Free Shattered: A Psychic Visions Novel by Dale Mayer Page B

But they couldn’t hide. Not from him. Not like this. If he could figure out where she went on those times she did manage to get away from him, he’d have total control. As it was, she had some way to escape him, and it pissed him off every damn time.
    It went toward why he kept her around. She was a challenge. As he poured more onto her, learning who and why, what made her tick, investing into her system, tying her to him, she developed bigger and stronger as she found ways to defeat him. That he loved. Most games once you beat them, they were done. Boring as hell afterwards. But not in her case. She just got stronger, more devious. And it challenged him to do the same.
    Adding to the fun was she had no idea.
    He crept into her dreams and turned them to nightmares. He woke her up in a cold sweat over nothing. He made her panic from the voices in her head and he laughed.
    For all that she was so malleable, she had this one part of her that she held inviolate. And he hated it. He wanted into that part of her. It was the mechanism that continued to defy him. He wanted to know how she was evading him. He had to know. It was the only trick she was doing on her own that he had no idea about. The scientist doing research inside of him needed to know. The man inside demanded to know.
    The owner of all control over her was desperate to know.
    He couldn’t help the feeling that there was more to this than he knew, and he suspected there always had been. He hated to be made a fool. And she’d done so time and time again.
    How? What? Why?
    He needed to understand her tricks.
    So he could put a stop to them permanently.
    It was time. But not until he knew how she’d been evading his strongest efforts up until now. Then he’d kill her. And find someone else to play with.***
    Stefan stared at the phone in his hand. It had been ringing all morning. He’d just gotten off a call with Trevor letting him know they were on the move when Dr. Maddy’s partner called. “Drew, Could you repeat that please?”
    “I said we received an anonymous tip that Trevor was involved in a murder years ago. That he had a hand in killing a teacher fifteen years ago.”
    “Was the case ever solved?”
    “It was never closed. It ended up in cold cases. Hence the file landed on my desk.”
    “Interesting timing.” Stefan shook his head at the ploys of men. Goodman required having an eye kept on him. How much trouble was he planning to cause Trevor over this marriage? He suspected it was just the beginning.
    Drew hesitated. “You’re sure about Trevor? That he’s a good guy?” He cleared his throat. “I’ve met him but don’t know him.”
    Without hesitation Stefan said, “Yes. He’s never killed anyone.”
    “There is something very important there.” Stefan watched as the energy in front of him shifted and changed. “It leads down a convoluted path but I think at the end there is evidence of wrong doing – but not at Trevor’s hands.”
    “Good. I like a good puzzle. If the teacher was murdered, then justice will prevail.”
    Drew hung up, leaving Stefan to deal with the painful yet faded image of a teacher’s badly burned body from the blast that dropped the science building at the school.

Chapter 10

    S he understood taking precautions but he was being paranoid. Maybe he’d just realized how serious her father was. That he couldn’t take enough security measures.
    At the parking lot, he led her to a small silver car and assisted her into the front seat. She waited for him to make his way around to the driver’s side and get in.
    His gaze never stopped searching the area.
    When he got inside, she asked, “You’re expecting an ambush, aren’t you?”
    “I’m expecting anything and everything,” he said, then added, “Especially the unusual.”
    “My father metes out punishment that is pretty mainstream. Knifings, beatings, a gunshot or two, but mostly he likes to crush people by taking away their homes, businesses, and