“Maybe it was something Duncan did?”

“I don’t think so. I’ve thought of that, but . . . If he could have found a way other than that constructed barrier of his to dampen our Talents, he would certainly have done it long ago.”

Nellie stared at him. “It wasn’t me, was it?”

He smiled slightly. “Well, that was a hell of a storm. But if anything it seemed to lessen the energy in the valley, at least by the time it was over, and at least for a while.”

“Then what’s causing it?”

“Bishop told me it was unlikely to be coming from a single source.”

“Unlikely. Not impossible. Great. Something else we don’t know.” She drew a breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. Our Talents aren’t helping us figure things out. So all we really have is a possibility that either family ties or the Talents seem to be making us targets. Why?”

“I don’t know. Envy. Jealousy. I doubt it’s fear.”

She frowned briefly. “Because of what he did to—to Cole Ainsworth? If it is him?”

“I’m no profiler. According to Bishop, the extreme violence and cruelty of this killer is something that tends to come from some kind of anger, with some other nasty kinks in his nature. He buried Megan, but . . . what was left of Cole wasn’t hidden except behind a few boulders.”

“You’re sure it’s Cole.” It wasn’t really a question.

Finn nodded. “I’m as sure as I can be until DNA results are in.”

“Cole wasn’t missed right away. Like Megan. But not at all like Simon. That can’t be good. Not that any part of this is good, but you know what I mean.”

“I know. And you’re right. The killer certainly doesn’t seem to be much worried by either my deputies or Bishop’s team crawling all over the slopes and the valley.”

She heard something in his voice and said, “There isn’t anything else you could be doing. Not you and not Bishop’s team. Aylia’s warning wasn’t specific enough to tell anyone where to look or who to look for.”

“Yeah. That doesn’t make it easier.”

—

“THINK IT THROUGH,” Bishop suggested to Hollis. “Why didn’t Daniel belong there?”

“I don’t know why I feel he didn’t belong there.”

“Go through the experience, step by step.”

She frowned at him. “All of it?”

“If both you and Diana feel something was wrong, different, about that visit or about Daniel, something you saw or heard or felt could be important, Hollis.”

“Well . . . we were both yanked out of sleep. I just started walking through the condo, knowing from experience it would . . . become a different place. Diana?”

“Same. And didn’t make it to the door before I was suddenly on the slope.”

Bishop said, “The slope. Not down here in town?”

Both women shook their heads, and Hollis said, “Weird, feeling the ground suddenly tilt under your feet. But it did. The town was . . . distant. But in front of me. So I just started walking. And Diana was there within a minute or two, with Daniel.”