Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-three

Amelia was on the phone with Phoebe when she heard Gideon let himself into the other room.

“Hang on, he’s back,” she said. “Maybe he found the information we need. I’ll put you on speaker.”

“Excellent,” Phoebe said, her voice infused with anticipation.

Amelia went to the opening between the two rooms. Gideon was in the process of locking the back door.

“Any luck?” she asked. She held up the phone. “I’ve got Phoebe here.”

Gideon turned away from the door. There was a cold heat in his eyes. “Hello, Phoebe. Nice to meet you.”

“Same,” Phoebe said. “Amelia told me about the box with the logo of the pharmaceutical company and she gave me the name of the man who wrote the note.”

“Good,” Gideon said.

Amelia smiled at him. “You found something, didn’t you?”

“Maybe,” he said.

“My room.” She turned and led the way to the small table near the window.

He followed and sat down across from her. She put the phone on the table.

“Okay,” she said. “We’re listening.”

“Dr. S. Davis checked into room ten two nights before the day that you and your friends were kidnapped,” Gideon said. “There is no question that Davis is Fulbrook.”

“I knew there was a connection,” Amelia said. A thrill of satisfaction snapped through her. The scorched key, like the photo of the pharmaceutical box, was an important clue. Her intuition had not betrayed her.

“You’re sure that Dr. S. Davis is S. Fulbrook?” Phoebe asked.

“I checked the handwriting on the registration form,” Gideon said. “Davis and Fulbrook are one and the same. He paid cash up front, so there’s no credit card trail. I’m sure the address on the form will turn out to be a fake, but the manager made an interesting note—Davis lost his room key. He was issued a second key.”

“ Yes ,” Amelia said softly.

Amusement flashed briefly in Gideon’s eyes. She ignored him.

“Here’s what I’ve got so far,” Phoebe said. “There was a Dr. Scott Fulbrook who was the director of research at a small startup pharmaceutical company in Silicon Valley. The startup got bought out by one of the big pharma companies but it looks like Fulbrook was not part of the deal. In fact, he was fired.”

“The acquiring company did not keep the startup’s director of research?” Gideon asked. “That’s unusual.”

“I think I’ve found an explanation for why they dumped Fulbrook,” Phoebe said. “There’s a reference to a government investigation into his research results. He was suspected of fraud.”

“Was?” Amelia asked. “Past tense?”

“He seems to have dropped out of sight about a year ago,” Phoebe concluded.

“Anything yet on Aurora Islands Pharmaceutical Laboratory?” Gideon asked.

“No,” Phoebe said. “Pretty sure it’s not a U.S.-based company, as you suspected, but that’s all I can tell you. I need more time.”

“Call as soon as you have any information,” Amelia said.

“Will do,” Phoebe said.

“Can you update the others for me?” Amelia asked. “I’m sure Talia and Luke and Pallas and Ambrose must be wondering what’s going on.”

“I’ll bring them up to speed when they check in. At the moment they are all still off the grid. No cell phone service for any of them.”

“All right,” Amelia said. “Thanks, Phoebe.”

She ended the call and looked at Gideon. “What aren’t you telling me?”

He cranked back in the chair and stretched out his injured leg with some caution. “What makes you think I’m not telling you everything?”

“Maybe I’m getting to know you.”

“Huh. Maybe you are. Okay, here’s what I didn’t tell Phoebe. I’m pretty sure someone is watching us.”

Amelia went cold. “The gang that tried to kidnap me?”

“That’s definitely a possibility. But there are others.”

“Such as?”

“We’ve attracted some attention here in Lucent Springs. One or more of the locals may be taking an interest in us.”

“I wish we knew who.”

“Maybe Pete Ellerbeck,” Gideon said.

“The manager?”

“Think about it. He’s closer to the situation than just about anyone. If you’re right, if someone was murdered in my room—”

“I’m certain of it.”

“He has to know something about what happened, even if he doesn’t realize it. We’ll see what we can get out of him when we interview him.” Gideon gripped his cane and pushed himself to his feet. “Meanwhile, we both need some sleep. Neither one of us got a lot of rest last night and today has been a very long day.”

Alarmed, she stood quickly. “Where are you going?”

He turned in the doorway and looked at her in mild surprise. “I thought it was obvious. I’m going to bed.”

“You can’t sleep in that room.”

“Why not?”

She swept out both hands. “Because someone died in there. Obviously.”

Gideon glanced into his room and then looked back at her. “Assuming your analysis is correct, that happened seven months ago.”

“Trust me, there’s still way too much negative energy in that room. It’s not just the vibe of the actual death, it’s all the panic and horror and desperation. The whole room is saturated with it. Now that I’ve seen it with my other vision I can’t unsee it.”

“I understand,” he said. “But you’re a lot more sensitive to that kind of energy than I am. There’s no reason it will bother me.”

She folded her arms and raised her chin. “Just because you don’t sense it in your waking state doesn’t mean it won’t affect your dreams. You’re the one who gave me the lecture on how dreamstate energy is the source of all the psychic senses. If that’s true, it’s vitally important to practice good sleep hygiene.”

He looked at her as if she had just dropped in from another dimension. “Sleep hygiene?”

“Never mind.” She unfolded her arms and waved at the bed nearest the closet in her room. “You can have that one. I prefer the one closest to the window.”

