They shook. “That’s settled. Let’s start. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to shut out the rest of the world, light the candles. The contrast of darkness and light gives us a more focused experience.” Madame Rune pulled a velvet drape over the front window. “Elle, only if you’re comfortable with the idea.”

Elle looked inside herself and considered the question seriously, and Adam remembered how much she feared the dark and the monster man who had attacked her. He was about to offer his opinion—No, definitely not—when she nodded. “That will be fine.”

In a reassuring tone, Rune said, “If at any time you wish to welcome the sunlight, it’s only a curtain pull away.”

While Rune closed the drape beside the sideboard, Adam walked to the window that looked up and out of town. An olive grove was clustered on the west side of the slope, and he scanned it, looking for movement.

There. A flash as if someone had been watching with an eyepiece. A movement as if someone had slipped back into the shadowy branches.

Rune came to stand beside him. “I should have asked. Is it all right with you, Adam, if I enclose us?”

Everything about this situation irritated Adam. “What’s the purpose of darkness? It’s not a séance.”

“In its way, it is. We’re going to attempt to explore something far more complex and fascinating than the beyond. We’re going to attempt to bring light to the fog that obscures Elle’s mind.”

Put that way, it made some kind of sense. “Do it.”

Rune shut the drape. A glass sheep-shaped night-light in the wall plug-in popped on. “I take every opportunity to defeat the darkness.” She lit candles at the side table. “We must never allow it to get an upper hand. Please, take a seat.”

Four antique straight-backed chairs sat waiting for them, and she watched as Elle chose the one facing the street. Rune brought candles over, two by two, until they had six burning on the table in front of them. “Adam?” Rune gestured to the chair beside Elle and seated herself on the other side.

Elle touched the gold-colored candlesticks. “These are extraordinary.”

“Yes.” Rune watched her as if she had said something of great interest.

“Twenty-four karat gold?”

“Eighteen.”

“Tiffany, early twentieth century?”

“Exactly. You have a good eye.”

Now Adam knew why Rune scrutinized her. Elle’s knowledge of those candlesticks revealed something about her background. But what, exactly? Was she a jeweler? A person of wealth? A thief? Someone who had been robbed of valuables, choked and thrown in the ocean?

“Do you trust me?” Rune asked Elle.

“I do.”

“Are you willing to let me hypnotize you?”

“I am.”

“Let’s try this, shall we?” Rune held up his hand, fingers spread wide, palm toward Elle. “Focus on one of my fingers. Just one. Which do you choose?”