Silent Killer Page 0,39
have much to discuss.”
As Yvette led her out of the large, marble foyer and down the hallway to the right, Nic noted the pale green walls and dark wooden floors. And she was acutely aware of how quiet it was, so quiet you could almost hear a pin drop. Where were all of Dr. Meng’s psychic students?
“Where is everyone?” Nic asked.
Yvette paused by a set of closed French doors, glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “This is my private wing of the retreat. My students have rooms on the other side of the building.”
Yvette swung the double doors open to reveal an eighteen-by-eighteen square foot room with a fireplace and sitting area in one corner and an enormous bay window spanning half the back wall. Her private office reflected her Asian heritage, with a black lacquer desk and chair, no doubt both priceless antiques, facing the windows. Two massive, hand-painted black lacquer chests flanked the fireplace.
Yvette glided toward the windows, paused and gazed out at the lake behind the retreat that Griffin had built for her. Hesitantly, Nic walked over and stood beside her.
“I should have invited you here sooner,” Yvette said. “I have been very busy with the contractor and with making sure my students are settled.”
“You refer to this place as a retreat—is that how you see it?”
Yvette faced Nic. “It is my retreat, yes, but it is more a sanctuary for my students than anything else. And I refer to them as students for lack of a more appropriate term. They are people with unusual gifts that have alienated them from their families, talents that have turned them into outcasts. I, too, have always been an outcast.”
“So everyone living here has psychic abilities of some kind?”
“Yes, and their abilities vary in degree. Most are marginally talented, while two are far more gifted than I am.”
“How many students do you have living here?”
“Seven. Three men and four women.” Yvette focused on Nic’s face. “I see that Griffin has kept his word and not shared any information about my students, not even with you.”
“Then you asked him to keep me in the dark about—”
“Oh, Nicole, I am so very sorry.” Yvette stared at Nic, realization in her dark eyes. “I should have given him permission to tell you. I can see that you are upset because—”
“My husband shouldn’t have needed your permission to tell me what is going on here at Griffin’s Rest. Griff and I are married, and to me that means we don’t keep secrets from each other. We share everything. But for the past year, since you sent your first student, Meredith Sinclair here to live and Griff began construction on your retreat or sanctuary or whatever you want to call it, he has been secretive and so involved with you and your pet project that he’s neglected me and our marriage.”
When Yvette reached out to touch her, Nic jumped back, avoiding skin-to-skin contact. She didn’t want Yvette probing into her mind, sensing her innermost thoughts and feelings.
“I truly had no idea,” Yvette said. “But I should have. My only excuse is that constructing this sanctuary has been a dream fulfilled for me. I apologize most sincerely for allowing my needs and the needs of my students to create problems between you and Griffin.”
Nic stood ramrod straight, every muscle in her body tight, every nerve pulsating. “I won’t apologize to you or to Griff for the way I feel. You had no right to swear him to secrecy. And he had no right to agree.”
“Does Griffin know how you feel?”
“I’ve tried to talk to him more than once, but he acts as if he thinks I’m being silly.”
“You have felt this way for all these months and did not come to me. Why?”
Good question. She’s got you there. Why didn’t you come here sooner and demand to know what was going on and why Griff was so secretive?
“I think I was afraid of what I might learn.”
“If you had objections to Griffin building this retreat for me, why did you not tell him when he first mentioned it to you?”
“And sound like a jealous wife?” Nic chuckled sarcastically. “I know that everything Griff has, he has because of you. You and Sanders. Even his life. I know that all his billions were rightfully yours. So if you want or need something from Griff, he’s in no position to refuse you, is he?”
“Griffin should have told me that you were unhappy with my living here. But I