“Oh, my God! You really are talking to my dad!” she said as she wiped her eyes with a tissue.
“She’s got all kinds of weight-related health concerns,” said Ted. “She’s worried she’s gonna be pushing up the daisies just like her father.”
“The spirits want you to have good health,” said Gil. “It’s their plan that no believer will ever be sick… But it’s up to you…if you confess sickness you get sickness, if you confess good health you get good health…”
“I’m on a diet, Gil!” she said in her defense.
“Yeah, a diet of donuts,” said Ted. “She should eat less cookies and more cock.”
Claudia felt sick to her stomach. Gil and his crony were going too far.
“She’s eating herself out of house and home. Money is tight,” revealed Ted.
“The spirits tell me that times have been tough for you,” said Gil. “Times are tough for many of us right now…but I want you to know that the spirits see your struggles… They feel your pain… They want you to reap financial blessings… It’s their will that you be financially prosperous…. You must give so that you can receive!”
“I have all of your books, Gil! I love you!” she cried out as the audience erupted into applause.
“Do you want me to give a Pussy-Pass to this fat chick, Boss?” Ted asked Gil. “I know you like a little meat on your bones occasionally.”
It suddenly dawned on Claudia who this awful Ted guy was. It was that security guard who had challenged her when she tried to go backstage to see Gil after his show in Irvine. He thought she was a groupie and he tried to get a blowjob from her until he realized she had a “P-Pass”. She should have known that the sexist pig would have something to do with this! She should also have kicked him in the balls when she had the chance.
Throughout the show Gil had hit after hit after hit, all thanks to the information Ted relayed to him. Ted gave his obscene and offensive commentary and then Gil fed it all back to the audience couched more delicately in new age speak that was laced with quasi-religious phrasing. Claudia spent most of the show with her jaw dropped. If only Gil’s fans could hear how their idol spoke about them. Well, she would be the one to tell them!
“Wrap up the show, Boss,” said Ted. “It’s time for bitches and booze!”
“Friends, I feel a tingling sensation,” said Gil. “I’m losing my connection to the spirit world.”
Gil finished with a unity ritual to close the door to the spirit realm and then he left the stage to a standing ovation. He came out again and bowed before leaving.
Claudia stayed put in her seat. She was elated. After all of these years she had caught Gil. She finally had him! This was going to be his downfall. She would make sure of that…
But why was Gil dressed like a televangelist? Why was his show so religious in tone? Was this some crazy new phase for him? Some of his comments that night were very ironic, like his radio metaphor and Ted’s reference to her being Gil’s ex-girlfriend.
Did Gil know she was there?
She heard a rustling sound through her earphone…
“Hello, Claudia,” Gil’s deep voice crept into her ear. “I know you can hear me…and I see you. I can see all…”
Claudia’s heart sank. What was going on? Then she started feeling paranoid. Her hands started shaking. He knew she was there. He knew where she was sitting. Wearing her earphone she couldn’t tell if this message was just for her or being broadcast into the entire theater. She looked around and people were leaving. No one was paying attention to her.
“Here is your special message… You thought you had fooled me but I’ve fooled you…”
Then music started playing.
Tell me… what is my life… without your love?
Tell me… who… am I… without you…by my side.
She recognized the song immediately. It was George Harrison’s What is Life, the song that Claudia and Gil had chosen to play at their would-be wedding.
“You sick bastard,” she muttered.
Claudia ripped the earphone out of her ear and stuffed it into her handbag. She got out of her seat and tried to run away but she got caught up in the waves of people spilling out of the theater. She was stuck in the human traffic jam, listening to their praise for Gil’s polished performance that night.
Gil Godsend was amazing!
I knew Gil was psychic but I didn’t know he was a healer too!
I’m going to book a private reading with Gil.
Gil is so handsome! Is he taken?
I hear he got back together with his ex-girlfriend.
I saw photos of them kissing on the beach during their vacation together in Australia!
Bitch…
Their chatter swam around and around in her head.
Claudia felt like she was going insane.
As soon as she broke free of the crowd and escaped outside Claudia ripped off her wig and glasses and threw them into a trashcan. Then she breathed in the cool night air.
Her phone rang. The caller ID was blocked but she knew who it was. It would be Gil calling to gloat about his set up.
“What do you want?”
“Hello, Claudia.”
Yes, it was Gil.
“You dressed down tonight,” he said. “I barely recognized you.”
“You dressed up tonight,” she said. “You looked like that televangelist in Fletch Lives.”
“Hallelujah!” he hollered. “I’m sorry I tricked you, but you kinda had it coming.”
“You’re not sorry at all,” she spat. “Now I know why you made that comment about being a radio for the dead, and why your show had such evangelical overtones, and why you mentioned my name. It all makes sense. You knew exactly what I was doing here tonight.”
“I did. You and Banachek spotted the in-ear receiver I wore for you at the last show,” he chuckled. “Did you really think I’d use a radio transmitter for my readings? That trick is so… 1980s.”
“Being a fake psychic medium is so… 1880s,” Claudia quipped.
Gil ignored her insult.
