Page 80 of Shattering Dawn
Shelton Sweetwater arrivedas twilight descended. Gideon opened the door.
“I see you dressed for the part,” he said.
“This is SoCal,” Shelton said, sauntering into the hall. “Naturally I dressed for the part. Brings back memories of my younger days. Good times.”
With his sleek sunglasses and an ensemble that screamed Armani—tailored light gray sports jacket, trousers, and pullover—Shelton looked like Hollywood’s version of a high-end assassin. The image was enhanced when he slipped out of the jacket and revealed the shoulder holster and pistol underneath.
It was, Amelia reflected, the way Gideon would look if he dressed for the role. Then she remembered how he had appeared in the shadows of the Lucent Springs Hotel when he had taken down three armed men with only his talent. He did not need the costume.
“Amelia, this is my uncle, Shelton Sweetwater,” Gideon said. “You could say Shelton is the butterfly that flapped its wings several years ago and sent out the ripples that created the storm we find ourselvesin now. Shelton, this is Amelia Rivers. Just to be clear, she and her podcast pals blame you for their current situation. Goodbye, you two. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
He paused long enough to startle Amelia with a quick kiss and then he was gone, his cane delivering a muffled cadence as he went down the outside walkway to the stairs.
Amelia used the process of closing and locking the door to recover from the small shock of the goodbye kiss. She had not been expecting it, she realized. Gideon was focused on his mission, yet he hadn’t even hesitated. Evidently he assumed that a kiss on the way out the door was now routine for the two of them. That was a positive sign, she thought.
So why was she feeling rattled?
Shelton chuckled behind her. “Always knew my nephew would fall hard when he finally went down. It’s that way with Sweetwaters. Paranormal biophysics in action.”
She pulled herself together and turned to face him—and got another start when she saw that Shelton had removed the ominous sunglasses. He watched her with the fierce eyes of an apex predator. They reminded her of Gideon’s eyes. She would have liked to photograph Shelton, she realized. There was a lot of interesting energy going on in his vicinity.
“Excuse me?” she said. “Paranormal biophysics?”
“It’s all about the resonating frequencies of the auras of the two individuals involved, you see.”
“Don’t read too much into this situation, Mr. Sweetwater,” she said smoothly. “Gideon and I have a professional relationship, not a personal one.”
“I get the feeling your definition of professional and personal relationships is a tad different than mine. Probably a generationalthing. Do yourself a favor—try not to break his heart. His mother would be really annoyed.”
“I doubt if his heart is in any danger,” she said lightly.Mine, on the other hand…She pushed the thought away. “Can I offer you coffee or tea? Maybe a light snack? It’s after five and there’s no knowing how long Gideon will be gone.”
“Coffee and a snack sounds good,” Shelton said. “And please call me Shelton.”
“Have a seat, Shelton.” She waved him toward one of the barstools at the island. “Call me Amelia.”
“Thanks.”
Shelton settled himself and hooked one elegantly shod foot on the bottom rung of the stool. She whisked around the end of the island and opened the refrigerator.
“I understand you’ve had a checkered career,” she said.
“Is that how Gideon described my job history?” Shelton chuckled. “He’s in no position to criticize. He took his time figuring out what to do with his own talent.”
Amelia selected a wedge of cheddar and closed the refrigerator. She looked at Shelton across the expanse of the island. “Did he try to become a professional artist before he took up a career as a private investigator?”
Shelton snorted. “He knows he’ll never set the art world on fire. He doesn’t care. For him, painting is a way of centering himself. I was talking about his real talent.”
She set the cheese on a serving board and opened a drawer to find a knife. “You mean his ability to drop someone into a hallucinatory dreamstate.”
“Well, well, well,” Shelton said. “So he told you about his ability, did he? He doesn’t tell many people, you know.”
“He pretty much had to explain things to me.” She went to work on the cheese. “I was accidentally caught by the blast of energy he used to take down one of the bad guys in Lucent Springs.”
There was a short, charged silence from the other side of the island. She turned her head to look at Shelton. She knew from the way he watched her that he was more than surprised. The termdumbfoundedcame to mind.
“No shit?” he asked.
“No shit.”