She sounded surprised. As if he wasn’t a normal man. Maybe he wasn’t a normal Wells, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t human.
“I dream just like everybody else,” he said.Sort of, he added silently.
“No need to get mad. I wasn’t criticizing. Tell me about your dream.”
He should stop talking, he thought. But for some inexplicable reason he kept going.
“I was walking through a hall of mirrors and Victoria kept appearing in the looking glasses. But her image was blurry. I knew it was her but I couldn’t make out her features. Every time I tried to focus on her reflection she disappeared and moved on to the next mirror.”
“Hmm.” Sophy tapped one finger on the hassock, evidently pondering what he had said. “In your dream did you try to talk to her?”
“I asked her why I could not see her clearly. She said, ‘Because you don’tknow who I am.’ ”
“And?”
“And I woke up because I knew the answer to my question. My intuition was trying to tell me that I had only seen her reflection, not the real person. I finally started asking the questions I should have asked all along. I talked to the Boss and told him I’d really screwed up. He launched an internal investigation. Turned out Victoria was a freelance industrial espionage thief who specialized in paranormal tech. She was after some of our black box R and D secrets.”
Sophy’s eyes widened. “There’s a market for that kind of stuff?”
“It’s a small one, but there’s a lot of money sloshing around in it. Most people think the interest in paranormal research went out of fashion in the twentieth century, but you’d be surprised to find out who is still involved in that kind of work. A couple of small government agencies, a few billionaires like Trent Hatch, the odd mad scientist, and some low-profile organizations of people who actually do possess psychic talents, like the Arcane Society and the Foundation.”
“I’ve never heard of the Arcane Society. Never mind. Was Victoria arrested?”
“No. She vanished as soon as she realized her cover was blown.”
Sophy watched him for a moment. “Did you everwantthe job of running Wells, Inc.?”
“Up until the Victoria episode I did. You could say I’ve been training for it all my life. For the past year I’ve been working on a strategy for taking the company into the next decade. Until now we’ve focused on government contracts. We need to expand intothe consumer market. Regular people need better private security options in this age of relentless online fraud. And then there’s the small-scale corporate security market. We’ve ignored it for too long.”
“You were set to move Wells, Inc. forward into the future and then, wham, you were run down by a failed experiment. Trust me, I understand. That first disaster shakes you. Makes you question your judgment. It’s also downright embarrassing.”
“A failed experiment? Now what are you talking about?”
“The way I see it, your problem is that your first serious failed experiment happened relatively late in life. No wonder it threw you. My first took place back in college, and I had the advantage of Bea’s advice and guidance afterward, so I was able to process the whole sorry mess. But it sounds like you went merrily along without any major setbacks until the unfortunate incident with a librarian gone rogue.”
He was starting to know how it felt to be a deer caught in the headlights.
“Rogue?”
“It happens,” Sophy said. “Not often, thank goodness, but once in a while an otherwise excellent librarian goes bad. It’s always a shock. I don’t blame you for being caught off guard. Speaking as a proud member of the profession, I am well aware that society expects sterling behavior from librarians. The bar is set very high.”
He stared at her, fascinated. “I’ve never thought about it.”
“Exactly. That’s because we take librarians for granted. They are expected to stand strong in the face of censorship, intimidation, and threats. Their mission is to maintain balanced collections and put credible information into the hands of their patrons. Furthermore, they are obligated to make sure that everyone in their communities has access to that information. Without librariesthere is no democracy. And libraries are nothing without dedicated librarians.”
He did not know whether to be amused, confused, or simply floored.
“I can see you take your profession seriously,” he said, trying for a politely neutral comment.
“Absolutely.” She paused, eyes tightening a little. “Every librarian I know takes it seriously. Which makes me wonder if Victoria Ellsworth lied about her career path along with everything else.”
“I’m not sure where to go with that. As usual, I have no idea what happened to the logic in this conversation.”
“Never mind. I was just thinking out loud. But to return to the main topic, my advice to you is the same as the advice your uncle gave you. Stop kicking yourself for the screwup. Deke was right. Mistakes get made. Once you realized what had happened you did everything you could to repair the damage. It may have been a close call, but obviously the company survived just fine. Now I’m going to get ready to go to bed.” She gave Bruce one last pat and stood. “First claim on that magnificent bath. I’ll be in there awhile, so I’m tasking you with the job of figuring out the bed arrangements.”
She started across the room.
“Sophy?” he said.
