When the car rental company came to pick her up, Sadie double-checked their credentials through the peephole in her door. Then she set her house alarm, stepped outside, and stopped short at the site of Zack’s Mustang parked in her driveway.
“There’s a dude sleeping in his car,” the rental company guy told Sadie.
“Yeah. Guess he’s thinking he’s protecting me or something,” Sadie said. As they walked past Zack’s car, he didn’t move or even twitch except for the steady rise and fall of his chest as he slept.
After she got her rental van, Sadie text messaged Zack and told him that she wasn’t home so he might as well get out of her driveway. She went out for a latte in her new vehicle and then brought it home. She was prepared to drive by if Zack’s car was still there, but he was gone. She pulled the van into her garage and stocked it with a few minor supplies. Even though she’d be early to meet Ms. Tu, she decided to head down to Ocean View School and finish removing her equipment.
By the time Sadie was hauling the last of her equipment out of the school, Ms. Tu was waiting for Sadie in her office.
“Why don’t we walk down the hall and I can explain what we’ve done,” Sadie said.
“We?” Ms. Tu asked as they headed down the hall. “I thought you worked alone.”
“Oh. Right. I was going to mention Zack—” Sadie stopped short. “He’s, um, an employee that usually works with me on these types of jobs but he, um, had to work another job this week.”
The job of making sure his life was spiraling into the toilet , Sadie thought.
“Anyway,” Sadie continued, “you’ll be happy to know that I arranged for the renovation company to come and at least patch the holes in the drywall this week,” Sadie began. They entered the art center, and Sadie waved to indicate the wall that had had the most blood spatter and the area where she’d had to cut out a large amount of drywall because the blood had seeped beneath.
“So they’ll patch that?” Ms. Tu asked, and Sadie nodded.
“Oh, good,” the principal gushed. “I really didn’t want to start off the school year with gaping holes in the walls. It would be unseemly for a school such as Ocean View.”
Right. But a dead janitor is just fine, Sadie thought.
“The reno guys can’t schedule you in to do the painting for at least a couple more weeks and the replacement carpet is on back order but, yes, the major visual damage will be taken care of.”
“I really appreciate you working as fast as you did,” Ms. Tu remarked, looking at Sadie with approval. The kind of look that made young children want to work harder and faster.
Sadie was immune to the look.
“Now, the large machine in the corner is a type of air purifier. I’d like to leave that here for another day just to be sure, if that’s all right.”
“Certainly,” Principal Tu replied. “I can meet you to get your keys when you pick up the machine then.”
Sadie nodded and allowed the principal to walk her to the front of the school, and then she mentioned casually, “By the way, I heard you’re keeping Virgil Lalty’s grandson here at the school. That’s really big of you.”
“Not at all. Andy is a brilliant child. Gifted. The very thought that he’d attend a public school, well, I never considered it. Never.”
Sadie was surprised at the vehement tone and also glad. It made Sadie feel more assured she was taking care of Virgil Lalty’s final wish. Ms. Tu said she was staying behind in her office to get some paperwork done, so Sadie allowed her to lock up behind her.
Petrovich called Sadie’s cell just as she was pulling out of the school parking lot.
“Wanted to let you know we got an extra team in the Wickses’ house this morning. By tomorrow we’ll need to go upstairs.” His words came out in a clipped monotone.
“Okay,” Sadie replied. “You want me to call the others together and see what we can do about gaining you access to the upstairs?”
“I don’t care what you do,” he said, a harsh bite to his words. “Really. I don’t care.”
“Oka-a-ay,” Sadie replied, confused.
“You’re a grown woman and so who you hang with and what you do, well, that’s your own friggin’ business.”
“Sure.” Sadie’s face scrunched up in concentration. “Why do I get this feeling you’re talking about more than ghost control at Sunnyside Avenue?”
“Hey, I’m talking business. All business. All the time. You and me, we ain’t got the kind of relationship where, you know, it’s more than that.”
Sadie pulled her phone away from her ear and stared at it momentarily like it was a foreign object.
