Page 27 of Possessed

“And I’m supposed to?”

“Play blonde. You can do that, right?”

Instead of getting pissed and narrowing her eyes at him, she blinked guilelessly and fell into a very good Okie accent. “Why, what do ya mean, sir? I’m simply standin’ by my man like any well-trained woman would. Could ya please help him so that he’s in a real good mood when he lets me fry him up some dinner while he ‘reads’—” she air quoted “—theSports Illustratedswimsuit issue?”

“Stop scaring me,” he said, trying—unsuccessfully—to hide his smile.

“You lead and I’ll follow,” she said, obviously not trying to hide her smile.

“Hey,” he said before she could get out of the car. “Remember that this isn’t a game. If Braggs is our guy he’s a killer.”

Her blue eyes met his steadily. “I’ll never forget that. Don’t worry about me. Do your part. I’ll be the silent bait and then I’ll stay out of your way.”

He started to tell her that she wasn’t the damn bait, but she was already out of the car and standing on the sidewalk that led to the front entrance of Oliphant Hall.

Raef, you have lost your fucking mind,he told himself.

Lauren didn’t stay on the sidewalk long. When he joined her she was crouched over some short greenish bushes inspecting their leaves.

“Azaleas,” she said, before he could ask the question. “Sleeping ones, actually, which is what they’re supposed to be doing this time of year. They’re well tended—definitely in good shape. The groundskeepers know their business here.”

“Ted Bundy had a girlfriend who said he was a good guy—and all the while he was slaughtering young coeds.”

“Who?”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-seven. What does that have to do with—”

“Never mind,” he interrupted, feeling old and worried and insane, all at the same time. “Just keep in mind not everything is how it looks. And do exactly what I tell you to do.”

“Okay, I got it.” Then she touched his arm. “If it’s Braggs and he’s arrested, what happens then?”

“Well, I’ll let the police know about the psychic entrapment, and that we believe he’s taken his victims’ souls to the Land of the Dead. They’ll bring in a shaman who specializes in soul retrieval.”

“Right away?”

He hated that she sounded so scared. “Yeah, I’ll make sure of it.”And if they don’t move fast enough, I’ll Track the bastard to the Land of the Dead and kick his ass myself,Raef added silently.

“Then Aub will go free?”

“That’s the plan,” Raef said, his stomach suddenly feeling not so good.

Lauren looked out across the campus, shivered and whispered, “Yes, that’s what has to happen, no matter what it does to me.”

“Lauren,” he said, sounding sharper than he’d meant to because of the worry for her that spiked in his twisting gut. “You won’t be drained anymore. You’ll be able to—”

“I know,” she interrupted him, back to her steady, no-nonsense self. “It’ll be okay. Aub and I will be okay.” Lauren took her hand from his arm and started walking briskly down the sidewalk.

He didn’t have a clue what the hell to say to her. All he could do was try to wade through the conflicting emotions this damn case was making him feel while he caught up with her as Lauren followed the sidewalk around the light sandstone building. Together, they turned to their left to walk beneath white pylons that gave way to a very ordinary-looking glass door.

Raef had taken classes in Oliphant Hall—more than a decade ago, but the smell had stayed the same. “Books and formaldehyde mixed with testosterone and stress. I’ll never forget that smell,” he said.

“It was the same at OU. I think it’s a common higher-education smell. Well, minus the formaldehyde.”

A petite girl with big blue eyes and straight, well-maintained blond hair was coming toward them. She had a ridiculously thick anatomy-and-physiology tome clutched against her chest and an it’s-midterm-and-I-gotta-study frown creasing her otherwise lineless forehead.

“Excuse me.” Raef smiled at her. “Do you know where we can find Dr. Braggs?”