Sun Broken (The Wild Hunt #11) - Yasmine Galenorn Page 0,15

glanced over at Leela, who was staring off into space, in her own little world. “Leela, Mendin was a psychic, as well as a computer tech. You know that, right?”

She nodded. “When he first moved in, he and I talked about that. I knew that he told fortunes on the side, or some such thing. I never put any credence in that woo-woo shit, but as long as he paid his rent and didn’t mess up the house, I didn’t care.”

“Did he ever tell you about any of his clients? Were any particularly troublesome?”

She narrowed her eyes, then shrugged. “I have no clue. Like I said, he kept to himself, he paid his rent, and I only dropped over when there was something to fix.” She paused, then added, “I’m not comfortable around Cryptos. No offense intended.”

Any empathy I had for her ended with that. I glanced at Viktor, but kept my mouth shut. We both encountered plenty of prejudice in our lives, and while I’d normally call people on it, I had no stomach for a debate today.

“I see,” was all I said.

“I don’t mean to sound like a bigot, but…you understand.”

“I’m afraid I don’t, being one of those Cryptos myself. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll get back to our work.” To Viktor, I said, “I want to take his laptop with me.”

“All right. You sort through his desk and I’ll take a look through the rest of the house.” Viktor studiously ignored Leela as he answered.

Leela grunted, then heaved herself out of the chair and headed for the door. “I’ll be outside, waiting to lock up.”

“Fine. We’ll be out when we’re done.” I waited till the door shut behind her to explode. “Why do people think it’s all right to say those things to our faces?”

“Because they truly don’t get it. They don’t see why we should be offended when they insult us. It’s stupid, but that’s the way they are. And with people like Leela, I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt, but it seldom works out in my favor when I do.” Viktor grunted, then shrugged. “Whatever. I’m going to search the rest of the house while you finish here, and then I’ll be upstairs.”

As he left the room, I turned my attention back to the desk. I was sorting through the shelves when I felt someone watching me. Thinking Leela was watching through the window, I turned, but no one was there.

“Hello?” I said, shivering. I waited, but there was no answer. But I could swear someone was standing nearby. “Is that you, Mendin?”

Again, there was no answer, but I felt a stirring in the air. Swallowing, I turned back to the desk. There were a stack of bills marked “Paid,” along with a few cards. I looked through them. They were birthday cards to Mendin. One of them read: I’ll love you forever—Candace.

Who was Candace? I picked up the picture and studied it. Mendin was with a girl, and his arm was draped around her. I turned the frame over and undid the back, popping the picture out. Scrawled across the back of the photo were two names: Mendin and Candy, and it was dated June 8, last year.

I tried to find his phone, but all I found was a spare set of car keys. I pocketed them, then crossed to the stairs and called out to Viktor.

“Did you find his phone?”

“Yes, I’m coming down,” he said. For such a big man, he was surprisingly quiet.

“I think Mendin had a girlfriend named Candace. I wanted to look in his phone to see if she’s listed in his contacts. Did the police mention anything about her in their file?” We had both skimmed the file earlier, but I couldn’t remember if anything about her had been noted.

“I don’t remember. Well, we have his phone. I also cleared out his medicine cabinet of any prescriptions, and I found a notebook next to his bed. It looks like he recorded his dreams so we might find something of use in there.”

“So we’ll take his computer, phone, and a few other things. I’ve gathered up his correspondence and bills.” I paused, then added, “Did you feel anything upstairs? Like someone watching you?”

Viktor shook his head. “No. Why?”

“Because while you were upstairs, I had the distinct sensation that someone was watching me. I asked if anybody was there, and the air seemed to stir. I’m not certain what it was, but I’m thinking it couldn’t