Кей Хупер - Hiding in the Shadows

Kane felt a stab of guilt. "I know I haven't been very accessible lately, Syd. I'm sorry."

"Don't be ridiculous." She smiled a little sadly. "No one else can truly understand how you feel, but at least I have some idea. You've put your thoughts and energies where they needed to go, just as you have to keep doing until you find Dinah. Don't apologize for that. And don't worry about me."

"Thanks, Syd."

"Don't mention it. And call me right away if... if anything changes, all right?"

"Of course."

Sydney got to her feet. "Faith, I ... wish you luck. I hope you get your memory back."

"Thanks."

When they were alone again, Kane said restlessly, "As far as I can see, there's nothing wrong with the design from an engineering standpoint, so the fault has to be either materials or construction. I'll have to go out there."

"I'd like to come along," Faith said. "Didn't you tell me that Dinah had visited the site the day before she vanished?"

"Yeah, she showed up out there looking for me, and Max gave her a quick tour. The police checked out the area, but as far as they could tell she didn't go back there the day she disappeared."

"And they talked to Max?"

"Of course." Kane frowned."Why?"

Slowly, Faith said, "Probably nothing, but the only thing I can think of that both Dinah and I had some kind of connection to other than the shelter was construction. I worked at a construction company in Seattle, then came here and eventually got a job at the Office of Building Inspections and Zoning. Dinah's engaged to an engineer and architect whose company is involved in a very large project for the city, a building site she toured the day before she disappeared. I'm in what looks like a manufactured accident, she vanishes — and now your project is in trouble." She paused. "I can just hear Bishop say there's no such thing as a string of coincidences that long."

Thinking about that, Kane said, "The building was started shortly before your accident, so it fits loosely within the time frame. But how many other buildings were started in the same period?"

"God knows." Faith got up. "But I'd say we start with this one."

As they neared the construction site, Faith frowned and rubbed her temple. "Damn," she said softly.

"What is it?" Kane asked. "The water sound?"

"Yes. It's been fading in and out, but it's louder now. At least I think it is."

"Do you think Dinah is somewhere nearby?" he asked quickly.

"I don't know. I don't get any sense of direction. Just the sounds, the smells."

"Maybe your senses are trying to guide you."

"It's like this itching in my mind," Faith said, rubbing her temple again. "Deep inside my head. And along with it is the notion that there's something just out of my reach, something that would answer all my questions if I could just touch it."

"I know you said you didn't want to try to reach out to Dinah directly again, Faith, but..."

"It was like falling into a deep well. There was nothing to hold on to."

Kane parked the car by the padlocked gate at the construction site.

"According to what I've picked up from Noah over the years, there's a trick to managing any kind of clairvoyance. The first step is to stay grounded, safely connected to the here and now." He turned to face her and extended a hand. "Noah calls it a lifeline. Take my hand, Faith."

She hesitated, then slowly took his hand. It was warm and hard, and for a dizzying moment the whole world seemed to shift around her.

Instinctively, she closed her eyes and reached out, toward the sounds. The cold was bone-chilling. There was a heaviness, an intense weight bearing down on her, smothering her... No air. There was no air, she couldn't breathe.

She couldn't move.

She couldn't ... The sounds and scents vanished, and Faith opened her eyes slowly.

"It's gone."

"Gone?"

She looked at her hand clinging to his, and made herself release him.

"Gone. No sounds, no smells, no feeling of being trapped. Nothing. For just a moment, I thought I was right there, in the darkness, and then ... nothing."

He watched his own hand close slowly into a fist.

"Nothing," he repeated.

"I'm sorry, Kane."

After a moment, he shook his head and, in a voice that sounded harsh even to himself, said, "Just tell me she's still alive, Faith."

I am, you know that. You know .

Faith caught her breath, tried to listen to that whispery voice, but it said no more.

"Faith?"

"I ... only know what I feel. What I believe. And I believe Dinah is still alive."

He wanted to believe her. He almost did.

"Okay," he said finally.

Faith looked as if she wanted to say something more, but then shook her head and got out of the car.

Kane had the key for the padlocked gate, and the nighttime security guard had not come on duty yet, there was no one to see them enter the fenced construction site. Kane paused and looked back beyond his car to an unobtrusive sedan parked across the street.

"Your private investigator?" Faith guessed, aware that the man had been nearby since they had left the apartment.

"Yeah. Some of his people are still out looking for leads, so he decided to take this duty himself. His orders are to follow and to stick with the car. But this time..." Kane gestured slightly, and the man immediately left his car and crossed the street to join them.

Faith was briefly introduced to Tim Daniels, a well-built man in his early thirties with something in his shrewd gray eyes that reminded her of the women in the shelter; they were older than his years and didn't look as though they could ever doubt that evil existed in the world. He wore a gun in a shoulder holster beneath his jacket, and she could see the antenna of a cell phone peeking from his shirt pocket.

"I need to take a look at this site," Kane told Daniels. "It should be secure, but I'd rather not take any chances."

Daniels nodded. "I'll watch your back."

He trailed along behind them as Kane took Faith's arm and guided her down the rutted track that led to the building. They stood looking up at the steel skeleton clawing its way nearly a dozen stories in the air so far. Only the underground parking garage had been partially closed in.

Faith eased her arm from Kane's grasp. "I don't think I want to go down inside that."

"Then you stay here with Tim. I'll be right back."

She didn't question his optimistic estimate, just nodded. But when Kane had disappeared around the back of the structure, she glanced at Daniels and said, "Aren't you worried about him being alone down there?"

"He can take care of himself."

"I can't." She grimaced, and touched the hidden bandage on her left arm. "Well, maybe so."

"You're vulnerable at the moment. No memory means you couldn't tell friend from foe."

"So you know about that," she murmured.

"Kane told me what he thought I needed to know. No more and no less."

Faith decided not to question him on that point. She turned her attention back to the building. "I'd like to wander around a bit. Alone, if you don't mind."

"Any particular reason?" Daniels asked.

Because Dinah was here. Because I have to ... Had to what? She didn't know.

"No particular reason," she said.

Daniels glanced around the site, which appeared to be enclosed by a high wood and chain-link fence. "It looks safe enough. But don't go far."

"No, I won't." She had no idea what she was looking for, if anything.

Maybe it was nothing. Maybe the voices in her head, familiar and unfamiliar, didn't know what they were talking about. Maybe she just wanted to have time and space to herself and for a few moments forget...

Except that you can't forget. I won't let you.

This time, Faith made no attempt to focus on that voice, to reach out for it. To catch it. Instead, she merely let her mind drift, trying not to think about anything at all.