And that had the needle on Roxie’s excitement meter moving.
The woman’s blue eyes were keen.
“I perform readings,” she said as casually as if she’d said she could use a dishwasher.“Would you like your fortune told?”
Roxie folded her arms and let one eyebrow lift.“No, I want you to tell me about my past.”
Chapter Nine
“Can you do that?”
A pensive look crossed the woman’s face.“I don’t know.I’ve never tried before.”
Well, that seemed honest.
“Nobody’s ever asked me to look back in time.”The so-called psychic hooked her long hair behind her ear.She seemed intrigued.“I’d be willing to try.”
Roxie chewed her lip.Her curiosity was piqued, but her amusement was quickly being replaced by suspicion.Or maybe it was guardedness.There was something about the way the woman was looking at her.It was as if she was trying to peer into her soul.
That was something Roxie was not comfortable with, soul peering.
“Are you for real?”she asked bluntly.
If she’d expected a reaction, she didn’t get one.“I have special abilities,” the woman said, so self-assured it made Roxie jumpy.
Yeah?Well, she had special talents, too.She could pour a beer without a head in ten seconds flat, and her boobs had been known to stop traffic.
She lifted her chin.“Think you can read me?”
“Only if you want to be read.”
That was the real question, wasn’t it?She’d seen the sign and had thought, “What the hell?”With the way her life was going, it would be nice to have a little help knowing which direction to turn.Now that she was here, though, she wasn’t as sure she wanted the veil pulled back.Prickles had settled onto the back of her neck, and she couldn’t keep her right foot flat on the floor.
“What does that mean?”she asked.
“Some people build up barriers.”
Well there you had it.The mind reader wouldn’t be able to get inside her head.She was Barrier Girl with a capital “B.”
“You’re the woman from the billboard,” the shop owner observed.
Roxie winked.“You don’t have to be psychic to know that.”
“No, you just have to watch the evening news.”
Roxie shifted.Was that going to be a problem?Had the woman formed an opinion of her?Plenty of people had something to say about that billboard.“Is that going to be abarrier?”
“It might be a bias.”The blonde cocked her head, and her straight hair fell to nearly her waist.“I happen to think it’s genius advertising.”
Roxie relaxed.
“Come in the back with me,” the tall woman said gently.Everything she said or did was that way, soft and subdued.Calming and entrancing.
It was part of the act, the scheme to make people comfortable enough to reveal themselves.Roxie knew how con artists worked, yet she still found herself following without a peep.The psychic looked like a schoolteacher dressed in light-colored slacks and a peach top.Standing next to her, Roxie felt dark and edgy.
The grifter was good, keeping her off-balance in unusual ways.
If she was a grifter…
