“Yes, but the majority of the clients believe that is exactly what you do. They think that you are a kind of medium, that you contact the Other Side through mirrors. It’s a very good act, Virginia, but it lacks a crucial element.”
“What is that?”
“The problem is that you do not give voice to the ghosts in the mirror. People want to communicate with the departed. In short, your act lacks the element of high drama. That is what clients seek when they pay a fee to a medium or a glass-reader.”
She put the pen aside very deliberately and clasped her hands on top of the appointment book. “I told you when I applied to become affiliated with the Institute that what I do is not an act. The reason that the afterimages don’t speak through me is because they are not spirits. I have explained that what I perceive are psychical photographs, not ghosts.”
“I understand. But that is precisely why you have not become the most successful psychical consultant at the Institute. It is why Pamela Egan channeling her ancient Egyptian princess and that old biddy Mrs. Harkins still pull in more clients than you do. People expect action at a séance or a reading. They want theatrics. They want to feel that there is active communication with the departed. I can provide that missing element in your readings.”
“Indeed?” she said evenly. “How would you do that?”
He sat forward. “By working with you at each consultation. You would do what you always do, summon the spirits in their final moments.”
“You mean summon the afterimages, which, I might remind you, only someone with my kind of talent can perceive.”
“Ah, but that is where I come in.” Leybrook smiled. “I can provide a visual element to the readings.”
“I knew it,” Virginia said. “You are an illusion-talent, aren’t you?”
He hesitated, frowning, and then shrugged. “Yes.”
“I suspected as much.”
“For obvious reasons I prefer to keep the exact nature of my ability a secret. People want to believe that they are seeing real ghosts, not stage magic. In our performances I will create the illusion of visual disturbances on the surfaces of the mirrors while you read the afterimages. The clients will be enthralled.”
“You intend to deceive them.”
“Not at all. I will merely enhance the experience for them by providing some drama. You will relay to me what you see in the mirrors. At the same time I will provide the audience with the illusion of fog and images swirling in the glass. But we will add the finishing touch. After you tell me what you have seen, I will channel the voices of the departed for our clients.”
“You will pretend to speak for spirits? But what will you say?”
“Come, now, Virginia, how hard can it be to speak for the dead and the dying? Mediums and séance-givers do it all the time. I will convey last messages to loved ones, perhaps a plea for justice in the event we stumble across a genuine murder victim, that sort of thing.”
“Has it occurred to you that if you claim to speak for someone who is in the process of being murdered the client and very likely the police will expect the victim to name the murderer?”
“There are ways to finesse that angle,” Leybrook said.
“How can you do that?”
“Mysterious clues from the dead will work nicely,” Gilmore said.
“What sort of clues?”
“Search for the blue door,”Gilmore intoned in a deep, melodramatic voice. “Listen for the hound at midnight. Read what is written on the stone at the bottom of the pond.”He waved one hand in a dismissing gesture, and his voice returned to normal. “There are endless possibilities when it comes to clues from beyond the grave.”
“I see.”
“We will split the consulting fees sixty-forty,” Gilmore added smoothly.
“I assume I’m the one who will receive the forty percent?”
“Correct.”
“Under the terms of our current agreement I retain seventy-five percent of the fees that I charge,” Virginia said.
“Any loss in profit to you under the new arrangement will be more than compensated for by an increase in business and in our fees.”
“How very generous of you.”
“Together we will not only make a great deal of money, we will take the reputation and the influence of this Institute to new heights.” Gilmore’s eyes hardened. He was suddenly very intense. “We will attract a greater number of truetalents to work here, and not just those who would never be welcome in Arcane. I believe we have the potential to draw members from the Society itself.”
“Do you really believe that?” Virginia asked.
“Yes. There are rumblings within Arcane. Not all of the members are happy with the new direction the organization is taking. Some are chafing under the limits that the Joneses have begun to set on the kind of research that will be condoned by the Society in the future. Furthermore, the establishment of Jones & Jones has created a great deal of resentment both within and outside of Arcane. Many feel that the Society has no right to police the rest of us.”
She had always understood that Gilmore viewed Arcane as competition, but now she realized that his hostility toward the Society involved something more than business, something very personal.
“Mr. Leybrook, rest assured that I wish you well in your efforts to create an alternative to Arcane, but I cannot accept your offer to enhance my readings. I am not interested in going into a consulting partnership of the sort that you are describing.”
“You wish to bargain for a higher percentage of the fees?”
“I am not trying to negotiate with you, sir. I am telling you that I intend to build my business my way. I do not want to deceive my clients, even if it means larger fees.”
“It’s Sweetwater, isn’t it?” Gilmore surged up out of the chair and stalked to the window. He looked down at the street. “He is the reason you are turning down my offer. He has seduced you.”
“The nature of my association with Mr. Sweetwater is none of your business.”
“Do not bother to deny it.” Gilmore shot her a scathing look. “I sensed the energy around the two of you last night. I suspect everyone at the reception did.” His mouth twisted. “Hell, even nontalents can pick up on those sorts of currents.”
Virginia could feel the heat rising in her face. She was very glad that Gilmore was watching the scene outside the window.
“What an extraordinarily ill-mannered and inappropriate thing to say,” she said in her coldest accents. She was careful to keep her voice low, because she knew that Matt, with his hunter-talent hearing, was probably listening. “I have no intention of discussing my personal affairs with you, Mr. Leybrook. I will thank you to leave my office immediately.”
Gilmore turned away from the window to face her. “You surprise me, Virginia. I never thought that you would become a gentleman’s mistress. I was convinced that you had more pride than that.”
“That’s enough.” She leaped to her feet. “Leave this office at once.”
“You seem to forget, this office is the property of the Institute, and I own the Institute. As long as you accept the benefits of affiliation with my organization, you will do as I say.”
The door opened. Matt looked straight at Virginia.
“Is there a problem, Miss Dean?” he said.
“Get out of here,” Gilmore ordered.
Matt ignored him. He waited for Virginia to respond.
She moved around the corner of the desk. “There is no problem, Mr. Kern. We are leaving now.”
“Where do you think you’re going?” Gilmore demanded.
“I am hereby severing my affiliation with the Institute. Good-bye, Mr. Leybrook. It will be interesting to see if you can create an organization that rivals Arcane. You have your work cut out for you.”
“You can’t just walk out of here.”
She paused in the doorway.
“Watch me,” she said.