“I have a few memories of Halloween, but that was before my mother died. After she was gone the old man shipped me off to boarding school.”

“That had to be tough.”

“Looking back, I think he did it because every time he looked at me he saw my mom. He loved her passionately. He wasn’t the same after she died. He used sex and empire building to dull the pain.”

“And forgot that you were in pain, too?”

“Maybe.” Harlan opened his eyes and looked out the window into the fog. “But things changed again when he became obsessed with making sure the Foundation remained the family business. He wanted me to show more interest in his legacy. He also wanted me to become as fixated on Vortex as he was.”

“I gather you weren’t keen on either idea?”

“I never wanted to take over the Foundation. I never gave a damn about Vortex. Not in those days. I had . . . other interests.”

“What other interests?”

“I’ve always been curious about the history of the study of the paranormal. People have been messing around with it since the dawn of civilization. Every culture has traditions, legends, stories. Over the centuries there have been many attempts to explore and experiment. There’s so much to learn.”

“Guess that career path didn’t work for you,” she said. “Because here you are—in charge of the Foundation and obsessed with Vortex.”

“Don’t remind me. It’s enough to make a man believe in fate.”

“And oracles?”

He surprised her with another faint smile. “I’ve believed in oracles for quite a while now.”

She thought about that and then decided to take the plunge and ask the one question she wasn’t sure she wanted answered.

“Where were you the night your father died in that lab explosion?” she said.

Harlan was silent for a moment. Probably deciding how much to tell her. She didn’t think he would bother to lie.

“Dad and I quarreled earlier that evening,” he said finally. “It was the usual fight. He was determined to make me take over the Foundation. He called it my inheritance, but it was actually his legacy. I reminded him that I wanted to pursue another career. He reminded me, as usual, that I was a grave disappointment to him. Things ended the way they always did: I stormed out. Later he texted me to say that Arganbright and Pine had insisted on a meeting at headquarters. He wanted me present. He said the future of the Foundation would be decided that night. He needed backup.”

“He was afraid of Victor and Lucas?”