Page 74 of Shattering Dawn
“For good reason. According to you she’s been dating him for a while now. She probably knows more about him than she realizes. He’ll be aware of that.”
“Yes.” She thought about that ominous statement and then tried to go to the bright side. “But wouldn’t he steer clear of her if he’s trying to disappear? If he killed her like he did those men at the hotel last night, that would open up a homicide investigation, and the cops always view the boyfriend as the first suspect. He has to know that.”
“I agree. If he’s smart he’ll vanish. But Falcon has already screwed up his main objective—grabbing you—a couple of times. I don’t think we can count on him being an exceptionally smart bad guy.”
“I’ll call her again.”
“You’ve called her three times already. Last night and twice this morning. Each time she told you that she’s okay and that she hasn’t heard from Falcon.”
“I know, but if she was being held against her will Falcon would force her to say that, wouldn’t he? And she did sound tense, Gideon.”
“You’re catastrophizing again. There’s nothing more we can do from Lucent Springs. We’ll find out what’s going on when we get back to San Diego.”
“Huh.”
“What?” Gideon asked. He sounded wary. Suspicious.
“It occurred to me that if Irene is okay you might be able to use your talent to help her pull up some memories of Falcon that would help us locate him. Memories she might not be consciously aware of.”
Gideon’s jaw tightened. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“That’s what you said just before you helped me recover my own lost memories. You said it again before we dehypnotized Katy Shipley.”
“I still don’t know exactly what happened when you did whatever it is you did to recover Katy’s memories.”
“I told you, I channeled your energy through the crystal to unfreeze the hypnotic suggestion, that’s all.”
“You make it sound like we just did a small tune-up.”
“It worked. Katy was fine afterward. You saw her.”
“You were the one who scared the hell out of me.”
“I’m okay, Gideon. There was a bit of a shock when it happened. Some kind of blowback. I wasn’t expecting it. But I’m fine. I’m getting the hang of channeling your talent. It’s a lot like focusing a camera. The crystal really helps. I just need practice.”
“That’s a dangerous theory.”
“Maybe your Uncle Shelton will have some helpful advice. You said he’s something of an expert on the paranormal.”
“We are not going to get my uncle involved in this,” Gideon said.
“Why not? He’s a scientist.”
“Amadscientist when it comes to the paranormal. I, and everyone else in the family, try not to encourage him.”
“You’re afraid he’ll agree with me about the need for experimentation and practice, aren’t you?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Well, we can talk about it later.”
“No,” Gideon said. “We won’t.”
Time to change the subject, Amelia decided. She glanced at the dashboard clock. “It’s getting late. We need to get on the road.”
“I want to take one last look at the hotel before we leave,” Gideon said. “I doubt the local police did a thorough search last night. In the dark they easily could have missed something.”
She thought about the fact that three men had been shot to death in the lobby of the Lucent Springs Hotel. She really hated deathproperties. But this wasn’t a real estate shoot and she could not afford to be squeamish. There was too much at stake.