Naked Came The Phoenix by Marcia Talley

Author:Marcia Talley [Talley, Marcia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Thriller
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

In the infirmary, Toscana sat next to Phyllis Talmadge's cot. "You're sure you didn't see anything?" he asked insistently. Phyllis shook her head weakly against the white pillow.

"As I said, Detective, I felt a sharp pain, and then everything went black. I don't remember falling in the water or being pulled out."

Toscana was not about to give up. "Go over it for me again, will you please, Ms. Talmadge? Tell me again what happened. I'm not sure I got it right the first time."

Phyllis looked at him skeptically. Toscana didn't miss a thing and they both knew it. Over the course of her psychic career, Phyllis had been called on to work with the police on some pretty tough cases. She knew the way the cops operated, asking a witness or victim to go over their accounts of what he or she recalled again and again until, sometimes, a new detail emerged.

"All right," she sighed resignedly. She closed her heavy eyelids as she tried to envision what she had been doing just before she was struck. "I was standing at the edge of the lake, trying to clear my mind of everything that was cluttering it. I wanted to get rid of all the negative energy and try to focus on Claudia and what had happened to her. I was hoping that something would come to me that would help in the investigation."

"And?" Toscana led.

"Nothing." Phyllis opened her eyes and stared defiantly at the detective. "I told you. I felt a blow and then blackness." The psychic's blue-veined hand raised around to the back of her head as she felt for the egg-shaped bump that throbbed there. Toscana almost felt sorry for her as he saw her wince. But his sympathy was replaced by contempt as he watched her turn toward Raoul de Vries, her voice dripping with sweetness.

"The first thing I remembered afterward was the concerned face of Dr. de Vries here." She smiled in a pathetic attempt at flirtation with the man who stood beside her bed. "What a dear man, taking such good care of me when he's just suffered his own deep and devastating loss!"

Toscana felt his gag reflex rising. Thank God, Phyllis Talmadge didn't remember being pulled from the lake. If she did, he, not de Vries, might be the uncomfortable recipient of the aging psychic's affections. Toscana glanced over at the gallant Raoul de Vries. The good doctor didn't look any too grief stricken to him. He noticed that Caroline Blessing, who had been standing just behind de Vries during the earlier questioning, had already slipped away-an important engagement, she had said. In the sauna. It was a tough life. Though he would be all too happy to leave Phyllis alone with her Sir Galahad, Toscana decided to give it one last try.

"Think, Ms. Talmadge. Think, please. Is there anything at all you can remember that could help us find the person who attacked you? Is there anything that you heard before you were

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