Death in the Cards Read Online Free PDF

She also had a huge stack of full-color, promotional brochures.
    I looked at the black-and-white, printed-at-the-local-copy-shop flyers on Skylar’s plain, white tableclothed table. Icould see why Karen felt intimidated by Ginny, on her daughter’s behalf.
    â€œWow,” said Cherry. “Think I could get her to redesign the front window to my hair salon?” I resisted an eye roll. I swear, sometimes I think Cherry wouldn’t know tacky if it jumped up in all its big-haired glory and bit her on her pierced (with just the tiniest of diamonds, I admit) nose.
    â€œDoes she come out wearing a turban?” Sally asked.
    Skylar laughed again. “No. But she wears a specially made gold lamé robe. And she wanted a dry-ice machine. Fortunately, for this fair at least, Damon and Sienna nixed that idea. Rumor has it Ginny was furious.”
    â€œBut she seemed pretty down to earth when I met her,” I said. “Overly aggressive maybe, but not the gold-lamé-robe-type.” Although the warm-up suit had been pretty flashy, kind of like Dolly-Parton-does-step-aerobics.
    â€œYeah, but she forced a palm reading on you. And told you all about this dream you have repeatedly, about drowning in an orange bikini . . .” Sally said. I could tell she was still angry at Ginny on my behalf.
    â€œDrowning can represent feeling overwhelmed,” Skylar interjected wisely. “Now the orange bikini—hmm. That’s one I’ll have to think about . . .”
    â€œThe orange bikini was my idea of what to wear in a drowning dream,” Cherry said. “Josie was wearing a navy one piece when she drowned in her dream.”
    â€œOh, well, that just represents being overly responsible,” said Skylar with a dismissive wave of her hand. “You know, the kind of person who’s always looking out for other people, doesn’t cut loose much . . .”
    Well, thank you very much, I thought. And just what does it mean that I dream of my dead Junior High teacher giving me unwanted advice?
    But out loud, I said, “Don’t Ginny’s tactics put off her customers, though? And wasn’t everyone supposed to have white tablecloths?” I knew this because of my role in laundering the cloths.
    Skylar smiled knowingly. “Ginny Proffitt is very popular. She has groupies, a discussion group on her Web site, and a self-published book of her philosophies that will sell hundreds of copies this weekend. She’s the draw for this fair, and everyone knows it. That’s why if she wants a red tablecloth, she gets it.”
    â€œBut no dry-ice machine,” I said. My gaze strayed back to the crystal ball. There was something very appealing about its perfect orb shape. Soothing. But all I saw through it was a distorted view of the brochures on the other side, kind of like looking through a warped magnifying glass. I wondered what someone like Ginny saw when she looked through it.
    Skylar shrugged, fingering the Celtic cross she wore around her neck. “Damon and Sierra are brave souls. Like the rest of us, Ginny’s self-promotion tactics make them nervous. She plays to all the stereotypes the rest of us are trying to overcome and she gives her clients specific predictions.”
    â€œIsn’t that what psychics are supposed to do?” Sally said.
    â€œWe see it more as giving impressions of possible challenges a client might face. And Jesse and Sienna have asked Ginny to keep her predictions to that level—not ‘your husband will die in a week,’ but just saying if she senses ill health for a loved one. Damon even warned her that she’ll be asked to leave if she gets too specific. At the Illinois fair, Ginny predicted just that—the husband dying—to a client, and the poor woman collapsed in hysteria. Of course, Damon’s warning has angered Ginny, who is already spreading gossip on the psychic Internet list servs that