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“What the hell?” Ambrose said. He glanced past her into the lobby. “Never mind. I see the problem.”
Pallas pretended not to see the man who had summoned the elevator. He was looking down at his cell phone and did not notice that the doors had opened. Hastily she punched the button to close the doors. The elevator continued on to the fourth floor.
“I told you there wouldn’t be any trouble getting people to talk to us about the local haunted ruins,” she said.
“We don’t have time to waste listening to half the town tell us they’ve seen the Carnelian ghosts.”
“I’ve been doing this for a while now,” Pallas said. “Trust me, you never know where or how you’ll get an important lead.”
“Pretty sure it won’t be coming from a lot of podcast groupies,” Ambrose said.
She smiled. “Says the podcast groupie who dragged me here to investigate two mysterious disappearances.”
“That’s harsh,” Ambrose said.
“But true.”
“Well, yeah. But harsh.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
She opened thedoor of her room with a sense of relief. Ambrose followed her inside.
“This is going to take a while,” she warned, setting the messenger bag on the floor beside the table. “Why don’t you go downstairs and get a cup of coffee or something? I’ll call you when I’m done.”
“There’s a coffee maker here in your room. I’ll be fine.”
She glared at him. “I do not want you hovering over me while I’m in a trance.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll stay out of your way.” He took his phone from his pocket and then shrugged out of the windbreaker. “I’ll check my email. There are bound to be a few updates in theThings Can Always Get Worsefile.”
She couldn’t tell if he was joking.
“That sounds ominous,” she said.
“It is. Luckily I’ve got an assistant who can handle just about anything except for the actual writing of my book. I don’t know how much longer she’s going to be able to hold things together, though.”
“The Lost Night Filesis looking for an assistant who can act as our producer, but we haven’t been able to justify the expense. Poor Talia is stuck dealing with all the tech issues.”
“I’m not going to be able to justify an assistant, either, not for much longer,” Ambrose said, his voice grim. “I need to get my life back.”
“We all do.” Pallas took her sketchbook and a pencil out of the messenger bag and sat down at the table. “I’ve never gone into a trance with someone watching me. It’s going to feel weird. I might not be able to draw.”
“If you can’t do your thing with me in the room I’ll leave,” he promised.
“All right,” she said. “But whatever you do, don’t startle me or try to bring me out of the trance. Let me come out of it on my own. Is that clear?”
“Yep.” He sank down into the large padded reading chair, phone in hand. “Take your time.”
She hesitated a moment longer and then decided to give it a try. “I’ll do the other patient’s room, because I honestly don’t think there is much to learn from yours that we don’t already know. Lots of anxiety, but that’s not helpful. Whatever was going on in room B was a lot more... volatile.”
She opened the sketchbook, braced herself for the jolt, and slipped into her other vision.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
In the tranceshe sees the interior of her hotel room in a ghostly, luminous glow, an eerie radiance that does not come from the visible portion of the light spectrum. It is the light of visions, hallucinations, and dreams. Just as luminol reveals hidden traces of blood at a crime scene, the vision light illuminates the murky layers of human energy that have been laid down over the years. The wispy stuff pools and swirls just above the floor and the bed like low-lying fog.
There is other energy as well, the vital, compelling heat that is unique to Ambrose. She is getting used to it but she is still fascinated by the effect it has on her. The sense of intimacy is growing stronger with each hour they spend together. She can no longer pretend this is just simple physical attraction. Something else is going on here, something that should probably make her question her response to this man or, at the very least, make her more cautious.