“This is Dean Petrovich I’m talking to, right?” she joked.
“Master of the pasta primavera? Detective extraordinaire? Because you sure don’t sound like my friend and colleague—”
“Guess that’s because I’m not PBF, right? He’s more a friend and colleague than I’ll ever be.”
Sadie could hear the sneer and sarcasm in his words and she cringed.
Oh! My! God! Petrovich knows I kissed Floyd!
“Look, I’ve gotta go,” Sadie said quickly. “I’ll do what I can for the upstairs at Sunnyside Avenue and let you know what happens.”
“Whatever.”
She hung up the phone and punched the rim of her steering wheel and cursed colorfully. Scrolling through her call list, she finally located Floyd’s phone number and hit send. He didn’t answer and the call went straight to voice mail. She disconnected without leaving a message but her blood was boiling. She punched the accelerator when the light turned green and dipped and swerved between cars in traffic. She cut off a burly guy in a pickup and flipped him the bird when he honked. She was majorly ticked off and was driving like a woman possessed. At one point she reached a traffic snarl and was stuck behind a young teen guy who’d had his signal on for the last fifteen minutes. Finally Sadie couldn’t stand it any longer. She got out of her van, walked up to the teen’s beaten up Chevy, tore open the door, and flicked off the signal light.
“Unless you’re going around the world to the right,” Sadie shouted, “that is totally unnecessary!” She slammed the kid’s car shut and left him shaking and no doubt calling his mama from his cell phone.
When Sadie climbed back into her van, she told herself to calm down. There was only one person who deserved to go down for this. She dialed PBF’s number for the fourth time, and this time when it went to voice mail, she left a message.
“Floyd, it’s Sadie. I’m sure you remember me since apparently you’ve been sharing every aspect of our afternoon with the world. I’m sorry. Obviously I didn’t realize this was high school and I was kissing the captain of the football team who was in search of another notch on his bed-post.” She was about to disconnect but added, “Asshole!” before hitting end.
She felt marginally better but the call did not relieve her stress. When she almost rear-ended someone, she realized it was time to pull over before she killed herself or someone else. Luckily, she was very close to Madame Maeva’s Psychic Café and decided she should pop in for a visit.
Sadie entered the café front of the shop and was told by the multipierced receptionist that Maeva was with a client. There were a couple others who appeared to also be waiting to see the psychic for a reading.
Sadie browsed through the storefront and distractedly picked up crystal pendants and scrying mirrors in various shapes and sizes. You could drop a fortune on little knickknacks here. By the cash register there was a display of jewelry on hooks that specifically helped the survivors of abuse. Spend two dollars on a rubber survivor bracelet, and half of the cost went to a charity to help victims of child abuse. Sadie thought it was nice that Maeva helped the occasional charity by selling its goods in her store.
A number of items in Maeva’s shop were out of reach of her own budget, and Sadie was beginning to think she was in the wrong business. Perhaps instead of mopping up the bodily fluids of the dead, she could talk t
o people’s ghosts full-time and sell kitschy crap out front. It was an appealing thought.
Suddenly one of the back rooms opened up and a plump older woman came running out, bawling her eyes out.
Okay, maybe the job did have drawbacks.
Sadie didn’t wait for the multipierced receptionist to say it was okay for her to see Maeva. She simply bolted down the hall and ducked into the room the crier had just left.
Maeva was seated at a low table surrounded by giant floor pillows. She glanced up at Sadie in surprise.
“I don’t recall you being on my list of appointments today.”
“Yeah, but based on the sight of your last customer, I’m guessing you’re having a day much like mine.”
Maeva shrugged. “Her dead father just told her she was adopted.” She regarded Sadie with a steady gaze. “But you aren’t here to discuss my business or my customers.”
“Not true,” Sadie said. “I was just thinking that maybe I should open up Sadie’s Psychic Salon and quit the whole blood ’n’ guts thing.”
“Okay. What’s going on?”
“Floyd told people we kissed.”
“What? That’s awfully juvenile. Are you sure?”