“Did you enjoy the show tonight?” he asked. “I did it just for you.”
“That was a really classy way to talk about your loyal fans behind their backs,” she said. “I wish they could hear the dreadful things your awful thug said about them.”
“They did,” Gil revealed. “The people I gave fake readings to, and my “awful thug” Ted Ray, were all in on the joke.”
“I should have known!” she scoffed. “All your readings are fake anyway.”
“Come now, Claudia. It was just a prank.”
“It was just a prank at the expense of an audience of thousands of grieving people who paid a lot of money hoping to hear from their dead loved ones tonight,” she said in disgust. “Your fans aren’t as important to you as your need to make me look like a fool.”
“You made yourself look like a fool,” Gil said. “But I’d rather you work with me, instead of against me.”
“I’m not interested in playing games,” she sighed. “I’m interested in protecting people from frauds.”
“You and I can agree on that,” he said. “With all the frauds out there the public needs someone like you to help expose them.”
“I meant you, Gil.”
“Whoa! Careful! That sounds like slander. Are you calling me a fraud? No one ever seems to question the deceit and fraud you commit to try and entrap me.”
“Asshole,” she replied in litigation-safe language. “And to think I almost had…dinner… with you when we were in Australia!”
Claudia hung up on him. Then she tossed her phone into her handbag and stormed off home.
Chapter 26
How did Gil seem to know her every move? He must be watching her, and listening to her.
When Claudia got home she tore apart every room in her apartment as she searched for bugs. She looked in, under and around her lamps, plants, books, furniture, and picture frames. She rummaged th
rough her bedroom closet and dresser. She scoured her kitchen cupboards and drawers. She overturned everything but she found nothing. She hadn’t found any eavesdropping devices in her office, phone, or car either when she’d checked after the Nina Novakov fiasco.
When she and Gil were together he always infuriated her by guessing her passwords so nowadays she routinely changed them. She didn’t want him to have access to her email, voicemail, text messages, browsing history, and social media, so he could trace her movements. She also kept her eyes open to make sure that Gil or one of his cronies wasn’t following her wherever she went.
She felt she was being paranoid but she knew he was out to get her.
When Claudia finished her search it looked like thieves had ransacked the place. The chaotic state of her apartment reflected her emotional state. As she started cleaning up the living room she spied something small and shiny on the floor under a table. Was it a bug? She snatched it up and looked at it. It wasn’t a bug. It was the amethyst crystal pendant Gil bought for her at the metaphysical fair on the day they met. What was it doing on the ground? Then she remembered that she cleaned her jewelry recently. She must have dropped it on the floor. Why did she have that old thing anyway? It was time to get rid of it. She threw the pendant in the trashcan.
Claudia was exhausted. She sank down onto the wooden floorboards and stared up at the ceiling. Her mind was racing. She began to have some disdain for the women who were falling for Gil’s bullshit. If they were stupid enough to be taken advantage of, then let them! Maybe this would be the only way they would learn. She couldn’t spend her life running around trying to save other people from themselves. She needed to start worrying about herself, her career, and her future. She had to think about her budding relationship with Jeremy and where that was going. Gil wasn’t worth her time. She had spent too many years chasing after him and trying to bring him down, and for what? In the end, nobody cares that what he’s doing is wrong.
“I give up,” she whispered to herself.
But it didn’t feel like defeat, it felt like freedom.
“I give up,” she said boldly. That felt good.
“I give up!” she yelled so loudly that her voice echoed around the room.
She opened up a window and stuck her head outside.
“I GIVE UP!” she shouted into the night. “I GIVE UP! I GIVE UP!”
Dogs started barking in reply.
“Can’t you give up QUIETLY?” a faceless male voice screamed back at her from somewhere down the street.
Instead of telling him to fuck off, as she normally would have done, Claudia smiled. She flopped down on her bed, still wearing that velour tracksuit that was surprisingly comfortable, and she slept soundly throughout the night.
The next morning Claudia awoke feeling lighter than she had in months. Gil was out of her life! Today was the first day of the rest of her life, and all that crap. She was walking away from Gil, she was letting go, and she was happy. There was no shame in giving up and moving on with her life. That was the healthy thing to do. This was only holding her back. To continue to hunt him at this point would be obsessive.
Gil was the obsessive type, not her.
Claudia was in such a good mood that she decided to go into work a little later than usual. She was typically a coffee purist who refused flavorings but today she ordered a gingerbread latte with whipped cream and a pumpkin muffin. Life was good.
When she finally arrived at work her receptionist told her there was a woman named Angela waiting to speak with her.
“Show her into my office,” said Claudia.
A petite woman with mousy brown hair walked into the room. Exhaustion and worry were etched into her face. Claudia had seen this expression before.
Claudia introduced herself and offered the woman a seat.
“What can I do for you?”
“I’m not sure I should even be here,” Angela said, peering around as though someone else might be listening in to their conversation. “It’s about my husband. I’m concerned that he might be cheating on me.”
“What makes you think that?” asked Claudia.
