“Think that’s Marge’s file?” North asked.

“There’s no photo and no name but the age and gender are right. Also the nature of her delusions.” Sierra flipped to the final page of notes. “Yes, this must be Marge’s file. Here’s the final note. ‘Subject escaped her cell during the night. A search of the grounds was conducted but no trace of her was found. Garraway is convinced that she hiked out through the woods and either fell off the cliffs or caught a ride from a passing car. Regardless, she doesn’t know enough to do any damage. No one will believe her story.’”

“Could be Marge, all right,” North said. “I found an interesting file, too. Bring those records over here and spread them out on the desk. I’m going to take photos of everything and send them to Victor and Lucas.”

Sierra crossed the room and arranged the papers from Marge’s file on the desk. North put several printouts down, too. She glanced at them.

“Newspaper articles?” she said. “Why are they important? Oh, wow.” She read the first paragraph of one of the pieces. “‘Stenson Rancourt, director of a private foundation headquartered in the Los Angeles area, and his son, Harlan, were killed in an explosion early this morning. The cause of the blast is under investigation, but authorities suspect a gas leak.’”

The rest of the printouts were obituary notices and business articles detailing the abrupt closure of the Los Angeles–based headquarters of a vaguely described charitable foundation. The date was five years earlier.

North took out his phone and began snapping photos of the printouts. “Dr. Loring was not only conducting paranormal experiments on unwilling subjects but also appears to be at least slightly obsessed with the Rancourts.”

Sierra caught her breath. “The family that ran the Foundation before Victor Arganbright took over.”

“Victor and Lucas are going to be very interested in this.”

“Why would Loring keep information about the Rancourts in his desk drawer?”

North tucked his phone into the pocket of his jacket. “Victor took control of the Foundation in what a lot of people politely refer to as a hostile takeover.”

“Got news for you—that’s common knowledge among those of us in the paranormal community. My parents told me the Rancourts made millions while they were in charge of the Foundation. People who got in their way had a habit of turning up dead or disappearing. Stenson Rancourt and his son would not have stepped down willingly.”

“No,” North said.

Sierra cleared her throat. “You know, there have always been rumors that the takeover engineered by Victor Arganbright and Lucas Pine was a lot more hostile than the average corporate takeover.”

“Uh-huh.”

“In fact,” Sierra said, injecting some emphasis into the words, “there are those in the community who are convinced the explosion that killed Stenson Rancourt and his son was not an accident.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard those rumors.”

Sierra took a deep breath. “Do you think Arganbright and Pine were behind the explosion?”