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He enjoyed losing hio, when he had been twelve and had changed forever, but he was tired now and wanted to sleep Maybe he would dream of the woman named Lindsey Maybe he would have another vision that would lead him to someone connected with her, for so draard her by forces he could not entirely understand but which he respected Next time, he would not make the mistake he had made with Cooper He would not let the need overwhelm him He would ask questions first When he had received all the answers, and only then, he would free the beautiful blood and, with it, another soul to join the infinite throngs beyond this hateful world

4

Tuesday et soina to school on his way to awith an executor of an estate in North Tustin as seeking bids on a collection of antique Wedgwood urns and vases After lunch he had an appointment with Dr Nyebern to learn the results of the tests he had undergone on Saturday By the tiina and returned houred to have finished the canvas she had been working on for the past month

That was the plan, anyway, but all the fates and evil elves--and her own psychology--conspired to prevent the fulfillment of it First of all the coffee maker went on the fritz Lindsey had to tinker with the ood tinkerer, and fortunately the breas fixable She could not face the day without a blast of caffeine to jump-start her heart She knew coffee was bad for her, but so was battery acid and cyanide, and she didn’t drink either one of those, which showed she had more than her share of self-control when it came to destructive dietary habits; hell, she was an absolute rock!

By the ti and a full ther as perfect for her purposes She had everything she needed She had her paints, brushes, and palette knives She had her supply cabinet She had her adjustable stool and her easel and her stereo system with stacks of Garth Brooks, Glenn Miller, and Van Halen CDs, which soround music for a painter whose style was a cos she didn’t have were an interest in the work at hand and the ability to concentrate

She was repeatedly diverted by a glossy black spider that was exploring the upper right-hand corner of thenearest to her She didn’t like spiders, but she was loath to kill them anyway Later, she would have to capture it in a jar to release it outside It crept upside down across theheader to the left-hand corner, immediately lost interest in that territory, and returned to the right-hand corner, where it quivered and flexed its long legs and see pleasure from some quality of that particular niche that was apprehensible only to spiders

Lindsey turned to her painting again Nearly co touches

But she hesitated to open paints and pick up a brush because she was every bit as devoted a worrier as she was an artist She was anxious about Hatch’s health, of course--both his physical and e man who had killed the blonde, and about the eerie connection between that savage predator and her Hatch

The spider crept down the side of thefra whatever arachnid senses it possessed, it rejected that nook, as well, and returned once ht-hand corner

Like ood subjects for spooky movies but charlatans in real life Yet she had been quick to suggest clairvoyance as an explanation for what had been happening to Hatch She had pressed the theory more insistently when he had declared that he was not psychic

Now, turning away fro frustratedly at the unfinished canvas before her, she realized why she had become such an earnest advocate of the reality of psychic power in the car on Friday, when they had followed the killer’s trail to the head of Laguna Canyon Road If Hatch had becoin to receive impressions from all sorts of people, and his link to this murderer would not be unique But if he was not psychic, if the bond between hier than random clairvoyant reception, as he insisted that it was, then they were hip-deep into the unknown And the unknoas a hell of a lot scarier than so you could describe and define

Besides, if the link between them was more mysterious and intiht be psychologically disastrous Whateven briefly inside the mind of a ruthless killer? Was the link between theical link would have been? If so, perhaps the virus of madness could creep across the ether and infect Hatch

No Ridiculous Not her husband He was reliable, levelheaded,as any alked the earth

The spider had taken possession of the upper right-hand corner of theIt began to spin a web