“Well, we’ve been happily married for seven years and we have three beautiful children,” she said, avoiding the question. “Oliver, Emma, and Chloe…she’s only three months old.”
“Congratulations!” said Claudia.
No wonder Angela looked so tired.
“Thank you,” she said dismissively. “But something happened recently that’s made me open my eyes. I was browsing through baby photographs on my husband’s phone when I came across some rather…risqué…images.” She pulled out her phone. “I emailed them to myself,” she said as she showed them to Claudia.
Claudia’s eyes nearly popped out of her head.
“Oh!” was all she could muster in reply.
No wonder Angela looked so worried.
“I confronted my husband and he swears he didn’t take them.”
Claudia had heard this excuse before. Angela must have seen the look on her face.
“I know what you’re thinking, but my husband has never lied to me.”
“Everybody lies,” Claudia said bluntly. “But if he didn’t take those photographs, then who did?”
Angela drew a deep breath.
“He says that a colleague snatched his phone and took the photos as a prank.”
Bullshit, thought Claudia.
“Um… where does he work?” Claudia tried to ask nonchalantly, thinking he must work at a strip club or a brothel.
“He’s an assistant to a celebrity. Beautiful women and groupies surround him constantly. There are always wild backstage parties after a show and it was at one of these that he says the photos were taken…by someone else…”
He must work for a rock star, Claudia thought.
“I’ve seen possible signs of his cheating before,” Angela said. “One night he got home late and I smelled perfume on his clothing. He said a salesgirl sprayed it on him in a department store.”
Bullshit, thought Claudia.
“Another time I found a phone number written on a scrap of paper in his shirt pocket. I called the number and a young woman answered the phone. I was too scared to say anything. I confronted him about it and he said the phone number was for his boss from a fan.”
Bullshit, thought Claudia.
“I see,” she said.
This didn’t sound good at all.
“He’s a great father,” she said in his defense. “The kids adore him. He’s also a great provider. We have a nice house and nice cars. The bills are always paid and there’s always food on the table. He travels a lot for work and when he’s home he works late. I don’t know half of the things that go on in his job. He promises me that he’s faithful…and I believe him…Well, I believed him…but these photographs have shaken my faith,” she said sadly. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m being paranoid. I just want to know for sure.”
“You have every right to know the truth,” said Claudia.
“My mother has never liked him,” Angela added. “She never thought he was good enough for me. She doesn’t trust him at all. I’ve spent my whole marriage defending him. She wants me to move back home to Wisconsin with the kids and live with her.”
“Every mother worries about her daughter,” said Claudia.
“Make no mistake, if he is cheating I’m leaving him and he’ll never see his kids ever again!” Angela cried with a sudden conviction that surprised even her.
“I would do the same thing,” said Claudia sympathetically.
“I need to know what’s going on and there’s some urgency to my request,” Angela said. “He’s not around very much but he happens to be in town tonight for an event. Can you go along and…do your thing?”
“Absolutely.”
Claudia was determined to catch this guy.
“Thank you,” Angela said in nervous relief. “I suppose you need to know what he looks like.” She shuffled past the racy ph
otographs on her phone, shaking her head as she did. She found a picture and handed it to Claudia. “Here’s a recent photo of him.”
Claudia stared at a photograph of Ted Ray, Gil’s assistant.
“His name is Ted Ray,” Angela said. “He’s an assistant to the psychic medium Gil Godsend.”
“Leave him!” Claudia wanted to scream at this woman. “Take your children and run back to your mother! Get a divorce! Take that motherfucker for everything he’s got!”
She wanted to tell Angela about her husband’s demand for a blowjob when he thought Claudia was a groupie trying to see Gil. She wanted to tell her that Ted was an accomplice to a fraud, and that he and Gil had tricked thousands of people at a show the night before, just to get even with her. She wanted to tell Angela about all of the deeply offensive comments Ted made during the show, and his cruel mocking of grief and death. Claudia wanted to tell Angela that she had first hand experience that her husband Ted was a sexist pig, a liar, a creep, a womanizer, and most definitely unfaithful.
Claudia resisted the urge to unleash an angry tirade against Angela’s husband. Everything she had to say about Ted was scandalous, but it was all hearsay. She needed some proof to present to Angela. But she should find someone else to do it. She had plenty of capable colleagues who would be willing to tackle this task. She’d get another woman to take this job off her hands, someone who wasn’t involved personally.
Besides, she’d just given up, right?
Then it occurred to her.
She finally had an ace up her sleeve.
Chapter 27
The thought dawned on Claudia, was this a setup? Gil seemed to be two steps ahead of her at every point, so was this just another one of his power plays? Was Ted’s “wife” yet another stooge? Angela Ray seemed honest and sincere, but she was a connection to Gil, and that was enough to arouse Claudia’s suspicion.
Claudia did a thorough background check into Angela and she was who she said she was. But was she really having marital problems? Knowing Ted as Claudia did, Angela’s story was highly believable. It was worth the risk for Claudia to try taking on the case. If this was another trap then Claudia would look like a fool, yet again, but if the story was legitimate then the tables had finally turned.
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