“No, but I’ll leave my phone on so you can listen.” She tapped in his number and then set off.
The whitewashed house that Tammy had flagged was half a dozen houses down the street, but as it turned out Georgie would have known where to turn in anyway; it was like being pulled by an invisible rope. She opened the gate and walked straight past the house, following the driveway around to a garage that looked like it had been converted into a small apartment.
On the door there was a midnight blue wooden plaque, with Bianca painted on it in silver, in a flowery cursive script.
Georgie didn’t bother knocking. She opened the door and three people sitting around a small round table looked up, startled at the sudden incursion of bright daylight.
“Hi,” she said, closing the door behind her so the room returned to its previous ambience: dim, with all the light coming from one pure white candle on the table. “Sorry to interrupt, but I was…uh…called here.” Well, that wasn’t telling a lie.
“Excuse me.” Bianca had risen halfway to her feet when the door opened, and now she stood fully upright, frowning. “This is a private session—and I don’t take anyone without an appointment anyway.” Her voice was low and restrained, but Georgie could sense the annoyance behind it. “Who are you? How did you find this place?”
Katherine finally found her voice. “Georgie? What are you doing here?”
Bianca’s head whipped around to Katherine. “You know this person?”
“I told you about her. You know…?” Katherine widened her eyes significantly and tapped her forehead.
“I’d be the one you warned Katherine about, I believe,” Georgie said helpfully. “You know, the one who is after her money.”
Katherine immediately turned her attention to Nick, looking betrayed. “You told her!”
“Yes.” Nick squirmed. “But, Georgie, wait. I’m not sure now…Bianca had a message for us from Dad…” He looked embarrassed…and hopeful.
“Something that she couldn’t have known,” Katherine said, folding her arms. “We didn’t tell her.”
Damn Bianca, Georgie thought, furious. She’d read enough about how people like Bianca worked: she would have winkled information about of Katherine, fragment by fragment, over the months in a chat room, until Katherine would forget what she’d told her and what she hadn’t. And now she was sucking in poor Nick, who was as big a skeptic as any she’d met. She thought fast.
“Bianca, I’m sorry for gatecrashing like this. But—”
But Katherine hadn’t finished. “You followed us here, didn’t you?” A thought struck her and she looked accusingly at Nick. “You told her we were coming!”
“I waited outside your house,” Georgie said swiftly, protecting him. “I thought you’d probably go while Nick was at school, but you didn’t.”
“There are laws about following people,” said Katherine huffily.
There weren’t, as far as Georgie knew, but she let it go. “I’m sorry. I really needed to consult Bianca about something I saw in the crystal ball.”
“Whatever it is, this is not an appropriate time.” Bianca moved towards the door. “Please leave.”
Georgie stalled. “Just let me show you this one thing, and I will. It’s something that Katherine would want to know.”
“No. Out.”
As she had hoped, Katherine couldn’t resist her last statement. “Wait.” She held up a hand. “How could it hurt, Bianca? Just a few minutes. Then we can continue where we left off.”
Bianca wavered. Suspicion and anger came off her in waves, but she was skilled in not letting her face show what she really thought. She was clearly teetering on the edge between tossing this interloper out and playing the part of the innocent-and-maligned psychic.
“Please.” Georgie sent her an imploring look. “Just a few minutes, and I’ll go. You’ll want to hear this too.” She glanced at Katherine again and took a tiny step backwards. “But if you really want me to go…”
Doing a credible job of hiding her anger, Bianca sat down again. “I just hope your presence hasn’t blocked the channel. Two minutes. Sit.” She gestured at a spare chair over in a corner.
“Thank you.” Georgie fetched it, sat and withdrew her crystal ball, sensing Bianca’s curiosity underlying her annoyance. Probably wants to see how another fraud does it, thought Georgie.
She set her hands on the crystal ball, focusing on Bianca. Come on… anything about Bianca.
As it had in the car, the crystal sphere quickly filled with tendrils of mist, which gradually grew thicker. Katherine and Nick leaned forward, their concentration palpable.
