all, he sold insurance. And everybody knew insurance companies were very big on reducing risk.
That's what Nate was doing, reducing risk.
But he was still scared.
It didn't help that he lived alone. Creepy to be alone when you were scared. He kept the television on for background noise, because every rattle of a tree branch or sudden hoot of an owl out there made him jump. But even with the background noise, he found himself going from window to window and door to door, checking the locks. Making sure.
Watching the night creep slowly along.
He didn't sleep.
He had stopped sleeping days ago.
"Nell, are we talking about the same killer? Are you saying your father was his first victim?"
She hesitated, then shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. Maybe that was the start of his little execution plan."
"And he was here in this house."
Again, she hesitated. "There's no way for me to be sure, Max. But it makes sense. My father was found here in the house, right?"
"Yeah."
"Nobody suspected the body had been moved."
"Not that I ever heard. But since it looked like a heart attack, I doubt anyone even considered the idea."
That was true enough, and Nell nodded.
Max watched her broodingly. "Even if he was moved, what you picked up was right here, in this room—so the killer was probably here at some point."
Perfectly aware of what was bothering him about that, Nell tried to avoid discussing it. "It would be nice if I could peek back into that scene and try to get a better fix on the killer, but it doesn't seem to work that way. Or it never has. I never see the same scene twice."
"Do you ever see a second scene in the same place?"
"So far, no. It's as if, once I've tapped into the energy of a place, I've drained some of it away, eased the pressure somehow. Like the way you can be shocked by static electricity when you first touch something but not when you touch it a second time."
"The same thing can shock you a second time if you go away for a while and then touch it again later," Max pointed out. "Once the static has a chance to build back up."
"Yes, but so far I haven't figured out the time frame, if there is one, for this kind of energy. Maybe I could go back a week or a month or a year later and see something, but I haven't been able to yet. Different places may have different time frames depending on the intensity of the energies absorbed. Or this particular type of energy may dissipate completely once someone is able to tap into it. I just don't know."
"Nobody in this unit of yours has figured it out yet?"
Nell smiled slightly. "Well, aside from a pretty full load of cases to occupy most of our time, between us we also have a very wide range of paranormal abilities to deal with and try to understand. We're learning, slowly and mostly through bitter experience as we live each day and investigate cases, what our ranges and limits are, but that's an individual thing."
"And no help from science."
"No. As far as today's science goes, psychic abilities can't be validated in any acceptable sense. Oh, there are still people scattered around trying to do research, but our feeling is that today's technology and scientific methodology just isn't capable of effectively measuring or analyzing the paranormal. Not yet."
It was Max's turn to smile, albeit briefly. "That sounds just a bit like the company line."
"It is, more or less. One of the reasons I wanted to join the SCU was because I thought Bishop and his people had a very reasonable way of looking at the paranormal. They don't discount anything just because science can't explain it yet. And I have never heard any member of the team use the word impossible when referring to any aspect of the paranormal."
"Sounds like a pretty good way to live."
A little surprised, Nell said, "Corning from a hard-headed rancher, that's unexpected."
Max dropped his gaze to his mostly empty coffee cup and said slowly, "Maybe once you're touched by the paranormal, it changes your thinking
That's what Nate was doing, reducing risk.
But he was still scared.
It didn't help that he lived alone. Creepy to be alone when you were scared. He kept the television on for background noise, because every rattle of a tree branch or sudden hoot of an owl out there made him jump. But even with the background noise, he found himself going from window to window and door to door, checking the locks. Making sure.
Watching the night creep slowly along.
He didn't sleep.
He had stopped sleeping days ago.
"Nell, are we talking about the same killer? Are you saying your father was his first victim?"
She hesitated, then shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. Maybe that was the start of his little execution plan."
"And he was here in this house."
Again, she hesitated. "There's no way for me to be sure, Max. But it makes sense. My father was found here in the house, right?"
"Yeah."
"Nobody suspected the body had been moved."
"Not that I ever heard. But since it looked like a heart attack, I doubt anyone even considered the idea."
That was true enough, and Nell nodded.
Max watched her broodingly. "Even if he was moved, what you picked up was right here, in this room—so the killer was probably here at some point."
Perfectly aware of what was bothering him about that, Nell tried to avoid discussing it. "It would be nice if I could peek back into that scene and try to get a better fix on the killer, but it doesn't seem to work that way. Or it never has. I never see the same scene twice."
"Do you ever see a second scene in the same place?"
"So far, no. It's as if, once I've tapped into the energy of a place, I've drained some of it away, eased the pressure somehow. Like the way you can be shocked by static electricity when you first touch something but not when you touch it a second time."
"The same thing can shock you a second time if you go away for a while and then touch it again later," Max pointed out. "Once the static has a chance to build back up."
"Yes, but so far I haven't figured out the time frame, if there is one, for this kind of energy. Maybe I could go back a week or a month or a year later and see something, but I haven't been able to yet. Different places may have different time frames depending on the intensity of the energies absorbed. Or this particular type of energy may dissipate completely once someone is able to tap into it. I just don't know."
"Nobody in this unit of yours has figured it out yet?"
Nell smiled slightly. "Well, aside from a pretty full load of cases to occupy most of our time, between us we also have a very wide range of paranormal abilities to deal with and try to understand. We're learning, slowly and mostly through bitter experience as we live each day and investigate cases, what our ranges and limits are, but that's an individual thing."
"And no help from science."
"No. As far as today's science goes, psychic abilities can't be validated in any acceptable sense. Oh, there are still people scattered around trying to do research, but our feeling is that today's technology and scientific methodology just isn't capable of effectively measuring or analyzing the paranormal. Not yet."
It was Max's turn to smile, albeit briefly. "That sounds just a bit like the company line."
"It is, more or less. One of the reasons I wanted to join the SCU was because I thought Bishop and his people had a very reasonable way of looking at the paranormal. They don't discount anything just because science can't explain it yet. And I have never heard any member of the team use the word impossible when referring to any aspect of the paranormal."
"Sounds like a pretty good way to live."
A little surprised, Nell said, "Corning from a hard-headed rancher, that's unexpected."
Max dropped his gaze to his mostly empty coffee cup and said slowly, "Maybe once you're touched by the paranormal, it changes your thinking
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