By
USA Today Bestselling Author
Dale Mayer

Are some souls not meant to be saved?

Psychic medical intuitive and licensed physician Madeleine Wagner thought she’d seen every way possible to heal a diseased body. But, when her patients begin dying from mysterious causes, Maddy realizes she might be dealing with an evil force that may be outside her ability to cure.

Maddy’s medical facility, Maddy’s Floor, has helped countless terminally-ill patients to miraculously live. Now something malevolent has taken up residence on the ward. Not sure how to deal with this on her own, she calls on her psychic friend and mentor, Stefan. Together, they delve beyond the physical plane into the metaphysical…and find utter terror.

With two family members in Maddy’s care, Detective Drew McNeil finds himself wondering frequently during his visits about the woman and not just the miracle worker. Who takes care of this selfless soul who gives everything she has to save every single patient? When does she ever allow herself to rest, relax, and live? The more time he spends with her, the more he wants to get to know her privately.

Bizarre events in Maddy’s facility draw Drew’s professional curiosity. Several intersect with one of his cold cases, causing him to wonder if an old killer has been resurrected…literally. If so, Maddy’s directly in the path of danger. Drew wonders, How can anyone stop a force of nature – whether good or evil – that no one else can see, feel, or, frankly, believe…unless Maddy has the ability to do all those things and more?

I confess to having started this series somewhere in the middle, I’ve been curious about Dr. Maddy for a long time. In this book, I get to meet her.

Dr. Maddy has an entire floor of The Haven, a long term care facility and hospital. Her approach, surrounding her patients with healing and positive energy along with her skills as a medical intuitive and physician help improve quality of life for her patients. There is a long waiting list, and several criteria to be met in order to be a patient on Maddy’s Floor.

Drew’s aunt is a patient at Haven and his uncle a former police chief is trying to get on Maddy’s floor. Maddy literally runs into him on her way up the stairs, she’s been running up them for years and never ran into anyone before. There are no introductions at this time though.

With budget issues the CEO Gerard Lionel has convened a board meeting, where they need to propose some things to Maddy. She’s not going to like them but hopefully she’ll go along. They can’t afford to lose her, the donations and grants that come in for her project helped keep this facility afloat. The economy had caused budget issues and they needed to address them somehow.

Even though the new addition to Maddy’s floor was almost complete, his thought is to fill a few of these beds. His choice of patients for those spots, well lets just say two of them are not ideal and the third would please Maddy.

Things start turning weird and suspicious as a patient referred to Maddy dies. Maddy notices strange energy around him that she can’t identify. However, it’s when one of the patients on her floor dies that things really get interesting. It’s the autopsy on this patient that gets Drew involved and they officially meet in Dr. Miko’s office. Jansen Svaar has a bruise at the base of his spine and a matching one on the crown of his head. Drew’s cold case has six children with a very similar mark on them.

This is a favorite scene.

The stairwell was empty as usual. Maddy stood at the top and looked down, considering. Making a quick decision, Maddy slipped off her blue heels. As her bare feet hit the cement, chills of anticipation raced up her legs.

Grinning, and her heels hanging on two fingers, Maddy broke into a flat-out sprint and raced down the stairwell. The second floor landing, the first floor landing, all the way to the first of the lower levels. Hitting the brakes at the bottom, Maddy paused to gather her breath.

Exhilaration pulsed in her blood. Her shoulder-length bob swayed with her heaving breaths. It took another long moment of deep breathing before she slipped her heels back on.

The double doors opened easily as she walked toward Dr. Miko’s office – a hoarder’s paradise. Usually there was one chair available. Maddy turned toward it, then stopped. Her eyebrows rose in surprise and a swarm of butterflies took flight in her stomach. The detective she’d met in the stairwell several days ago stood in front of her. Again.

What was he doing here?

He smiled. “Hello, Dr. Maddy. How nice to see you again.”

“Detective.” Damn, that man had something. Her hormones started to do a hula dance. What was with that? Maddy shook her head to clear her mind. “What’s going on?”

Roberta waved toward a chair. “Take a seat.”

Maddy chuckled. “I’d love to. Where?”

Dr. Miko frowned, her gaze going from one piece of furniture to another. “Just move those.” She pointed to one chair stacked high with books.

“Take mine.” Drew stepped forward to clear off the spare chair.

Maddy smiled her thanks and sat down in his place as the detective emptied and pulled over his seat. “What’s up?”

“I see you’ve already met Detective Drew McNeil.”

Drew? So that was his name. Maddy sank back. She smiled inside. It suited him. “Yes, briefly.”

Roberta reached for a folder and opened it. “I called him regarding a possible connection between Jansen’s case and several old cases.”

