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place.”
    “I’ll try to make this assimple as I can. Whatever is going on out there in the Preserve must be stopped or I will have no choice but to order a full evacuation of the island.”
    She stared at him, shocked. “You can’t do that.”
    “Yes,” he said. “I can. And I will if I think it’s necessary.”
    “But Rainshadow is home to the sort of people who don’t do very well elsewhere. This is a special place.”
    “Trust me, I understand.”
    “Even if you do order an evacuation, I can tell you right now that a lot of the locals would ignore it,” she said.
    “In that case, I think there is a high probability that something very, very bad might happen to them.”
    “Do you have any idea what that something might be?”
    “No,” Harry said. “But this island is a powerful geothermal nexus, so I think a major paranormal explosion would be high on the list of probable outcomes.”
    She sat quietly, not speaking for a time.
    “I see,” she said finally.
    “My goal is to save the island and the community of Shadow Bay. I’m not interested in old secrets and gossip. I’m just trying to identify a list of suspects.”
    “What will you do once you have your list?”
    “I will ask questions,” Harry said. “Slade will be working with me. You know him. He’ll make sure that everyone’s rights are protected.”
    That much was true, shethought. Slade was a dedicated lawman to the bone. He would keep an eye on Harry, assuming anyone could keep an eye on Harry Sebastian. There was a reason why those with Harry’s brand of psychic ability were called shadow-auras. No one knew much about them.
    “Look on the bright side,” Harry said. “Working with me is the best way to keep tabs on my investigation and make sure I don’t go down the wrong road with any of your neighbors.”
    She was trapped.
    “Do you do this kind of thing a lot?” she asked.
    “What kind of thing?”
    “Piss people off?”
    “Sadly, yes.”
    “I knew I shouldn’t have answered the door tonight.”
    She got to her feet again, cleared the table, and carried the dishes to the sink. Behind her Harry’s chair scraped a little on the floor. A sudden jolt of suspicion made her turn around.
    He was on his feet, watching her warily. “What?”
    “Some men have some serious misconceptions about women from the Community,” she said.
    “You mentioned that earlier.”
    “Just to clarify, you will be spending the night on the sofa or the living room floor, your choice.”
    He nodded once. “Believe it or not, I had figured that much out for myself.”
    She sighed and turned backto the sink. “Not that the facts will get in the way of the gossip.”
    “What gossip?”
    “By seven o’clock tomorrow morning half the town will know that you spent the night here. The rest will find out at ten when they go to the post office to pick up their mail.”
    “So?”
    She glared at him over her shoulder. “So everyone will assume the worst.”
    “Right. The worst. I don’t suppose it will help if I say I’m sorry for putting you into this situation?”
    “No,” she said. “It won’t help a bit.”

Chapter 3

    The ethereal chime and clash of her charm bracelet brought him out of a light sleep. The fact that he could hear the gentle sound so clearly made him realize that somewhere in the past hour or so the storm had burned itself out.
    He watched Rachel descend thestairs. All of his senses stirred, just as they had yesterday when he had walked into Shadow Bay Books with Slade. One look into those brilliant amber eyes and everything else that was important in his life dropped to second place on his list of priorities. In that first moment of meeting her he had known that even if he never saw her again he would not forget her.
    His night vision was excellent. In the dim glow of the low-burning fire he could make her out quite clearly. She wore a pale, ankle-length robe over her nightgown and pair of fluffy slippers. Her flame-red