Page 84 of Facade

“Baby steps, Clarke,” Jace said. “Heath and I wouldn’t forgive ourselves if you ended up with a migraine because we pushed.”

“Ok, what if we agree on the most pertinent topics to cover first, and ask her questions for thirty minutes?” Russell asked. “That shouldn’t strain Clarke, since twenty minutes didn’t take a toll on her, and many of her visions last for an hour. If she’s fine, we can extend the next session by five or ten minutes. At the first sign of a headache or disorientation, we’ll stop.”

Heath appreciated that Russell was respectful of Clarke, and thinking of her well-being. He didn’t see her as a tool or means to an end.

“I’m comfortable with that,” Heath said.

“Same,” Jace agreed.

“Let’s do it. I’m excited to work with this aspect of my power, and see what we can learn,” Clarke said.

“Good. The first thing I want to do is assign tasks,” Russell said. “If you all agree with my ideas, we’ll ask preliminary questions that will assist us in performing those jobs. We can go into more detail next week depending on what, if any information we have acquired at that point.”

“Tasks?” Jace asked.

Russell nodded. “Jace, you have an excellent relationship with most of the police force in town. I’d like you to spend a night or two with some of your buddies. Express your concern about the missing graduates, and find out if they have any leads.”

“I can do that,” Jace replied. “Some of the guys have been nagging me to hang out, complaining that I’ve been antisocial this year.”

“Crap,” Heath said. “You have to do your normal thing even if you don’t learn anything about the students. We don’t want your friends and roommates getting too curious about why you haven’t been meeting them at your favorite watering holes.”

“True, but it’s not an issue at the moment,” Jace said. “I told them I’ve been staying close to campus due to the tension resulting from Mitch’s shit.”

“But now that things have calmed down, it would seem odd for you not to indulge in a guy night,” Clarke mentioned.

“I’d rather spend every free minute with you, Clarke, but I agree that deviating too much from routine isn’t wise, and I can multitask by finding out if the detectives have leads,” Jace said.

“What do you have in mind for me?” Heath asked.

“I would like you to focus on the tournament,” Russell said. “Since we may not be able to solve this anytime soon, it would be best to have a plan in place to protect the students. As a professor, you will have access to information on all the students who plan to enter, who their coaches are, and the duties of auxiliary staff. That could be pivotal.”

“I’ll get on it right away,” Heath said.

Sleuthing wasn’t a strength of his. But Heath had a good relationship with the faculty and students. This should be a fairly easy task to accomplish, and could be important.

Hopefully, Charlie and the students would be found and liberated before the upcoming tournament. If not, they would need as much information as possible, and a strategy to protect the students. He liked having contingency plans, and being proactive.

Russell and 007 had large social networks that consisted of completely different groups of people. It was a distinct advantage. Between the two of them, they would hopefully come up with solid leads.

Delegating responsibilities intelligently was clearly something Russell was good at. He was already proving to be an asset. Heath was encouraged.

“Clarke, it isn’t safe for you to be in town more than absolutely necessary. Mitch is still a threat, and just waiting for you to drop your guard. Since you don’t know many people here, and have to be careful in your interactions, you will contribute primarily with your psychic power,” Russell waited for her nod of agreement before continuing. “I will spend as much time as possible in Clementine, seeing what I can dig up on the staff. Hopefully something will point to a suspect we can investigate who may know where Charlie and Dr. Prentis are.”

“It’s a good plan,” Heath commented.

“Yeah, I feel more confident now,” Clarke said.

“Good. I think we have a strong team with a variety of talents,” Russell said.

They all snacked as they talked about working with Clarke’s power. It was relaxed and upbeat. Russell’s presence and strategy gave them all hope of learning something useful sooner than later.

When their appetites were satisfied, they moved into the living room after putting the leftovers away. Russell handed Jace a list of questions, and sat down where he could face the room. He seemed content to observe the process.

“This is interesting,” Jace said after scanning the page.

“I know it looks random and disorganized,” Russell said. “But these are basic things we need to know. The answers we get will help direct our focus for the next session, and the information we need to obtain.”

“Sounds good. Let’s get started,” Clarke said as she sat sideways on the couch with the sketch pad resting against her bent legs.