Free Touching Evil by Kay Hooper Page B

course."
    Maggie stood there stiffly for a long moment, wanting to fight everything she felt but trying not to. It came at her in waves, the stench of the blood, the warm stickiness of it that clotted and chilled with the icy wind touching it. And the pain, all the degrees of it, sharp jolts and dull aches and the swelling agony that was as much emotional as physical. And the intermittent flashes of darkness that lasted seconds now, horrible darkness filled with terror and panic and loss, such loss . . .
    She had forgotten her companions and started when John grasped her arm. She was coughing. When had she started coughing?
    "Maggie?"
    "I have to ... get out of. . ." She jerked her arm free of his grasp and lurched toward the door, almost stumbling.
    John started after her, but Quentin caught his arm to stop him.
    "Jesus," the other man murmured softly.
    Staring at him in the dim light, John was surprised to see something that looked like awe on his friend's mobile face. "What?" he demanded. "What is it? What was wrong with Maggie?"
    "Wrong? I don't know if I'd call it wrong." Quentin drew a deep breath. "But I don't envy your Maggie, I'll tell you that."
    John didn't question the possessive. "Why?"
    "It explains a lot," Quentin mused. "How she's able to establish such a strong bond with victims, how she's able to so accurately draw what they see. Christ, no wonder it looks like magic to those around her."
    "She's psychic?"
    "It's not quite that simple, John. There's psychic . . . and then there's gifted. Or cursed. Did you see her face just now? She was in agony. Actual physical pain."
    "Why? What was hurting her?"
    "He had hurt her. The rapist. He attacked her, raped and beat her, took her eyes—and left her here to suffer." Quentin shook his head. "John, that's what Maggie was feeling. She was feeling everything Hollis Templeton felt in this room more than three weeks ago."
    CHAPTER   FIVE
    Jennifer Seaton was a good cop. But even more, she was an intuitive cop who had learned to trust her hunches. So while Scott worked the phones attempting to track down those missing files, she got on her computer, connected to the Washington state library system database, and conducted a different kind of search.
    She hit possible pay dirt before Scott did, but since it was very late on a Saturday afternoon it took her another half hour just to track down a library still open for business.
    "I understand the request, detective," the head librarian said, the confusion in her voice belying the words, "but we're locking the doors in ten minutes, —
    "Police emergency," Jennifer said, ruthlessly misusing her authority. "If you'll hold them for me until I get there, I'd appreciate it. I'm leaving now."
    As she hung up the phone and rose to her feet, Scott said sourly, "Oh, yeah, leave me with this, why don't you?"
    "Any luck?" she asked, pausing by his desk and digging into her pocket for another cinnamon-flavored toothpick.
    "All I've got so far is a growing list of stations with old files stored in their basements. Nobody really knows what they've got, and nobody's volunteering to go down and check, especially on a cold Saturday afternoon. And I can't say that I blame them." He raked fingers through his hair and peered up at her. "Calling it a day?"
    "No, I'll be back in about an hour. I may have found a shortcut for us—or at least another source we can use."
    "Well, bring me back a snack, will you? I missed lunch, and there's nothing here but stale sandwiches and some really stale donuts."
    Jennifer nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Where's Andy?"
    "Beats me. He was at his desk a minute ago."
    "If he gets back before I do, ask him not to leave for the night until he talks to me, okay?"
    "Sure."
    Jennifer left the station and made her way to the side lot where her car was parked. The streetlights had come on even though twilight made it easy to see, and she paused beside her car to look around, uneasy for no reason she could explain to