Page 97 of Shattering Dawn
“Of course she’s gone,” Amelia said. “Her work here is done.”
“She’s the one who sabotaged Steen’s boat?”
“Yes.”
“How did you know?”
“I didn’t,” Amelia said. “Not for certain. But she hated her father and she was afraid of him.”
“…Free Amelia. We’re in this together until we get answers…We’re in this together until we get answers…”
“We had better make an appearance at the front gate,” she said. “I want to let those people know they not only helped rescue me, they were instrumental in bringing another cold case to a close. This is going to make a fantastic podcast episode forThe Lost Night Files. Phoebe will be thrilled.”
“Before we go out there, I’ve got a question,” Gideon said. “You saw the threat in Irene’s energy prints on the dock stairs.”
“Yes.”
“That can’t have been the first time you saw her prints, and you must have viewed her aura from time to time. Any idea why you didn’t perceive the threat to yourself?”
“I’ve been wondering about that. Maybe my energy reading skills are not reliable, or maybe I’m still on the learning curve, still trying to figure out how to decipher them. But I think there’s another explanation.”
“What?”
“Maybe she never had any intention of hurting me. Like her father, she wanted answers, but her goal back at the start was to observe me. She wasn’t so sure I was a failure. As time went on we became friends.”
“With friends like that…”
“I know. But the thing is, in her own way, she was trying to protect me. She killed Falcon.”
“And somewhere along the line she figured out how to use you to get rid of Cutler.”
“I think so, yes. Don’t get me wrong. In hindsight, I do see that she wasn’t great BFF material.”
“The woman executed that thug, Falcon, in cold blood, and if you’re right, she arranged the explosion that killed her father. Trust me, Irene is very dangerous.”
Amelia thought about the violent currents of energy she had used to destroy Steen’s psychic senses. “So am I, Gideon.”
“I know.” He wrapped an arm around her and brought her close for a fierce embrace. “That’s one of the many things I love about you.”
She froze.“What?”
He released her and started toward the glass doors of the living room. “Let’s go call off theLost Night Filesfans before they come through the gate with pitchforks.”
Chapter Fifty-six
“I can’t believethe authorities are blaming me and theLost Night Filescrew for everything that happened,” Amelia fumed. “Talk about unfair. Talk about poor police work.”
She swept through the doorway of her apartment, stalked around the kitchen island, and plunked the colorful sack containing two orders of breakfast sandwiches and two coffees on the counter.
Gideon closed and locked the door and made his way to the island. He angled himself onto a stool and hung his cane on the edge of the counter.
“To be fair, the cops didn’t exactly blame you and the others,” he said in what she suspected was intended to be a soothing tone.
She took the two extra-large-sized coffee cups out of the sack and yanked off the lids. “Yes. They. Did.”
She and Gideon had finished the interview with the police a little over an hour ago. An investigation into the explosion on Steen’s cruiser was underway but Phoebe had warned everyone they wouldn’t find much. She had already searched for him on the dark web. For all intents and purposes, Steen was a ghost—currently in the literalsense, if you believed in that sort of thing—and also online. It was as if he had never existed. The same was true of Irene Morgan.
Amelia knew that she and Gideon were sleep-deprived, but they were far too wired to even try to get some rest. Also, there wasn’t much point, she thought. The rest of theLost Night Filesteam was on the way to San Diego by air and car. They would be arriving at various times throughout the day and they planned to come straight to her apartment for a debriefing.