Page 85 of Kill Me Again: Psychics

I’d hoped to be long gone before they got here, but I should have known Ben would be more efficient than that. At least the speed suggested they were taking the identity of Jamie’s assailant seriously.

Ben showed no surprise—unless you counted the slightest lift of an eyebrow—when the door opened to reveal Lake and me standing there. Calisto liked to call it his professional front. Ben wasn’t alone, two plainclothes officers flanking him. I gave them a brief nod before moving past.

Ben caught up with Lake and me before we could get in the car and drive off, dashing any hope we had of making a clean escape.

“Anything I should know?” he asked. In the background, the two officers introduced themselves to my mother. She was having quite a day of it.

It was tempting to answer Ben’s question with a simple no. But, professional front or not, I needed to remember he was on my side. “Twin brother,” I said, avoiding eye contact. “One I never knew I had. They don’t know where he is or how to get in touch with him. At least, that’s the story they told me.”

“Do you believe them?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “They’re not good liars.” I laughed at my own words. “Or maybe they are. They told me one absolute whopper for my entire life. Oh, and you should probably know that he can read minds just like me.” I unlocked the car and opened the door. Ben was still watching me. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he said.

“Like what?”

“Well, for a start, you didn’t tell me you were coming here.”

“I wanted to talk to them first. This is about me. It’s my life. I deserved to hear it from the horse’s mouth instead of second-hand.”

“You did,” Ben agreed. “But now you need to go back to the hotel and let us do our jobs. Don’t go playing hero.”

I studied him. “You realize that if Calisto hadn’t played hero once upon a time, you’d most likely be dead now. Just another statistic in O’Reilly’s twisted, blinkered game to get her daughter back without anyone getting in her way.”

“I do realize that,” Ben said evenly, his gaze never leaving mine. “But just because that worked out doesn’t mean it’s a blueprint for everything else.”

“DCI Weaver?”

Ben turned as the officer called his name from the doorway. The message was obvious—the investigation was moving on without him. He took a few steps back. “I have to go. Keep your phone switched on. I may need to talk to you.”

I watched until he disappeared into the house, and the door closed. A dull pounding had started up behind my eyes. I realized I’d been staring into space for too long when Lake eased the car keys from my hand and gave me a gentle nudge toward the passenger seat. “I’ll drive.”

“Calisto won’t like that,” I said as I climbed in. “He wasn’t a huge fan of me borrowing it in the first place. You’d think now that he has a Porsche and a boyfriend who could buy him any car he wants, he’d be less precious about it, but apparently not.”

Lake started the engine. “I’m sure he’d prefer me driving it to you wrapping it around a lamppost because your concentration’s shot.”

“My concentration is fine.” It would have sounded more convincing if I hadn’t already leaned my head back against the seat and closed my eyes. “Not the hotel,” I added after a few moments. “Not yet.”

“Where, then?”

“I don’t know.”