Murders of the Zodiac Boxed Set

by Paris Morgan

  “I’m amazed that she can’t feel the amount of energy that you give out on a regular basis.” Mark shook his head in bewilderment. “Though her shield might have something to do with it.”

  “My shield? Aren’t I supposed to have a shield up to keep my abilities from overwhelming me?” I paused with the butter knife over my pancakes.

  “Yes and no.” Mark leaned toward me. “Reach a hand out toward Adam and let yourself feel.”

  I put the knife down and tentatively stuck a finger in Adam’s direction. The closer I got, the more resistance I received.

  “That’s his shield. Now, try lowering yours and reach out with your psychic energy to ‘feel’ his shield,” Mark instructed.

  With a deep breath, I lowered the wall in my mind and felt out into the room. Not only did I hit Adam’s shield, but Mark’s as well.

  “One of your guards in the hall has a shield too.” My eyes flew open and I searched for confirmation that someone was there.

  “I see why you’re having problems with her, Adam,” Mark commented. “It’s like teaching a newborn baby how to do everything. You were right in bringing her here. A couple of days of training and she may actually be able to find the Zodiac Master on her own with just her senses.”

  “They come and go, though. There was an almost two-month time period that I couldn’t have made a psychic connection if my life depended on it.” I shook my head, frustrated, as I put the wall in my mind back into place.

  “Yes, because you burned yourself out. Your energy had to recuperate. Most people would have been done, or it might have taken years to regain the kind of strength you’ve shown in the past twenty-four hours. We’ll begin your training after breakfast.” He nodded to himself with satisfaction and returned to eating.

  “Wait…training? I thought we were here so I could get a lead on the Zodiac Master? We found out the name of our new killer, Zesty. We have to start searching for her.”

  “Training you will ensure that you are able to search while out in the field without hurting yourself or others. It’s become essential for you to do some exercises so that in an emergency situation, you don’t fall over asleep for a full day.” Mark’s tone was filled with authority.

  “What if I don’t want to do this training?” I crossed my arms over my chest, feeling like a rebellious teen.

  “You don’t really have a choice, do you?” Mark tilted his head to the side, waiting for me to decide. “We may be able to set Mary Ann free if you’re willing to work hard enough to keep your energies under control.”

  “All right.” I sighed loudly. “It’s really not my problem if you want to waste time while this killer begins taking lives.”

  Mark shook his head. “I’m not sure how you’ve managed to restrain yourself while working with her for…what is it now, five months?” he tsked before refilling his coffee.

  Adam grinned. “It’s going to be interesting to say the least, but if you can break through her barriers and teach her how to control her gifts, then you’ll be doing everyone a favor.”

  “Traitor,” I coughed behind my hand. “I’m going to remember this.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less. Just know that in the long run, it’s going to save lives,” Adam assured me. “Besides, I’ve already sent a message to our tech friend on a secure server so he can start looking on the dark web for this Zesty, so we’re not wasting time. Actually, we’re multitasking.” He smiled as he stood from his chair. “Now, I’ll leave you to finish breakfast before your torture session begins.” To Mark, he said, “Let me know when I need to pick her up. I’ve got to run a few errands that won’t wait. You can reach me through the usual channels.”

  “Of course, and thank you for letting me have the honor of helping with this case. The evil that this has brought to the cosmos must be corrected, and soon,” Mark agreed as he rose. “I’ll see you out.”

  Feeling more like the teenager who’d been chastised and left to think about her actions, I helped myself to more pancakes. If I was going to train in the psychic world, then I was going to need more food so my energy would last longer.

  ***

  Feeling slightly betrayed by Adam, I crossed my legs on the floor in front of Mark and decided that I’d try my best.

  “We’ve seen what you can do with someone showing or guiding you along the path. One of the basic things you’re going to need is having your senses tell you when you’re around someone who is gifted. You’ll also start to get vibes about someone with evil intentions.”

  I raised my hand like the student I was for the moment. “How will I know if they have evil intentions?”

  “Your senses will be able to tell the difference in people’s auras. While you may not be able to explain it at first, your senses will start screaming at you to run or leave when faced with evil. I’m not talking about someone who is cheating on their spouse, but someone that is doing something destructive. Killing another human, revenge, or anything that is motivated by disturbing emotions will be the strongest, and as your gifts of discernment grow, you’ll pick up on the other smaller things,” Mark explained with patience.

  “What does my shield have to do with it?”

  “You’ll see as we begin. Right now, how do you picture your shield in your mind?”

  “More like a wall than a shield to keep anything from getting inside the walls.”

  “Which is why you can’t sense anything. Try thinking of your shield as a screen that filters out what you don’t want coming inside. Now, you want to extend that screen to include your body by sending energy through the screen and trying to find my shield, while at the same time stopping things from coming inside the screen that are unwanted. Let’s try it. I want you to reach out while trying to keep me from sending something inside your screen.”

  I took a deep breath, then exhaled. “All right.”

  Closing my eyes, I changed my wall into a porous screen and reached through to find his shield.

