Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
As the detective pulled his gun, they both went rigid.
“Hands in the air.”
When they complied, he said, “I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to come back here.”
My fault, Rachel silently said.
We’ll get out of it.
How?
Put your hand on your forehead. Act like you’re going to faint.
Not far from the truth.
Rachel made a moaning sound and swayed.
As the detective looked toward her, Jake leaped forward and gave him a shove, sending him crashing onto a bookcase full of knickknacks that Rachel had on display.
When the gun discharged, Rachel’s heart leaped into her throat. But the bullet crashed into the ceiling as small jars, boxes and figurines rained down on the detective.
For good measure, Jake pushed at a wooden display table, sending it toppling onto the man.
Before he could extricate himself, Jake was pulling Rachel out the door.
He charged down the sidewalk, hurrying her along. They turned a corner into an alley, then to the back of the buildings, to the lot where Jake had left the truck.
“Is he following?” Rachel panted.
“I think he was still in the shop when we turned the corner.” He looked at her. “Sorry, I think I broke a bunch of your stuff.”
“Consider it the cost of doing business.”
He made a snorting sound as he started the engine and pulled out of the space, heading down the alley at a reasonable pace, not like anyone was after them.
Rachel craned her neck around, but she didn’t see anyone following, either on foot or in a vehicle. Hopefully, the detective wouldn’t even know what they were driving.
“I think we got away,” she murmured.
“For now.”
“Oh, thanks.” She swung her head toward him. “That was clever, though, trying to convince him we were someone else.”
“It worked for a few moments.”
“Long enough for us to get away.”
He sighed. “You mean, with a power assist from a bookcase and a display table.”
“We’ll get better at it. Maybe you have a particular talent for putting ideas into people’s heads.”
“I don’t think I’ll put it on a job application.”
She winced. “I wish we could get out of town and hole up somewhere to practice mental skills.”
“We can’t hole up somewhere. We have to stay here and figure out what’s going on. And clear our names.”
“You’re right,” she said, nodding. “I guess it was just wishful thinking.”
She laid her hand over his as they drove, the contact comforting and at the same time unsettling.
She could hear him mentally running through possible scenarios and discarding them.
Let’s try the cards, she said. We went to a lot of trouble to get them.
Yeah. We’ll check into another motel, not the one we chose last time.
Because she needed a little separation, she pulled her hand away and leaned back, closing her eyes as he drove.
“You need to dye your hair,” he suddenly said after they’d ridden in silence for a few miles.
“I guess so.”
“And I should shave my head.”
“No! That will look awful.”
He laughed. “You care?”
“You’re my handsome devil of a wheeler dealer.”
“Okay. I’ll stick with the hat. And change the look of my clothing. You, too.”
She nodded. When he came to a discount department store, he slowed and pulled into the parking lot.
“We’ll go in separately. And take as little time as possible. I’ll get some plaid shirts and jeans.”
“Not your style.”
“Like I said.” He gave her a considering look. “Stay down while I’m gone.”
She slouched into her seat, thinking that being on the run wasn’t great for her back.
Jake returned in under fifteen minutes. In his new clothes he looked nothing like the successful businessman he was and more like a good ol’ boy. He tossed a bag in the backseat, then after getting in, he handed her some cash.
She might have protested, but he put his hand on her arm, silently telling her that what he had was hers, too. Which meant what for the future? She might have asked, but she knew neither one of them wanted to look too far ahead.
Before they could get into a mental discussion that was going to make them both uncomfortable, she got out and headed for the store.
In the women’s department, she bought jeans, a jeans jacket, and a couple of tops.
As she changed in the ladies dressing room, she tried to keep her mind in neutral.
But the reason for the shopping trip came slamming back at her when she went to the health and beauty aids department.
She’d never thought of dying her hair before, and when she started reading the directions, all the steps she’d have to take to go blond made her stomach knot.
When she got back to the car, Jake put his hand on her arm.
“Couldn’t bring yourself to dye your hair?” he asked though she knew he’d read the answer in her thoughts.
“Sorry.”
He touched a dark curl near her ear. “I didn’t like the idea much. You look perfect with dark hair.”
Accepting the compliment, she pulled out a pack of hair bands. “What about leaving it down?”
