Free Twice Cursed by Marianne Morea Page B

and crossed her legs,
her elbows on either arm of the chair, and her fingers laced
together in front. Detectives were specialized, trained in the art
of interpreting body language and reading between the lines. Lily
wanted it clear, if unspoken, that she had nothing to fear and
nothing to hide.
    “ One doesn’t need to be a
profiler, gentlemen, to see there’s more here than meets the eye.
You’ve gathered hard facts about this difficult case, and as Chief
Phillips has explained, you are to be commended. You’re seasoned
veterans, and doubtful about me, and what I can bring to the case.
That’s understandable. What I do can’t always be quantified. I,
myself, don’t always understand how I know what I know.”
    Lily paused, waiting for someone to
interject, but no one said a word. The hostility coming from Shaw
was palpable, and her earlier suspicions ratcheted up a notch. The
man wasn’t just skeptical; he would derail her entire role in this
case if he got the chance.
    On the other hand, Martinez’s
curiosity was piqued. Unlike Shaw, whose body language was closed
and defensive, Martinez leaned forward in his chair, his eyes
trained exclusively on hers.
    She glanced up at Mark, and at his
nod, continued.
    “ Regardless of whether you
choose to believe it or not, the truth is, I see things, feel
things and know things others don’t. It’s called parapsychology,
and I understand how hard it is to put faith in anything
labeled beyond normal . Profiling goes hand in hand with psychic ability. However,
that doesn’t mean I want to be a one-woman show. I want this to be
a team effort.”
    Shaw’s face looked as if he’d sucked
on a lemon. He cleared his throat, and with a grunt, shifted in his
seat. But Phillips was resolute, no matter how much the Detective
Sergeant resented the idea. The hierarchy of the police department
was a political hornets’ nest, and perhaps that was the reason for
his overblown opposition. His authority had been subject, and
subsequently overruled.
    “ What can we do to help?”
Martinez asked, obviously ignoring Shaw’s disapproving
cough.
    Lily ignored him, as well. “I’m a
purist, as Chief Phillips will attest to, and prefer you not to
tell me the specifics. The only thing I need is a jumping-off
point. That way, there won’t be a question about what I learn
versus what you’ve told me. It’s the way I do things, allowing for
us to work together rather than against each other…or God forbid,
have the situation become a battle of one-upmanship.”
    Phillips’s face was a full-on smirk.
“I see your leave of absence hasn’t tempered you one bit. Good,
because we’re going to need every ounce of that infamous tenacity
to solve this case.”
    Lily couldn’t help but smile. She
should have known Mark would have her back. “Besides having little
evidence and only D.O.A.s, was there anything about the crime
scene, anything unusual that might give me a place to
start?”
    “ Take a look for yourself,”
Phillips said, gesturing for Martinez to hand over the case file
and the Medical Examiner’s report.
    “ I thought you just said
you didn’t want specifics,” Shaw objected, crossing his arms in a
huff.
    Lily shot him a look, taking the file
from Martinez’s hand. The detective’s fingers brushed hers in the
transfer, and a rush of disjointed images and thoughts spilled into
her mind. She sucked in a breath and locked her narrowed gaze on
his.
    Phillips pushed himself up from the
edge of his desk. “What? What just happened?”
    Lily’s eyes didn’t leave Martinez’s as
she answered. “I need to get to the morgue…now.”
     
    ***
     
    The elevator doors slid closed, and
Martinez pushed the button for the ground floor. He looked straight
ahead at nothing, though the weight of Lily’s stare was heavy and
intent.
    “ How did you know each
victim had been drained dry?”
    Martinez’s head whipped around, and
his mouth fell open. She couldn’t have stunned him more