Bevlin said matter-of-factly, “If you asked me to pick someone in the profession, I’d vote for Soldan Meissen. He’s a real fruitcake, has all these silly affectations. I hear he’s into dressing Far East now, wears silk robes and smokes a hookah, plucky bugger. The man is disturbed, and he’s greedy. Julia knows his history.
“You can forget Wallace. He’s harmless. As for Kathryn Golden, I call her a TV whore. She sure hates that, gives me the evil eye. She’s a very good TV whore, in fact. Her name was Betty Ann Cruther. She changed it about twelve years ago. It’s no secret, she tells anyone who asks. It’s odd though, no one ever asks. I wonder why Kathryn picked Golden—why such a ridiculous color?”
“Ask a guide,” Cheney said.
“Good one, Agent Stone. I will tolerate your company so long as you are of use to Julia.”
Julia said, “You didn’t say if you thought Kathryn could have killed August.”
“Nah, Kathryn wouldn’t ever hurt August. She was in love with him.”
“I didn’t know that,” Julia said. “Surely you’re wrong about that, Bevlin.”
“No, I’m not. Why would you know? No one would ever say anything about it to you. Fact is, babe, devious old Kathryn wanted August for years. They go back fifteen years at least. I don’t know if he ever slept with her, none of my business. Of course August wouldn’t say anything about it. He liked Kathryn and he wanted you to feel at ease around her.
“She once got drunk with me and Wallace. I think Soldan was there, looking down his nose at the three of us, and she prattled on about how she and August were kindred spirits.
“I’ll tell you, the more big-name clients she latches on to, the more it goes to her head. She’s a bit like Soldan, who’s turned into an even bigger ass since he got his skinny little foot on TV. Thinks he’s better than all of us now.”
“Well, Soldan is richer, Bevlin. So is Kathryn. Actually, so is Wallace. He’s got a butler, for heaven’s sake.”
“Ogden has always been with Wallace, even when he was poor. I just hope Wallace pays him more now that he’s raking in the money.”
Cheney said, “On the other hand, Julia, Bevlin is much younger than the rest of them. Give him time.”
“Thank you, Agent Stone, but the truth’s the truth. I can take it. Did you know that Kathryn’s latest book sold forty thousand more copies than mine? Mine was better, but hers hit the public pulse just right. I suppose I’m a bit jealous, and my guides really frown on that.”
Cheney said, “Is Kathryn Golden a legitimate medium?”
Bevlin shrugged.
“How about Soldan Meissen? He’s all over TV.”
“I forced myself to watch Soldan—sounds like a magician’s silly name, doesn’t it—The Great Soldan—anyway, I watched him once on an afternoon talk show. He did this cold reading on the studio audience. That means he’s never met any of them before. He did the usual shtick—you know, ‘I feel a W, yes, a W, a W, or an F, that’s it, it’s either a W or an F—and the month of June, that’s important, real important to someone.’
“He spoke fast, that’s real important to keep the potential marks moving with you. He was smooth, and sure enough, someone shouted,’Yes, yes, I was married in June, June the nineteenth, and George almost made it to June, died May twenty-seventh.’ There’s always someone married in June, right? So Soldan moves to the stand right in front of her and leans close. ‘Yes, it is George, I can see that now. Perhaps we can talk to him.’ And blah blah blah. He was good, impressed the hell out of most people in that audience. He moved so quickly it was hard to tell he didn’t have all that many hits. I mean an F and a W—and the woman yells it’s really a G for George, not remotely close, but no one notices. You see, if you’re fast enough, charming enough, and silky smooth, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling.” He shrugged again. “All it takes is one person to connect to what you’re throwing out there and you’ve got your hook in. That’s what Soldan’s best at.”
Cheney said, “That’s called a cold reading?”
“Yeah, as opposed to a hot reading, which is fraud, you know, getting information about people without their knowledge before the fact.”
“So,” Cheney said, wanting to sit down but not about to fling himself onto one of those beanbags, “this Soldan is a con artist?”
“Maybe.”
“And Kathryn Golden?”
“She’s good-looking, you know, and uses that well. But I can tell you for sure she’s a psychic. I’ve seen her fall into a vision and I know it was for real. She told Wallace once that he’d left his jockey shorts in Violet’s backpack. She was this young woman Wallace was seeing at the time. I thought Wallace would belt her, especially since he didn’t know if he really had left his shorts there. And Kathryn’s about the best I’ve seen at reading people, especially those who don’t realize what she’s doing.”
Julia said, “But you think she made that up, you know, to tease Wallace?”
“Hey,” Bevlin said, “in this business you can say you spoke to Oswald and who’s to say otherwise? You can look at a photo of Sonny Bono, claim he’s singing all over heaven wearing bell bottoms, that he hated being a politician but he really loved skiing and just look where that got him. Or you can say that when John Jr. hit the water, his mom Jackie was first in line to welcome him into the light, whatever. Again, if all you’re interested in is entertaining, or getting an emotional response, there’s little to stop you. Who’s to say you’re making it up?”
“Nah, Kathryn wouldn’t ever be into that sort of thing. Also, she knew August really loved Julia, so there would never be a question of his leaving her for any other woman.”
He smiled at Julia. “No, August wouldn’t have left you even if the famous Madame Zorastre from nineteenth- century Prague had come back and offered herself. August really admired Madame Z, as we refer to her. I never heard him say that about any other psychic. Hey, he’s probably met her by now, don’t you think?”