“Right.”
She made the switch as he drove to the other side of town, where they picked up lunch at another fast-food restaurant, then checked into a small motel.
“Did you tell that sleeping with a married woman story again?” she asked when he returned.
“Naw. I just did my good old Southern boy routine,” he said, gesturing toward his downscale outfit.
She knew he was trying to lighten the mood, but it wasn’t working. At least for her.
Inside the room, they sat at the table by the window, and she managed to eat a little of her burger and drink some iced tea before getting out the Tarot deck that she’d shoved in her pocked.
He got up and restlessly walked around the room as she shuffled through the deck, finding the cards that Evelyn Morgan had selected for her reading.
Jake came over to the table as she pulled out the fool and set it on the flat surface.
“Why is it upside down?” he asked.
“Because I’m laying them out the way they were when Evelyn Morgan pulled them.”
“It makes a difference?”
“Yes. A lot of cards that you’d want to get in the upright position are much less favorable when turned the other way.
” She gestured toward the fool. “Upright it can point to an adventure. Maybe a new life or a new job or a new relationship.” She tapped the card.
“Upright, he’s full of optimism and hope.
He has a clean slate. A fresh start. And maybe that’s what Evelyn was looking for when she came to New Orleans.
When you turn it the other way, the same desires are expressed, but instead of an adventure, you’re likely to get a disaster.
” She kept her hand on the card. “Look at his satchel. Everything’s going to fall out.
The sun’s setting instead of rising. And the guy looks like he’s going to fall off the cliff. ”
Jake shrugged.
“You don’t look convinced.”
“I guess I can see it, when you point it out.”
“To me, it’s always made sense.”
“You’re a natural.”
She shuffled through the deck again, pulling the nine of wands and reversing it as well.
Jake studied the card, obviously trying to figure out the meaning. “The guy’s got a bandage on his head.”
“Yes. And he’s holding one wand–with eight behind him. It represents the desire to protect and help others. But upside down, it looks like the guy can barely take care of himself.”
“How long did it take you to learn all that?”
“Like I said, the basics came easily. But I’m still learning the finer points.”
Next she pulled the Hanged Man.
“That looks grim,” Jake said.
“It could indicate that she’s sorry about her former life and contemplating making sacrifices for the greater good.”
“She did end up making a sacrifice–her life.”
“I’m guessing that wasn’t in her plans.”
She pulled more cards, explaining what each meant.
“Are you stalling?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re going into a lot of detail on all the cards.”
She raised her chin, trying to deny his accusation, but the truth was Jake had read her mind. Even without touching her. “Okay, I’m stalling because I’m afraid I’m not going to like what I find out.”
“You have to do it anyway,” he said, punching out the words.
“I know.”
She picked up the cards she’d laid out, sifting them through her hands, trying to get more than she had at the initial reading, but nothing came to her.
“So much for your premonition.”
Feeling defeated, she put the cards down and looked up at Jake. “I thought . . .” She trailed off in frustration.
“Don’t beat yourself up.”
“I risked us getting arrested by going back to get this particular deck. The one she’d touched.”
“Maybe you need a little power assist.”Jake walked in back of her and laid his hands on her shoulders.
Like the first time they’d touched, she felt a jolt similar to an electric current going through her, only this time it was familiar, not alarming.
When she sighed, Jake pressed harder, and she caught her breath as she was suddenly assaulted by vivid pictures. Scenes from years ago.
She had expected to get some insight into Evelyn Morgan’s life, but this wasn’t from the woman who had come to her for a reading. This was something from her own past.
The scene was in a doctor’s waiting room.
Not just a doctor’s office. A clinic, she answered Jake’s mental question, because the word leaped into her mind. And all at once she knew more.
The photograph! It’s the place from the photograph.
You recognize it?
No, I just know, she answered, feeling a thrill of excitement at the revelation. She’d had no clue where the picture was taken. Now she was seeing it before her.
Where is it? Jake asked.
I know it was a clinic. I still don’t know where it was.
Was Evelyn Morgan there?
I don’t know, Rachel answered. But I was. She saw herself--and other children--playing with an assortment of toys. There was a school bus with wooden figures that fit into holes in the interior. A garage with toy cars. A farm.