Page 92 of Shattering Dawn
Cutler’s mouth thinned with disappointment and disgust. “That’s all you can do with your talent? View auras?”
“Well, I can see energy prints, too, of course. That’s how I recognized Falcon when he and his men ambushed Gideon and me at the old hotel. Do you want me to take a look at your aura?”
“Yeah, sure, go ahead,” Cutler said. It was clear he did not expect much.
“We’ll have to go outside onto the deck,” Amelia said.
Cutler glared. “Why?”
“My talent works best in darkness.” She looked around. “I suppose we could turn off all the lights in here. Your choice.”
She could tell Cutler was torn, but he was a desperate man. He made his decision.
“All right,” he said. “We’ll go out onto the deck.” He glanced at the guard hovering at the entrance to the great room. “Twitchell, stay here. Keep an eye on us.”
“Yes, sir,” Twitchell said.
Amelia noticed that the guard looked anxious and desperate, too. He was on the drug, she realized.
Irene got to her feet. “I’m coming with you. This should be interesting.” She looked at her father. “How will you know if Amelia tells you the truth about what she sees in your aura?”
Cutler did not take his feverish eyes off Amelia.
“I’ll know,” he said.
Amelia remembered something Irene had once said about her father.He always thought he was the smartest one in the room. And he was. Right up until he wasn’t.
At the time Irene had used the past tense, as if her father was dead. That bit of sleight of hand had been a cover to conceal the truth. Cutler Steen was very much alive. But it looked like the rest of Irene’s analysis was right.
You’re buying time. Just keep talking.
“It would be best if you dimmed the lights in here a little so that they don’t shine too far out onto the deck,” she said. “The darker it is, the more accurately I can read the currents of your energy field.”
Cutler shrugged and looked at the guard. “Twitchell, dim these lights, but don’t turn them off altogether.”
“Yes, sir.” Twitchell reached out and pressed a wall switch.
The great room lights lowered to what, in other circumstances, would have been deemed a romantic level.
“That’s enough,” Amelia said.
Cutler opened the glass doors and led the way across the large deck. Amelia followed him out into the moonlit night. So did Irene.
Cutler stopped at the far side of the deck, gripped the railing with one hand, and turned to watch Amelia.
She took a breath and heightened her senses.
Cutler’s energy prints seethed on the wooden boards of the deck and on the railing. She was not surprised to see that his aura blazed in the shadows, powerful but dangerously erratic. Several bandwidths appeared to be in the process of growing weak. Failing.
She cleared her throat. “Please keep in mind that I’m still getting the hang of this aura reading business—”
“What in fucking hell do you see?” Cutler said through his teeth.
She decided to go with the truth. There did not seem to be any point in lying. “You are being slowly poisoned, Mr. Steen.”
Chapter Fifty-five
“I knew it,”Cutler Steen said, his voice soft and savage. “Those fucking directors. They’ll regret playing games with me. They’ll give me the real formula before they die.”