'Do they all come true?' I'd asked.
'I have no way of knowing. I know they might come true.' Xylda looked at me now, and her blue eyes really saw me. 'In the time of ice, you'll be so happy,' she said.
'Good,' I said, having no idea what she was talking about. But that was the way of conversations with Xylda, if you could call this a conversation.
'You can't keep lying,' Xylda said gently. 'You have to stop doing that. It won't hurt anyone.'
'I think I'm truthful,' I said, surprised. Many things I could be accused of, and my accuser would be right. But not this.
'Oh, you're truthful about the things that don't matter.'
'Did someone come to Memphis with you, Xylda?'
'Yes, Manfred did.'
'Where is Manfred?' I wasn't completely sure who Manfred was, but learning someone had charge of Xylda was a relief.
'He's parking the car. There wasn't a space.'
'Oh, good,' I said, relieved to hear such a prosaic explanation. Tolliver arrived at the table with our drinks. Xylda seemed glad to get the coffee, which was redolent of vanilla and sugar, and she swirled in even more sugar with the little brown plastic stirrer. Mine was regular coffee, and Tolliver had gotten hot chocolate. 'Tolliver, Xylda says Manfred is with her.'
He raised his eyebrows in query, so he didn't know who that was, either. I shrugged. 'She says he's out parking the car.'
Tolliver stood and stared out the glass windows, then began waving vigorously to someone. 'I think I spotted him.' he said, sinking back into his chair. 'He's coming in.' Tolliver was smiling broadly.
'He's a good boy,' Xylda said. She smiled at us. 'Listen, I hear you found the Morgenstern girl.' Suddenly, she sounded completely practical and all present and accounted for, mentally.
'Yes,' I said.
'You know, they called me in.'
'Yeah?'
'It wasn't the boy,' Xylda said. 'There was passion involved. But there was no sex with the little girl.'
'Okay,' I said. 'Then why was she killed?'
'I don't know,' Xylda said. She looked down into her coffee cup.
See what I mean about psychics being very little help?
'But I know you'll find out,' Xylda said, and she looked up at me very sharply. 'I won't be there to see it, but you'll find out.'
'Are you going to a different city? Have you got another booking?'
'Yes,' she said quite definitely. 'I have another booking. You know, I'm the real thing, and people know that when they meet me.'
'Yes, they do,' Tolliver agreed, and then a thin young man came up to us, dressed all in black. This was Manfred, I assumed.
'I saw her surprise you,' Manfred said cheerfully. 'Sorry about that. Are you her friends? She said she had to meet some friends here.'
Amazing. Xylda's psychic ability had led her to meet with us outside a Cineplex. Manfred was a narrow- shouldered young man in his late teens or early twenties. He had a narrow face and slicked-back peroxided hair, a matching goatee, and at least one tattoo visible on the side of his neck. He had a face decorated with many piercings and his hands were covered with silver rings.
He matched Xylda, in an odd sort of way.
'I'm Tolliver Lang and this is Harper Connelly,' Tolliver said. 'Are you related to Xylda?'
'This is my grandson,' Xylda said proudly.
I was willing to bet that few grandmothers would be able to look at Manfred's extreme facial embellishment without wincing, much less with Xylda's simple pride. There was much to Manfred that met the eye, and quite a lot that didn't—and his grandmother was certainly psychic enough to sense that.
We told the young man we were pleased to meet him, and we explained that we crossed paths with Xylda professionally from time to time.
'She jumped up this morning, right at the breakfast table,' Manfred said. 'She said we had to go to Memphis. So we got in the car, and here we are.' He seemed proud of having taken his grandmother so seriously, of having gotten her here on time to keep her self-appointed rendezvous.
'You know the body was found,' I said to Xylda, who'd finished her coffee before the rest of us had begun to sip at ours.
'Yes, and I knew it was going to be found in a graveyard,' Xylda said. 'I just didn't know which one. I'm glad you found the girl. She's been dead a long time.'
'Since the day she vanished?' I asked.
'No, not quite,' Xylda said. 'She lived a few hours. Not more than that.'
I was actually relieved to hear this. 'That's what I thought. Thanks for telling me,' I said. I wondered if I
