Zelda moved to the last man, who stood beside Lemon. “And this, for the uninitiated, is Traylor Sabo, my son-in-law and personal attorney.”
Lemon gave him a little wave. “Hey, honey.”
“Darling,” he cooed.
“Traylor,” Zelda continued, “is a wiz when it comes to estates and all that lawyerly stuff. I couldn’t live without him. Neither could my daughter.”
“Nice to meet y’all.” Traylor’s gaze landed on mine. The cold in his eyes sent a shiver all the way to my pinky toes. There was something about him that I didn’t trust.
He was one to stay away from.
Zelda clapped. “Now, if everyone is ready, let us take our seats at the table and begin.”
We made our way to the oval table that looked big enough to seat fifteen. A black cloth was draped over it, and I couldn’t help but wonder if Zelda had hidden tricks under the top.
Oh, I believed that she was a medium, but I also sensed that Zelda would do whatever was necessary to keep folks coming back. If she faked a clicking noise and levitated part of a table, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
After we were all seated at our designated spots, Zelda took a remote from her dress and hit a button. The lights blinked out, plunging us into candlelight.
Eerie shadows slashed across her face, making her appear older and sinister at the same time.
“Everyone join hands,” she commanded. We did as she said, and then Zelda announced, “It is time to begin.”
Chapter 6
“Spirits,” Zelda said in a deep voice, “we know that you’re here. We feel your presence. We’re calling on you tonight to come to us. Oh spirits, we ask that one of you step forward. We ask that the wife of Tex Walton, uh…”
She opened one eye and glanced over at Tex.
“Sable,” he whispered.
“We ask that Sable Walton come forward. I can feel you, Sable. I can feel your essence. Come, speak to your husband. Give him the peace that he needs right now.”
Zelda’s glance zipped to mine, and I understood that it was my turn to start using my ability to see spirits for her benefit.
So, the first thing you need to know about the situation in the room was that Sable Walton was nowhere to be seen. In fact, not one spirit was anywhere near us.
The room was ripe with spooky atmosphere if you considered about a thousand elves to be freaky, which I did. But when it came to spirits, we had zilch.
Zero.
Zip.
I took a deep breath and concentrated on the name Sable Walton. Not knowing what she looked like was a potential handicap. But instead of concentrating on my limitations, I focused on my strengths.
The one strength in the room was Tex Walton himself. Pinning all my focus on him, I then used his features and presence to focus on Sable, to become a living amplifier for Zelda.
Within a few moments Sable apparated into existence. In fact, she stood right next to her living husband.
A smile of pride filled my face. I caught Zelda’s gaze and jerked my head toward Tex.
“Oh my,” she said with a gasp. Her eyes widened at Sable and then darted to me. Zelda eyed me with what I can only define as a creepy kind of interest that made my spine quiver.
She was a tiger, and I was a ripe piece of meat.
Maybe this séance hadn’t been a good idea after all.
Anyway, I shook the thought from my head as Zelda spoke. Once again, she donned the spooky voice of a medium. “Sable is with us. I can feel her presence.”
