Doom with a View Read Online Free PDF

but the floor. Candice stood close to me with her shoulder pressed against mine. I could tell she was doing her best through body language to support me, but my nerves were starting to fray, and as the bell dinged and we loaded onto the car, I had a moment before the doors closed where I seriously thought about sprinting for the exit.
    We rode the elevator up in silence and got out on the sixth floor. Candice and I followed dutifully behind Harrison, our heels clicking on the marble floor. I was quickly becoming aware of how uncomfortable I was. The miracle bra was digging into my rib cage. My skirt was too tight for me to take my normal stride. The collar on my blazer scratched against my neck. And I was fairly certain my strong-enough-for-King-Kong-but-made-for-a-woman deodorant had utterly failed.
    I was trying to breathe normally, but my mind kept racing ahead to this little “meeting” and the interrogation tactics that I was certain would follow. My radar doesn’t usually work well when I’m freaked-out and I knew that it was only going to get worse from here.
    Harrison led us into a small conference room and pointed to the leather chairs set around a mahogany table. He sat at the head of the table, and Candice took the one at the opposite end. I sat right next to Candice.
    Harrison looked without blinking at Candice, his hard eyes intent and calculating. She folded her hands and rested them on the tabletop, meeting his gaze with her typical cool, composed self.
    I, on the other hand, couldn’t help myself. I sat back in my chair and tried to make myself as small as possible. That’s when Harrison turned his steely gaze to me. “As you know,” he began smoothly, “the only reason I agreed to this meeting was out of professional courtesy.”
    “We’re aware,” Candice said before I could say anything. “And we agreed to come here out of that same professional courtesy.”
    Harrison ignored Candice and continued to stare at me. “Let me get straight to the point. I don’t believe in psychics or fortune-tellers or mediums or seers or whatever it is you people are calling yourselves these days. I believe in cold hard facts. And of those, I’m convinced you won’t be able to offer me any. Still, I agreed to take this meeting, so I’m going to see it to the end. And to prove to my superiors that I gave you a fair shot, I’ve set up a series of tests.”
    I looked at Candice in alarm. Her gaze never left Harrison, but she did reach out a hand and squeeze my arm. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “Just listen.”
    “If you fail these tests, Ms. Cooper, I will ask you to return home and resist the urge to comment further on any bureau business. You see, it is actually against federal policy to reveal any fact of any case to someone who doesn’t have the proper clearance. And if it were suspected that an agent was leaking details about a specific case to his girlfriend, that agent could find himself out of a job very, very quickly.”
    His meaning was clear. Dutch wasn’t allowed to ask me for my intuitive input anymore or risk losing his job. And that got my dander up. “And if I pass your tests?” I asked.
    Harrison smiled, amused, the way parents do when their child has just said something ridiculous. “Well then,” he said, spreading his hands in an “oh well” gesture. “I might ask you to join our investigation.”
    “Might?” I pressed.
    Harrison gave one small, nearly imperceptible nod. I scowled and he remarked, “Of course, if these terms are not acceptable to you, then you and your associate here are free to leave.”
    I looked at Candice, trying to decide if she thought Harrison’s proposal was acceptable. She looked at me with a kind smile and shrugged her shoulders. “Your call, Sundance.”
    I crossed my arms and checked in with my crew—but their answer wasn’t much help. The feeling I had was that they reaffirmed my own sense that these “tests” were bullshit, and if I