A muscle twitched in her cheek, and she bent down to the passenger side, where she’d stored her purse. I shifted away from her, not because I knew she’d be cold from my essence, but because I didn’t want her touching me.
She faltered at my distant attitude, but then slowly extracted a tissue from her purse. “When I first saw him, I almost killed him.”
Like I was going to join her pity party. Sure, I had sympathy for her, but…
Fool me twice, shame on me.
“For your information,” I said, “your trip wasn’t necessary. Gavin already knows I exist.”
“I realize that, because that was what my second vision centered on. I saw that the girl, Wendy, showed him pictures of you. That was what convinced me to come here today most of all. You no longer had the advantage of surprise, and that’s a terrible loss. We need to get that back.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “A lack of surprise didn’t stop me from scaring Gavin, getting him to tell me that he didn’t kill Elizabeth.”
Amanda Lee didn’t acknowledge that. “Tell me… has he mentioned to anyone that there’s a ghost in the house?”
So much for being stubborn and withholding information from Amanda Lee. It looked like we really were in this together, whether I liked it or not.
“He let me know that he was aware of me,” I said.
“But he doesn’t want to admit it to anyone else.”
“I think he was about to show Wendy’s pictures to Farah before she left the house last night. Otherwise, I’m not sure. But I can tell you that he definitely won’t confide in a random, psychic stylist who seems like she’s off her rocker.”
She risked a smile at me, like she wanted to test the ground we were on. I didn’t smile back, giving her a definitive answer. Her gaze clouded.
Why did this have to be so hard? “I still don’t understand what your purpose was in telling him about ‘activity.’”
“I was getting around to that,” she said. “After that second vision, I realized that he’s going to be on his guard from now on, and your haunting efforts might be blocked.”
“Yeah. He figured out that I’m not Elizabeth, thanks to those pictures, so he fended off my attempts at empathy, and he refuses to sleep so I can dream-dig.”
“We need for him to think that you’re gone, then.”
My brain was catching up to what she was proposing.
She said, “Remember a few days ago, when we talked about the family perhaps calling in someone or something else to get rid of you if they became aware of your presence? I’m going to be that person.”
Wow. It made perfect sense. I wouldn’t want to go up against Amanda Lee in chess or war.
She looked satisfied that I wasn’t putting down her idea. “This is how I’m going to do it: if Gavin doesn’t call me back by noon, I plan on contacting Farah again, just to ‘follow up on the delivery.’ But I’ll find a way to work in a comment about the house’s activity. Have you had any contact with her so she might be predisposed to believing me?”
“Enough contact to make her wonder if what you’re telling her could be true.”
“Good.” Amanda Lee looked in the rearview mirror while wiping off some of the makeup that had altered her face. “This way, the Edgetts won’t call in another psychic who’ll intuit what’s actually happening. I’ll get there first. And I’ll pretend to get rid of you, lulling Gavin into letting down his defenses so you can regain that element of surprise with him. That way, you can use your empathy to read more of him, and you can dream-dig.”
I took it all in, then asked, “What if Gavin gets suspicious and hires a human to look into your background?”
Amanda Lee clearly had this covered, too. “Remember that PI friend I told you about?”
Her only friend? If he was even real. I mean, I’d only heard of him and still had to meet him. That’s when I’d believe he existed.
“I remember,” I said.
“He’s already helping me cover myself with false documents. If anyone should ask about Alicia, I’m confident they’ll be satisfied with what they hear. I’m even using a disposable phone for every contact.”
I was dying to meet this PI, but Amanda Lee was already talking again, just like we were buds.
“Speaking of PI help,” she said, “he’s been doing some research about Mr. Edgett senior, as well.”
I couldn’t help it—she’d hooked me. “What did you find out about the dad?”
“He seems to have holed up somewhere in France. At least, that’s the speculation, and I haven’t intuited whether it’s true or not. That’s another reason I wanted to visit the Edgett mansion—to see if I could pick up any vibes on the family.”
I leaned forward, urging her on.
“I didn’t get a thing from that house, though,” she said. “I’m afraid it will take another trip for me to try again.” She crumpled the cosmetic-smudged tissue in her hand. “But I wish I could stay out of that place. I don’t like being in there, near him.”
Gavin. I didn’t like being near him, either, especially because I kept getting drawn to dark men. Talk about reliving the past. I couldn’t stay away from those murderers, real or imagined, could I?
Awkward silence separated me from Amanda Lee, and it felt like she was searching for something more to say, getting me to “trust” her again.
She cleared her throat, then said, “Have you been able to check into your own killing? Because I focused my scrying on that, too, although I didn’t have any visions. And my PI is still on your case.”
“No time for my business,” I said. “I’m pretty swamped here.”
She inhaled, blew out a breath. “I’m just going to say it. No matter how you feel about me, you need me.”
I shot her a hard look.
“Think about it,” she said. “Since there are no suspects or witnesses to your crime, you can’t empathize or dream-dig in order to solve your case on your own. You need a psychic’s visions and guidance.”
“Maybe I can break into some law enforcement computers to find any suspects they had.” Then I could go from there.
Her sad glance told me that there hadn’t been any strong suspects.
Her voice was soft. “I have a connection with you, whether you like it or not. If anyone is going to envision what happened on that night, it’s me.”
I hoped she wasn’t right. “Listen, I’ve got to get back there in case Gavin falls asleep.”
“Here’s to hoping that the dream-digging works out for you.”
I shrugged, still not willing to be pals.
“Either way,” she said, “I’ll be by the mansion again soon. Ideally tonight. And when I put on my fake séance or whatever I end up doing, just stay silent and follow my cues. Leave all the activity to me, Jensen—we want to save the real haunting for the killer himself. I’ll give him the afternoon to decide if he wants my help and to contact me, but if he doesn’t, I’m calling Farah.”
“You do what you need to do.”
As I began to coast out the window, Amanda Lee stopped me.
“One last thing. Have you thought about what should be done if he refuses to confess? If it looks as if he’s about to get away with murder?”
“No.” I hadn’t gotten that far.
“There are other ways to make him pay.”
I waited, already knowing I wasn’t going to like this.
She gripped the steering wheel. “This other ghost you have contact with… Randy. He already told you about possession.”