Sadie thought about Petrovich’s tone when they talked. “Pretty sure.”
Maeva pointed a finger at Sadie. “You just need to stay away from men altogether right now.”
Maeva reached forward to open a carved wood box in the center of the table and pulled out a large deck of cards. “How about if I do a tarot reading for you and—”
“No.” Sadie shook her head. “None of that crap for me, thank you very much.”
“Oh, so now what I do is crap.” Maeva’s face scrunched up and suddenly she looked like she was going to cry.
Sadie remembered the exact same anger-to-tears look crossing Dawn’s face a dozen times during her pregnancy. Sadie rushed to do damage control.
“Not crap. Did I say crap? I meant I feel like crap. I’m having a bad day. That’s all.” She waved to the cards on the table. “If cards will make you feel better, then, hell, pull out the cards.”
“Really?” Maeva sniffed.
“Oh yeah. Really.”
Sadie nodded emphatically but was relieved to see Maeva slip the cards back inside their box.
“Maybe I’ll just see if I can get a regular reading from you.”
Maeva began humming softly to herself, and Sadie tilted her head.
“Wait a second, that’s not ‘We’re Off to See the Wizard. ’ ”
Maeva just kept humming.
“But you always hum ‘We’re Off to See the Wizard.’ Why the new song?”
“It’s ‘All I Ask of You’ from Phantom of the Opera,” Maeva said. “And I don’t always sing the Wizard song.”
“Yes. You do.”
“Well, maybe it was time for a change. Maybe the Wizard song isn’t working for me anymore.”
“Really?”
Maeva didn’t reply but instead kept humming. Only now a fat tear rolled down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong?” Sadie asked.
“Nothing’s wrong. It’s not unusual for women in my condition to, um, lose their connections a little.”
“Lose your connection? Do you mean . . . ?” Sadie’s eyes grew huge. “Whoa, you mean you’re no longer psychic?” Sadie shouted.
“Shhh!” Maeva hissed back. “I’m trying to run a business here.”
“Sorry, but how can you see clients who expect a psychic reading if you’re not able to give them one?”
“There’s a certain amount of, well, reading of a person’s body language that goes along with the real thing.”
“What about that woman who you told was adopted?”
“I was reaching, but I’m still pretty sure—”
“Oh, my God. You’re becoming a shyster, a shill, a con-woman.” Sadie chuckled a little, but when Maeva looked positively miserable, she softened her tone. “You’ll be fine. It’ll come back. Probably stronger than ever.”
“You think?”
“Sure,” Sadie said, although she was not exactly an authority on the matter. But it seemed to make sense that if Maeva was losing her ability due to hormones, a return of normal hormonal patterns could resurrect her ability. “In the meantime, go ahead and read cards.”
“Screw the cards,” Maeva said vehemently. “Grab my hands.” She thrust her fingers across the table toward Sadie, and Sadie flinched away.
“I can’t touch you. Remember that first time? We were right in this room. I came in with Dawn for a reading, and when you touched me, boom, you had to run off and puke your guts out. You told me you couldn’t touch people who dance with the dead.” Sadie drew air quotes around dance with the dead, and that memory got a small smile from Maeva but she still had her hands reaching out to Sadie.
“I feel like all my skills are being held down under a lead blanket. If I can’t feel anything when I touch you, I might as well give up until this little body snatcher”—she patted her stomach lovingly—“leaves my body.”
“Okay.” Sadie relented and held out her hands. “But if you puke on me, I’m not going to be a happy camper.”
Tentatively at first, Maeva reached out and touched her fingertips to Sadie’s. Then, finally, she took Sadie’s hands firmly in hers. Her grip tightened as they locked fingers. Sadie watched her friend’s face for any sign of nausea or revulsion, but all she saw was complete concentration.
“The old woman is the key,” Maeva muttered. “She has the answers. The truth is with her and in the boxes.”
19
“Mimi Wicks? But what is the truth I’m looking for and—”
“Shhh!” Maeva said sharply. She tilted her head to the right and squeezed her eyes tightly shut. “Your dad is worried about you. He knows you’re the reason he can’t move on, but he doesn’t know what you want from him.”
