sure where to start. “I got your card twice. Once in Ohio and again last night.”

  “Right, Karma’s boy toy recommended us last night.”

  “Don’t call Zig that.” Karma narrowed her eyes at Ian who only gave her a playful grin.

  He turned back to Hannah and continued. “And you got my card in Ohio. Can you tell me who recommended you contact TSS there?”

  “Oh, right. I didn’t explain that part when I called, did I? Sorry. I’m Hannah Halloran. Someone from your company came to find me in Ohio. One of my sisters hired you guys to find me. I was Hannah Scott at birth.”

  His eyes lit up. “You’re Hannah Scott? Fantastic! Great to meet you.” He extended his hand. “Your sisters were hoping we’d get you to Tidewater before this weekend. And here you are.”

  “Here I am.” Although now that she was sitting here talking to the private investigator, she wasn’t sure what to say next.

  She was saved from having to say anything when the tallest man she’d ever seen in person opened the front door.

  “Here comes my partner now,” Ian said, waving at the man in the doorway. “Over here, Ryan.”

  The giant ducked his head and stepped inside. Dressed in black from his T-shirt to his Doc Martens, he was one scary-looking man. Sort of. Like Ian, he had a deep tan, but unlike Ian, the man had a completely bald head. There were a few lines around his dark brown eyes. Eyes the same shade and shape as Karma’s.

  He moved gracefully into the room, claiming the empty seat next to Hannah.

  “Ryan, meet Hannah Halloran. She’s the Scott sister from Ohio,” Ian said succinctly with an air of professionalism that he hadn’t shown with Karma.

  “Afternoon,” Ryan said in a deep-timbre voice. He shook her hand with the refined gentleness only the very big can pull off without seeming like a limp fish. He might have been huge but he had a calm air that cloaked him like his black clothes. The man was a walking dich
otomy.

  “She was just telling me about getting our card twice,” Ian said. “And why she waited to call us until this morning.”

  Something about Ian’s completely professional transformation made the meeting go smoother for Hannah. She was reporting the facts. She told them about her parents in Ohio, the reason for her delayed response, and her trip to Tidewater two days prior.

  Had it only been two days? It seemed so much longer.

  “Hannah, now tell them about last night.” Karma nodded encouragingly. “They’ll believe you.”

  Hannah worried her smaller braid between her fingers. What if they didn’t?

  As if she could read Hannah’s thoughts, Karma said, “They’re my cousins. They’ve heard of weirder things than psychometry, I promise.”

  Ryan cocked his head to one side. “Is that when you get visions from objects?”

  There was no censure in his question, only curiosity. It settled the butterflies in her belly that she hadn’t even realized had taken up residence there. “Metal objects. I get visions from metal things like keys, silverware, hand railings, knives, that sort of thing.”

  “Does it happen all the time?” Ian asked, pulling out a little black notebook and a pen. He scribbled something in it.

  “Not always. I’m usually careful about not touching an object with my skin.”

  “So, you need the metal to touch your flesh to get a reading?” Ian jotted another note.

  “Yes, but it’s not a reading. It’s more like wandering around in someone else’s memory or fantasy. For as long as the vision lasts, I am that person. I feel what they felt. Think what they thought. I can even remember the smells they smelled.”

  “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.”

  CHAPTER 13

  “HAVE 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.