Deiform Three: Unseen Bonds – First Scene

The eBook version of UNSEEN BONDS (Deiform Three) should be available next week, so here’s a sneak peek of the first scene. It introduces the two main threads that run through the book. The story is about the same length as THE CULT. If you’re on my new releases list, you’ll get an email as soon as the book is available at Amazon, Smashwords, and kobo. The print book will be available sometime in December.

Jillian and Sam investigate one of Roberta’s visions and discover a dark secret lurking behind an affluent neighbourhood’s closed doors.

Roberta senses a situation requiring the Fellowship’s intervention, but her vision offers few clues for Jillian and Sam to go on. While the two Deiforms search for the troubled church in Roberta’s vision, Jillian experiences frightening breaks from reality.

Ropes and chains aren’t required to bind people together. Some bonds must be broken. Some bonds can’t be broken. In Unseen Bonds, Jillian and Sam must break one bond and come to terms with another.

 

JILLIAN UNCLENCHED HER hands and resisted the urge to snap, “You must know more than that!” If she wanted certainties and large flashing signs, she’d joined the wrong group. She gazed at the conference room’s blank monitor, then refocused on Roberta. “So it’s a church that caters to the rich, and it has cushioned pews and an organ?”

Roberta nodded. “I believe the minister is white.”

Well, that narrowed it down.

“You don’t have any idea where it’s located?” Sam asked, her tone milder than Jillian’s. “Any clue would help. Could you see out a window?”

“No. The congregation is English-speaking. I do remember seeing…” Roberta’s brow furrowed. “One of the children was wearing a blue sports jersey.”

“That helps.” Sam made a note on the pad in front of her.

“Someone mentioned a farmer’s market,” Roberta added.

“Those two hints will definitely shorten the list. Anything else?” Sam asked.

Roberta clasped her hands on her lap and closed her eyes. If it had been anyone else, Jillian would have snorted and labelled them a charlatan. She was beginning to trust Roberta’s ability to identify situations that called for the Fellowship’s intervention. In the two months since the Fellowship had shut down the soul healers, Roberta had directed Jillian and Sam on four other investigations. Okay, there had been a fifth case that hadn’t led anywhere, but according to Sam, that sometimes happened. Jillian couldn’t scoff at an eighty percent success rate.

The problems they’d resolved hadn’t been anything on the scale of the soul healers case. Two were hypocrites claiming they could heal; one, a clergyman with a weakness for the race track; another was protecting a fraudster from having his day in court. All were quick in and out jobs — cowards quickly caved when presented with solid proof and the threat of exposure. Two were ousted from their jobs; the two others would be monitored.

“Snow and cold in the winters,” Roberta murmured. “Oh, and the team name, the one on the jersey, starts with T-E-R.”

Now that does help, Jillian thought as Sam smiled and wrote down the information.

Roberta opened her eyes. “If I see anything else, I’ll let you know.”

“We have enough to start searching.” Sam picked up her pad. “I’ll get Jeremy on this.” She strode from the room.

For once, Jillian didn’t mind that Sam had left without giving her a second thought. “Can — can I talk to you for a minute?” she said when Roberta rolled back her chair.

“Of course.” Roberta crossed her legs and waited.

Jillian forced herself to meet Roberta’s eyes. The long preamble she’d rehearsed flew out the window. “Maybe it’s time for me and Sam to part ways. I think — I’m ready to work on my own.”

Roberta studied her. “Is that what you want?”

No. She was doing what was best for her, for both of them, even though she hated the idea. “Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m ready,” Jillian repeated lamely. “Because Sam doesn’t have to protect me anymore. The Beguilers have given up on me. We haven’t seen them since they grabbed me at the cemetery.”

Roberta’s gaze sharpened. “Is Sam being a problem?”

“No.” Well, yes, but not in the sense that Roberta was asking about. “But we both know she wants to work on her own. Our partnership was only a temporary arrangement, until I was ready to go solo — which I am.” Maybe Roberta disagreed. “Right?”

“You didn’t use your gifts during the last few investigations.”

