In Too Deep

“I’m not sure how to take that.”

“I was slipping into the darkness before you came along, Isabella.”

“No,” she said quickly. “I think you were just physically and psychically exhausted and maybe a little depressed because the job was overwhelming you.”

“All I know is that with you I feel centered again.”

It wasn’t exactly a declaration of love, she thought, but at least Fallon was aware of the bond between them. That would do for now.

She reached up and touched his hard jaw. “When I’m with you, I feel as if I’ve found something I’ve been looking for a very long time.”

His eyes burned. He lowered his head and kissed her, slowly at first, letting the hunger grow between them. The heady psi of the Sedona night closed around them, enhancing sensation across the spectrum. Isabella opened her senses to savor the invisible fire.

“Excuse me if I’m interrupting anything.”

The voice, iced with rage and pain, came out of the darkness behind Isabella. Jolted, she gasped, took a step back out of Fallon’s arms and turned quickly, nearly toppling in her stiletto-heeled shoes. Fallon caught her easily, steadying her.

They both looked at Je

“Hello, Je

Je

“I can’t believe you had the gall to show up here tonight, Fallon,” Je

“I’m sorry,” Fallon said. “But we both know it was inevitable that sooner or later we would come face-to-face at some Arcane event. The Society is a small world at the top.”

“And your family controls that world,” Je

Fallon did not react.

Je

“You must be the new office manager everyone is talking about. The one who thinks Fallon is some kind of modern Sherlock Holmes.”

“Well, as a matter of fact, in addition to managing the office, I’m an investigator in the firm,” Isabella said.

“The way I hear it, you’re providing some additional services on the side,” Je

At that, Fallon stirred. Ominous energy shivered in the atmosphere. “That’s enough, Je

“Does she know why we broke up?” Je

Isabella studied the fog that threatened to consume Je

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Je

“You were the one who exposed Fallon to the magic-lantern lights that night, weren’t you?” Isabella said gently. “Tucker didn’t use his talent to slip into your condo to set up the lantern. You did it so that Fallon would be disoriented when your brother came to murder him.”

Fallon was suddenly very still. But his reaction was nothing compared with Je

“You’re crazy,” Je

“I’m sure Fallon knows the truth. He has probably known it all along.”

“That’s not true.” Je

“That’s not so easy to do,” Fallon said.

Isabella took a step toward Je

“Shut up,” Je

Isabella said nothing. Fallon did not move.

Je

Isabella went to her and put her arms around her. Je

After a while Fallon offered a pristine square of white linen. Isabella smiled a little. How many modern men carried a crisp white handkerchief on the off chance that they might need to produce it for a distraught woman, she wondered. Then, again, the small gesture suited Fallon. In many ways he was a man from another era, some mythical time and place where honor and chivalry were important concepts.

“I believed him.” Je

“I know,” Fallon said. “He was my friend and my partner. I wanted to believe him, too.”

Je

“Not always,” Fallon said.

“In this case I’m sure you do.” Je

“Tucker told you that I was the one who was ru

“Yes.” Je

“Why?” Fallon asked.

“It was an experiment,” Je

“I understand,” Fallon said.

“I was working from the records of one of my ancestors, a spectrum energy-talent who lived back in the nineteen thirties. I came up with a device that combined various kinds of amber and quartz that are naturally para-luminescent and para-phosphorescent.”

“Oh, boy,” Isabella muttered. “Geek talk. I think my eyes are starting to glaze over.”

Je

“I admit this isn’t my field,” Isabella said. “But the theory behind your research sounds very intriguing.”

“It is,” Je

“But by then Tucker had learned about your experiments and concluded that it might make an attraction at his club,” Fallon said.

“I swear, I didn’t know that he was the secret owner of the Arcane Club,” Je

“I didn’t know it, either, until the end,” Fallon said.