Dream Eyes

Thirty-two

Max’s soft meow alerted Judson when he emerged from the bathroom after his own morning shower. The cat was in Gwen’s room.

A faint trickle of energy shifted in the atmosphere, reminding Judson of the light current of the underground river that had guided him out of the flooded cave. He heard soft footsteps out in the hall and checked the time. It was just going on seven.

He heard the muffled sound of the stairwell door closing outside in the hall.

Max meowed again, more urgently.

Judson took a clean shirt out of the closet and went to the doorway between the two rooms. On the far side of the big bed he saw Max crouched in front of the hall door of Gwen’s room.

Gwen came out of the dressing room area, fastening the waistband of her jeans.

“What’s Max complaining about?” Judson asked.

“I don’t know.” Gwen looked toward the door. “He just started making noise a couple of minutes ago while you were in the shower. He’s probably hungry. I’ll feed him before we go downstairs to breakfast.”

Max abruptly lost interest in whatever had attracted him to the door. He rose and trotted across the room to greet Gwen with a demanding purr. She reached down and scratched him behind the ears.

“He heard someone out in the hall a moment ago,” Judson said.

“How do you know that?”

“Because I heard someone, too. Whoever it was went down the emergency stairs at the back of the inn.”

Gwen straightened. “Probably a guest going out for an early morning run.”

“Maybe. I’m going to take a look.”

Judson turned, crossed his room, opened the door and went out into the hall. The wall sconces lit the scene in a warm, golden glow. He glanced at the muddy footprints on the floor and then he followed them to the stairwell door.

He opened the emergency door just in time to hear the first floor door open and close at the bottom of the stairwell.

He went back along the hall and let himself into his own room. Gwen was waiting.

“Well?” she asked.

“Our visitor came from outside. She left a little mud on the carpet and the stairs.”

Gwen was impressed. “Did your para-senses tell you that the person was a woman?”

“No, I cheated and used my normal senses. The footprints belong to a woman. She came up the emergency stairwell, went to your door and then turned around and went back down the same stairs. Let’s take a look in your room.”

He went through the connecting doorway and walked around the bed to take a closer look at the place where Max had been crouched earlier. From that angle, he could see what had not been visible from the other side of the room.

An envelope lay on the floor.

He picked it up.

“Looks like she left a message,” he said.

“Probably the bill for room charges here at the inn,” Gwen said. “I’ll take care of it at breakfast.”

“It’s not the bill for the room.” There was no name or address on the outside of the envelope, but he could sense the anxiety that stained the paper.

He slit the seal and took out the photograph.

Gwen came to stand beside him.

“It’s a copy of the same group shot that I found on the floor near Evelyn’s body,” she said. “The picture of the seven research study subjects.” She took a closer look. “Someone drew a circle around my face.”

Judson turned the picture over and read the scrawled message on the back aloud. “You are next.”