Page 47 of Ghost of a Chance
Glancing up at Gia, she nodded.Might be nice to work in a college library.She hadn’t done that in years.The atmosphere would probably help give her new ideas.
“What’s up for this afternoon?”Dan asked.
“I’d like to see the house where you lived and maybe Dan can film it,” Kirsty said to Jasper.
“Sure.Since it’s rainy it would probably be a good idea to take the car,” Jasper said.He glanced at Gia.“We can leave after lunch.You coming?”
Gia shook her head.“I have to do some work this afternoon.If anything happens at the house what should I do?”
Dan gave her a wide grin.“I’m going to just run the infrared camera 24/7.I have a SLR that I’m going to set up and let run in here as well.The battery will last a few hours.Could you set an alarm and switch it out?”
Kirsty let her mind drift while they were talking.As much as she hadn’t enjoyed being a medium at first, this was fun.She liked making a list of possibilities and then ruling them out.Playing detective.
They cleaned up after lunch and she realized she’d never called the local mediums despite the alarms she’d set.Jasper had distracted her and she’d just muted her phone.“Give me a few minutes.I need to make a couple of calls.”
“Want to leave in thirty minutes?”Jasper suggested.“Chewie needs a walk and some playtime.”
“That works for me.”
Heading upstairs to her room she put in her AirPods and dialed her cousin Liberty.
“Hiya, famous author.”
“Hi, Lib.Um…do you know anything about talking to the dead?”
“Not really.I can ask Mom but that’s not our area of expertise.Why?”
“You know how I sort of let people think I’m clairvoyant; well, I’m stuck trying to exorcise a poltergeist from a physics book.”
Liberty laughed so hard that Kirsty could hear her redheaded cousin’s entire body shaking as her bracelets jingled.
“Nice.Let me know how that works out.You should try to reach out to some mediums.”
“Yeah, they are my next call.Wanted to check with you first.”
“Wish I could help.Since I have you… I’m doing Yule this year.You and your mom should totally come.”
“We’ll see.”
It would be nice to be with family in December.Normally it was just her and her mom.They had their traditions but sometimes it felt a little small and lonely.She texted her mom about Yule before calling the first medium.The call went to a voicemail that didn’t have a message.She hung up without leaving one.
The second got picked up on the first ring.
“Aza Preeti, psychic medium.”
“Hello.Uh, I’m Kirsty.”
“Hi there.What can I do for you?”Her voice was surprisingly mundane, sounding a lot like the librarian at her elementary school.But Mrs.Parson hadn’t been a clairvoyant.
“I’m doing research for a book I’m writing.Would you mind answering some questions?”
“I don’t mind, but I have an appointment in ten minutes.”
“That should be plenty of time.”Kirsty took a deep breath.Telling all of this to a stranger was unexpectedly awkward.“So let’s say someone was pretending to be psychic and set up a séance for their friends.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that.My profession gets a lot of crap,” Aza said immediately, irritation in her voice.
“I know… I’m an author.I’m writing a book where my heroine can actually talk to the dead and uses them to solve crimes.But there’s this secondary character that’s going to get into trouble for this and come to her,” Kirsty said, realizing just how convoluted this sounded.“The thing is, in my story the character hears a loud voice during a séance that no one else does.Is that possible for someone who isn’t a medium?Or do you believe it could just be in her head?”