“What? Jansen? A criminal case?” Maddy leaned forward, her gaze going between the two. What on earth was Roberta talking about? “What did you find out?”

Dr. Miko frowned as she stared down at the papers in her hand. “I was working with the medical examiner at the time of the earlier cases.” She glanced up at Maddy. “They’re cases that have haunted me over the years. Six dead children who showed no apparent cause of death, no signs of violence and no explanations could be found for their deaths. They just, well… died. At the time, the politicians were saying a crime hadn’t been committed because there was no evidence to support foul play.” She grimaced. “Then again, nothing pointed to why the children died, either.”

That was depressing, yet what did it have to do with her? Maddy waited for Roberta to continue. “And…?”

“The cases back then had one thing linking them together.” Drew’s gaze hardened as he looked from one woman to the other. “Each child had one small bruise at the base of their spines. Similar to the one found on Jansen.”

Maddy’s eyes opened wide. She stared at Drew in surprise before switching her gaze back to Dr. Miko. “That’s… odd. What caused them?”

“No idea.”

Fear rose in Maddy’s chest. “I don’t understand. Are you saying Jansen was murdered?”

“No, not at all. All I’m saying is that there are similarities with this body and with those from thirty-odd years ago. I’d love to understand what caused the bruising.” Roberta folded her hands. “It may be nothing. However, if it turns out to be something, I wanted to make sure you were both in the know.”

“What a horrible thought.” Maddy’s mind couldn’t grasp the connection. She crossed her arms, holding them tight to her chest. Maybe her mind didn’t want to see a connection. “Six kids? Boys or girls?”

Drew stepped in. “Both. No understandable reason for any of their deaths. It was a sad time – for everyone. No one knew how to handle it. Most people were divided as to whether a crime had even been committed. Like all cold cases, it’s haunted many people.”

“Can anything be found after all this time?”

Roberta looked at Drew, who tapped his fingers on the wooden arm of his chair. “Let’s hope so.”

Maddy stood, her knees a little shaky at the thought of a murderer operating at The Haven. The whole concept had a surreal overtone to it. “Well, thanks for letting me know.” She smiled at Drew. “If there’s anything I can do to help, call me.”

He faced her. “I will need some information from you. Such as a list of all the visitors Jansen Svaar had while he was at The Haven.”

“There’s no formal list of visitors, but I’m sure we can come up with something for you. Give me your card, and I can email the names to you.”

As Drew handed over his card Maddy couldn’t help but notice the compelling energy he exuded so naturally. It was hard not to appreciate self-confidence and strength.

Maddy narrowly avoided knocking over a stack of books, and wound her way carefully out of the office. “Thanks, Dr. Miko. If you learn anything else, please let me know.”

Drew held the door for her but stood in her way. “Dr. Miko forgot to ask something. Why did you ask her to check Jansen’s crown for a matching bruise?”

Surprise lit her features. “Oh. That’s because they’re the two main energy entrances and exits from the body. The crown and the base of the spine.”

He blinked and stepped back.

With a small smile, she walked to the stairwell, her mind full of implications from these new developments. As much as she’d like to discuss them further with Drew, she wasn’t sure how much she should tell him. Her world was a touch unbelievable to those not involved in energy work. Striding down the hall quickly, she couldn’t help a quick glance behind her.

He stood in the middle of the hallway, his hands fisted on his hips, staring at her. Maddy chuckled, gave him a small wave and entered the elevator, making good her escape. Her mind was more than a little overwhelmed, her emotions already somber. Already scared.

A murderer? At The Haven?
Dale Mayer. Psychic Visions Books 1–3 (Kindle Locations 10239-10289). Dale Mayer.

With Drew now trying to link all the deaths, Maddy is trying to figure out the what and how of that strange energy. Stefan comes into the picture with visions of his own, in regard to Maddy and Drew as well as the happenings on her floor.

Plenty of twists and turns, a wonderful romance that turns sizzling even when Drew doesn’t quite understand a lot of what’s happening. Page after page of surprises and suspense kept me reading till the very end.

I can’t wait to start on the next three book bundle in this series.

5 Contented Purrs for Dale!

Dale Mayer

Dale Mayer is a USA Today bestselling author best known for her Psychic Visions and Family Blood Ties series. Her contemporary romances are raw and full of passion and emotion (Second Chances, SKIN), her thrillers will keep you guessing (By Death series), and her romantic comedies will keep you giggling (It’s a Dog’s Life and Charmin Marvin Romantic Comedy series).

She honors the stories that come to her – and some of them are crazy and break all the rules and cross multiple genres!

To go with her fiction, she also writes nonfiction in many different fields with books available on resume writing, companion gardening and the US mortgage system. She has recently published her Career Essentials Series. All her books are available in print and ebook format.