Telepathic private investigator Quentin Q. Quasar and his partner Nate Braddock are back. They accidentally stumble on a series of kidnapping/murders, and begin to investigate. Eventually, the kidnappers snatch a young man from an Interstate rest area, and Quentin and Nate hear his telepathic cry for help. Armed with that information, they contact their friend George Martin at the sheriff’s office, and manage to catch the kidnappers before they’ve killed the victim. The intended victim was on his way to Orlando to join his boyfriend -- also a telepath -- who’d recently moved there to take a job.<br><br>Meanwhile, Nate’s grandparents fly into Jacksonville from Chattanooga, so Quentin and Nate can drive them to a hospital in Ocala. Nate’s mother has been in a state prison for women located near Ocala, and has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. At the end of a series of hospital visits they encounter and capture the leader of the cult that Nate’s mother and stepfather belonged to. The cult leader and his wife, both of whom had jumped bail before their trials, had just administered poison to Nate’s mother, to keep her from making any sort of deathbed confession about the cult and its activities.

Sleuth LLC: Bring Out Your Dead

“Open the gun safe! Why?” Quentin said.


“Because I’m taking mine with me, that’s why?”


“Okay, I’ll bite, why are you taking a gun with you to the hospital?” Quentin said.


“Because those cult people were there yesterday, and I don’t trust them.”


“Isn’t that a bit extreme?” Mr. Wilson said.


“Don’t worry, Grandpa, I’m licensed to carry a gun, and I’m not going to load it,” Nate said. “Just having it with me will make me feel safer.”


“Nate hasn’t totally gotten over being kidnapped,” Quentin said.


“Well, I certainly can’t blame him for being paranoid,” Mr. Wilson said.


“Paranoid about what?” Mrs. Wilson said from the doorway.


“About that cult, Grandma. I don’t trust them, so I’m taking my gun with me.”


“What good will that do, if it isn’t loaded?” Mr. Wilson said.


“It’ll make me feel better,” Nate said. “Besides, nobody else will know it’s not loaded.”


Ten minutes later, they were in Nate’s car and on their way.


Chapter 52