Gideon glanced at the beds. “There may be something to your theory about negative energy affecting the dreamstate, but I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to accept your offer.”

“Why not? You slept in my living room last night. This isn’t much different.”

“It’s different.”

“Why? Because we would be sharing the same room? Separate beds, Gideon. We’re adults. It will be like camping out in the same tent. Sort of.”

His jaw tightened. “It would be different.”

“How?”

He braced a hand against the doorframe and looked at her with slightly savage eyes. “Earlier this evening you felt sorry for me because you assumed my talent probably complicated my relationships.”

“And you got pissed because you didn’t want me offering sympathy.”

“I don’t want your sympathy any more than you want me thinking you’re weak because your talent has made your life difficult. But you were right about one thing. My psychic vibe definitely screws up personal relationships.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning I can’t sleep with someone else in close proximity.”

She reflected on that for a beat. “Because other people’s dreamstate energy affects your own dreams? I can see where that might be a problem.”

“No, Amelia, the problem is that I give other people nightmares.”

“That’s hard to believe.”

“Trust me, you do not want to run the experiment to find out if I’m telling you the truth.”

She tilted her head slightly to one side. “Why do you give other people nightmares?”

Gideon groaned. “Let’s save this discussion for morning, okay?”

“No. I want to know the answer.”

“Fine. You want to spend what’s left of the night discussing paranormal biophysics? You’ve got it. Uncle Shelton thinks the basic problem is that I can’t control my dreamstate when I’m asleep the way I can when I’m awake. The dream energy in my aura overwhelms anyone with the bad luck to be sleeping nearby.”

“Huh.”

“You think the vibe from the murder in the other room might give me nightmares? It’s nothing compared to what I can do to your dreams.”

“Interesting. When did your sleep issues first appear?”

He stared at her in disbelief. “What the hell? Are you trying to psychoanalyze me?”

“I’m curious, okay? Hey, I’ve got sleep issues, too, remember?”

“My issues appeared at about the time my talent reached full power. That was in my early twenties. Look, I’m not here for therapy. I’m trying to explain why I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to sleep close to you.”

“Separate beds,” she pointed out.

“So?”

“So, it’s not the same thing as sleeping in the same bed.”

“Amelia, in case you haven’t noticed, the two beds in this room are only a couple of feet apart.”

She glanced at the double beds. He had a point. “Have you run the experiment?”

He frowned. “Sleeping in separate beds?”

She waved at the doubles. “In close proximity like this.”

“It never seemed like a good idea.”

“How do you explain your sleep issues to others?”

“Mostly I avoid the conversation,” he said.

There was a cold edge on the words. She pretended not to notice.

“You must have tried to tell people about your little phobia,” she said gently.

“It’s not a phobia, damn it.” He made a visible effort to get control of his temper. “If I can’t avoid it I tell people I’ve got a form of PTSD that makes it impossible for me to sleep in the same bed.”

She flushed. “As I keep reminding you, we’re talking about separate beds, not the same bed. Have you ever had an opportunity to run the experiment with someone like me? Someone with a strong paranormal vibe?”

She was sure he would say no.

“Yes,” he said. “A few years ago I met Caroline. She’s a botanist, a scientist who has devoted her life and her psychic talent to discovering new plants that might have potential medicinal properties.”

“I see,” Amelia said. Ruthlessly she tried to suppress her disappointment. “So she’s really, really smart?”

“Brilliant,” Gideon said. “And beautiful.”

“Uh-huh,” Amelia said. Great. The competition was a psychic Barbie botanist devoted to saving the world.

“Before you ask,” Gideon continued, “things did not end well with her, either. It was only one bad night, but she experienced a nightmare. I believe it involved giant carnivorous plants.”

“Wow. Carnivorous plants?”

“It took me a while to awaken her. During that time she was trapped in that in-between state—not quite awake but not really asleep. Paralyzed. Terrified. When she finally did come fully awake she went straight into a panic attack.”

Amelia had to fight the urge to hug him. “That can’t have been good for your ego.”

“No shit.”

“That is a very sad story, and I’d tell you that you have my sympathies, but we both know you don’t want them so I won’t.”

“Good plan.” He pushed himself away from the doorframe and turned, clearly intending to escape into his room. “Good night, Amelia.”

“Wait. Nothing you’ve told me changes my conclusion. I still think it would be a very bad idea for you to sleep in room ten and I honestly don’t believe there will be any problem with us sharing this room.”

He glared at her over his shoulder. “What makes you so sure of that?”

She smiled, confident now. “I’ve seen your aura and I’ve viewed your prints. You may be strong, Gideon Sweetwater, but you are not scary. Not to me. Like I said, you can have the bed nearest the closet.”

“What if you’re wrong?” he asked. “What if you wake up in a nightmare?”

“Try to keep some perspective here. I see weird things in the dark. I’ve got a stalker and someone tried to kidnap me last night. Seven months ago I was drugged and forced to become an involuntary test subject in a dangerous experiment involving an unknown paranormal serum. I lost a night of my life to amnesia. Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Gideon Sweetwater. If I have a nightmare I’ve got a long list of people and events to blame it on. Currently, you are at the bottom of that list.”

He stared at her. “My pretty little head?”

“Excuse me. I’m going to brush my teeth.”