Read Arcane Society Story 01 - The Scargill Cove Case Files for Free Online

that.” Isabella drew her down into the stairwell.
    “But if you hadn’t come along when you did, I wouldn’t have had a chance to change my mind.”
    “Always a good idea to give yourself time to reconsider the really big decisions.”
    “I’ve been planning to jump for weeks and suddenly I changed my mind.” Sandra frowned. “Why would I do that?”
    “Because you’re smart and stronger than you think.”
    “No, it was something about you that made me decide not to jump. Something in the atmosphere around you.”
    “You’re the one who made the call. Don’t ever forget that.”
    They went down the stairs to the parking garage. Isabella stuffed Sandra into the beat-up junker she had bought for cash ten days earlier and drove to the hospital. She escorted Sandra into the emergency room and stayed with her until an orderly came to take her into a treatment room.
    Sandra paused in the doorway and looked back. “Will I see you again, Annie?”
    “No,” Isabella said.
    “Are you an angel?”
    “Nope, just a garden-variety conspiracy theorist who thinks some people are out to silence her.”
    Sandra studied her intently. “I remember the footsteps on the emergency stairs. I remember you telling me to stay quiet and not move. And I saw a gun lying on the mall roof. Be careful, Annie.”
    “Thanks,” Isabella said. She smiled. “I will. You do the same, okay?”
    “Okay,” Sandra said.
    She followed the orderly down a white corridor.
    Isabella went back outside to the hospital parking lot. She would have to leave the car behind. They had found her at the mall. She had to assume they had a description of the junker.
    She opened the trunk, took out the small backpack she kept inside and closed the lid. She slung the strap of the pack over one shoulder and walked through the garage toward the street.
    She knew where she was going now. The events of the evening had left her no choice. To get to her destination she would use the one form of transportation that did not leave a paper or computer trail.
    She would hitchhike to Scargill Cove.

Continue reading for an excerpt from
the first novel in the new Dark Legacy series
    Copper Beach
    Available in hardcover from G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

A crazy man with a gun was never a good combination. A crazy man with paranormal talent and a gun made for a very bad start to the day.
    Abby Radwell watched the terrifying scene taking place in the library from the shadows of the doorway. The intruder holding the pistol on Hannah Vaughn and her housekeeper could not have been more than twenty-one or twenty-two. His eyes were fever-bright. His long hair was matted and disheveled. His jeans and ragged T-shirt looked as if they had not been washed in a very long time. He was becoming more agitated by the second.
    “I’m not playing games, lady.” The intruder’s voice rose. He waved the pistol in an erratic pattern. “I know the key is here in this room. You have to give it to me and then she has to unlock it.”
    “You are welcome to take the key,” Hannah said, somehow managing to maintain a calm, soothing tone. “But I can’t unlock it for you. I don’t know how to do that.”
    “She’s supposed to unlock it,” the intruder said.
    “Who are you talking about?” Hannah asked. “Surely you don’t mean my housekeeper. Mrs. Jensen doesn’t know anything about unlocking encrypted books.”
    “Not the housekeeper,” the intruder said. He used the back of his arm to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “The woman who is working for you here in this library. She knows how to unlock hot books.”
    “I don’t understand,” Hannah said. “Mrs. Jensen and I are the only people in this house. Please, take my copy of the key and leave before this situation gets out of control.”
    Hannah was doing a magnificent job of lying, Abby thought. But the situation was already out of control.
    Hannah Vaughn was eighty-two years old and confined to a wheelchair. She was helpless