“There’s nothing in here,” he growled, jabbing her shoulder with the gun. “Where’s the journal? The bank book?”
His eyes darted about like fleas, hopping from Fiona to the desk to the gun. “Where are they?”
He yanked her to her feet and she tripped over the hem of her gown, staggering into him. He pushed her away and she fell again, the weight of her piled-up hair sagging to one side.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Bradley. I haven’t seen anything like that, I swear it.” Panic began to dart through her, muzzing her brain and numbing her face. The man was insane.
“I know he left them for you. There must be another hiding place. Get up…unless you want to take a break?” His sudden leer transformed his eyes from glassy to intent. “You’ve been teasing me for months…if you want to take a break to make that up to me right now, I certainly wouldn’t mind that.” His expression was lascivious as he stood over her, gun aimed at her head, one hand on the fastening of his trousers.
Fiona pushed back the surge of nausea. She looked up at him, braced by her hands behind her on the floor, sprawled in a pool of sequined gown. Now her intense reaction to reading his palm made sense. Somehow tonight, his growing desperation had come past the mask he’d worn for months.
Brad stepped closer, one foot planting on the material of her gown, holding it—and her—in place. “We’ll have a little bit of fun, then we’ll get back to work. I’m sure by that time, you’ll be much more accommodating.” He laughed, and it was nothing like the polite, gentle chuckles she’d heard from his politician persona. This was a deep, roiling, nasty laugh.
What had happened to change him so quickly from the polite, debonair politician to this half-mad, leering person?
All at once her attention was drawn to The Lamp where it sat on the walnut desk behind Bradley. It glowed a soft color and then went out abruptly. An idea crystallized in Fiona’s mind.
“I think you should know—there’s a ghost here,” she told him, making her eyes wide and fearful. “Gretchen’s ghost.”
He laughed again. “Don’t be frightened, my dear. You’ve been wanting this for months.” He bent toward her, menace in his eyes, and suddenly there was a loud crash.
Fiona, who’d half been expecting something, started, but Bradley jolted as though he’d been pushed. He whirled around to look beyond the desk, into the darkness, where the sound had come from.
Just then, The Lamp came on, glowing whiter and brighter than Fiona had ever seen it.
“What the he—” Bradley’s words choked off when a palpable chill filtered through the air—sudden, subtle, but unmistakable. “What kind of game are you playing here?” He whirled back to Fiona, brandishing the gun, swinging it sharply toward her.
She staggered to her feet just as the gun smashed into her temple.
Pain exploded, and everything went black.
Twenty-One
Gideon peeredin the front window of Fiona’s shop. It looked as though a few lights glowed within, but there certainly wasn’t any sign that she and Brad were in there.
Glancing up the street, and then in the other direction, Gideon tried to make sense of the babbling phone call he’d received twenty minutes ago from Iva. He’d just pulled into his condo’s parking lot—after trying to call Fiona, as suggested, and getting no answer.
“You have to find Fiona!” Iva had exclaimed as soon as he’d answered his phone. “She’s in danger!”
“What are you talking about?” Gideon asked, frowning, even as he turned the ignition in his car back on. “Iva, you don’t need to play matchmaker any more. I’m going to—”
“Gideon, after we got home, I did a Tarot reading tonight—my first one ever—and it said that Fiona’s indanger. You have to find her! She went somewhere with Bradley Forth, and I’m sure he’s going to hurt her!”
“You did a Tarot reading and you want me to use that as an excuse to hunt her down? Iva, you know I love you but—”
“Gideon! This is your grandfather. Now listen to me—forget what Iva said about her Tarot reading—this is serious. Fiona did a palm reading on Bradley tonight and—”
“Not you too!” Gideon exploded. Had his whole world gone mad? “Look, I’m going to go home and—”
“Gideon!” His grandfather thundered. “I’m going to hang up and call the Wicks Hollow police. Do you want me to tell you what’s going on first or not?”
“What?” Now his heart was starting to pound. “What?”
“When Fiona did the palm reading on Forth tonight, she told Iva that she had the most immediate, forceful reaction to him—one of dislike and fear. She sensed something was wrong, but she didn’t know why. Forth told her he wanted to go to her shop to look for his wallet, which he thought he’d left there…but I saw him use his wallet to pay for a drink tonight.He was lying to her to try and get her back to the shop.He’s up to no good, Gideon.”
“All right. I’m on my way to the shop from my condo. Twenty minutes, max.Waitto call the police until I check back in with you, okay? Just in case Iva’s wrong.”
He disconnected the call and immediately called Fiona’s cell again, but of course she didn’t answer.
