Born of Illusion (33 page)

“Mama?” My heart plummets as I realize I’m still alone.

Kicking the blanket off my legs, I make my way awkwardly down the hall to her bedroom, stiff from having spent the night on the sofa. “Mama?”

Her bedroom is empty, her bed still made.

There’s a sudden banging on the door and I press myself against the wall, positive my abductors have come for me.

“Anna?” My legs nearly buckle with relief.

“Cole?” I race to the door, my heart pounding in my ears. I can’t get the door unlocked quickly enough and then I’m in his arms.

“What’s wrong? Are you all right?”

“Yes. No. It’s my mother—something’s happened.”

Cole searches the hall, as if expecting whatever’s happened to be right there in front of us.

“No.” I pull him farther inside and shut the door. “She didn’t come home last night and I had a vision.”

His brows draw together. “She was with Jacques, correct? Perhaps she’s still with him?”

His voice is stilted, and if I wasn’t so frightened I might have laughed. As if I would be shocked by my mother’s indiscretion.

I grasp at the suggestion.

“You call Jacques and I’ll make coffee.” He pushes me toward the phone.

I stand for a moment before dialing, overwhelmed with gratitude. Cole didn’t have to question me about the dream. He didn’t have to ask how I knew my mother was in trouble. He just knows me. “Did you hear me scream?” I ask suddenly. He stops in the kitchen doorway.

“No, I felt it.”

We stare at each other, the space between us brimming with unspoken words.

I nod. “Thank you.”

I hurry into the sitting room and call Jacques. He picks up on the fourth ring.

“Do you know what time it is?”

“Where’s my mother?”

“Anna?”

“Are there any other daughters who would call you to find out the whereabouts of their mother?” I snap.

“Of course not. I just don’t understand. Your mother, she is not with me. She went home. What time is it?”

“I don’t know. Early.”

“Hold on.” I hear him fumbling about. “It is six a.m. She went home several hours ago. She stayed late, talking. You were not a nice girl, letting me think your mother knew about the addition to the show.”

My stomach twists.

“Wait. She is not home?”

“No.”

His response is immediate. “I’ll be right there.”

He hangs up before I can say anything else, and relief washes over me. If this had happened several months ago, I might have suspected Jacques, but now I realize that I have grown to trust him. At any rate, there is no doubt how he feels about my mother.

I set the phone on its hook and walk into the kitchen. The coffee is boiling on the stove and Cole looks up at me, his eyes full of questions.

I shake my head. “She left hours ago. He’s on his way over.”

Tears prick behind my eyes, but I hold them back. Crying won’t solve anything. I learned that early on.

Cole holds out a chair for me and I sit gratefully.

“I shouldn’t have done what I did yesterday. I was so angry with her, but instead of confronting her, I stole the spotlight. Why did I do that? Why can’t we just talk like normal people?”

He shakes his head. “You don’t think your mother ran off.”

It isn’t a question but a statement. I give him a small shake of my head. No, my mother has never run away from anything.

“Then don’t make this your fault.”

I swallow my tears and nod. Cole hands me a cup of hot coffee and I drink, not caring that it’s scalding my tongue. The pain clears my head. Only one thought keeps spinning around and around: This wasn’t supposed to happen with Mrs. Lindsay in jail.
And if Mrs. Lindsay isn’t the culprit, who is?

“We need to make a list of possibilities, but before Jacques arrives, tell me about your vision. How many times have you had it?”

“I’m not sure. Four or five times.”

“Is it the same every time?”

I nod, grateful that he’s here to help me sort this out, grateful to have someone to talk to who won’t think I’m crazy.

“Do you always have repeat visions?”

I shake my head. “No, but then I’ve never had visions like this before. As I told you, usually they’re about big events, such as the
Titanic
, or the Great Kanto Earthquake. Never about my own life.”

I get him a paper and pencil and he takes notes as I describe what I’ve seen. When I’m done, he starts with the questions.

“Can you describe the place where they’re holding your mother?”

I try to remember but can’t get past the look on her face.

“I know this is hard, but try to replay it in your mind. Close your eyes and picture it. Is it a large room or small? Can you tell if it’s day or night? What are the walls made out of? Brick? Wood? Is there a window? What is the man wearing—are you sure it’s a man?”

“Wait.” I take a deep breath and sharpen my focus. “It’s a small room. My mother is tied up just out of my reach.” I focus, and the vision begins to replay itself. My stomach tingles and I reach out blindly to Cole, who takes my hand. I relax as much as I can considering the pain in my head and let the vision take me. But this time I am in control of it.

“It’s dark, and light is coming through cracks in the walls. It looks like a shed or closet or something.” The man enters the vision and my pulse skips, frightened in spite of the fact that Cole is here with me and I know this isn’t real. “He’s in black. It’s an overcoat.”

My heart races as the man comes toward me and then the vision changes. “I’m underwater now. I can’t breathe.” I open my eyes, my breath coming quickly. “I’m afraid for my mother.”

Cole’s face is white. I glance at the paper and see not only notes, but also little sketches. Suddenly, I understand. “You saw it too?”

He nods. “As soon as I touched your hand.”

I swallow and study the drawings. “You’re quite good. They look just like what I saw.”

He nods. “Drawing will be a useful asset in my training.”

My forehead wrinkles. “For the Society for Psychical Research?”

