a Touch of TNT (An Everly Gray Adventure) Read Free Page B

clicked. Open or closed? Silence filled the hallway. Sigh of relief? Or was that panic shuddering through my chest? I should run for help. But where? What if the killer was behind one of the glass doors passing himself off as an innocent receptionist?
    I dried my sweaty palms on my skirt, gulped in some air, and swallowed the fear churning in my belly. I reached out, fingers trembling, and touched the metal knob again. The same image flooded my senses. Still strong, but fading slightly. Okay. Not a fluke. Same image. Twice. Probably the real thing. But a fading image meant the killer was probably gone. Didn’t it? That made inside the safest place for me. I pushed the door open with my toe. Just a smidge. Enough to listen for any untoward sounds.
    It was dead quiet.
    The odor was stronger—that necrotic, musty scent that clings to your throat with gagging intensity. I’d smelled it once before. Would never forget. It triggered a figment of my common sense, and in one smooth move I dug out my cell and pressed speed dial for Annie.
    No answer. Where the hell was she? This wasn’t the sort of thing to leave on voicemail, but my choices were limited to one. “Hey, it’s me, El,” I whispered into my phone. “I need you here. Now. I, um, think we have a dead body to deal with, and I don’t know what to do. This is going to be a crime scene and…I don’t know what to do.”
    It took three tries to end the call. Shaking fingers are not adept. Running away would be good, except my knees were still on the shy side of functional, and I couldn’t seem to get my feet to move.
    I used my shoulder to nudge Jacobson’s door open a little wider. Still quiet.
    A sharp clack echoed from down the hall, voices drifted in my direction, and a brain malfunction pushed me inside C.J. Builders. Yep, I’d passed from mildly unhinged to certifiably crazy. And the day wasn’t even over.
    It was a tidy reception area. A soft beige sofa sat along the far wall with two upholstered chairs in a contrasting print placed at right angles. A modern sculpture sat on a dark wood table separating the entryway from the secretary’s desk. No receptionist-slash-secretary. Maybe she, or he, was the dead body, except no bodies at all, living or dead, were in evidence. I pulled my t-shirt over my nose and inhaled, deep. Gagged. The smell was stronger. Someone was definitely dead.
    A short hall opened off the main room. I took a few steps in that direction, and then thought better of it. Everyone knows traipsing through a crime scene is a bad plan. Up to this point, I hadn’t touched anything except the outside of the door, so probably hadn’t done too much damage. Chief Hayes had just hired me. It’d be a really bad plan to get on his black list.
    My phone was still in my hand. Should I call nine-one-one? Nope. Terrible idea. Explaining about the ESP fingers would be bad for everyone, and I didn’t want to put Adam in that position. I could call Chief Hayes directly, but it was my first day as a consultant for the department, and I didn’t have permission to be here. Annie was right about that. This field trip was probably my worst idea. Ever.
    My thumb found the speed dial number of Annie’s former partner, Tynan Pierce. I jabbed at it. Took a few tries, but I lied to myself and called it a muscle spasm. Calling Pierce was dangerous. Still, he was the perfect choice. Worked under the radar, never explained himself, knew how to kick butt, and would protect me from…whatever. Best of all, he and Annie often worked with Chief Hayes, so I wasn’t trampling on any official toes. I’d be forever thankful he answered on the first ring.
    “El? What’s wrong?” First thought that hit my rapidly deteriorating mind: he must have caller ID.
    “I found a body. I haven’t actually seen it yet.”
    I was creeping down the hall. Stopped. Shook my head to clear it.
    “I don’t know if I should go looking for it, if I should back out of here and go sit in