  Little zaps began to come through the screen, and I continued searching for his shield while swatting at them. As more came, I readjusted so that my screen wouldn’t allow them through as I tried to reach him.

  Changing tactics, I dropped my metaphysical arm and pushed through my screen with my senses. A smile crossed my lips as I made contact through the screen and the annoying little zaps were no longer taking all of my attention.

  I couldn’t help myself and sent a few little zaps back toward Mark. When they made it through, I caught a glimpse of his annoyance at my attempt at payback.

  My eyes popped open and I apologized out loud, “I’m sorry.”

  His voice laughed in my head. “You’re a fast learner. Let’s see how well you handle things when you have more to work with.”

  Without a chance to close my eyes and concentrate, he hit me with the pictures of little slimy worms that appeared to be crawling over my body.

  Not sure what to do, I used my hand in a sweeping motion to get them off. They disappeared, and I was suddenly immersed in a lake.

  “This isn’t real.” Even as the words crossed my mind, I was sitting on the shore, shaking the water from my body.

  Before I could recover, a million little zaps tried getting through my screen again, but this time, I gave one thought to electrocute them. It would hurt their owner and stun them while I made their shield disappear.

  In a blink, I had a sprinkling of dust land over his shield, and then gave the command to disintegrate. I watched in amazement as his shield disappeared and he shook off the dust before erecting what looked like a steel wall.

  “He’s projecting what he wants me to see,” I mused.

  Strengthening my screen so that nothing could get through, I whispered the thought that I wanted inside to give him a gift. Since it wasn’t a threatening thought, it slid easily through and burst into confetti.

  “Well done.” Mark clapped in appreciation.

  It took a moment for me to realize that he wasn�
�t trying to attack me anymore, and I slowly relaxed.

  I was looking at him, but I could still feel the ties to my screen and sense his presence sitting across from me.

  “You showed restraint and an interesting method to get your point through without hurting me. If you had wanted to, you could have done something equally harmful to me once you were past my shield.”

  I frowned. “I didn’t want to hurt you. All the things you did were little things to make me react.”

  “If you hadn’t reacted so quickly, then you might have drowned, or your brain would have thought it was happening, in which your body would have reacted to in the same manner as if it had happened in real life. That’s why you have to be very careful projecting something onto someone else.”

  “So were you just letting me do those things easily? Is that something I’m going to have to prepare for with every psychic I encounter?”

  He shook his head. “No. Most psychics will be able to tell that you are gifted, but the strength of your shields will keep more than a casual observer from trying anything. Even some of the greatest psychics can’t do what you just did. Those who are gifted can sense you, but they won’t know what your skill level is exactly.” He frowned. “The best way I can explain it is there are good wizards and bad ones. A good wizard would never think of trying to dig into your personal space, while a bad one would enjoy messing with you.

  “As long as you keep a screen as thick as your wall was, then you’re not going to have any problems. With a little training, you’re going to be running circles around me,” he complemented. “You’ll notice that I was busy trying keep you out and couldn’t be on the offensive. You’ve already mastered doing both. It won’t come naturally for a while, but with practice, you’ll be able to do it without thinking.”

  I tried not to glow under his compliments, but it was hard.

  “Now, I need to take a break. I’m suggesting you take a walk and see what you can sense about the world around you. Don’t go crazy,” he cautioned, “but let your senses tell you what’s on the path in front of you. Nature responds well to positive energy. Then, when you’ve gotten some real exercise, come back for lunch.”

  “Yes, sir,” I acknowledged, feeling slightly different. This sensory portion of my detective training would take a little getting used to before I was comfortable not just throwing a wall up in front of me.

  ***

  Two more sessions and a good night’s sleep were all that I was able to get before Adam showed up to get me. There’d been another body in Oregon.

  When we arrived at the crime scene, I looked at it from a different perspective.

  The local police had moved the body, but the pictures spoke of someone killing just for fun. Crime scene tape was stuck to the edge of the wall, but the rest of the world continued to move on about its existence.

  “She left us a message in candy corn.” Ryan shook his head in disgust. “It’s like she’s just saying this is child’s play to her.”

  The air still had a touch of evil hanging around, as if the deed itself had left a mark on the pavement that wasn’t going to wash out.

  “It was child’s play. What she’s doing doesn’t even challenge her. It’s something she does when she’s bored, and she likes to do it.” I don’t know where that came from exactly, but I knew it was the truth.

  Ryan gave me a strange look.

  “We’re looking for someone who is really rich, or at least has enough money that it isn’t a worry. Toying with people is something she does whether they’re about to die or not.”

  Adam consulted the coroner’s report. “He says it was quick, a clean slice to take off the head. This would have required some strength, so this isn’t some petite little thing. She’s going to work out on a regular basis.”

  “Did you two just suddenly acquire these amazing skills of observation?” Ryan leaned against the wall with his arms crossed.

  “No. I’ve just gotten in touch with my senses. I’m looking at things in a totally different light.”

  “Ah, you’re voodoo-hoodoo training. I forgot,” Ryan grumbled. “Anything else you can pick up, or we just going to stand out here looking at a crime scene that needs a good hosing?”

