In this scene from Crystal Clear Truth, Shohn and Joe meet for dinner and to discuss how Shohn's company, idBot, can help Joe find the person he's looking for.

Joe scooted his chair closer. "Is it true that what I say to idBot stays with idBot?"

"It is. Like lawyers and clergy."

"My father considered firestorms not as random incidents." He chewed his lower lip, his bright-blue gaze focused on Shohn. "Kin know when someone's lying, isn't that right?"

"Yes. Human scent gives them away. It's not impossible to lie to us without us knowing, but it is rare."

"You'll know what I say is the truth, correct?"

What was he getting at? Did he plan to lie? Odd way to go about it, if so. "I would know whether you believed something was true."

"Okay." Joe squared his shoulders. "My father believed firestorms have a personal agenda."

She considered those words. "What you're saying is he thought the firestorms themselves were planning where to strike."

"Yes. I know it sounds crazy, but when you examine the evidence..." He sighed. "I don't mean to sound condescending, but you wouldn't understand. There are only a handful of people who would, and those few are all in the TCF. But they refused to take him seriously."

If Saint-Cyr could hear this, he would be cheering. Firestorms did indeed have their own agenda, but this was the first time anyone other than an immortal had recognized it.

Gaining Joe's trust might be the key to carrying out both her missions.

Shohn laid back one ear. "I imagine the TCF tried to silence him."

"They thought he'd lost his mind. He and I debated his theory often, and we'd swap sides. We'd each argue for, then against. We tried poking holes in it, but it held. It frustrated him that the TCF considered his observations 'metaphysical' instead of scientific."

"They didn't appreciate the balance between the two?"

"Not one bit." Joe folded his hands on the table. "My dad literally wrote the book on firestorms, and knew what he was talking about. They'd never dream of letting him go, of course, even if they considered his later theories quackery. I'm more careful about discussing the topic."

"You're saying that, professionally, you have to be dishonest about your beliefs."

"Yes. At least, inside the TCF. I don't talk about what I believe, and I document none of what I do with the TCF. Dad's research was private, but they laid claim to it when he died, and suppressed it. What they don't know is that I have copies of everything in a secure location. His final theories were ridiculed when he was alive, and now that he's gone, they exist, officially, only in what we shared, what I remember, and handwritten notes I've locked away."