Yet again, Georgie didn’t see any pictures or forms in the mist. Rather, the movements of the curling wisps of white seemed to prompt images in her mind, with random words and phrases.
She saw a parade of women, flickering in and out, and names. Some names she saw as though written by hand; some were whispers in her mind. Nerida… Elizabeth… Shirley. Nerida again. Elizabeth ELIZABETH ELIZABETH… A woman’s face flashed into her mind; curly red hair; carrying a small black dog.
“What exactly are you supposed to be showing us?” Bianca asked, sounding bored. “I’m not seeing anything.”
“Me either,” said Katherine. She glanced up at Georgie. “Georgie…?”
Suddenly, Georgie got a place: Reno. The name image was accompanied by the rear view of a brick house shaded by palm trees, with a pool sparkling in the sun, and a figure coming through the back door. Bianca; she knew it was Bianca, although the hair color was different. The image flashed in and out of Georgie’s mind so quickly she barely had time to assimilate it.
“This is going nowhere,” Bianca said with a tone of finality. “I think we’re done.”
The candle flame, flickering on her face, in the dim room, made her look faintly threatening.
Go with it, Georgie told herself. This was how it worked for her…get started, and the words would flow, faster and faster.
“Before here,” she said, “you lived in a house in Reno. Blonde brick, with a pool.”
Opposite her, Bianca froze. “I never lived in Reno.”
Undeterred, Georgie went on. “You left because of…Elizabeth.” That name wouldn’t go away. “Yes, Elizabeth. A woman with red hair. She owned a little black dog.”
“You’re wasting my time. I don’t know any Elizabeth, with or without a dog.”
“What about Shirley? Or Nerida?” Georgie looked up, now sure of her ground. “If I started searching, Bianca, what would I find?”
Images tumbled through her mind: Bianca and a parade of people, money money money… and again, Elizabeth. “What happened to Elizabeth? Did you defraud her?” She held Bianca’s gaze. “What if I contacted the Reno police, Bianca?”
“I have defrauded nobody,” Bianca said through gritted teeth. “Why do you think I warned Katherine about you? The last thing I want to see is people made miserable because of frauds.” She reached over and laid her hand on Katherine’s. “Can you see what she’s doing, Katherine? Planting seeds of doubt in your mind; preparing the ground for her to take my place.”
“It’s not a competition, Bianca.” Georgie removed her hands, growing ever hotter, from the crystal ball. Nerida. Elizabeth, Elizabeth, Nerida, ELIZABETH. The two names kept resounding in her mind, with flashing images of Bianca and the red-haired woman.
“Oh,” she said, suddenly getting it. “You were Nerida, weren’t you? If I searched for a medium named Nerida in Reno… and matched it with Elizabeth…would I find something?” she was watching Bianca closely as she spoke, and knew she’d had a hit. “Yes, you were Nerida.”
Going on the defensive, Bianca focused on Katherine. “Now you can see, Katherine, why I operate through referrals only. I know what it is to be the victim of a smear campaign, and I never want it to happen again.” She stood up, looking every inch the martyr, and walked over to throw open the door. “I will have to ask you all to leave. I can’t work with those
who doubt me.”
Georgie stayed where she was. “Have you given money to Bianca, Katherine?”
Katherine looked guilty, and shot a look at Nick. “Not much.”
Nick looked from her to Bianca, and scowled. “What’s ‘not much’?”
“I sold a few things,” Katherine said defensively. “I wanted to do it. Bianca takes on so few clients, but the minute she knew I was in danger, she offered to give me more regular consultations. She cares.”
“Sold what?” Nick sat straighter in his chair, and suddenly the room seemed much smaller.
“Oh, just a bit of my mother’s old jewelry. I never wore it anyway.”
“Oh, Mom. That was our emergency fallback. How much?”
“Nick, I’m your mother,” Katherine said crossly. “Don’t question me like this.”
