“It was a long process,” she said. “When I mentioned the rainbows to my mother, the first thing she did was take me to an ophthalmologist who concluded that there was nothing wrong with my eyes. Aside from the fact that I needed glasses, that is.”
“But you kept seeing rainbows.”
“Of course. And they got increasingly vivid. My parents finally started to wonder if there was a link to my psychic senses because I certainly wasn’t showing signs of developing any other kind of talent. Everyone in my family has some talent, you see.”
“They say there’s a strong genetic component in some families.”
“Yes, but psychic genetics are extremely complicated. My talent doesn’t appear anywhere on the family tree. At any rate, the next appointment Mom made for me was with some experts in rare talents at one of the Arcane labs. They ran a lot of tests on me and eventually announced that I was an unusually strong rainbow-talent.” Charlotte waved one hand. “And that was the end of it, as far as everyone was concerned because, as everyone knows, the talent is just a novelty at best.”
“You seem to have parlayed it into a good career as an antiques dealer.”
She looked at him over the top of her mug, her eyes shadowed with darkly luminous mysteries. He felt the hair stir on the back of his neck, as it always did when he sensed secrets.
“Yes,” she said. “It has worked out well for me from a financial point of view.”
He looked at the mirrored pendant she wore. “Tell me about that necklace.”
“This?” She touched the pendant with her fingers. “I came across it a few years ago in an estate sale. I had no idea what it was but I knew that I had to have it. Later I figured out that it works a bit like tuned amber. It helps me focus my talent more precisely.”
“Interesting.”
She looked hesitant. He got the feeling that she was about to tell him something else about the pendant but in the next moment she changed her mind. She glanced out the window.
“Brace yourself,” she said lightly. “We have a visitor.”
He followed her gaze and saw Thelma Duncan striding briskly along the drive toward the cottage. She was dressed in her standard uniform, an oversized denim shirt heavily embroidered with colorful flowers, sturdy trousers, and a pair of well-worn boots. Her gray hair was covered by a broad-brimmed straw hat. She carried a basket on one arm.
“Something tells me you’re going to be eating zucchini bread for another week,” Slade said. “Rex will be happy.”
Charlotte set down her mug and got to her feet. “I admit I’ve had enough zucchini bread to last me until next summer’s crop comes in but I hope she brought more of those incredible tomatoes and basil. I could eat those all year long.”
Under other circumstances, her enthusiasm for the free produce would have been amusing, he thought.
“You do realize that Mrs. Duncan is going to see me here having breakfast with you,” he said. “She will draw the obvious conclusions. The news will be all over town by noon.”
Charlotte paused in the kitchen doorway and looked at him. “So what? Everyone assumes we’re sleeping together, anyway.”
“Assuming is one thing. Having the facts confirmed by a witness who actually saw us at breakfast takes the quality of the gossip to a whole new level.”
Charlotte winked. “The locals will conclude that their cunning plan to keep you happy here on the island is working.”
He thought about that for a beat and smiled slowly. “They’ll conclude right.”
She looked surprised and then she turned a delightful shade of pink and disappeared into the living room. He picked up his mug, got to his feet, and went to stand in the doorway between the two rooms.
Charlotte opened the door to a beaming Thelma Duncan.
“Good morning,” Charlotte said. “Won’t you come in? You’re just in time to join Slade and me for coffee.”
“Oh, goodness, is the chief here?” Thelma looked at Slade and managed to feign a start of surprise, as if she had not noticed him filling the kitchen doorway. “Why, so he is. Good morning, Slade. Lovely day, isn’t it?”
“According to the weather report there’s a storm coming in tonight,” Slade said.
“Yes, well, of course there is.” Thelma smiled serenely. “That’s the thing about life, isn’t it? Always something dark out there on the horizon. The trick is to enjoy the sunshine while you’ve got it.” She handed the basket to Charlotte. “I brought you a few things from my garden and another loaf of the zucchini bread. I know how much you like it.”
“Thank you so much.” Charlotte took the basket and examined the contents with enthusiasm. “More tomatoes, oh and the peas are coming in, I see. Fabulous. The basil is absolutely gorgeous. I should display it in a flower vase.”
Thelma looked pleased. “I must say the tomatoes and basil have been especially good this summer.”
“I’ve never seen garden produce as beautiful as what you grow,” Charlotte said. “You’re an incredible gardener.”
Thelma chuckled. “I don’t know about incredible, but I do enjoy my little hobby.”
“Come on into the kitchen and have some coffee,” Charlotte said.
“Thank you, dear, but I really don’t want to interrupt your breakfast.”
“Nonsense, you’re not interrupting anything,” Charlotte said.
She started toward the kitchen, basket in one hand. Slade got out of her way.
“Well, if you’re sure,” Thelma murmured. She fixed Slade with her twinkling gray eyes. “Where is Rex?”
“Who knows?” Slade said. “He took off at dawn. Haven’t seen him since.”
“I’m sure he’ll be back. He seems to have adopted you. Very odd behavior, really. I didn’t know dust bunnies made good pets.”
“They don’t,” he said.
Chapter 25
SLADE SENSED REX SHORTLY BEFORE THE DUST BUNNY materialized out of the woods at the edge of the road.
“I knew you’d show up sooner or later,” he said. “If you’re going to hang with me, we’re going to have to talk about some rules.”
Rex chortled cheerfully and bounded up onto Slade’s shoulder. He settled down with his purse.
“Rule number one,” Slade said, “you don’t take over the lady’s side of the bed. Understood?”
Rex mumbled happily but otherwise gave no indication that he grasped the finer points of human sexual etiquette.
They turned off the main road and onto the graveled drive that wound through the trees to the cottage. The first chill of awareness trickled across Slade’s senses when they emerged into the open area that surrounded the cabin. He stopped. On his shoulder, Rex growled.
They both looked hard at the cottage. Slade had no idea what was going through Rex’s brain but his own hunter’s intuition was flashing a warning. His first instinctive thought was,
He moved back into the trees. Rex sleeked out. They had both picked up the same bad vibes, Slade thought. There was something very wrong with the tranquil scene.
He raised his talent. He was no longer worried about being overwhelmed by the darkness at the end of the spectrum; nevertheless, he was cautious. He knew that he could control the storm of power but it was useless to him until he figured out how to focus it. He did not need the distraction just then.
It did not require a lot of energy to view the psi-prints on the ground. There were two distinct sets. The