He shakes his head and gives me a little smile. “Well, no. I’m going to attend Oxford to study law.”

“You want to be a lawyer?”

“No. I want to be a detective with Scotland Yard and I figure law will give me a good foundation.”

I give a surprised laugh. “A policeman?”

He shrugs, not meeting my eyes.

I shake my head. “That explains a lot.”

“You’re not upset? You’ve told me how you feel about officers of the law.” His voice is tight and I squeeze the hand I’m still holding.

“It’s too late now. I already like you.” I pause. “To be honest, I’m more upset about you leaving than about your chosen profession.”

A knock at the door interrupts us and Cole tucks away the notes. I get up to answer it, but Cole shakes his head.

“I don’t want you doing anything on your own until we find your mother. Someone tried to snatch you once already. Let’s not make you an easy target.”

I nod, but I now know in my heart that it’s futile to try and change my vision. This isn’t a nightmare; this is a portent—something that is
going
to happen.

Jacques rushes in, his hair mussed and his overcoat buttoned crookedly. “Have you heard anything?”

I shake my head. “I was hoping you had.”

We move back into the kitchen and Cole hands Jacques a cup of coffee.

We sit at the kitchen table. “What time did she leave last night?” Cole has started on a clean sheet of paper.

“I think it was close to three. We were up late talking.” Jacques casts me a look of disapproval.

I ignore it. “You let her leave alone?”

His sits up, affronted. “Certainly not. I called a cab and waited with her in the lobby until it came.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Lobby?”

He fidgets a bit. “Yes, I live in the Hotel Monaco, more or less permanently.”

“More or less?” His eyes avoid mine, and I suddenly understand. “This is
your
apartment. You gave your apartment to us.”

He nods.

“Why would you do that?” I wonder and then the answer flashes in my mind. “Because you thought it would be temporary. You had every intention of moving in here with my mother!”

Jacques has the grace to look uncomfortable but then lifts a shoulder in a supremely French way. “It appears she is far more skittish about marriage than I first thought.”

My mouth drops. “Marriage? You asked her to marry you?”

“Only every day since I first met her in Chicago.”

My mind whirls, everything I know about Jacques shuffling and changing. Some Sensitive I am. I didn’t even know my manager was in love with my mother until just last night.

“She finally agreed to think about it. I believe she would have married me a long time ago if it hadn’t been for her worry over you.”

“Me?”

“Of course! She was terribly afraid you would follow in her footsteps. She did not want you to be alone.”

My brow furrows. That doesn’t sound like my mother at all. I wonder if Jacques knows my mother’s penchant for stretching the truth. Well, he’ll find out soon enough.

If we find my mother.

Twenty-six

C
ole clears his throat. “We should really concentrate on locating your mother right now. Does she have any enemies?”

Jacques raises an eyebrow at me at Cole’s naiveté.

“Of course she has enemies,” I answer. “She’s a medium. It’s part of the business.”

“I know
you
have enemies,” Cole says shortly. “Someone tried to abduct you. And we are no closer to finding out who it was than we were before.”

“I’m sure it was someone I’ve met before,” I clarify, thinking of Mrs. Lindsay. I guess I can rule her and Lisette out—in this case, at least. A lump rises in my throat. I thought we were safe. I thought it was
over
.

Jacques clears his throat. “You think the same person has your mother?”

I can’t tell him about my vision, so I just nod. “I think we can assume that. What cab company picked her up?”

Jacques snaps his fingers. “Of course. We should call them,
oui
?”

Cole nods. “What did you two talk about last night? Was she upset?”

Jacques shoots me another disapproving glance. “She was quite angry with you. You knew that, yes? But I talked with her. She was calm by the time she left. We spoke of the future, and for the first time, she considered a future without the show. I told her we could run my management company together. She kissed me and promised to think about it.”

“So she didn’t leave angry?” My stomach clenches.

“No. The only time she got angry was when I suggested that you had the talent to have your own show.”

My heart stops. “You told her that?”

“
Oui
.”

I can just imagine how that went over.

Jacques’s mouth is pulled down in condemnation. “That is when she told me she did not want your life to mirror hers.”

I close my eyes for a moment, my throat tightening. It never occured to me that my mother ever gave a thought to my future. I wonder how many more surprises I can take. Then I shake my head. I can ask her about these things next time I see her. But first we have to find her.

Jacques goes to call the taxi company while Cole continues asking me questions and taking notes.

“You said of course your mother has enemies? Why would someone like you have enemies?”

I shrug. “It’s part of the business. Remember Mrs. Lindsay?”

He nods.

“Well, she also attacked me in the park and later at Lindy’s.”

Cole’s jaw tightens. “You didn’t tell me about that.”

I lean back and shut my eyes for a moment. “It was just before I was abducted. So much has happened since then.” Then I look down at my hands. “Besides, at the time I thought maybe you already knew something about it.”

“Excuse me?”

“I saw you talking with her shortly after she attacked me in the park.” I wince at the hurt in his eyes. I know he wouldn’t hurt me or my mother. I
know
it. So why did it come out like that?

He lays his hand over mine. “Anna, I went for a walk and she was standing on the corner. I recognized her from the séance and remembered how unstable she felt. She looked like she was having a hard time, so I gave her some money. I only spoke to her for a few minutes. I had no idea she attacked you.”

I look down. “I know. I’m just scared.”