“Yes, well, I’m the one who has to worry all the time about the bills being paid,” he shot back, furious. “Uncle Ron said last time that he wouldn’t bail us out again. Do you know how much we owe?”
Georgie had kept a wary eye on Bianca, who was still managing to look insulted, but the panic beneath was surging and desperate.
She was going to run. Georgie knew it beyond all doubt.
“Hang on, Nick.” Slowly, with all three of the others watching her, she wrapped up the crystal ball and put it away. “I think we all should go. Bianca has nothing more for us today. Except, perhaps, the money that Katherine has paid her.” She stood up and faced Bianca. “You know the game is up, Bianca. Give it back.”
“You’re talking utter nonsense.”
Georgie held her gaze.
Finally, the other woman gave way, but remained defiant.
“You’re misjudging me. I would never, never take money from someone who didn’t want to freely give it. Take it! I’m happy to give it back.” She stormed over to a small desk and threw open the drawer, and stood there for a moment sorting through notes before striding across to Katherine and shoving the money at her. “It’s all there.”
Georgie half expected Katherine to refuse it, but her face was beginning to show doubt. She took the money and stared down at it, and didn’t protest when Nick took it from her hands.
He riffled through it, counting swiftly. “Two and a half grand. Mom. You let it happen again!”
“Don’t say anything.” She put her head in her hands.
Georgie went over and urged her to her feet. “Come on, Katherine. Time to go.”
Nick helped her, looking grim. When they reached the door, Georgie thrust the bag with the crystal ball at him. “Here. Hold this, and don’t drop it.”
She reached into her pocket for her phone, and with a quick movement activated the camera. Before Bianca had time to react, she had captured a photo of her in full sunlight.
A much clearer image for the police than the shadowy photo on the book cover.
CHAPTER 15
It appeared that Bianca-slash-Nerida had managed to cover her tracks well, because they still couldn’t find out anything online about a redhead named Elizabeth being involved in a psychic scam in Reno. A return visit to Bianca’s place late the following afternoon, however, showed that the bird had already flown.
“No sign of Bianca,” Georgie reported to the others when she and Scott returned. “Just an empty apartment and one very annoyed landlady. She’s been giving Bianca a deal on the rent in exchange for readings.”
“I’m sure she’s got plenty of cash to start again,” Tammy said. “Katherine wouldn’t be her only mark. And speaking of Katherine…what did she say?”
Georgie sighed. “She’s pretty humiliated. This is the third time she’s been sucked in by a scam artist. Imagine, three times. Nick’s being good.” She laughed. “Would you believe, after the way he was ready to call the police on me, he’s now using me as a shining example to his Mom that there is good in the world. So I struck a deal: Katherine can call or email me if she has a question—free of charge, of course—and stay away from everyone else.”
“That’s all very well,” Tammy said, “but Bianca gets away with it again!”
“Maybe not for long. Nick’s on the warpath. He’s put up a warning page online with the photo I took, and their story, plus her Bianca-slash-Nerida aliases. He posted to the forum, too, and he really does plan to go to the police this time. Somehow, I don’t think it’ll be as easy for her to get away with it in future.”
“Well.” Layla looked at the sun, low in the sky. “I guess it’s Happy Hour time again. A toast to Crystal Ball Investigations? I have to say, I enjoyed driving the chase car.”
“I think it’s called a tail,” Tammy observed, fetching glasses for the last of Scott’s wine. “And I’m in a beer mood today. I’ve still got some of the craft beer I bought for Jerry. Time I drank it.”
The mention of Jerry had Georgie sitting bolt upright. “Oh, gosh. I totally forgot. Tams, I have a message for you.”
“Jerry? Not interested. Thought he’d try that.” Tammy carefully poured the beer so it had a perfect foaming collar. “Been rejecting his calls for days.”
“That’s what he said.” Georgie passed the phone over. “But I think you’ll want to see this one.”
She watched Tammy, holding her breath. She veered from thinking that Tammy was too good for Jerry to wanting to see her happy again, and if her rat fink brother Jerry was the only thing that made Tammy come alive…well, who could fathom the ways of the universe?
