Page 5 of Shattering Dawn
“Such as con artist? Conspiracy buff? Or maybe you think I’m one of those gullible, naive people who get sucked into cults?”
To her surprise, something dangerous shifted in Gideon’s eyes. She knew she had struck a nerve.
“It’s interesting that you mention cults,” he said.
“Why? There is a long history of people joining cults because theyare convinced the leaders have some sort of psychic powers.” She paused a beat and gave him another cold smile. “You know, like the ability to see auras.”
“I am well aware of that,” Gideon said. His jaw tensed as he appeared to consider whether or not to pursue the topic of cults. “Let’s focus on your case.”
“I thought that’s what I was doing until you made it obvious you don’t believe I can see auras or prints.”
“Let’s just say I’m keeping an open mind.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
He watched her closely. “What made you think I wouldn’t question your claim to be able to view auras and such?”
She hesitated and then decided she did not have a lot left to lose. Time to play another card and see how he responded. “I found your name on a certain list.”
“A list of search engine results?”
“No, a list of people who participated in a certain psychological research study several years ago. I’m on that list, and so are my friends on the podcast crew. The study consisted of a lengthy questionnaire and some odd tests. We were told the results would help provide us with career guidance but now we’re convinced the study was a cover for the real purpose.”
“Which was?”
She got ready to take the next big leap. Gideon’s reaction would tell her everything she needed to know.
“We believe that the study was designed to identify individuals who possess some natural level of paranormal talent. We all took the test and forgot about it. No one told us we had landed on a list of people who were identified as having psychic abilities.”
“After all these years, why are you so concerned about that list now?”
“Because someone is hunting the people on that list,” she said. “People like you and me and the members of theLost Night Filespodcast team.”
Chapter Three
It didn’t takeany psychic talent to see that she had blindsided Gideon. Excellent. She had his full attention now. Amelia’s spirits lifted.
“Huh,” he said finally. Evidently concluding that response did not sound suitably professional, he tried again. “I did not have time to listen to every episode ofThe Lost Night Filesand I skipped around a lot because I wanted to get a feel for the content. But I don’t recall any mention of a list of people with psychic talents.”
“That’s because we only recently discovered it,” she said. “We haven’t done any episodes about it because we’ve decided to keep the information quiet in order to protect the privacy of the people on it.”
“Good plan,” Gideon admitted. “If word got out that there was a list of people believed to be genuine psychics you would be flooded with cranks demanding details.”
Once again she could not tell if he was being sincere or trying to humor her.
“Exactly,” she said.
He started to lean back in his chair but stopped abruptly, wincinga little. He shifted forward and folded his arms on the desktop instead. “What makes you think you and your friends are being hunted because you are on this list, Ms. Rivers?”
She had given up enough information. It was his turn.
“Before I go any further I need to know if you remember participating in that old research study I just told you about,” she said.
Gideon hesitated. For a moment she thought he would deny everything.
“I seem to recall participating inastudy that was focused on career counseling,” he said eventually. “There’s no way to know if it’s the same one you’re talking about. Career guidance is a very common service.”
She allowed herself another little flash of relief. Evidently he had not lost a night to amnesia, but at least he remembered that he had been involved in a study. It had to be the same one that she and the others had participated in, because his name was on the damned list.