Free Hot Trick (A Detective Shelley Caldwell Novel) by Patricia Rosemoor Page B

could. Sebastian had been trying to hack in to my brain, but he could simply be some kind of psychic, like Silke and me.
    “I asked him what he was. He thought it was funny. He told me he was a magician.”
    “A mage?”
    “Mage?”
    “Sorcerer. Wizard.”
    “He’s an entertainer, for heaven’s sake! He tricks people into believing his illusions.”
    “Unless what he does is real.”
    I could sense Jake’s unrest, yet he had no reason for it. “Oh, come on. Until I have proof that he’s something other than what he says he is, I’m just going to treat him like any other human suspect.”
    “You’re making a mistake. You’re trying to avoid the truth, trying to avoid anything that will reflect badly on you.”
    Maybe. More than that, I was avoiding facing what I had never wanted to believe. Like when we were kids and Silke used to drag me to see horror films. The movies themselves didn’t scare me, but the idea that the supernatural could exist did. I’d carried the fear with me into adulthood. How did you fight evil that wasn’t human?
    Actually, I’d learned a few tricks since then.
    “It’s my case, Jake.” And he was making something out of nothing. Either that, or he wasn’t telling me all. I felt my temper slipping. “This is my professional life. You belong in my personal life. I’m sorry, but professional and personal need to stay separate.”
    He flinched as if I’d slapped him.
    “Fine. Give me a call when you have time for a personal life, then.”
    In the blink of an eye, he was gone, leaving me with an empty feeling. I hadn’t meant to take out my frustration on him. I loved that he wanted to protect me, to help me even if I couldn’t let him. I’d just…reacted. I promised myself that I would make it up to him later.
    In the meantime, my unease about Sebastian grew. Jake couldn’t be right about the guy. Sorcery was an invention of fantasy novels. Real magicians didn’t exist.
    Right?
    Then, again, that’s what I’d thought about vampires…
    Maybe he had a point about my wanting to avoid looking bad. I’d been walking on eggshells around the department ever since the supposed cult case had been closed.
    And maybe I’d been holding back on Jake for the same reason, because I couldn’t deal with who he really was.
    Tucking the whole supernatural possibility someplace where I didn’t have to think about it for the moment, I stormed over to the street, happy for once to see Norelli. He still seemed to be in some kind of a trance. When I opened the door, I swore I heard him mutter, “Edmund Fox…Edmund Fox…Edmund Fox,” under his breath, like he was afraid of forgetting the name.
    “Talking to yourself again?” I asked.
    Norelli didn’t seem to be listening to me. “Hmm, how do I get a handle on Edmund Fox?”
    Realizing his going down that road might be a good idea until I figured out what was what, I said, “According to the media, he’s in town.”
    “Why didn’t you say so?”
    “I just did. You kind of got on a roll in Sebastian’s place and I didn’t want to interrupt.”
    I really hadn’t been holding out on him. The conversation had merely turned in a different direction.
    A few minutes later we were back at my car, and Norelli said, “You’re coming straight back to the office, right?”
    “Yeah, I need to make out a report about Snake Eyes attacking me. And then the plan is for me to check those mug shots.”
    “Good. Good. And I’ll see about getting to Fox.”
    I nodded. I wasn’t ruling out Fox. I simply hadn’t liked the way Sebastian planted the idea in Norelli’s mind.
    If that’s what he had done.
    This was one of those rare times when I wasn’t sure of anything.

Chapter Fourteen
    Jake waited until Shelley drove off with Norelli to return to Sebastian’s windows. He’d almost lost his cool earlier when the magician had reached for Shelley.
    He thought about Sebastian escorting Shelley to the door. When the magician had turned around,