The Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2)(24)

Marge perked up a little at the question. Probably because Slater seemed to be taking her seriously, Catalina thought.

“Male,” Marge said. “One in the back seat. One in front. Didn’t see the clone in back until Olivia tried to get out of the car. He reached out to haul her back inside. That’s when I got a quick look at him. Got a glimpse of the driver at the same time. It was the one in back who used the needle on her. Poor Olivia is going to wake up in hell.”

“Not if we find her first,” Slater said. “You’re sure the two men in the car were clones?”

“Didn’t get a good look at their faces, but I saw their auras. No two auras are one hundred percent identical, but those two were so close most folks would have a tough time telling them apart.”

“Twins,” Slater said quietly.

Catalina glanced at him, startled. She turned back to Marge. “Are you saying the two men who grabbed Olivia were identical twins?”

“If they were human you could call ’em twins,” Marge said. “But those two weren’t human. They’re from Riverview. That makes ’em clones.”

Time to give Slater some credit, Catalina thought. Two minutes into the interview with Marge and he had already extracted a description that might prove extremely valuable.

“What else did you see in the energy fields of the two people in the car?” Slater asked.

Marge eyed him. “You see energy fields, too?”

“Yes,” Slater said. “Not the way you do, but yes, I can sense them.”

Marge nodded with a sage expression. “Right. You’re one of the cleaners from the Foundation, aren’t you?”

Catalina could have sworn her jaw dropped. “You know about the Foundation?”

“Met someone at that secret lab the Riverview bastards operate,” Marge said. “Another captive. He talked about it. I remember he told me that if the people from the Foundation found out we’d been kidnapped they’d send the cleaners to rescue us. No one ever showed up to get us out of that place, though, so I figured he was just another crazy. But a while back Olivia told me Catalina was working for a client from Las Vegas. She said he ran a Foundation that understood people like me.”

“There’s a lot about people like you and me and Catalina that the Foundation still doesn’t understand,” Slater said. “But we’re working on it.” He took a card out of his pocket and handed it to Marge. “If you get kidnapped again and taken to Riverview or anywhere else that you don’t want to be, you make sure you tell whoever works there that they have to call that number. The cleaners will come and get you.”

Marge looked dubious. “What if the clones won’t make the phone call?”

Slater smiled coldly. “You tell them that as soon as Catalina and Olivia figure out that you’re missing, they’ll make the phone call. And if that happens, the folks at Riverview will find themselves dealing with a lawsuit as well as the cleaners. Trust me, someone will make that call.”

“Okay,” Marge said. She studied the card, her lips moving silently. Then she nodded once, satisfied. “Got a pretty good memory for numbers. But just in case, I’ll keep this card handy.”

She tucked it under her knit hat.

“Anything else I should know about the clones who took Olivia?” Slater asked.

“That big car they were driving looked real new,” Marge said. She shrugged. “And the one who used the needle on Olivia knew what he was doing. Expect he’d done it before. That tell you anything?”

“It tells me I’m dealing with professionals,” Slater said.

“Exactly,” Marge said. “Talent like that doesn’t come cheap. Takes money to set up an operation slick enough to make a woman vanish without a trace.”

“Money and resources,” Slater said. “You’re right, Marge, this has all the hallmarks of a sophisticated operation.”

Catalina looked at Slater and then at Marge. Somewhere along the line they both appeared to have forgotten about her. The whole thing felt a little unreal but there was no getting around the reality of what had just happened. A stranger with a very weird aura had immediately been able to establish communication with a homeless woman whose psychic senses had been scrambled by drugs.

Marge eyed Slater. “Has your energy always been like it is now?”

“You know how it is, Marge—you can’t see your own aura,” Slater said. “But people have told me that mine was always a little different. Six months ago it got a lot different because something happened to me.”

Marge squinted knowingly. “The clones used drugs on you?”

“Radiation.”

“Yeah? What kind?”

“I have no idea.”

Marge nodded. “Changed you, though.”

“Evidently,” Slater said.

“What are you now?”

“Still trying to figure it out,” Slater said.





CHAPTER 9


Talk to me, Arganbright,” Catalina said. “I want to know everything you know.”

Slater considered how and where to begin. It wasn’t easy to concentrate on her question, because he was still adjusting to the effect she was having on his senses. When they had slammed into each other on the street a short time ago it was as if he had been plunged straight into the heart of a different version of the “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale. In this story he was the sleeper, and he had been awakened not by a kiss but by the electrifying energy of Catalina’s fierce aura.