Eye of the Beholder

dream."
    "I can't tell you what that does for my ego."
    She blinked and yawned. "How come you're awake, anyway?"
    "I've been doing some thinking. When you reached out to grab me I got distracted. I assumed that you were feeling in the mood."
    "Umm." She frowned, trying to call back the images of her dream.
    "Someone interesting?" Trask asked in a suspiciously polite tone.
    "Something interesting. Monsters, I think."
    "I can guess where the inspiration for that came from."
    Alexa thought about Joanna lying on the deck floor clutching at her and begging her to keep the monsters away. She winced. "Yes. Poor Joanna. I hope she's resting comfortably tonight. What kept you awake?"
    He shoved his pillow up against the headboard and sprawled back against it. "The Dimensions Institute."
    "What about it?"
    "I want to get inside."
    Alexa yawned again. "Take a guided meditation class. Or a tour of the grounds."
    "I mean inside the offices. Specifically, Bell 's and Radstone's offices."
    Alexa stilled. "Trask, that sounds like a very risky, possibly even stupid, idea."
    "Stupid, huh? Lucky for me I'm man enough to be able to rise above that kind of remark."
    "What do you expect to find in Webster's and Foster's offices?"
    "Answers. Okuda says that his computer people have gone as deep as they can. They haven't turned up much that's useful. I have a hunch that's because Bell and Radstone are too smart to store the incriminating stuff on a computer, at least, not one that's on-line."
    She was quiet for a moment. "You still think this is all about money, don't you?"
    "The Institute is all about money. And thus far everyone who has died has been standing in the way of the Institute's cash flow."
    "We're talking about two people who have died." Alexa realized she was once again trying to be the voice of reason. "Your father and Dean Guthrie. The authorities have said that both were killed in accidents. Furthermore, twelve years separated the deaths. No one is going to buy your conspiracy theory involving Dimensions. We simply haven't got any solid evidence to show to the cops."
    "Hell, don't you think I know that? It's the reason I want to take a look around inside Bell 's and Radstone's offices."
    "I don't like it," she said.
    "Neither do I ." He looked at her. "But I can't think of anything else, and something tells me we may not have a lot of time."
    Her hands went cold. "Liz Guthrie?"
    "Yeah. Liz Guthrie. I have a hunch that the clock has already started ticking for her. And maybe for some other people, as well."
    She sat up. "Lord, you can't mean Joanna ? 0
    "I don't want to scare you, but personally I find her collapse and impending incarceration in a sanitarium a little too convenient. If you hadn't gone out to her house today, she'd be dead by now. What do you want to bet that, either way, dead or committed to a psychiatric hospital, Bell takes control of her finances?"
    Alexa flopped back onto the pillows. "What a mess."
    "That's why I have to get inside those offices at the Institute."
    She watched the shadows on the ceiling for a while.
    "I'm probably going to hate myself in the morning for saying this, but..."
    "I'm listening."
    "The Institute grounds will be very crowded tomorrow night because of the festival activities. There's a psychic fair, a public talk by Bell , and fireworks. I have a good idea of the schedule because I've been working with Foster on one of the coordinating committees."
    Trask said nothing.
    "I know my way around the Institute and the seminar building, which is where the offices are, because of that meditation class I took."
    Trask shifted onto his side. "You can draw me a map."
    She turned her head on the pillow. "I'll do better than that. I'll go with you."
    "Not a chance."
    " Wanna bet, partner?"

28

    Dylan Fenn stuck his head into the door of Elegant Relic shortly after
three o'clock
the following afternoon. He grinned when he saw Alexa emerging from the back room with a box full of small gargoyles in her arms. "Good day?" he asked. "Are you kidding? This is the third time I've restocked these little critters since this morning." She looked at Kerry. "I thought you were going to take a quick break. Better grab it while you can. This quiet spell won't last more than a few minutes."
    "I'm on my way out the door even as we speak, boss." Kerry came around the corner of the counter. "Want me to bring back some tea for you?"
    "Thanks, I'd appreciate that. Make it iced."
    "You got it. Hey, Dylan."