“Sit down.” Darrak had rolled her chair closer for her. She sat down. That felt much better.
“Such a nice, helpful young man you are.” Andy clipped the end of the celebration cigar he’d retrieved from his top desk drawer and pointed at Darrak with it. “So good to your sister. Aren’t you, sport? Did you have a nice day today? Did you do some sightseeing around the city? Did you go to the top of the CN Tower? That’s fun.”
Darrak sighed. “Make him stop, Eden.”
She coughed nervously. “Andy, did you have any luck looking for the wi… er, I mean, the woman Darrak’s looking for in the city?”
Andy shook his head. “Didn’t even get a chance to start. And now I’m up to my neck with these new cases. How did the cheating husband stakeout go?”
“Really good,” she said, brushing aside her morning trauma and immediate disappointment that Andy hadn’t solved her problem yet. “You really can’t find any time to look into that?”
“Wish I could. I’m sure it can wait a week or two.”
“A week or two?” Her heart sank. “I really wanted this taken care of right away.”
“To tell you the truth, Eden, if the woman in question doesn’t have any prior convictions or anything to get her into the system, there’s not much chance of finding her based purely on a sketch. I’m sorry. I should have mentioned that yesterday.”
Darrak’s brow was lowered. “That’s too bad.”
“I know. Look, you could always do it the old-fashioned way.”
“And how’s that?”
“If you think she’s in the city, print up a bunch of flyers and paste them up around town.”
“But, Andy—” she began.
“No, Eden,” Darrak stopped her. “It’s fine. We’ll find another way.”
She could see the disappointment in his eyes. He was counting on this. Hell, so was she.
“Fine.” They’d find another way. Another way to locate a witch who might or might not still be in the area. By now she could have taken a plane — or, hell, her
She rolled her chair over to her desk and reached into the bottom drawer to pull out her worn deck of tarot cards. She hadn’t used them since she was let go from Psychic Connexions. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
The phone rang and Andy grabbed it and started chatting to someone in a happy, animated manner. His problems were solved. Hers were only beginning.
“What are you doing?” Darrak asked, his voice tense.
“I’m grasping at straws.”
“Looks like a deck of tarot cards to me.”
“I’m going to see if I can figure out what direction to go from here. It’s not my love life or job prospects, but it’s worth a shot.”
“You don’t think you can just concentrate very hard and pull the witch’s location out of thin air? I know you’ve done that before.”
“One thing at a time.” She closed her eyes, focused on what she wanted, and flipped over one card. That was usually all she needed.
It was the Strength card, inverted.
“Well, that’s not good,” she said.
He’d moved to stand behind her and looked over her shoulder. “What does that mean?”
“The pathetic defeat of losers?”
“That’s the literal meaning?”
“No. But that’s what I’m seeing.” She flipped another card.
The Devil.
Well, that was not too surprising.
Darrak glanced down. “Okay. And what does that mean? Let me guess, true evil?”
“Not in its upright position.” She cleared her throat. “No, I find that it usually means… uh, sexual obsession. Sometimes. And, you know, lust. And stuff like that.”
“The Devil card represents lust?”
She waved a hand. “Among many, many other interpretations.”
“And yet that’s how you interpreted it. You, who are an insightful psychically gifted expert in this sort of thing.”
“I never called myself an expert. I’m an enthusiastic amateur. I can also do some really cool card tricks if I’m so inclined.”
Despite his disappointment that their road to finding the witch was not going smoothly, he looked slightly amused. “Lust, huh?”
“Possibly lust for money. Material possessions.”
“Or?”
She refused to think about waking up in Darrak’s arms that morning and feeling more than a healthy dose of lustfulness. “I’m going to try to concentrate and pinpoint your witch’s position now. No more talking.”
“Take all the time you need.”
She closed her eyes — pushed all thoughts of a naked Darrak out of her mind — and tried to do her thing. Whatever that thing was. Damn, she wished she could control it better. It was like playing roulette. Sometimes her number came up, but usually she just lost time and money trying.
The door jingled and her eyes snapped open to see Nancy, the assistant manager of Hot Stuff, enter with a tray full of coffee and pastries. Andy waved her over to his desk.
Eden closed her eyes and tried to think “witch.”
Instead, she smelled coffee and cinnamon.
“Hey!” Nancy exclaimed. “
Eden’s eyes snapped open.
Andy frowned at her. “What are you talking about?”
Nancy grabbed the sketch of the witch that Darrak did yesterday. “Selina Shaw, of course. She
Eden was on her feet and over on the other side of the room so fast it could have been some kind of a record.
“You know who this woman is?” she asked.
Nancy nodded. “Of course I do. Doesn’t everyone?” “Well, I don’t. Who is she?”
“Selina Shaw.”
“Who is Selina Shaw?”
“Only the coolest writer on the planet.”
“She’s a writer? Like a novelist?”
“No, no. She writes books that empower women and help them find their inner strength and harmony.”
“She writes self-help books?” Eden asked carefully, thinking she might be misunderstanding.
“Not self-help,” Nancy said it as if it was an insult. “Her books
“
Nancy turned to him and her eyes widened. “Well, hello there. I don’t think we’ve met.”
“I’m Darrak. Eden’s… brother.” He extended his hand.
She gripped it tightly. “Wow. Okay, hi. I’m Nancy. It’s really great to meet you. I mean,
“I’m just… visiting.”
“That’s great. With your… wife? Your girlfriend, maybe?”
“Uh…” He disengaged his hand from her grasp. “Neither, actually.”
