The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2)(22)

“I was walking quickly because you insisted that I get back to the office right away, remember? Just got too close to a blank, that’s all. Or, rather, he got too close to me. I didn’t see him coming until he was next to me.”

“Trust me, I know how it feels.” He glanced briefly over his shoulder. “The runner with the gray jacket?”

“Yes.” Catalina peered past Slater’s shoulder. The runner was no longer in sight. “You noticed him?”

“I caught a glimpse of his aura. He was strong.”

That was interesting. A lot of people who could detect auras were able to tell that something was off about a blank’s energy field but very few could actually see the cold heat of a blank’s aura.

“You could see the bad light in his field?” she asked.

“Yes.” Slater looked at her with a thoughtful expression. “He got close to you, didn’t he?”

“Yes, but I don’t think he even noticed me. He’s long gone now, thank goodness. How did you find me out here on the street?”

“No big mystery to it,” Slater said. “I have a photo of you. Your receptionist described the coat you’re wearing and gave me your most likely route back to the office.”

“I see.”

“Also, it’s not like there are a lot of women walking down the street who are trying to avoid the hot footprints.”

She groaned. “In other words, I looked like I was drunk or crazy?”

“Not to me. I knew exactly what you were doing.”

She wasn’t sure how to deal with the information her senses were providing about Slater Arganbright. The heat in his aura was breathtaking. Even though she was no longer using her second sight, she would never forget the way his energy field had felt when it collided with hers. Summer lightning.

She had never before experienced anything like the sensation. Now that she had calmed down and put some distance between them, she had a chance to study the man in more detail. He wasn’t big and bulked up. He was leopard-sleek, and leopard-powerful. The sharp planes and angles of his face had a severe, ascetic cast. His dark hair was cut short in a no-nonsense style. Even though the sun illuminated the street in the warm glow of springtime, Slater seemed to be enveloped in shadows. There was a grim, haunted quality in his amber eyes.

It was obvious he had not bothered to shave that morning. He didn’t look as if he had spent much time putting together his sartorial look, either. He wore a pair of rumpled-looking, multipocketed cargo trousers, a black T-shirt, an extremely distressed leather jacket and low boots that appeared as well-worn as the jacket. He had the strap of a sturdy-looking backpack slung over one shoulder. He might be built like a big cat but he dressed like a cross between a tech ace and a biker.

To her chagrin she’d had to exert a little raw willpower to shake off the mesmerizing impact of his eyes. But maybe she should cut herself some slack. After all, she had been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours.

“Tell me what you want from me in exchange for helping me find Olivia,” she said. “Because that’s what this is about, right?”

“My uncle obviously left a bad impression.”

“No shit.”

“We can talk about that later.”

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s too late to discuss your uncle’s actions. The damage has been done. I’m on the other side. I prefer not to be reminded of all the details.”

“Right,” Slater said. “In that case let’s stick to the problem at hand.”

“My friend Olivia is missing. That is the problem at hand. You seem to know something about the situation. I want answers and I want them now.”

“I don’t have many. All I can tell you is that I’m pretty sure I’m chasing the people who grabbed her. You said on the phone you found a witness, someone who saw Olivia kidnapped?”

“Yes.”

“I want to talk to her,” Slater said.

“I just did. All Marge knows is that yesterday evening someone tricked Olivia into getting into a black car, an SUV of some kind. No license plates. There were two people in the car. She thinks she saw one of them use a syringe to inject some drug into Olivia. That’s it. That’s all Marge could tell me.”

“She thinks she saw one of them inject Ms. LeClair with a drug? That’s interesting.”

“The problem with Marge as a witness is that she interprets everything through her own personal conspiracy theory. In her world the bad people are all from a planet named Riverview and they use drugs to subdue their victims.”

Slater looked interested. “Any idea how she picked up the specifics of her theory?”

“Sure, Olivia and I did a little research. Turns out Riverview is the name of the psychiatric hospital where Marge was incarcerated for a couple of years. The doctors used a lot of drugs on her in an attempt to rid her of her fantasies.”

“What kind of fantasies?”

Catalina pulled up her steeliest smile. “Marge is considered crazy because she sees auras.”

“Does she have a connection to Fogg Lake?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Statistically speaking, there is a small percentage of the population with a naturally occurring sixth sense. Over the years a lot of people have claimed to see auras or tried to invent gadgets to read energy fields. The experts at the Foundation believe that some psychic ability is probably a latent talent in many people, but no one knows what is required to kick-start it.”