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“Because ofyou.” Cassandra’s voice rose. “Obviously I made a serious error in judgment by letting you live. I should have had Westover take care of you when the medics took you to the clinic. But he convinced me there would be even more trouble if you died.”

“Why did you come here today?” Lucy asked. “Under other circumstances, I would have been working.”

“Yes.”Cassandra’s voice grew shrill. “You were supposed to be working.I came here to get rid of you and Jones.”

“How did you imagine you would be able to do that? Okay, maybe you could have gotten rid of me, but a Guild boss? Westover and his whole team of mercenaries couldn’t handle that job.”

Cassandra gave her a savage smile. “I brought you a lovely bottle of wine. It’s on your kitchen counter. A gift from your parents.”

“Poisoned wine, I assume?”

“It contains the same hallucinogen that Westover put in your champagne that night. The same one that the mercenary injected you with at the clinic. But this time I used a much higher dose. One glass would have driven you mad. Two would have killed you. Either option would have been satisfactory.”

“Where did you get the drug?” Veronica asked.

“I made it myself,” Cassandra said. “In addition to having a lot of prospectors on my family tree, there are some very, very good chemists—psychic-grade chemists. I’ve been in the drug business for years. Where do you think I got the money to finance Westover and his team of mercenaries? I do very well in the investigation business, but not that well.”

“You’re a dual talent?” Lucy asked. “Guess that explains the instability.”

“Shut up.”Cassandra’s eyes flashed hot with rage. “One more word and your friend here is dead.”

“All three of us know you’re planning to kill Veronica and me,” Lucy said. “You don’t have any choice now. I’ll bet you think you can make it look like we interrupted a burglary in progress and got shot by the bad guys.”

“An interesting plan,” Veronica said. “But it won’t work. Gabriel Jones won’t stop until he finds the killer. You’re right, Lucy, she’s unstable. Everyone knows what happens to dual talents.”

“That’s not true,” Cassandra raged. “The para-psych diagnosis waswrong.Wrong.My file was filled with lies. The para-psych doctor didn’t know what she was talking about. She didn’t understand. Didn’t recognize my power. She was going to have me committed. That’s why I had to get rid of her.”

“Yep, you sound as steady and stable as a rock,” Veronica said.

Cassandra narrowed her eyes, evidently uncertain how to take the remark.

“Absolutely stable,” Lucy said quickly. “But you do plan to kill us. The shots will alarm our landlady. She’ll call the cops. Or maybe she’ll come up here to see what’s going on, and then you’ll have to murder her, too. Really, it’s going to be one thing after another, Cassie, and it’s going to end badly for you.”

“Don’t call me Cassie.”

Enraged, Cassandra started to swing the barrel of the mag-rez toward Lucy.

Paranormal thunder roared behind her. Shocked, she instinctively turned to see what was happening. The small bolt of lightning struck her. For a few seconds, she froze.

And then she crumpled to the floor.

Lucy cut off the small storm. Energy faded. The familiar rush hit her bloodstream. She was flying. Otis went back to full fluff mode and bounced up and down on her shoulder, channeling her excitement.

“Awesome,” Veronica said. She took a deep breath and leaned down to pick up the mag-rez that Cassandra had dropped. “You’re good, Lucy. But if I were you, I wouldn’t let too many people know that you can pull that kind of heat aboveground.”

Lucy started to answer, but the whiff of smoke cut through her sparkling senses. Alarm shot through her, overwhelming the endorphin vibe as effectively as a bucket of ice water.

Veronica looked to the side, toward the living room. “Uh-oh.”

She stepped over the unconscious Cassandra and disappeared.

“Oh, shit,” Lucy said.

She rushed down the hall, jumped over Cassandra, and hurried into the living room.

Smoke billowed from one of the sofa cushions. Veronica was in the kitchen grabbing towels. She tossed one to Lucy. They beat at the smoke. A small flame appeared.

“Let’s get it out on the balcony,” Lucy said.