Blood pounded in Jillian’s ears. She jabbed her finger toward herself. “I’m trained. I can use the gifts. I see them differently than you do, but that doesn’t mean they’ll fail me.”

“I never said it did,” Roberta said calmly. “When I said ‘you,’ I meant both of you.”

“Oh.” Jillian felt like a petulant child, especially since she worried that the gifts would fail her at the worst possible time. There were several she’d never used in the field. Lock picking, bugging residences, surveillance, perusing social media accounts, and eavesdropping on phone conversations usually did the trick. Sam had astral-projected a few times, but Roberta wasn’t concerned about Sam. “If you don’t doubt my gifts, why does it matter that I haven’t used them?”

“It’s not using them per se, but knowing when best to use them. After you’ve received more guidance in that from Sam, I’ll consider sending you out on your own.”

Give me a freaking break! Consider sending me out on my own? Had Roberta required the same of the others? Probably not. Was it Jim’s death, or was she lying about her confidence in Jillian’s gifts? Jillian wouldn’t press her, because she’d asked for something she didn’t want and was relieved that Roberta had said no. “We don’t know what this case is about yet.” If there was one. The jury was still out. “We might not use our gifts.”

Roberta nodded. “We don’t know the scope of it, either, another reason to keep you with Sam for now.”

Bullshit. Jillian was working her way through past cases and becoming more familiar with how the Fellowship operated. Deiforms usually worked alone. When they needed help, Supporters became involved. There were exceptions. Exceptions, not the rule. Wasn’t everyone always wishing there were more Deiforms? She was ready! And conflicted, damn it. “If that’s what you want, okay.”

Roberta frowned. “Are you sure there isn’t a problem?”

Nothing she couldn’t handle, or at least she kept telling herself that. It would blow over. It had to. “Positive. I just want to pull my weight.”

“You are pulling your weight.” Roberta paused. “Is there anything else?”

“No. I’ll go help with the search.” She quickly left the conference room, disappointed with herself for being pleased that Roberta had denied her request. It made it difficult to pat herself on the back for trying to do the sensible thing.

Time to focus on finding the church in Roberta’s vision and figuring out what, if anything, was amiss.

When she stepped inside Jeremy’s cave, as she called it, Sam was sitting next to him. Jillian listened as they discussed the meagre information Roberta had provided. “I’ll look at all the professional sports teams, and the university ones.” Jeremy pursed his lips. “I’ll try searching for sports teams with blue jerseys in places with snowy winters, but I doubt it’ll help.” He twisted to face his keyboard.

Jillian looked over his shoulder as he typed the phrase into a search engine. She skimmed the results. Yep, it wasn’t going to be that easy. “Don’t forget the farmer’s market.”

“I’ll use that to narrow down the list I get from the jersey clue.”

“The team’s name begins with T-E-R.”

“Or the town’s,” Sam pointed out.

“I’ll explore both avenues.” Jeremy flexed his fingers. “I’ll start by compiling a list of teams that match the criteria. Then I’ll move on to towns.” He bent over his keyboard, then glanced at Sam and Jillian. “This could take a while.”

“Talk to you later,” Jillian murmured.

“I guess there isn’t anything we can do,” she said when Sam joined her in the hallway.

“We can pack. We could be gone for a while. Knowing Jeremy, we’ll have a preliminary list in no time. We’ll leave tomorrow.”

“There could be a lot of churches on that list.”

Sam shrugged. “If we’re lucky, Roberta will come up with more to narrow it down.” When they reached the stairway, Sam gave her a tight smile. “I know you’re reading cases. Look up the Anderson case. It started like this one. Church hunting.”

“I will,” Jillian said, knowing she was being dismissed, so she wasn’t surprised when Sam said, “See you later,” and climbed the stairs. Whether Jillian would see her later was an open question. Sometimes they had dinner together — with others — and sometimes they didn’t. Well, she had a case to read. The sooner she absorbed herself in it, the sooner she’d stop thinking about how she wouldn’t mind if the church hunt took a while — although she also hoped they found the church quickly. Yep, conflicted. Con-freaking-flicted.

Deiform Three: Unseen Bonds – First Scene is a post from: Sarah Ettritch