``Well, this is crazy,'' Deirdre said. ``I thought you had talent.''
That did it. ``Listen to me, you no-account scam artist,'' I said angrily. ``I have more talent in my little finger than you have in your entire head! Despite appearances, these are valid clues, and you can either work with us to figure them out, or against us and go to jail. About now, I'm looking forward to sitting front and center as they lock you up and throw away the key, so what's it gonna be?''
There was a long, stunned silence as Cat and Millicent bounced glances between me and Deirdre, waiting to see if things were about to explode or calm down. Finally Deirdre lowered her head into her hands and said tiredly, ``You're right . . . Of course you're right. I'm being stubborn and I'm not helping.'' She lifted her face then and looked at each of us in turn. ``It's just been a very long day, and I'm sorry. Please continue. What's the next clue?''
``Little House on the Prairie.''
Deirdre rolled her eyes slightly and fought to bite back a remark I was sure wasn't pleasant, ``Could you give me a little more to go on?''
``Well,'' Cat said, referring to her notes, ``Abby had a vision of a calico cat coming out of the schoolhouse from Little House on the Prairie.'' 318 Victoria Laurie
``Hmmm,'' Deirdre said, ``you said schoolhouse?'' And after Cat nodded she continued, ``I wonder . . .''
``What?'' I asked.
``Well, it's a little bit of a stretch, but one of my vendors at this seminar came from a school out west that teaches psychic intuition. Her name is Zoe Schmitt, and she teaches
� at the Institute for Metaphysical Studies in Kansas. I've been to the school, and it's in one of those old, nineteenth- century schoolhouses that looks very much like the one from Little House on the Prairie.''
``I've met Zoe,'' I said. ``She was conducting some tests
� on psychic ability during your seminar last night.''
``Yes, she wrote to me a few months ago and asked per- mission to join the other vendors. I agreed because I've been to the school, and they do amazing things there. The interesting thing about all this, however, is that I know for a fact that Zoe has been submitting her research to Celeste's
� foundation for years, hoping to win the two-and-a-half- million-dollar prize. It's common knowledge that she's been turned down every time.''
``Hmmm,'' I said becoming interested. ``Do you know if she owns a cat, or maybe has a gambling problem?''
``She looks like she would be the type to own a cat, now, doesn't she?'' Deirdre said with a smirk. ``The truth is that I really don't know much about her personal life. You'd have to ask her to find out.''
``What are we waiting for?'' Cat said, standing up and tossing several bills into the middle of the table. ``We have a room number to purchase. Let's go, ladies.''
Deirdre looked longingly at our leftovers and said, ``You three go on ahead. I'm going to grab a quick lunch and take a hot shower. The sheriff's station is filthy, and the interrogation room they had me in smelled like urine.''
``Charming,'' I said, getting out of my chair. ``We'll catch up with you later then.'' And with that, the three of us went in search of a certain redhead who just might be a sadistic killer. Chapter 5
Zoe Schmitt was not in her room, but Cat was able to glean
� that as far as the front desk knew, she was still checked into the hotel. After much discussion, we decided to call Zoe and leave her a message from me, stating that I was
� down on the patio and wanted to offer my services as a human guinea pig to help her with her research. We then trotted down to the patio by the beach to wait and hope that Zoe got the message and came down to investigate.
�
Just as I was starting to really enjoy the warm waning sun of the late afternoon and the cool breeze coming off the coastal waters, a shadow appeared over my head, and I squinted up to see a patch of red hair sticking out from underneath a gigantic straw hat. ``Hi, Abby,'' Zoe said� sheepishly.
Stifling a groan, I sat up in the chair and forced a smile as I greeted her. ``Hello! I'm so glad you found me. Zoe, � I'd like you to meet my sister, Catherine Cooper-Masters, and our dear friend Millicent Satchel,'' I said, making the introductions and indicating a spare seat underneath the shaded area of our umbrella-topped table.
``Nice to meet you,'' Zoe said politely, switching her lap-
� top from right hand to left in order to shake everyone's hand before taking her seat. ``I'm so glad you called me. I didn't have a chance to get your information last night be- fore everyone came storming out. It's been quite a show here this weekend, huh?''
``Yes, it certainly has,'' Millicent answered, beaming her trusting smile at Zoe. �
``So! Abby, you want to participate in my research,'' she announced, swiveling the laptop around and opening it in
319 320 Victoria Laurie one fluid movement. ``I've got everything loaded onto my computer, so if you'll just--''
``Uh . . .'' I interrupted. ``About that, Zoe, you see, be-
� fore we begin I'd just like to know a few things first--you know, so that I have a level of comfort with these `tests' as you call them.''
``Okay,'' Zoe said, slightly caught off guard but recov-
� ering quickly. ``What would you like to know?''
``Well, first I'd like to know some background on you . . . like where you're based, what you're trying
