They walked back to the living room. Bevlin Wagner was lying on the floor, flat on his back, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes still closed.
“All he needs is a white lily,” Cheney said. “Or maybe black, I’m not sure just yet.”
“No, not lilies, I’m allergic to lilies.” Bevlin opened his eyes, sat up, and wrapped his arms around his knees. “My guide said one day it seemed he simply woke up and there I was, this scrawny little kid who spoke to his parents and wondered why they didn’t realize they’d already had that particular conversation.”
“Deja vu?”
“Yep. When I was little, I never thought about it, it was simply the way things were. It happened with friends sometimes too. I already knew what everyone was going to say.”
“So your guide was what—asleep—until you came along?”
Bevlin shrugged, came gracefully up to his feet. “More like he was simply there, maybe not fully aware of who he was, or what he was intended to do.”
Julia tossed him a bottle of water. He snagged it out of the air, opened it, tilted it back, and drank the entire thing straight down.
“This sort of thing would make me thirsty too,” Julia said to Cheney.
When he was finished with the bottle, Bevlin arced it toward the single wastebasket in the far corner of the room. It banked off the wall and fell neatly in, gave a small bounce, and settled.
Cheney said, “So you have no thought at all about who killed Dr. Ransom?”
“Of course I asked him when he warned me about you. I’ve also asked my other guides. Neither he nor any of the others seem to know. That, or none of them wants to tell me. I’m not sure which. Maybe they don’t think it’s my business, maybe they don’t think I can handle it. August didn’t see who it was, he told me that, just as he told Wallace.” Bevlin shuddered. “He said it all happened really fast, but he still felt the horror of it, knowing he was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. He said he didn’t feel all that much pain, a blessing, he supposed, thanks to the gift of cocaine.”
Julia said, “I wasn’t aware August used cocaine until the police found a stash locked in one of his desk drawers and the medical examiner found cocaine in his system. I thought I could always tell if someone was high on drugs, but he kept it a secret from me, and he did it well.”
“All his close friends knew he used cocaine,” Bevlin said. “It never occurred to me to mention it to you. In any case, he said he sort of let go and then he was on the other side and he realized his knees wouldn’t ever hurt him again. That pleased him.”
Cheney said, “Bevlin, I’ve been wondering why your guides don’t make you filthy rich.”
He scratched his armpit. “The thing is, the guides don’t know everything. When I was young I wanted to bet on a horse whose name was Second Sight—I asked my guide and he said he had no clue which horse would win, but he didn’t like the name. Too cutesy, he said. Funny thing—Second Sight won. My guide made himself scarce for a while after that.”
Cheney said, “You knew Dr. Ransom for what? Seven, eight years?”
“Yes, something like that. He was a great man. I’m hoping he’ll help me focus, help me see more than I’ve seen before.”
Cheney said, “You mean he’ll be another guide?”
“Hmm, I hadn’t thought of it like that. Perhaps so.”
“Who do you think killed him? Not what the guides think, what do you think?”
Bevlin said matter-of-factly, “If you asked me to pick someone in the profession, I’d vote for Soldan Meissen. He’s a real fruitcake, has all these silly affectations. I hear he’s into dressing Far East now, wears silk robes and smokes a hookah, plucky bugger. The man is disturbed, and he’s greedy. Julia knows his history.
“You can forget Wallace. He’s harmless. As for Kathryn Golden, I call her a TV whore. She sure hates that, gives me the evil eye. She’s a very good TV whore, in fact. Her name was Betty Ann Cruther. She changed it about twelve years ago. It’s no secret, she tells anyone who asks. It’s odd though, no one ever asks. I wonder why Kathryn picked Golden—why such a ridiculous color?”
“Ask a guide,” Cheney said.
“Good one, Agent Stone. I will tolerate your company so long as you are of use to Julia.”
Julia said, “You didn’t say if you thought Kathryn could have killed August.”
“Nah, Kathryn wouldn’t ever hurt August. She was in love with him.”
“I didn’t know that,” Julia said. “Surely you’re wrong about that, Bevlin.”
“No, I’m not. Why would you know? No one would ever say anything about it to you. Fact is, babe, devious old Kathryn wanted August for years. They go back fifteen years at least. I don’t know if he ever slept with her, none of my business. Of course August wouldn’t say anything about it. He liked Kathryn and he wanted you to feel at ease around her.
“She once got drunk with me and Wallace. I think Soldan was there, looking down his nose at the three of us, and she prattled on about how she and August were kindred spirits.
“I’ll tell you, the more big-name clients she latches on to, the more it goes to her head. She’s a bit like Soldan, who’s turned into an even bigger ass since he got his skinny little foot on TV. Thinks he’s better than all of us now.”
“Well, Soldan is richer, Bevlin. So is Kathryn. Actually, so is Wallace. He’s got a butler, for heaven’s sake.”
“Ogden has always been with Wallace, even when he was poor. I just hope Wallace pays him more now that he’s raking in the money.”
Cheney said, “On the other hand, Julia, Bevlin is much younger than the rest of them. Give him time.”
“Thank you, Agent Stone, but the truth’s the truth. I can take it. Did you know that Kathryn’s latest book sold forty thousand more copies than mine? Mine was better, but hers hit the public pulse just right. I suppose I’m a bit jealous, and my guides really frown on that.”
Cheney said, “Is Kathryn Golden a legitimate medium?”
Bevlin shrugged.
“How about Soldan Meissen? He’s all over TV.”
“I forced myself to watch Soldan—sounds like a magician’s silly name, doesn’t it—The Great Soldan—anyway, I watched him once on an afternoon talk show. He did this cold reading on the studio audience. That means he’s never met any of them before. He did the usual shtick—you know, ‘I feel a W, yes, a W, a W, or an F, that’s it, it’s either a W or an F—and the month of June, that’s important, real important to someone.’
“He spoke fast, that’s real important to keep the potential marks moving with you. He was smooth, and sure enough, someone shouted,’Yes, yes, I was married in June, June the nineteenth, and George almost made it to June, died May twenty-seventh.’ There’s always someone married in June, right? So Soldan moves to the stand right in front of her and leans close. ‘Yes, it is George, I can see that now. Perhaps we can talk to him.’ And blah blah blah. He was good, impressed the hell out of most people in that audience. He moved so quickly it was hard to tell he didn’t have all that many hits. I mean an F and a W—and the woman yells it’s really a G for George, not remotely close, but no one notices. You see, if you’re fast enough, charming enough, and silky smooth, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling.” He shrugged again. “All it takes is one person to connect to what you’re throwing out there and you’ve got your hook in. That’s what Soldan’s best at.”
Cheney said, “That’s called a cold reading?”
“Yeah, as opposed to a hot reading, which is fraud, you know, getting information about people without their knowledge before the fact.”
“So,” Cheney said, wanting to sit down but not about to fling himself onto one of those beanbags, “this Soldan is a con artist?”
“Maybe.”
“And Kathryn Golden?”
“She’s good-looking, you know, and uses that well. But I can tell you for sure she’s a psychic. I’ve seen her fall into a vision and I know it was for real. She told Wallace once that he’d left his jockey shorts in Violet’s backpack. She was this young woman Wallace was seeing at the time. I thought Wallace would belt her, especially since he didn’t know if he really had left his shorts there. And Kathryn’s about the best I’ve seen at reading people, especially those who don’t realize what she’s doing.”