Jack hid a smile at the obvious statement. This guy was experienced. The normal response would be, What are you doing here at this hour? But if you're supposed to be someone who knows all-or maybe not all, but a helluva lot more than ordinary people-you don't ask questions. You make statements.
But he wondered at the man's expression when he'd opened the door. He'd looked... relieved. Who had he been expecting?
'I know. And I know my appointment's tomorrow, but I had to come.'
'You couldn't wait,' he said, his tone calm, exuding confidence and assurance.
'Yes! Right! I need your help! I lost my good luck bracelet! You've got to find it for me!'
As he considered her plea, his gaze roamed among Jack and Gia and the others on the porch.
'I see you've brought company.'
'I told them all about you and they're dying to meet you. Can we come in? Please?'
'Very well,' Ifasen said. He stepped back and opened the door the rest of the way. 'But only for a few minutes. I have to be rested for my early clients tomorrow.'
That's right, Jack remembered. Weekends are busy times for psychics.
Junie led the way, followed by Karyn and Claude. Jack and Gia were just stepping over the threshold when a deep rumble filled the air, vibrating through their bones and shaking the house.
'Bomb!' Ifasen yelled. 'Out! Everybody out!'
Then another sound, a deafening, high-pitched, echoing scream-whether of pain, fear, or joy, Jack couldn't say-filled the air.
Didn't sound like a bomb to Jack but he wasn't taking any chances. He grabbed Gia and hauled her back across the porch and onto the lawn. Junie, Claude, and a shrieking Karyn scurried behind them.
Ifasen was still at the front door, calling for someone named Charlie.
Jack kept moving, pushing Gia ahead of him up the walk toward the car. Then he noticed something.
He stopped. 'Wait. Feel that?'
Gia looked into his eyes, and then at her feet. 'The ground...'
'Right. It's shaking.'
'Oh, my God!' Junie cried. 'It's an earthquake!'
Just as suddenly as the tremors had started, they stopped.
Jack looked around. Across the street, up and down the block, lights were on and people were spilling out into their yards, standing around in all states of dress and undress, some crying, some looking simply bewildered.
Gia was staring at him. 'Jack. An earthquake? In New York?'
'Don't you remember that one on the Upper East Side back in '01?'
'I read about it, but I never felt it. I felt this. And I didn't like it!'
Neither had Jack. Maybe people in places like LA got used to something like this, but feeling the solid granite bedrock of good old New York City rolling and trembling under his feet... pretty damn unsettling.
'What about that other sound? Like a scream? Did you hear that?'
Gia nodded as she moved closer and clutched his arm. 'Like a damned soul.'
'Probably just some old nails tearing free in the quake.'
'If you say so. Sure sounded like a voice though.'
Sure did, Jack thought. But he didn't want to add to her unease.
He looked around and saw Ifasen approaching with another, younger black man who bore a family resemblance. Both had similar builds and features, but instead of dreads the newcomer's hair was cut in a neat fade. He wore black slacks, black sneakers, and a lightweight long-sleeve turtle-neck, also black.
'An earthquake, Ifasen!' Junie said. 'Can you believe it?'
'I knew something was going to happen,' Ifasen said. 'But impending seismic activity interferes with psychic transmission, so I couldn't get a clear message.'
Jack nodded approval. The guy ad-libbed well.
Close up now, Jack noticed a horizontal scar along Ifasen's left cheek; his milk chocolate skin was otherwise flawless except for the stipple of whiskers shadowing his jaw.
'Can we go back inside now?' Junie said.
Ifasen shook his head. 'I don't know...'
'Please?'
He sighed. 'Very well. But only briefly.' He put a hand on the younger man's shoulder. 'This, by the way, is my brother Kehinde. He lives in Menelaus Manor with me.'
Menelaus Manor? Jack thought, staring at the old house. This place has a name?
Kehinde led the way back to the house. Jack hung back with Gia so he could talk to Ifasen.
'Why'd you think it was a bomb?'
Ifasen blinked but his onyx eyes remained unreadable. 'What gives you that idea?'
'Oh, I don't know. Maybe the fact that you yelled 'Bomb!' when the house started to shake.'
'I'm not sure. Perhaps I was startled and it was the first thought that came to mind. The pre-seismic vibrations-'
Jack held up a hand. 'Yeah. You told us.'
Jack sensed Ifasen was telling the truth, and that bothered him. When your house starts to shake, rattle, and roll, it could be a lot of things, but bomb should not be first on your guess list.
Unless you were expecting one.
'And where's Charlie?'
Ifasen stiffened. 'Who?'
'I heard you calling for someone named Charlie while we were evacuating.'
'You must have misheard me, sir. I was calling for my brother Kehinde.'
Jack turned to Gia. 'Let's split. I don't think this is a good idea.'
Before Gia could answer, Ifasen said, 'Please. There's nothing to fear. Really.'
'Let's do it, Jack.' She glanced at Ifasen. 'It'll take us, what-half an hour?'
'At most.' Ifasen smiled. 'As I said, I need my rest.'
Half an hour, Jack thought. Okay. What could happen in half an hour?
2
'This is my channeling room,' Ifasen said with a sweeping gesture.
Impressive, Jack thought as he looked around.
Ifasen had decked out the high-ceilinged first-floor room with a wide array of spiritualist and New Age paraphernalia along with some unique touches. Most striking were the host of statues-some looked like the real deal-from churches and Indian temples and Mayan pyramids: Mary, Saint Joseph, Kali, Shiva, a totem pole, a snake-headed god, cathedral gargoyles, and a ten-foot stone Ganesha holding a gold scepter in his coiled elephant trunk. Drapes covered the windows. The oak-paneled walls were festooned with paintings of spiritualist icons. Jack recognized Madame Blatavsky, the Mona Lisa of this Louvre of phonies.
At the far end of the room sat a round table surrounded by chairs; an ornate, pulpitlike podium upon a two- foot dais dominated the near end; Ifasen took his place behind it while Jack, Gia, Junie, Karyn, and Claude seated themselves among the chairs clustered before it.
'I am Ifasen,' he said, 'and I have been blessed with a gift that allows me to communicate with the spirit world. I cannot speak directly with the dead, but with the aid of Ogunfiditimi, an ancient Nigerian wise man who has been my spirit guide since I was a child, I can bring revelations and messages of peace and hope to our world from the place beyond.'
'Ms. Moon's sitting with me was scheduled for tomorrow, but due to her dire need, I have moved it up to tonight. In gratitude, she has made a generous donation to the Menelaus Manor Foundation on behalf of you, her friends, to allow you to become part of her sitting.'
Karyn and Claude clapped; Junie, alone in the front row, turned and waved.
'I will answer her question and yours in the form of a billet reading,' Ifasen said. 'My brother Kehinde is passing among you with billets, envelopes, and pens.'
