“So,” she continued, “I have naturally assumed that you and your little magnet body are sucking the spirits from me. Now, I make a lot of money from this Christmas séance—a lot. The richest of the rich come to speak to their dead relatives, and I have to deliver in order to make that happen for them. I can’t, as you can imagine, not give the people what they want.”
“How do I fit into this?”
“You, my dear, are going to help me.” I started to interrupt, but Zelda cut me off. “Now, now. Don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”
“Not really.”
I rose to leave, but her voice stopped me in my tracks. “I can help bring your father here. Tonight. To see you.”
I swiveled around. “Go on.”
Zelda sashayed over and dragged me back to my chair, where she plopped me down. “I have a talent for finding spirits. It’s what I do. Now. All I need is for you to be in the room using your energy to fuel me so that I can get the spirits to come.”
“I don’t understand. Why tell me this at all? Couldn’t you simply have used my presence without letting me know?”
She fixed herself a bourbon from the bar. “Jameson?”
“No, thank you.”
Zelda swirled the brown liquid before bringing it to her lips. “I like my drinks like I like my men.”
I was not even going to go there. “Like I asked, why tell me?”
“Because.” Her eyes shone with worry. “There is the possibility that what happens will be very draining on you.”
“Draining? Like I might pass out?”
She sipped her drink. “Yes, something like that.”
“You’re not telling me everything.”
“Oh, I’m not? Okay, so maybe there are a few more details that you should know.”
“And those are?”
“Well, this has happened to me one time before.” Zelda stirred her drink with her finger and sucked the liquid off. “A long time ago I had the same interference. I asked a young lady to help me in the same way.”
“And how did it go?”
“Great. For me. But she suffered from a few side effects.”
The hairs on the back of my neck soldiered to attention. “What sort of effects?”
“Well, the night of the séance she got a little light-headed and had to lie down.”
Was that all? I could handle a little fainting. Which meant that I wouldn’t be fainting at all, more than likely. I was not the fainting type.
“No problem.”
“Oh, great.” Zelda finished her drink and slammed the glass on the table. “Wonderful news. So you’ll do it? You’ll help me?”
“Of course. As long as there weren’t any other side effects that she experienced.”
As Zelda escorted me from the room, she said, “There was one more itty-bitty thing.”
“How itty-bitty?” I ground out.
“Well, it seems that the young lady that I told you about had one longer-lasting issue.”
