Summary

Victor Bayne is through with the Chicago PD. Can he handle the FPMP?
After years of frustration as a PsyCop, Victor Bayne reports for duty at the Federal Psychic Monitoring Program. As a fledgeling agent, he’s ready to smoke out a few ghosts and be home each night in time for dinner. But is he prepared to add a professional dimension to his romantic partnership with Jacob Marks?

Jacob has already established his territory at the FPMP—he’s competent, he’s respected, and he’s pretty much fearless. The last thing Vic wants to do is screw up in front of him.

When fellow agents start turning up dead, Vic is expected to do more than just lay their ghosts to rest. But what if his psychic talent isn’t quite enough? As the death toll rises, he and Jacob scramble to determine who’s in danger, and who’s a killer.

Using all the resources at their disposal, they close in on their suspect. But as they do, their past comes back to haunt them…and even Jacob worries they’ve tampered with forces they should have left alone. Are their combined talents enough to protect them from enemies both living and dead?

Audiobook

Coming February 2018!

 

Excerpt

I often wonder what history’s first party was like. I envision a bunch of Neanderthals sitting around the fire, and one of them leaps up and says, “I know, let’s play a bunch of ridiculous games, gorge on unhealthy food, and embarrass someone.” Probably not—they were too busy trying to avoid getting eaten by sabertooth tigers. But whoever invented the concept of the party, I’d love to track down their spirit and give them a piece of my mind. Because if I thought working at the police station with a bunch of no-neck, testosterone-pumped cavemen was bad, I was entirely unprepared for how excruciating my farewell shindig would be.

Oh, I’d been to enough office goodbyes myself. Here’s how they’d usually go down: Betty would cycle through and collect five bucks from everyone, Niedermayer would promise to pay up but never do it, Collins would offer to go get the cake to ensure it didn’t contain lemon, strawberries, pineapple, or any other potential fruit, and Warwick would come in, say a few stiff words, and leave us all to our coffee.

What I hadn’t really paid much attention to was the overall sadness of the whole thing. Not the nostalgia or the heartfelt goodbyes, but the photocopied good luck sign, the haphazard attempt at hanging a few streamers…just the overall tenor of a halfhearted show of camaraderie.

Since the coffee corner was within view of my desk, the drooping, pathetic excuse for a sendoff was lurking in my peripheral vision as I cleaned out my drawers.

Right across the desk, Bob Zigler was soldiering on without me already, and I wasn’t even gone yet. Without a psychic liability to protect, he was free to take on the organization of a big community intervention program our boss had been putting off for months. It involved a mind-numbing array of spreadsheets and a litany of phone calls. Zig had always been your quintessential Chicago detective, with a graying cop mustache and a gait that compensated for the gun at his belt. Back when he’d first been matched with me, he was eager to put a dent in our homicide backlog. Nowadays, he seemed relieved to be wrangling donations for the local after-school program.

When he hung up with a business owner who’d grudgingly pledged ten backpacks and a case of notebooks, I said to him, “So…what’s the deal? In the long term, I mean. If they bring in another Psych, are you still up for the whole PsyCop gig?”

“If there’s another medium lined up, no one’s told me about it.”

“Not a medium—there aren’t enough of us to go around, not that we know of, anyhow. But maybe that’s a good thing. If defense attorneys can blow a case by getting a jury all weirded out about statements coming from dead victims, maybe another type of Psych is the way to go. A good empath, for instance, to help you handle the witnesses. Or a clairvoyant to tell you where to focus.”

“We’ll see,” he said vaguely. And Bob Zigler might be plenty of things, but vague wasn’t one of them. He checked his watch. “Well, it’s noon, might as well head over to the cake.”

I let the matter drop.

A few patrol officers hovered casually nearby with their coffees—it would’ve been seriously uncool for anyone to cut the official cake but me—but there weren’t as many people lingering around as there had been, back when Maurice retired. Maybe the rest were out on patrol. More likely, though, my general lack of popularity was to blame. That shouldn’t have hurt my feelings, of course. I wasn’t a kid getting picked last for kickball. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t unexpectedly disappointed by the turnout.

Betty bustled over from the reception desk and put the cake knife in my hand as a not-so-subtle hint to get on with things. I hacked the cake into a lopsided grid. “We’re sure gonna miss you, Detective.” Betty blinked in confusion, then added, “Well, I guess it’s not Detective anymore, is it? What will we call you now?”

 

PsyCop Series

#1: Among the Living
What good is being a psychic detective if your murder victims aren't talking?

#2: Criss Cross
Mysterious messages from Lisa lead Vic on a wild ride.

#3: Body & Soul
Three missing people. No bodies. No ghosts. At least the case gets Vic out of an awkward family dinner.

#4: Secrets
Is someone watching Vic's every move, or is he imagining things? Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.

#5: Camp Hell
Vic delves into his repressed memories of Camp Hell and dredges up more than he bargained for.

#6: GhosTV
Lisa's gone missing, and Vic and Jacob head to PsyTrain for some answers.

#7: Spook Squad
Victor has been avoiding the exorcism he owes the FPMP. Now it's time to pay up.

#8: Skin After Skin
A sweeping look at the PsyCop series from Crash's empathic point of view

#9: Agent Bayne
Victor might be through with the Chicago PD, but is he ready for the FPMP?

#10 Murder House
An undercover gig turns up more than Vic ever imagined.

#11 Bitter Pill
There's a deadly new drug in town called Kick...and psychs find it irresistable

PsyCop Briefs: Volume 1
Join Vic and Jacob off the clock in 20 PsyCop shorts