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and balanced.
     
    The energy shifted, cooled.
     
    She opened her eyes to find the energy still wiggling in place, the purple haze malicious in appearance. Then slowly, like fog blowing in the wind, the haze thinned before sending tendrils into the darkness.
     
    Maddy reached out and checked Jansen's pulse. Her medical training took over on the physical level as her medical intuitive training took over on the energy field. She observed the thread-like cord of light stretching far out of Jansen's body, gently pulsating in a reassuring rhythm. Maddy coaxed his system to relax a little more, then to wake up gently.
     
    "Dr. Maddy?" His paper-thin lids opened to reveal rheumy blue eyes blinking in surprise.
     
    "Yes, it's me, Jansen." Maddy studied his face. "How do you feel?" He appeared fine, normal but surprised.
     
    "Christ, I don't know. I had the most horrible dream." He coughed slightly and shifted position in the bed, tugging at his covers as if chilled.
     
    "Oh?" Maddy kept her voice calm and soothing. "What was it about?"
     
    "Like someone was pulling my soul from my body, one inch at a time." Fear filled the old man's eyes. His thin hands grasped hers nervously. "I don't know what the hell it was, but I felt on a precipice between life and death. It was like meeting Peter at the pearly gates himself, and him not being too happy to see me."
     
    "Shhh." Maddy stroked his hands, noting with clinical detachment that his liver spots had begun to fade. "It was just a dream. Not to worry. It's over. I'm here, and you're safe. Go back to sleep."
     
    Relief washed over his face. "Thanks, Doc. Don't know what I'd do without you."
     
    Shifting sideways, Jansen closed his eyes and fell back to sleep.
     
    Maddy walked to the doorway, turned around and glanced back.
     
    No sign of the purple grim reaper. Jansen was safe.
     
    For now.
     
    She shuddered. What the hell was happening at The Haven?
     

WEDNESDAY
     
    T he Haven buzzed with activity. They had several hundred residents and more than that amount of staff. Without Gerard, the place would have imploded years ago. Maddy massaged her temples in an effort to draw out the tension.
     
    She wondered if she'd missed a growing thread of discontent. One that had started or fed the horrible negativity – or, dare she say it, evil – that she'd observed over Jansen last night. She couldn't even begin to understand the source of the hellish energy that contributed to Eric's death, either.
     
    After going home last night, she'd tried to contact several of the other medical intuitives she'd met over the years. She only managed to touch base with two. Neither had seen or heard of anything like that deep purple-black blanket of energy. A crime may have been committed in Eric's case, although what it was or how it was perpetrated was beyond her. Too bad she couldn't go to the police.
     
    That handsome detective she'd barreled into on the stairway bloomed in her mind, making her pulse quicken. Damn if that man hadn't made her hormones sit up and sing. She'd obviously been single too long. Maddy didn't do one-nighters, but right now her body was pushing her to reconsider the concept. That the detective wasn't impervious to her, helped keep his smile alive in her mind and the 'what ifs' dancing through her body. The warm light of approval she'd seen in his eyes had been hard to ignore. She should have asked his name. Hell, she should have asked for his phone number. She could only hope his uncle would make it onto her floor so he'd become a regular visitor.
     
    She walked out to collect the stack of papers waiting in her intray.
     
    "Dr. Maddy. The ambulance has arrived with Dr. Lenning."
     
    Silence descended on the nurses' station. All movement stopped. Furtive glances came her way. Everyone knew about their new patient, and the impact it could have on Maddy.
     
    Maddy nodded as if she'd been expecting the news. Gerard was nothing if not fast.
     
    "Right. Let Dr.