Dream Eyes

six more people have died in a way that is strikingly similar to the way in which Taylor’s victims were murdered.”
    “What do you want me to do?” Nick said.
    “At the moment, all we have are names of six people who are dead,” Judson said. “I want you to start looking into the deaths. Check out the scenes; talk to neighbors; go online. Whatever it takes. Like Gwen said, we’re looking for a pattern.”
    “Give me what you’ve got,” Nick said. “I’ll see what I can do.” He looked around. “Are there any more sandwiches?”

Twenty-three
    E lias stood with Judson near the front of the SUV. The rear cargo door of the vehicle was open. Nick and Gwen were back there, talking quietly, as the cat burglar secured the steel box containing the geode.
    Elias cleared his throat and turned to Judson. “Your mother is going to want a report.”
    “Tell Mom I’m doing fine,” Judson said. He was watching Gwen.
    “I’ll do that.” Elias groped for another way to get the information Willow would demand from him. “So, you and Gwen.”
    Judson raised his brows. “What about me and Gwen?”
    Elias felt himself turning red. He was no good at this sort of conversation. In his opinion, there were excellent reasons why someone had invented the words
personal
and
private
. But Willow was worried, and he would do anything for Willow, including embarrass himself.
    “Looks like the two of you hit it off pretty good,” he said, going for casual.
    “Gwen is . . . different,” Judson said.
    “Yep, I can see that. I like her. She’s got claws. That’s a fine thing in a woman.”
    “Oh, yeah,” Judson said. His mouth kicked up a little at the corner.
    “About that mess on the island a while back—”
    “What about it?”
    “Sometimes things just go south, son. Nothin’ you can do about it. You just got to walk away from a situation that can’t be fixed.”
    Judson’s eyes narrowed. He stopped smiling. “I know that, Dad.”
    “Believe me, I understand exactly how it feels when a man you think you can trust turns out to be a genuine diamondback rattler. It happens. You’ve got to let it go and move on.”
    Judson almost smiled again. “The way you’ve moved on past your issues with Hank Barrett?”
    “Barrett’s different.”
    “Yeah? How?”
    “Mainly because the bastard’s still alive and kickin’. But in your case, Joe Spalding is dead and good riddance.”
    “I agree with you.” Judson stopped talking.
    Elias waited, not sure how to proceed. So much for the fatherly pep talk.
    Judson turned his attention back to Gwen. “I’m not staying awake at night wondering why it took me so long to figure out that Spalding had become one of the bad guys.”
    “Good,” Elias said. “That’s good.” He paused. “Then why the hell are you having trouble sleeping?”
    “You ever had the feeling that you saw something important, something you really need to remember?”
    Elias thought about it. “Not exactly, but I know what you mean. Where did you see this thing that you can’t remember?”
    “First time I saw it was that day it all went to hell on the island.”
    Elias squinted at him. “The
first
time?”
    “Now I think I see it in my dreams.”
    “I hear Gwen is good when it comes to figuring out dreams,” Elias said.
    “She says I’d have to let her walk through my dreams before she could take a crack at trying to analyze them. The process, I think, is a form of hypnosis.”
    Elias squinted at Gwen. She was animated and sparkling in the sunlight as she chatted with Nick.
    “Strikes me that a man would have to be absolutely sure he could trust a woman all the way to hell and back before he let her put him into a trance,” Elias said.
    “Yes,” Judson said. “But that’s not the hardest part.”
    “What is the hardest part?”
    “Gwen sees herself as a kind of healer,” Judson said.
    Now, at last, I understand,
Elias thought. “You don’t want her to see you as a man who might need a nurse.”
    “No,” Judson said.
    “Seems to me,” Elias said, “that a man who wants respect from a woman needs to show the lady that he respects her talents and abilities in return.”
    * * *
    “I KNOW IT’S none of my business, but I couldn’t help but notice that the door between your room and Coppersmith’s was unlocked from both sides,” Nick said. “Would that be for, ah, security purposes?”
    “It would.” Gwen handed Nick the box lunch that she had asked the inn’s cook