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“What makes you believe a woman was murdered at the clinic?” she asked. She told herself she was just gathering context and data before she made the executive decision to get the heck out of Dodge.
“I think I was a witness,” Ambrose said.
She watched him, saying nothing.
“Not to the actual murder,” he said quickly. “But I’m almost certain I heard the victim scream. I think I saw the body being taken away in a laundry cart.”
“But you’re not sure.”
“No,” Ambrose admitted.
“Why the doubt?”
“Because I’ve been told I was sleepwalking at the time. There’s a possibility I dreamed the whole thing. If that turns out to be true, I’m in worse shape than I thought—and I need to check myself into a psychiatric hospital.”
CHAPTER THREE
Are you sureit’s a good idea to meet with Drake again?” Talia March asked. Technically it was a question, but her cool, firm tone was infused with disapproval. It was clear she was against the idea. “You know as well as I do that the podcast attracts its share of weirdos.”
“Get real,” Pallas said. She put the phone on speaker and reminded herself that Talia was inclined to be a bit of a control freak. She did not handle change well—unless the change was her idea. It was a perfectly understandable side effect of her strange new talent. “We both know that these days the distinction between weird and normal can get extremely murky.”
Talia fell silent for a moment. Pallas could almost hear the synapses firing on the other end of the connection. Talia had trained as a librarian, but her talent for finding that which had been lost—people, things, history—had attracted the attention of a series of employers, all of whom had, in turn, let her go in short order. Her last job had been with a consulting agency that did contract work for various corporations and the occasional clandestine governmentintelligence client. As usual, she had not lasted long. Two months into her position as an analyst she had been fired and escorted off the premises by security.
Talia’s version of the tale was somewhat vague. She claimed she had found the work interesting but had soon discovered she did not take orders well. Pallas and the third member of the podcast team, Amelia Rivers, suspected there was more to the story, specifically that a man might have been involved, but Talia had not volunteered any details.
She had been in the process of establishing her own one-woman research agency when her life had been derailed by the events at the Lucent Springs Hotel.
“You’re right,” she said. “The line between weird and normal is not exactly crystal clear these days. Nevertheless, this Ambrose Drake person appears to be rather sketchy. You said he’s a writer?”
“Apparently,” Pallas said. “Only two books so far, though.”
She carried the phone across the hotel room and stopped in front of the window. In the end, Ambrose Drake had been the first to drive away from the abandoned asylum. She had waited in her car, the doors locked, until he was gone before collecting the Taser that Ambrose had left at the entrance.
She had taken a moment to duck back inside the ruins for one last look at the creepy staircase. The shock of violent death still seethed on the steps. She knew that if she heightened her talent she would see the snakes again. That was when she had decided she would keep the appointment with Drake that evening. He wasn’t the only one who wanted answers.
“I did some research on Drake after I got back to the hotel,” she continued. “He really is an author. He writes twisty, creepy stuff.‘Thrillers infused with an element of modern Gothic horror,’according tosome of the reviews. He’s not one of the big names. He didn’t hit the top of the bestseller lists with his first two books, but he did hit some lists.”
“I’m at his website now,” Talia said. “It’s very well done, by the way.”
“The website?”
“Yes. Excellent design. Easy to navigate. Good branding. The links all work.”
Pallas cleared her throat. “We’re not having this conversation to discuss his online marketing skills. Try to focus.”
“Iamfocused.” Talia sounded offended. “Doesn’t mean I can’t multitask. Our podcast website is competent but not exactly inspired. It needs an upgrade. Also, our social media efforts suck.”
“Because the three of us are competent but not exactly inspired when it comes to navigating the online world.”
“We need more reach,” Talia said. “Got to build our brand.”
She sounded thoughtful now. That was dangerous. If you lost Talia to her newly enhanced imagination, it could take a while to get her attention again.
“Forget the social media crap, Talia.” Pallas sharpened her voice. “We’re discussing Ambrose Drake and the possibility of two murders.”
“Right. Okay, I see that he has two titles out,A Fall of ShadowsandA Snare of Dreams. He’s writing a series featuring an investigator named Jake Crane.”
“So?”