  Adam raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.

  “I think we’re done here. I want to see if we can find a woman who rented a car or flew in on a private plane in the past few days.” I knew that my gifts bothered Ryan because they weren’t normal.

  “Let’s make it quick. We’ve got a possible body on the East Coast. This was from two days ago, so we don’t know if it’s our killer, but it’s another severed head.”

  “Great. Another plane ride to another crime scene,” Ryan complained, heading to the car.

  “Not what we planned for our futures, huh?” I agreed. “How soon is the baby going to be here?”

  It was the one thing that Ryan could talk about these days without becoming grumpy.

  “She’s gotten more active. She could come early, but from what I’ve heard, first babies always take longer to arrive.”

  “Yep, I’ve heard that rumor. Is Shea okay with you traveling around right now?” I asked, concerned.

  “For the moment. Flora is right there with her, and I think they’re really enjoying each other’s company. I’m going to be in trouble if we aren’t back by next Saturday, though. There’s this baby shower thing we’re hosting.” He frowned.

  “Those can be fun. I’m guessing you need me and Flora to be there as well?” Adam grinned, clapping him on the back.

  “Yep. I’m guessing you probably just got word of mouth invite, but who knows how this works.”

  “Unless we’re literally tied up, then I plan to be there,” I assured him. “After all, the fun and humiliation is just beginning. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

  Ryan twisted around in the seat. “Humiliation? I’m good with fun, but why am I going to be humiliated? You know what?” He pointed a finger at both Adam and I. “I’m not going to listen to you. You don’t have kids, and the last time I listened to you, you were both wrong. Shea doesn’t hate me.”

  I grinned. “We’ll talk again once the baby gets here and you survive your first week.”

  Chapter 6

  Ryan

  The thought of Agent Watson working for the wrong side wasn’t sitting well with me. In fact, I was pretty sure it was the reason for my indigestion over the past few weeks. I might not have the sensitive gifts that Leslie and Adam were using more frequently, but somehow, I knew this needed to be taken care of.

  I’d reached out to Kevin, but hadn’t heard anything back from him.

  We arrived at the hotel in Arlington, Virginia and checked in. Most of the time, we had to wait until the next day for the detectives on the case to be able to meet with us.

  Adam, Leslie, and I were all going to look for a place to eat dinner when the phone in my room rang.

  “Hello?” I wasn’t expecting a call, and assumed it was the front desk.

  “Ryan? It’s Kevin. I’ve come across a few things, and it’s much bigger than we previously thought."

  “Kevin, how on earth did you know where to contact me at?”

  “Really? You doubt my tech stalking skills? I work for the FBI.” Kevin chuckled at my naivety.

  “You’re right, I’m just a little paranoid these days.”

  “Aren’t we all? I’ve found some very important information. I was about to turn it over to Agent Watson when I realized that there was a bigger problem, and that someone is in our section of the FBI. While I trust Agent Watson, I also didn’t want to have someone ignore or use this information in the wrong way.”

  “Don’t tell me what it’s about, but do you have proof?”

  “I’m working on it. I have a contact in another section of the agency. They’re checking on a few things under the radar, because if this stuff gets out, they’re going to go to ground and shred all the evidence,” Kevin cautioned.r />
  “Sounds good. Do you know when you’re planning to take care of this problem?”

  “In the next week or two at the latest, but we won’t have much time to move on it once we have all our ducks in a row. This is going to have to be on the downlow. I don’t want my cover to be blown when I’m so close to finding what we need or have any of the other complications that might get in the way.”

  “Agreed.” I glanced at the others listening in as best they could from my one-sided conversation.

  “Look, I’ve got to process a bunch of stuff that I came across today, but I just wanted to give you guys a heads up. Also, in case anything happens, don’t forget where I put that stuff for you.”

  I didn’t want to think about the drop spot we’d agreed on, but it was a reality, especially with this case.

  “Don’t let anything happen, dude. You’re a huge part of our team, and one of the few we trust as well.”

  “Yeah, that’s the plan. Later.” Kevin hung up.

  “Kevin?” Adam asked from his seat on the edge of the bed.

  “Yes, he’s found some stuff. We should be able to make a big dent in our side case, which should piss off the Zodiac Master.”

  “Maybe more than just piss him off. I’m hoping that we can establish the connection that he is John Reed’s son. Then, it will be obvious that he’s been trying to get his dad’s attention. Any hint as to what it might be?” Leslie asked.

  “No. And even though we’re here in the hotel, there’s still a chance that what we say is being monitored. We’ll meet up when we get home later this week.”

  ***

  Even though we were out going to crime scenes all around the country as they came up, I began to use my free time in the evenings to search for anything that might give us some indication if Agent Watson was on our side or not.

  There wasn’t anything in his FBI history that would indicate something had been covered up or buried to make him look better. All of his accounts appeared to hold the normal amounts of money. Since he wasn’t from our field office, it was possible that there was something there, but I wasn’t convinced it would be that obvious.