“You act as if I’m insulting you by labeling you ‘innocent.’ ”
“It makes me sound exactly like Draper described me in his book—unsophisticated and naive, not to mention gullible and dim-witted. I’m an adult woman. Trust me, calling me ‘innocent’ is an insult.”
“Let’s try this. You’re a walking advertisement for the Ballantine Method. By the way, I confirmed my psi profile on you by tracking down the orderly and the guard you rendered unconscious the night you escaped from Serenity Gardens.”
“You did?” Startled, she leaned forward again. “Are Sam and Ron okay? Sam was having some PTSD dreams because he was attacked by one of the patients, and I know Ron was worried about his wife’s health.”
“Sam and Ron are doing fine, as far as I know. They told me to give you their best if I found you.”
“They are both very decent people. They had a lot of compassion for the patients. Unlike the director.”
“You’ll be interested to know that Sam and Ron were happy to participate in the cover-up that Webber instituted after you escaped, because they figured that was the best way to protect you. If no one told Kelbrook that you were gone, no one would look for you.”
Alice smiled wistfully. “That was very thoughtful of them.”
“See? There’s your streak of innocence at work again. Both men were supposed to make sure you stayed locked up at Serenity Gardens.”
“They helped me escape, you know.”
He smiled. “I figured that out pretty quickly.”
“So how did you find me?”
“You made one mistake when you moved to Illusion Town.”
“What was that?”
“Instead of using your diabolical talent to work as an enforcer for one of the casinos, you went back to your old career. You got a job at a street clinic helping people with their troubled dreams. After I concluded that you had probably gone to ground in Illusion Town, all I had to do was make some phone calls. It wasn’t hard to find a woman who fit your profile.”
She briefly closed her eyes. When she opened them, she looked resigned. “You’re saying my big mistake was not using the dark side of my talent to work as a casino thug?”
“Even under extreme stress and even though you had every logical reason to use it because the pay is much higher, you didn’t go there,” he emphasized.
“So that’s my weak point? A reluctance to use the full power of my talent in a negative way?”
“It’s not a weakness,” he said. “It’s a sign of your—”
“Don’t say it.” She raised one hand, palm out. “If you accuse me of being aninnocentone more time, I will feel obliged to demonstrate the dark side of my talent, and I can guarantee you won’t like the results.”
“I wasn’t going to call you innocent again,” he lied. “I was about to say that you radiate a lot of positive energy.”
“Ghost crap. I don’t believe that, not for a minute. I know what you were going to say, and I’m warning you right now, don’t go there.” She paused, frowning. “What makes you think you’re qualified to identify an innocent person?”
“Turns out it’s easier to recognize innocence in another person if you’re not innocent yourself.”
“So you’ve diagnosed yourself as a non-innocent?”
“I prefer to think of myself as realistic. Realists can’t afford the luxury of innocence.”
“I imagine that, after some of the things you’ve seen in the course of your work, you feel like you’ve lost your own innocence.”
A roar of laughter from the vicinity of the bar stopped him before hecould respond. He got a ping and glanced at the empty glass that had once been filled with a blend of sparkling chartreuse and pink sodas. There was no sign of Sebastian.
“We may have a new problem,” he warned.
Alice followed his gaze and gasped. “The Harmonic Sunrise. I didn’t allow him to have caffeine or alcohol, but I forgot how buzzed he gets on sugar.”
She leaped to her feet and headed toward the bar.
