``Uncle Jerome was a very wealthy man--worth millions, in fact--and by making my mother the sole heir to his estate it guaranteed that, other than watching over the trust fund for a possible winner, my mother would never have to work a day in her life.
``So the other night, when Aunt Deirdre saw Mother up onstage, revealing her for the fraud she really is, I can only imagine that it must have galled her to no end to see her own family exposing to the world what a liar she really is.''
``Wow,'' was all I could muster as we soaked in Gerald's story. ``We had no idea.''
``No one did. Both women wanted to keep the truth about the family tree quiet for professional reasons. Mother was highly connected in our community, and she really didn't want anyone to know someone like Deirdre came from our family. We come from a long line of devout athe- ists, after all, and I'm sure Aunt Deirdre wanted to keep it on the down-low for the very same reasons. But after my 326 Victoria Laurie mother found out that Deirdre was affecting people's lives . . . well, she just couldn't take it anymore and decided to show up here to expose the fraud. And now she's dead, and although the police have named Deirdre their prime suspect, she's still out there, roaming around fee and proba- bly gloating.''
``I can assure you she's not gloating,'' I said quickly. Es- pecially not after I got through with her. ``We apologize for having disturbed you, Gerald, and we're even sorrier for your loss.''
``Thank you,'' he said, and moved back into the room, ready to shut the door.
Just as he was about to close the door something oc- curred to me, and I quickly stepped close again. ``Just one more thing, Gerald. I'm sorry to bring this up at such an awful time, but I want you to be aware that Zoe Schmitt's
� research results are skewed, and I suspect that she may have made up or exaggerated many of the results. I want to add that I would love nothing more than to have psychic phenomena proven true once and for all, but I'd rather have it done on honest research and wait a few dozen years than have it flounder on a fraud.''
Gerald looked at me quizzically for a long moment, then said, ``Thank you, miss. I appreciate your bringing this to my attention, and I'll take care of it immediately.''
I gave him my sincerest smile as I turned away and walked with purpose back toward the elevators.
``Where are we going now?'' Cat asked.
``To throttle a certain `internationally renowned psy- chic,' '' I replied, using finger quotes as I ticked off the last three words.
``Uh-oh,'' Cat said as she hurried after me. ``That's never good.''
``This is the best vacation ever,'' Millicent said happily. ``Wait until I tell Ernie!''
We found Deirdre still sitting on the patio, gazing mood- ily out at the gulf. I didn't bother to mince words as I approached her and caught her eye, ``Hello, Deirdre,'' I sang, ``Or should I call you `cousin?' ''
``Excuse me?'' Deirdre asked, unsure about my tone and manner, which were quickly approaching hostile. BLIND SIGHTED 327
``Why didn't you tell us you and Celeste were cousins?'' I demanded.
``Who told you that?'' Deirdre asked sharply as she looked around to see if anyone else had overheard.
``It doesn't matter who told me. Now answer the question!''
``It was Gerald,'' Millicent added helpfully. ``He told us, and he told us about the money your father left to Ce- leste, too.''
Deirdre's reaction startled all three of us; she actually laughed. ``Did he now? Well, that's rich, no pun intended,'' she said, and giggled some more.
``What's so funny?'' I demanded.
``Don't you see? Don't you get it?'' Deirdre said through a fit of giggles. ``It's just so hilarious!''
``What's hilarious?'' Cat asked sitting down and looking at Millicent and me to see if we got the joke or were as much in the dark as she was.
Deirdre was now clutching her sides and wiping her eyes at the effort the laugh was causing her. For the life of me I had no idea what she was talking about. Finally she calmed down long enough to motion to Millicent and me to sit, and then she began to fill us in. ``Yes, it's true that Celeste and I were first cousins, a secret I would have pre- ferred to take to my grave. It's just so embarrassing, you know? Your first cousin is your mortal enemy and repre- sents all that's antithetical to your cause. I mean, I come from a long line of atheists, if you can believe it. Not ex- actly the best pedigree for a psychic out there promoting herself.''
``Is that why you didn't tell us you two were cousins?'' Millicent asked.
``Yes, my reputation got thrown into the crapper enough this weekend. I didn't need the world to know that Celeste was my cousin and have the toilet flush on what's left of my career.''
``So now that we know, why don't you fill us in on the rest of it?'' Cat asked.
``Fine,'' Deirdre said with a sigh. ``You might as well know that it's also true that, due to my father's rather myo- pic view of the world, he left Celeste the bulk of his estate and guardianship of the trust he set up to entice the scien- 328 Victoria Laurie tific community to disprove the theory of psychic phenom- ena, even while he touted publicly that the money was an incentive to prove it existed. You see, he reasoned that if the scientific community set out to find proof and failed, then eventually
