Page 87 of The Shop on Hidden Lane

“I understand.”

“I think my intuition was trying to tell me something important about the doughnut sculpture.”

“Maybe I can help.”

“How?”

“By doing what we librarians do when we talk to patrons—ask the right questions so that we can point them in the right direction.”

“Go for it.”

She went back to the reading chair, sat down, picked up a notepad and a pen, and adjusted her glasses. “Let’s start at the beginning. What do you remember about the dreamscape?”

She was in professional mode, he thought. He almost smiled.

“I was in the maze, looking for you,” he said.

She looked up, frowning a little. “Did you find me?”

“No.” He studied the sculpture. “I found the doughnut. It was mirror-bright. Glaringly bright. I wasn’t able to look directly at it. There was a reflection but I couldn’t identify the person. And then the twins showed up.”

“Hatch’s personal security team?” Sophy tapped the pen against the notepad and narrowed her eyes. “If you’re going to tell me that you were having a hot sex fantasy involving that pair, I’m rescinding my offer to help you analyze your dream.”

“Trust me, there was no sex involved. They said I had become a problem. Then they said that Vincent Grant and my uncle were problems. The only thing all three of us have in common is a close connection to a Harper woman.”

“My aunt in your uncle’s case. Me as far as you and Vincent are concerned.”

“Which tells me that you and Bea are the critical factors in this situation. And there is only one reason for that.”

Sophy took a breath. “Someone really does have Pandora’s box. They want the crystals unlocked.”

“Yes. But we have already considered that possibility. It’s the other two elements in the dream that need to be interpreted.”

“Which ones?”

“The reflection in the mirror-finish surface of the doughnut that I couldn’t see clearly and the blinding brilliance of the sculpture.”

“Do you think the reflection might be the Alchemist?”

“Maybe.”

Sophy tapped the pen against the notepad again. “We have already concluded that the Alchemist is someone here in the compound.”

“So, my dream was trying to tell me that he is someone I’ve seen here? That is logical but not helpful. As you said, we already knew that much.”

“What is it about the overbright doughnut that is important?” Sophy asked.

He looked at her reflection in the polished metal sculpture. She was perched on the reading chair, pen in hand, the notepad on her lap. Very intent. Very serious. She watched him through the lenses of her black-and-crystal glasses, her eyes fierce and beautiful…

…Eyes that she concealed behind mirrored sunglasses when she worked a crime scene. Mirrored glasses that hid her secrets.

And suddenly a few more connections appeared.

“The mirror-finish,” he said.

“We know that the Kaleidoscope weapons work on mirrors,” Sophy said.

“Yes, but that’s not what’s important here. I think my dream was trying to tell me that it’s the alloy that’s key.”