Maeva released her tight grasp.
“Huh. You didn’t throw up,” Sadie said. “Didn’t even turn green.”
“The nausea was there,” Maeva said with a smile. “But it was like I get when Terry insists on cooking with blue cheese.” She sighed. “I guess my abilities aren’t gone entirely; they’re just buried deep.”
“Maybe as the baby grows, you’ll get more of your feelings back.”
“Maybe.”
“Isn’t there someone you can ask about this kind of thing?”
“Like a Psychic Friends pregnancy help line?”
“Yeah. Like that.”
“No, but I have talked to a few friends, and they all experienced changes in their abilities, particularly in the first trimester, so I’m not alone.”
“If it’s only during the first trimester, that’s good. You could be back to normal in a few weeks.”
“Some never got their abilities back full force. It was like their minds were so tuned in to their children that they couldn’t tune in to anyone else afterward.”
Sadie saw the fear on Maeva’s face and rushed to assure her. “I’m positive you’re going to be better than ever. You’re not like others out there. Your abilities are pure and sincere. They’ll come back. You’ll see.”
“From your lips to God’s ear,” Maeva muttered. “Okay, you’ve got to go and deal with this Mimi Wicks person, and I’ve got a waiting room filled with people waiting to be disillusioned by my lack of ability.” She made shooing motions with her hands. “Call me later and let me know how I can help you solve this situation with your dad.”
When Sadie opened her mouth to speak, Maeva stopped her.
“Yes, I’m well aware that you don’t want to solve the situation with your dad, but since you’re bringing family dysfunction to an entirely new level by crossing into the afterlife, someone has to initiate an intervention.” She nodded at the door. “Tell my receptionist to send in the next gullible victim. I mean, client.”
When Sadie was back behind the wheel of her rental van, she decided that Maeva was right abou
t one thing. Another visit to the Cedar House Care Home might not hurt. Sadie made a pit stop for chocolate and soon was on her way.
When Sadie arrived at the care center, Noreen scowled at her while she was on the phone. After she hung up she said, “Mrs. Wicks is still in the visiting room. You all should pace yourself. It’s been like Grand Central for her this morning.” Under her breath she muttered, “Don’t know why loved ones can’t get their act together and split up the visits instead of this feast or famine system you all got going on.”
“I’ll just go inside,” Sadie said, not bothering to explain her presence or ask who else had already been to see Mimi.
Mimi was wearing a purple flowered housedress and sitting on her favorite sofa. Sadie made a beeline toward her but Marvin intercepted Sadie before she could reach her destination.
“Hi, Marvin,” Sadie said.
“She’s not happy,” Marvin said.
He was wringing his hands. Obviously if Mimi wasn’t happy, Marvin wasn’t happy.
“First that detective came and then Carole and Paula. It’s just been too much.”
“Carole and Paula visited too? Together?”
“They upset her. It’s not fair that they badger her the way they do.”
Sadie was looking over his shoulder at Mimi. The old woman had gotten up from her sofa and had walked to the window a few feet away.
“I’ll give her a chocolate and she’ll be fine,” Sadie said.
“I don’t think chocolate is going to make this go away,” Marvin said sadly.
Sadie stepped around him and made her way to Mimi. Mrs. Wicks’ back was to Sadie as she gazed out the window. Sadie gently called her name and put a hand on the woman’s shoulder so as not to startle her.
“Mouse?” Mimi asked. She turned, and one look at Sadie changed her expression from immense relief to disappointment. “Oh. It’s you.”
“You were expecting someone else?” Sadie was acutely aware that the Mr. Ugly had also referred to someone called Mouse. Sadie put a hand on Mimi’s shoulder and asked, “Who is Mouse?”
“I didn’t say Mouse. I said house.” Mrs. Wicks walked over to the purple sofa and lowered herself onto it with a groan of effort. “What do you want? Why do you keep coming around?”
Dead and Kicking Page 24