Chapter 55

“I told you,” Mary hissed, “he’s not here. He hasn’t been here all afternoon. But he’ll be back. There’s nowhere else for him to go. Not in this city. Besides, I know Lyle. He’s as weak as an abandoned puppy. He wouldn’t dare touch anything of yours. If he saw someone in your lair, the last thing he’d do—”

Arius’s voice rose to thunderous levels. “Are you suggesting that someone else was in my tunnels, you stupid, pathetic woman? That someone else sniffed out my psychic, found a way through not one metal door but two, using a key on one and breaking the other right out of its frame? Is thatwhat you’re trying to tell me?”

Mary’s response was too quiet to hear, but it did nothing to soothe Arius.

“Bullshit.” The snarl in Arius’s tone was strong enough to imprint a picture in Lyle’s mind. His teeth would be out, his eyes would be flashing—Hollywood directors everywhere would swoon over the sincerity of his evil.