"He's never been keen on them, but he really does not want to attend this particular gig."
"Why?"
"His ex-fiancee and her family will be there."
"Whoa, slow down. I didn't know that Fallon had been engaged."
"Her name is Jennifer Austin. She's an expert in paranormal radiation. Works in the lab in L.A."
"Any relation to the Conroy Austin who sits on the Council?"
"His daughter," Zack said. "When Jennifer and Fallon got engaged, everyone thought it was a perfect match."
"What happened?"
"It didn't end well," Zack said.
"I see."
"By the way, you were wrong about the Earth shifting on its axis just because Fallon Jones got himself a new assistant."
"You're sure?"
"Absolutely certain," Zack said. "That Earth-shifting-on-its-axis thing only happens when you and I make love."
"Yes," Raine said. She smiled. "You're right about that."
19
At nine o'clock the next morning, Isabella was on the phone with Emily Crane, one of J&J's contract investigators.
"He's sitting here in my office, crying," Emily whispered on the other end of the line. "What am I supposed to do now?"
"Don't worry about the crying client," Isabella said. "Cases involving fraudulent mediums are always very emotional. Mr. Rand hoped that the fake psychic really had communicated with his dead mother. But the fact that he asked J&J to investigate makes it clear that deep down he had his doubts. Pat him on the shoulder and remind him that his own instincts were solid."
"The problem," Emily said in low tones, "is the reason why he was so anxious to contact the dear departed in the first place. Evidently his mother stashed several thousand dollars' worth of financial instruments somewhere before her death. Rand told me that his mom collapsed and died very suddenly. Heart attack. She never told anyone where she had hidden the papers."
"Oh, I see," Isabella said. "Well, that's simple enough. Tell Mr. Rand that you'll be glad to see what you can do about turning up the missing financial instruments."
"Uh, that's not such a great idea. Hang on a sec."
Isabella heard muffled voices in the background. Emily Crane was speaking to the client.
"If you'll excuse me for a moment, Mr. Rand, this is a business call. I'm going to take it in the next room."
In the background, Rand sobbed harder.
Isabella heard a door close. Rand's sobs were no longer audible.
"What's up?" Isabella asked.
"What's up," Emily said, "is that my intuition tells me that Rand is responsible for his mother's death. Not sure how he did it, maybe with her own meds. He obviously wasn't expecting the sudden cardiac arrest, though. Probably thought that if she wound up in intensive care, she would realize she was dying and tell him where the bonds were hidden."
"Oh, geez. I hate when this happens."
"Me, too," Emily said fervently. "Listen, I'm one of those agents Fallon Jones likes to call his Lost Dogs and Haunted Houses people. That's why J&J referred Rand to me in the first place."
"And also because you're located in the same city."
"Right. But a murder investigation, especially one that is next to impossible to prove, is out of my league. I don't have the experience. If J&J wants to pursue this, you're going to have to bring in someone else."
"Not a problem. Let me check my file of investigators there in San Francisco." Isabella swiveled her chair around to face the computer screen and cranked up the list of Bay Area private investigators affiliated with J&J. "Here we go. Seaton-Kent Investigations. I'll give them a call."
"I know Baxter Seaton and Devlin Kent." Emily sounded vastly relieved. "Nice couple. Good investigators. I had drinks and dinner with them just last week. They can handle Rand."
"Tell Rand that you're referring him to an agency that specializes in finding lost securities. Seaton and Kent will investigate and if they actually turn up some evidence--"
"Not likely."
"You never know. If they do, they'll give everything they find to the cops. The authorities can take it from there."
"I can't tell you how glad I am that Fallon Jones finally hired someone to handle his office," Emily said. "It's so much easier dealing with you, Isabella. Jones always growled at me. I appreciated the referrals, of course, but every time he called he sounded so grouchy."
"Mr. Jones was trying to take on too much," Isabella said smoothly. "He was terribly overworked."
"I don't know about overworked, but he definitely needed an office manager and a good receptionist. Glad he found you. Call me when you get another Lost Dogs and Haunted Houses case in the Bay Area. Those are my specialty."
Isabella cleared her throat. "Actually, I'm not just the office manager and receptionist. I'm an investigator here at the agency."
"Whatever," Emily said. "Got to go deal with my crying client. Thanks for helping me unload him on Baxter and Devlin."
The phone went dead in Isabella's ear. She put it down and noticed that Fallon was watching her with his usual focused expression. He was leaning back in his chair, his booted feet stacked on the corner of the desk.
"Emily Crane wanted off the job?" he asked.
"She closed the case. Proved the medium was a fraud."
"Not what the client wanted to hear?"
"No. Emily thinks Rand killed his mom for his inheritance but his goal was a lingering death. He hoped his mother would tell him where the securities were hidden before she died. The plan didn't work. Now Rand is pursuing other courses of action."
"Emily is right," Fallon said. "Not her kind of work. Seaton or his partner can handle it. Good choice."
"I'll give their agency a call." She picked up the phone.
"Before you do that, there's something I need to tell you. I've got to make a business trip to Sedona day after tomorrow. Just an overnight."
She put the phone down. Her intuition told her that whatever was in the works, it was more than a business trip.
"You never go anywhere," she said.
"I'm not what you'd call a traveling man."
"In the whole time I've known you, you haven't gone any farther than Willow Creek."
"You've only known me for about a month."
"When was the last time you left the Cove?"