Tammy paged through the photos, her face unreadable. Then she handed the phone back. “Huh.” She lifted the glass of beer and sipped daintily.
Georgie exchanged looks with Layla and Scott.
Then Tammy peered at them over the rim of her glass and a huge grin split her face. “Georgie, we won!”
Georgie lifted her wine glass in acknowledgement and grinned back. “We won.”
Layla caught on immediately. “He’s moved vintage vans back?”
“Nope,” Tammy said. “He’s moved them to a better spot. The one I suggested in the first place. He’s juggled everything.”
“I gather he’s forgiven, then,” Scott observed. “That’s a relief. Things were getting uncomfortable around here.” He picked through Jerry’s craft beer and selected one. “I’d better get my share of this before he gets back.”
Georgie, Layla and Tammy all exchanged more smiles, all perfectly in accord.
“Oh no,” Tammy said, “he’s got a lot of ground to make up yet. I can’t be bought off that easily. I’ll keep him at a distance until he learns his lesson.” She stared dreamily at her treasured retro trailer, clearly planning all kinds of retribution.
Georgie stretched luxuriously. She didn’t mind the sound of that. No more Jerry—at least for a while. No more threat of banishment to a corner for her vintage vans. And no more Bianca-the-fake-psychic messing up people’s lives.
Good riddance to all of them!
Note from the Author
Dear Reader,
About eighteen months before I started writing about Georgie, two things happened that eventually came together and resulted in this book…and the rest of the Vintage Gypsy Caravan Cozy Mystery Series.
The first thing: I was traveling with my husband in our own RV (which is actually a modern caravan, or trailer) and we stopped at an RV park in a small country town. It happened to be the day after a festival, and one of the first things we saw was a fantastic old gypsy caravan. I discovered later that it was called a Bowtop van, and it had been rescued from obscurity and pressed into service by a gypsy fortune-teller. She took it to various markets and towns, and set up a tent nearby to tell fortunes; she used the van for sleeping.
I took photos, thought how great it was, and moved on to explore the rest of the country.
Fast forward a year or so, and we were in an entirely different part of the country—and this time, we found ourselves in an RV park surrounded by gorgeous vintage vans. I was completely won over. I took photo after photo, and chatted to live
ly women dressed in retro fashions and cats-eye sunglasses, visited rockabilly events, and enjoyed afternoon tea eaten from delicate plates with floral retro patterns. I realized that this was a whole lifestyle for some people: vintage vans, vintage cars, and vintage clothes.
A few months after that, I decided I’d write a mystery series—a cozy mystery series, that would actually be more cozy puzzles, because I didn’t really want to have a corpse in each story. Hmm, I thought, who could the sleuth be? Where could I have these stories take place?
In a variety of locations, I thought. Someone could be traveling around, as I like to do, and find a mystery—or puzzle—in each place. That’s when everything suddenly came together. Travel, vintage and retro vans, and a gypsy fortune-teller who finds herself solving mysteries!
Now you have reached the end of the third book in the series. If you’ve enjoyed it, I’d really appreciate it if you would give a few minutes of your time and leave an honest review on the book page.
* * *
** Don’t forget…I have a FREE book for you! **
Read more about Great Grandma Rosa…
Whether she wanted to believe it or not, from birth Georgie was destined to follow in Great-Grandma Rosa’s footsteps—as well as inherit her crystal ball! Here’s your chance to find out more about the crabby old lady that Georgie sees as a kind of taciturn genie.
Visit my website below and sign up to our Georgie Updates list to get your complimentary copy of Rosa’s story in “Fortune’s Wheel”. (And there will be more bonus books to follow!)
http://georgiebgoode.com/free-georgie-book/
Copyright notice
Copyright 2015 Marg McAlister
GeorgieBGoode.com
Book Design by Annie Moril
Illawarra ePublishing electronic publication
EBooks are not transferable. All Rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.
Good Riddance: Book 3 Georgie B. Goode Gypsy Caravan Cozy Mystery Page 8