Falling Awake(84)
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz

Ellis laughed. “Lawson is going to fall all over himself trying to convince you to work for him, Dave.”

“Maybe I’ll think about it,” Dave said slowly, thoughtfully.

Vincent reached for another slice of toast. “I know I’m not exactly a poster boy for Frey-Salter at the moment, but the truth is, I really liked the work and there weren’t many rules and regs because Lawson pretty much runs the place his way.” He hesitated in mid-bite and exhaled heavily. “Guess I’ll be job hunting now, though.”

“Nope,” Isabel said with great assurance. “Lawson will take you back in a heartbeat.”

“Why would he do that?” Vincent picked up the bottle of anti-inflammatories Isabel had placed beside his plate and shook out two tablets. “He probably thinks I was an idiot to fall for Amelia’s pitch.”

“You were not an idiot,” Isabel said firmly. “You were just very eager to prove yourself against the older, alpha male of the group.”

Vincent and Dave looked at Ellis.

“Yeah, him,” Isabel said. “It’s a common syndrome among young men who are moving up fast.”

“That so?” Vincent asked, popping the pills into his mouth. “I’m glad to hear that because I gotta tell you, in hindsight, it sure looks like maybe I was an idiot.”

“You were an idiot,” Ellis agreed. “But don’t worry, you’ll get past it.”

Vincent did not appear convinced. “Lawson’s gotta be pissed at me.”

“Sure,” Ellis said. “He’ll chew you out some. But here’s a tip from an old pro on how to deal with Jack Lawson: Always know when you are holding an ace and never hesitate to play it when necessary.”

Vincent frowned. “I’ve got an ace?”

“Lawson was an even bigger idiot than you were when it came to Maureen Sage, alias Amelia,” Ellis reminded him softly. “And he didn’t have any excuses. He was old enough to know better than to sleep with a member of his own research staff.”

“Oh, right.” Vincent brightened. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Ellis said. “Now you owe me. That’s how it works.”

Vincent grinned weakly. “Got it.”

“I have a few more questions,” Isabel said. “The first is for Ellis.” She looked at him. “I understand that you and Dave traded cars somewhere along the way last night. How did that work?”

“Dave got into his rented Chevy and drove like a bat out of hell until we rendezvoused,” Ellis said. “I told Amelia that I had to stop for a stop sign. That’s when Dave and I made the switch. He kept driving the Maserati at a nice, sedate speed. I got into his rental.”

“And drove like a bat out of hell for Roxanna Beach,” Dave concluded. “He had the phone so every time Amelia called him to check up on him he could give her an answer. To be honest, I’m amazed he could get that kind of speed out of that Chevy.”

“On those roads and with that fog, I didn’t need a hundred and seventy-six miles an hour,” Ellis said.

Dave and Vincent watched him expectantly.

“So how much did you need?” Vincent prompted.

Ellis shrugged. “A hundred, hundred and ten on the straight stretches was good enough.”

“But the fog,” Isabel gasped, horrified. “How could you see?”

“I drove that route once before,” Ellis said soothingly. “I told you that when I drive, I pay attention. Besides, there was no traffic last night.”

She winced. “Because of the fog.”

“Yeah, that helped,” he admitted.

“You know, there’s something really scary about a guy who actually doesn’t have to stop and ask for directions. Okay, what about the wire cutters? How did you get those?”

“Farrell brought them with him. I called him right after I got off the phone with Dave. He met me a short distance from the amusement park. I took the cutters and told him to come in through the front gate when I gave the all clear. He’s also the one who found out that there was still electricity running into the park. That was when we came up with the idea of starting up one of the rides as a distraction.”

“Brilliant,” Isabel said. “Any idea why Amelia-Maureen arranged to have my furniture torched?”

“According to her dream log, someone at the institute mentioned how much you loved it and how you kept it in a self-storage locker,” Ellis said. “She also heard that you had moved it to Roxanna Beach. She realized how expensive it was and how strapped for cash you were. She decided that if you took a major financial hit, you’d be a lot more amenable to the offer of a big pay raise and your old office at the center.”

Isabel groaned and told herself to let that go, too. She bent to scrape some scrambled egg off her plate into Sphinx’s bowl. “Question number two is for Vincent.” She glanced at him. “Last night when you and I were alone inside the concession stand, talking about your tsunami dream, what was it I said that convinced you to trust me instead of Amelia-Maureen? I mean, I know I have an honest face and I can talk pretty fast when necessary, but I got the feeling it wasn’t just my logic and sweet smile that made you believe me.”

Vincent watched Sphinx jump down from the windowsill and pad across the kitchen to check out the eggs.

“I think it was the cat,” he said quietly.

“Sphinx?” Isabel straightened. “What did he have to do with anything?”

Everyone watched Sphinx settle down to enjoy his breakfast.

“The doc told me how you rescued Martin Belvedere’s old cat after Randolph ordered it to be taken to the pound and destroyed. She thought it was a really stupid thing for you to do. It was one of the things that made her think you would be easy to manipulate.”

“Nice to know I made such a great professional impression,” Isabel grumbled.

“Last night, while you and I were talking and I was fighting off the effects of the last dose of CZ-149, for some reason I kept thinking about how you saved the cat,” Vincent said. He stopped, as if he had explained everything, and went back to his food.

“I still don’t get it,” Isabel said. “Why did that make you decide to trust me instead of her?”

“I may have been doped up most of the time that I spent around the doc,” Vincent said softly, “but that doesn’t mean I didn’t figure out a few things about her. I knew that if she had been in your shoes, she would have let Sphinx go to the pound.”