“Got a bad feeling about him. Why would a doctor personally take the time and effort to search the shelters for a harmless woman like Marge?”

“Good question,” Olivia said. “I’m with you. It doesn’t sound right.”

Victor ended the call and looked at Lucas. “Did you get all that?”

Lucas had two mugs of coffee in his hands. He set one of the mugs down on the table in front of Victor.

“Sounded like Marge, the street lady who helped Slater and Catalina track down those kidnappers a while back, believes she’s in danger.”

“According to Catalina, Marge was held involuntarily at the Riverview Psychiatric Hospital for several months. The hospital is over on the coast. Marge escaped. Last night she picked up rumors that someone was looking for her. She says she spotted him yesterday. His name is Loring. Evidently he was the doctor in charge of her case while she was at Riverview. Marge is terrified of him. Says he used her as a research subject for his experiments.”

“I did a routine check on Riverview after Slater told us about Marge. The place appears to be a legitimate private psychiatric institution. Given her aura talent, it’s not surprising the staff at Riverview would have concluded she was delusional. Most doctors would have come to the same diagnosis.”

Victor grunted. “Technically speaking, she is delusional. She’s concocted a conspiracy theory that explains her time at Riverview. She thinks the hospital staff kidnap people like her off the streets, lock them up in Riverview and do experiments on them. Says the whole operation is run by extraterrestrials who are planning to invade Earth.”

Lucas drank some coffee while he considered that. “The staff was probably using drugs to try to cure what they considered her delusions. But she’s hardly a risk to herself or others. And she went missing a couple of months ago. Why would someone go looking for her now?”

“Shortly after Chandler Chastain is attacked because of an artifact,” Victor said. “It’s a coincidence, and you know how I feel about those. Take another look at Riverview, particularly a doctor who works there named Delbridge Loring.”

“Do you have a theory?”

Victor contemplated one of the Oracle paintings. All the pictures he had collected over the years had an eerie, ominous quality, suited to the subject. But this one never failed to raise the hair on the back of his neck. He had picked it up for just a few dollars at an auction. It wasn’t what anyone would call high art, but he was sure it was the most important painting in his collection.

Unlike many of the images on the walls of his office, it was a relatively modern work—mid-twentieth century. The Oracle was dressed in the traditional flowing white robes, a hood pulled up over her hair, obscuring her features. She was surrounded by a group of anxious onlookers, who appeared to realize that she was about to deliver a terrifying prophecy. But that was as far as the similarities with the classical pictures went.