Protector(41)
“I hope you don’t mind both of us coming,” Andre said. “I’m Andre, and this is my wife Marie, the Wilcox seer.”
“Hi, Andre, Marie. I’m Alex. Come on in.”
He stepped aside, pushing the door open a little wider at the same time. The Wilcox witches entered, Andre flashing a reassuring smile at Caitlin as she stammered a hello, while Marie only nodded and continued on into the living room.
Nonplussed, Alex brought up the rear. “Uh — can I get you anything? Iced tea? Water?”
“Some water would be very good. Thank you, Alex,” Marie said in a cool, brisk tone. She sat down on the couch, and Andre settled himself next to her. Looking awkward, as if she didn’t quite know what to do with her hands, Caitlin took her own place on the love seat.
Since he really didn’t want to leave her alone with Marie and Andre any longer than he had to, Alex hurried with grabbing a couple of glasses, dispensing some ice into them from the freezer door, then filling them with water. When he returned to the living room, he was relieved to see that Andre was asking Caitlin if she was doing okay here in Tucson, and whether she needed anything.
“I’m fine,” she said, wearing a hesitant smile. A quick glance up at Alex as he brought in the glasses of ice water and handed them to Marie and Andre, and she went on, “Alex has been taking very good care of me.”
Something flickered in Marie’s eyes at that comment, but she only said, “That’s good to hear.” After murmuring a thank-you to Alex for the water, she continued, “Any more visions?”
Caitlin bit her lip. Alex knew he wouldn’t want to be her, to have to relate what she’d seen the night before to this cold-looking woman. Never mind that Andre was giving Caitlin an encouraging nod, as if trying to let her know that it would all be okay, that she didn’t have to worry about what Marie would say in response to whatever report she might have to give.
“Last night,” Caitlin said, her voice quiet, tense. “I only saw Danica. She was with Matías.”
“You saw him?” Marie asked, her tone sharpening. “It was definitely him?”
A small shudder passed over Caitlin’s slender frame. “Unfortunately, yes.” Her hands knotted together in her lap, and Alex wished he could sink down next to her on the love seat and put his arm around her, give her a comforting hug. Since he doubted that would go over very well with Caitlin or her current audience, he remained where he was, leaning up against the arm of the love seat, watching but not actually participating in the current convo.
“What did you see, Caitlin?”
There would be no arguing with that calm, cool voice. Marie Begonie was obviously used to having her questions answered, and it seemed just as obvious that Caitlin knew she couldn’t avoid providing some kind of answer. She seemed to brace herself, shoulders going rigid, and then, in a tight, dispassionate tone that didn’t sound at all like her, she related what she had seen in the vision the night before. No embellishment, no pausing to make an attempt at interpreting those images.
Just the facts, ma’am, as his grandfather sometimes would joke.
Andre looked horrified, as one might expect, but Marie showed very little reaction at all, save the smallest tightening of her mouth. Then she said, “But you saw nothing else? Nothing that would indicate where they were?”
Caitlin shrugged. Frustration was clear in her voice as she replied, “No. I’ve been wracking my brains. There just wasn’t enough detail. And nothing personal lying around that I could see — no photographs, no pieces of unopened mail. Nothing at all, except those saints’ candles. Oh, and I think I saw Danica’s earrings lying on the nightstand next to the ashtray. But while that helps to show it was really Danica I was seeing there, it doesn’t give any more information as to where she might be.”
“Any sign of Roslyn?” Andre inquired.
“No. Matías and Danica were alone. There was light coming down the hallway outside the bedroom, so somebody else might have been in the house…apartment…whatever it was…but I didn’t hear anyone or see anything.”
For a long moment, neither Marie nor Andre said anything. They did share a single significant look, but as Alex didn’t know them very well, he couldn’t hazard a guess as to what they were thinking. Then Marie said, “Caitlin, do you have anything that belonged to Roslyn or Danica? Sometimes holding a personal item helps me focus in on someone.”
Caitlin began to shake her head, then seemed to stop herself. “You know, I think I do. I borrowed a bracelet from Danica. It should be in with the rest of my stuff.”