In Too Deep by Jayne Ann Krentz

Isabella. “Meet our new client.”
    Isabella did not even blink. She started to unbutton her coat. “What’s the problem, Walker?”
    Walker looked at the clock again. “That thing. It’s dangerous. It has to go b-back into the vault.”
    Isabella gave Fallon a questioning look. He knew what she was thinking. If Walker had somehow sensed the energy in the clock, then he most certainly had a measurable amount of talent.
    Isabella hung up her coat. “Why don’t you start at the beginning, Walker?”
    Walker’s face crumpled in dazed panic. He started to rock violently. He had no clue how to locate the beginning, Fallon realized.
    Isabella, too, understood immediately.
    “Better yet,” she said, “why don’t you show us the location of the vault?”
    Fallon was certain that would lead to another blind alley. But to his amazement, Walker’s expression became focused once again. He surged to his feet.
    “Okay,” he said. “But we have to be very c-careful. The Queen is on guard.”

10
    I sabella opened her senses when Fallon pulled into the cracked, weedstudded parking lot of the Sea Breeze Motor Lodge. There was the usual amount of paranormal fog in front of the main lodge, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary.
    “At least the energy here doesn’t look like the stuff at the Zander house,” she said.
    “Good to know,” Fallon said. He looked at Walker who was sitting in the rear seat, rocking gently. “You’re sure the vault is here, Walker?” he said.
    “Y-yes.” Walker rocked harder. He rarely rode in motor vehicles. They made him even more anxious than normal.
    The dogs appeared, coalescing out of the mist like a pack of wolves. They charged the SUV , barking furiously. Isabella sat quietly with Fallon and Walker, waiting. Not one attempted to open a door. Everyone in Scargill Cove knew the drill. If you visited Henry and Vera, you stayed in the car, the windows rolled up, until someone called off the beasts. On the rare occasions when some hapless tourist, laboring under the mistaken impression that the lodge was still a functioning motel, pulled into the lodge, Henry and Vera remained inside until the people gave up and moved on.
    Fallon glanced at the illuminated windows of the office.
    “Looks like Henry and Vera are home,” he said.
    “They usually are,” Isabella said. “Sometimes I do wonder what they do in that place all day long, day after day.”
    Fallon smiled. “You mean, you don’t know?”
    “No.” She gave him a sharp look. “Do you?”
    “Sure. I’m a detective, remember?”
    In the rear seat Walker spoke up. “They g-guard the v-vault. That’s their job. I do patrol at night. They s-secure the vault. Marge and the others keep watch during the day.”
    Isabella turned in the seat to look at him. “Marge and other people in town are involved in this thing?”
    Walker gave her a jerky nod. “That was the plan back at the start. We’ve followed the plan. But s-something went wrong. We have to put things right. Alien technology is very d-dangerous.”
    The front door of the office swung open. A bulky, bearded figure in denim overalls and a red-and-black plaid flannel shirt lumbered out into the fog. He glowered at the dogs through a pair of old-fashioned gold-framed spectacles.
    “Poppy, Orchid, Clyde, Samson, the rest of you, that’s enough,” Henry called. “They’re friends.”
    The barking subsided immediately. The six dogs stood waiting, ears pricked, eyes cold and watchful.
    Isabella was the first one to open the door.
    “Hello, Poppy,” she said to the big shepherd mix. “You look lovely today.”
    Overcome with delight, Poppy rushed forward, tongue lolling, to greet her. Isabella rubbed her ears. Poppy swooned. Orchid, Clyde, Samson and the rest crowded in eagerly. Isabella patted them all.
    Fallon opened his door and got out. “Don’t know what it is with you and those dogs.”
    “I like dogs,” Isabella said. She gave Poppy one last pat. “I’m