Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder Read Online Free PDF Page A

concentration.
    Enough . I went in to brew espresso for myself and put water on so Laurel could have some healthy fresh-brewed herb tea. Yuck. I wanted caffeine, lots of it in the mornings. Herb tea wasn’t worth the effort. I put out bagels we could toast.
    Mumsie clicked into the room, dressed for a trip to town.
    “What are you doing dressed to kill at this time of the morning? It’s a little early for lunch with the girls or one of your classes, isn’t it?”
    “I decided I needed a distraction and the Sun Wind Casino has an early bird party today. Suzie Lee convinced me it could be fun, and it sure would be different. The boys are excited too.”
    I wrinkled my forehead. “The boys? They gamble?” My mother believed the spirits she channeled accompanied her everywhere. She talked about them as if they were really there. I knew spirits existed, but she carried her beliefs a little further, treating her spirit guides as if they were a living part of her family.
    “Actually they are quite looking forward to doing something they haven’t done before.”
    “Mumsie, you can’t tell me they never gambled in the good old days. Help like that could be construed as cheating, illegal, or something.”
    She added sugar and milk to her tea. “It’s not as if they can be seen. And, since when would anyone believe me if I told them I was getting help? My own family doesn’t believe anything I say about Chung Po or Amen Ka.” She gave me the benefit of an extremely pointed glance before fixing herself a tea and joining me at the dining room table.
    I sipped my latte. “Yeah, but couldn’t it be a moral issue if you take advantage of their help?”
    “Since they are not really there in the first place, and since anyone who believes has the potential for access to the same sources, it wouldn’t be cheating, now would it?”
    The logic made my head spin. “Do your nonexistent guys have any words of wisdom about this latest death? I don’t know how much more finding-the-body I can stomach.”
    “They’ve been strangely quiet on that subject, which is odd because they are usually more than willing to share advice, wanted or not.”
    “Maybe you can prod them a little. Let them have fun and then hit them up. I have half the town, or at least most of the contest mothers, expecting me to pull a Jessica Fletcher/Nancy Drew caper out-of-the-hat and make it all go away.”
    Mumsie gave me another mother look. “You have powers, Tali. Use them. Did you touch the body or her clothes to see what you could see? You can’t just rely on other entities to help when they can be unreliably moody at times. You have a responsibility to use your gift for the greater good.”
    “How can I do that? Show up at the morgue and ask to touch the dead bodies? There goes my reputation down the tubes.” Of course, we don’t have a permanent morgue, so she would either be at the hospital or the funeral home—equally creepy.
    Mumsie finished the last of her tea, stood up, and grabbed her purse. “I have to meet Suzie in fifteen minutes and she lives in Whitesboro, so I’m out of here. You know what you need? When I get back, I’ll do a reading. I’ve been noticing more dark energy gathering around than is usual, even for this time of year. Maybe it’s connected to that incident at the fairgrounds.”
    I followed her to the door and as Mumsie roared off, Laurel pulled in. I was glad I’d at least pulled back my hair in a silver clip and put on a red turtleneck with my jeans. Despite all her faults, Laurel looked good most of the time. She had a reasonable figure, streaked hair, and classy clothes. Unfortunately, her eyes could freeze a tick and the expression on her face curdled anything lying around. Spoiled the effect of the clothes and hair.
    When she got out of the car, her attempted stalk up the driveway was spoiled by the effect gravel had on her four-inch-spiked Manolos. If she had fallen, I’d have felt obliged to rush to her